Logan started racing their senior year in high school.

He pulled up in the parking lot of Neptune High on the first day gunning his engine. His red Honda Civic zoomed past walking students and bypassed other cars before finally coming to a stop next to Veronica’s Le Baron.

Veronica looked into the driver’s seat. “Well, at least you have on your seatbelt.” She moved back as Logan stepped out. “But, it’s not like you already broke seven other laws coming to school today.”

“Gonna write me a ticket, officer?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

She smiled. “No, but I may have to frisk you later.”

He kissed her neck. “Don’t forget the handcuffs.”

“Hey, Echolls!”

They turned to see Weevil with his gang standing near the school’s front entrance.

“When you gonna show us what you and your Civic are made of?” Weevil said with a daring glint in his dark eyes.

“Name the time and place,” Logan said.

Weevil glanced at the crowd behind him. “Tonight. Ten o’clock. Sheridan Drive.”

“I’ll be there.” Logan turned to leave with Veronica.

“You too, V,” Weevil called out.

She looked over her shoulder with a sardonic smile. Then, at Logan. “You’re not really going to go, are you?”

“You know me, Veronica,” he said, “I can’t back down from a challenge.”

**

That was two months ago. Logan had gone to Sheridan. So did Veronica. And he managed to leave with a grin on his face and Weevil’s money in his hands.

Tonight was like any other Friday night. Ten o’clock. Sheridan Drive. A lonely strip of road that drag racers had suddenly inhabited to test their immortality.

Veronica watched Logan as he prepared for his race. His opponent was a cousin of Weevil’s. Ever since Weevil had lost at Logan’s first race, the motorcycle gang leader seemed intent on bringing down the rich kid. He was going to do anything, use anyone, to get back the money and the pride he had lost.

Logan approached Veronica with a small smile. “Can I get a kiss for good luck?”

“This is stupid, Logan,” she said, frowning.

“You say this every time.”

“Because it is.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. He caressed them like he was holding the steering wheel to his Civic. Slow and cautious. He was fighting for control.

“Admit it,” he said. “You love watching me race.”

“What I would love is for you to—”

“When I get out at the finish line, I see you. You’re smiling at me like you’re proud. Proud that I won, proud that I can finally pay you back for lending me gas money,” they chuckled, “proud that you’re my girl. Or maybe I’m just imagining it all.”

She leaned into him. “It just scares me sometimes.”

“That’s the best part,” he whispered.

He kissed her cheek and brushed her blond hair away from her face. He lowered his hands down to hers.

“Hey, man!” Weevil called from the starting line. “We’re ready!”

Logan squeezed Veronica’s hands. “See you at the finish line.”

“See ya.” She let him let go.

Veronica thought she should be used to this by now. She should be used to standing on the sidelines with the other spectators. Used to the fear that was growing inside her. Used to the possibility that she might not see Logan at the finish line.

But when the red flag went down, all the fear, all the worries, vanished. She became numb as she watched Logan and Weevil’s cousin race down the strip. They were probably going at least a hundred miles. They weaved side by side, dangerously close to one another.

She knew Logan loved every second. She could picture everything: the sneer on his lips as he glanced at the other driver, the way his heart pounded beneath his chest as he shifted gears to accelerate, the anticipation and the adrenaline of reaching the finish line as the victor.

She dared not to blink.

“It looks like your boy is gonna win another one,” Weevil said next to her.

She didn’t look at him. Only concentrated on Logan as he neared the end of the race.

Weevil continued to speak. A hushed voice in the back of her head springing to life. “I bet it gets you hot, V. Watching him race. How your heart is like his, just for that moment.” He put his hand on his chest and mimicked a beating heart. “Thump, thump, thump, thump. And then it goes faster. Thumpthumpthumpthump...” He grinned. “It’s a lot like fucking when you think about it.”

Just then, the crowd erupted into cheers as the two drivers raced across the finish line.

Veronica glared at Weevil. “Excuse me, but I have to go congratulate my boyfriend for beating your cousin’s ass.”

He snickered. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

She ignored him and hurried to the finish line. Logan was waiting for her.

“See? There’s that smile I was talking about,” he said.

She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her ear to his chest.

thumpthumpthumpthump

“What are you doing?” Logan asked.

And then she realized that Weevil was right.

**

Having sex in the Civic was tough. It didn’t stop Logan and Veronica from doing it though.

All Veronica had to do was straddle Logan in the driver’s seat, press her back against the steering wheel, and presto! Instant orgasm.

After the race, Logan drove them to the beach. They parked in the empty lot and made out for a few minutes before Veronica got on top of him.

It was almost two in the morning when Veronica lifted her head from Logan’s chest. It was a good thing her dad was chasing some bail jumper in Nevada or else he’d be out searching for her.

“Logan,” she said in the quiet air.

He was combing her hair with his fingers. “Yeah?”

“Why do you do it?” she asked.

“Do what?”

“Race.”

His fingers stopped.

“You don’t need the money. You don’t need to beat people in racing to let them know you’re a pompous ass,” she said. “So, why are you doing it?”

She looked up at him. He was staring out the windshield. At the tumbling ocean waves. At the moonbeam reflecting off his dashboard.

“For thirty seconds, I’m scared as hell,” he said. “I think about my car crashing. I think about how I’m so scared that I can’t breath. How my vision blurs, but I can still see the finish line. And how the needle in the speedometer keeps going up and up, and then it’s over. Just like that.”

“So,” Veronica said, “you risk your life ever week just for thirty seconds of that?”

“No.” He finally looked at her. “I do it to see the smile on your face at the finish line.” He touched her chin and traced her lips. “That smile right there.”

She rested her head over his heart once again and counted the beats—thumpthumpthumpthump—until the sun came up.