Hot Rod Nights - A Short Story (Part 2 of 9)
Joey returned to the gathering but his mind was no longer on the spoils of the win. As the crowd shouted and cheered, he heard nothing but his own thoughts. Who was that? he thought to himself. He could not help but focus his thoughts on this girl. No dame ever had him spinning like this, knocking him off balance the way she did. He then realized he failed to get her number. She was so pretty too. But she was playing with me! he thought. He hated that—and he liked it.
"Yo, Joey, c'mere! shouted Eddie from a small crowd. "C'mon!" he insisted as he waved him over. Joey strolled over, lost in thought. "Big winner here folks! My main man, Joey!" said Eddie. He continued, "Hey, you gonna go to the after-party, Joey? It's gonna be a blast!"
"Yeah, sure Eddie, whatever you say," he said sullen.
"Hey, hey, what's the matter buddy? You run over a cat on the way to the winner's circle or somethin'? Huh?" consoled Eddie as he slapped Joey's chest.
Joey snapped from his slumber and gave an appropriate response. "Nah, not me. I'm just thinkin' about the party and all the dames that'll be there, right? Right, Eddie!" He slapped Eddie on the back and headed toward The Deuce.
"Hey, Joey, can I ride with ya?" came a girl's voice from the crowd. Neecy, a cute girl that had been sweet on Joey since they were kids, appeared from a group of teenagers.
"Sure why not, Neecy, climb-in," he offered. Joey had always seen Neecy as nothing but this cute little neighbor girl. She climbed in and Joey fired-up The Deuce. He looked toward Neecy and his eyes were drawn to her legs and he noticed those were not the legs of a little girl, those were the legs of a woman. Joey's gaze traveled upward until it paused, briefly, on her chest and he realized Neecy was no longer that cute little neighbor girl. No, she was now that beautiful girl on the seat next to him. Watching him with intent, as their eyes met, she flashed a wicked smile. This could be trouble, he thought.
As The Deuce made her way down the road, Joey stared unwavering at its lines. No words were spoken as he made sure his eyes did not wander off the road. Neecy lingered in of the corner of his eye and the more he thought about it, the more comfortable he became with the thought of Neecy as a grown girl. She made her intentions clear many times but this time it was different as Joey was actually considering her as a woman, not a girl. Then again, maybe not.
The Deuce pulled onto the grassy clearing where the celebrations were in full swing. This was not a celebration in honor of Joey's win as it was just another Saturday night and Joey happened to win tonight.
Joey parked and the two sat silent until Neecy broke the tension. "You haven't said a word. Is something on your mind, Joey?" she asked.
He sat quietly and weighed his options when Neecy lifted her bare knee onto the seat and as she turned to face him he noticed more than her knee was exposed with her short skirt. "I know we grew-up together, Joey. And you think of me as little Neecy. And I was little Neecy. I'm not that little girl anymore, I'm Denise now," she said as she slid closer. She reached out and began a gentle and playful trace of invisible lines with her finger on Joey's shirt as her demeanor changed to seductive. "I know you pretty well, Joey. And you know me, too. I just thought we might, you know, give it a chance."
Joey's eyes remained forward and he was feeling a little tense. "I don't know about that Nee... Denise," he said as he changed to her grown-up name which did make her seem more woman than girl.
Neecy's demeanor then changed to the little girl Joey was more familiar with. The light, cute, bubbly Neecy. "Tell you what—let's just try this. Just give me a peck. A little kiss and see how it goes, 'K?" She sat up straight and closed her eyes and puckered her lips in an animated, childish fashion. "I'm waiting," she muffled through her pucker.
Joey looked at her as she was so cute but not in a little girl way. He leaned-in and quickly smacked his lips to hers, then sat back. Her demeanor changed again as the pucker on her lips faded when she opened her eyes. "That was good," she said. "Now try this." She leaned-in and gently gave him a much different kiss. This was a real kiss—with passion. Joey's instincts kicked in, he pulled her close and as he kissed her, all he could think was this is no little girl's kiss! It was a bit strange how good at this she was.
Her hands began to wander over Joey's chest and took a very sensual and arousing course. Movements were slow but definite as her intensity increased driving him to the precipice of arousal, he could tell these were not just physical motions as she truly cared for and desired him. He began to entertain the thought of treating Neecy as the woman she claimed to be. Her kisses deepened and her actions increased in aggression and it was obvious with each new exploration of his physique she became more aroused by her behavior. As Joey responded to her advances and as he stood on the brink of commitment, a vision of Donna flashed, unexpected, through his mind. He began to dwell on her face, her beauty, her soft, lovely voice, her wit. It was a thought that lingered and the more he thought of Donna the more he thought of Denise as Neecy. The more he wanted Donna, the less he wanted Denise. He pushed away.
Neecy was not pleased Joey interrupted their moment, their time together, after all, this is something she had dreamed of her whole life and now she was denied her own dream—of him! She was old enough now and this was no dream, this was real. "What's wrong, Joey?" she said desperate and trying to regain the moment as she attempted to lean-in and continue. He kept her at length. Nervous, she began to caress his face. "C'mon Joey, what's wrong?" Her eyes displayed worry at the realization that her dream was about to slip away.
"This isn't right, Denise," he felt he should give her the dignity of her real name. After all, she did nothing wrong and he knew she was not the same little girl now and she made it clear she wanted him and in a brief moment of curiosity he had, in an inadvertent way, toyed with her emotions.
Desperate, Neecy tried her best to return to what was the most perfect of worlds. She tried to understand what had happened, "What's wrong, Joey?" she repeated, as her eyes began to well-up, "Did I do something wrong, Joey? Did I?" she sat in confusion and despair.
Joey's heart sunk at the thought of hurting little Neecy this way as he knew it was all his fault by letting it go too far and it should not have happened in the first place. He saw how Neecy was desperate to hold back the tears and as he was at a loss for words, he reached out and she pushed him away. "You don't mean it," she snapped. "If you don't mean it, don't do it. That's all. Just don't do it," she choked as tears streamed down her cheeks. Devastated, she opened the door and ran out of sight.
He sat for quite some time in the dark doing his best to figure how it could go so wrong so fast. Then he realized his self-fulfilling prophecy. Yep, trouble, he thought. He fired-up The Deuce and drove home.
Neecy passed by several cars that were parked and noticed a few were occupied by couples necking. As Frankie drank alone in the dark in the Model A he noticed Neecy walk past. "Hey, Neecy!" he yelled.
She turned to see who called her name and saw it was Frankie so she walked toward him. "Hey, Frankie," she said with a sniffle.
Frankie noticed she had been crying. "Aw' what's the matta, doll," he asked.
Neecy wiped the remainder of tears from her cheeks. "Nothin' Frankie. Just a little upset that's all," she said.
"Hey, did someone hurt you, doll? You tell Frankie who day are and I'll take care of 'em for ya. Who was it Neecy?" he said concerned.
"Oh, Frankie, you're so sweet. It's nothin'. I just got some bad news is all," she said to disarm him.
"Climb on in here, doll. You don't need to be standin' out here in the air all upset." Neecy opened the passenger door and climbed in.
"What, your goldfish die or somethin'?" he asked in a mock serious fashion.
She smiled at his obvious attempt to cheer her up. "Hey, can I have a swig of that?" she said as she pointed to the flask in his hand.
"Oh, sure, sure," he said as he handed her the flask. She turned it up and started to swig heavy. "Hey slow down there, doll," he said. He watched as she took another heavy swig. "What, did two fish die on ya?" he said mock serious. She choked a little as she laughed.
"Whew, that's good stuff, Frankie," she said.
"Hey, nothin' but the best for pretty girls," he said as he smiled. He paused then continued, "Are you sure you're okay dare Neecy. 'Cause I'm serious, I'll clobber whoever made you cry like dat," he said as she took another sizable swig.
"No Frankie, I'm okay," she said as she looked in his eyes. "But I like how you want to defend my honor, Frankie," she said seductive and put her palm on his chest and began to caress.
Frankie looked down at her hand then at her. "Are you doin' what I tink you're doin'?" he said.
She continued and looked him in the eyes. "Uh huh," she affirmed. Her hand began to move lower, Frankie's eyes began to widen. He grabbed the keys in the ignition and started the Model A. The engine roared to life which frightened the occupants of the other cars. Neecy gave brief pause. "What are are you doing, Frankie?" she asked.
In a hurried manner he pressed the clutch in and threw the transmission in first gear. "This ain't a good place for dis. I got a better one, more private. Yeah, private," he said.
A little thrown off by his sudden actions Neecy was willing to cooperate. "Okay Frankie, you're the boss?" she said seductive as she blew gentle in his ear.
It was all Frankie could do to keep the Model A between the lines of the road. All liquored up and his bout with recent excitement and the anticipation of even more excitement it was difficult to find the correct gear. To make matters worse, Neecy felt the need to play and began to touch Frankie in ways that were not conducive to allow his concentration to remain on the task of proper operation of the Model A. She continued her play as Frankie became more excited and as a result, his driving became more erratic.
The Model A wandered aimless as Frankie was even more distracted by the passenger's actions and intentions. Neecey, under Frankie's shirt, made her way down his torso with gentle kisses. Her exploration of Frankie's body allowed for much diverted attention. The frequent and brief off-road excursions by the Model A only intensified the excitement of the distracted and playful couple.
Neecy was now under the steering wheel and playing hard as Frankie's right foot followed instinct and pressed forward as the dutiful Model A responded. Frankie swerved left to right but managed to remain on the road. Speed was climbing fast and the scenery was but a blur as Frankie's attention wrestled between driving skills and Neecy skills. The struggle soon reached resolution and Frankie's foot eased off the accelerator. The speed decreased in rapid fashion as Frankie was in a lower gear at high speeds and winding-out the transmission. Neecy took her place on the passenger's side of the seat and took another long swig from the flask. Frankie was wiping the sweat from his brow as he regained control of the Model A. Frankie's attention remained a little dispersed and he did not notice a blind curve and plowed through the guard rail. There was a ninety foot drop past the rail and the Model A's nose dipped over the embankment and commenced its descent. It began to gain speed and Neecy screamed as Frankie wrestled with the steering wheel. The right front wheel caught a rut and the Model A turned sideways and rolled violently down the embankment. The crushed and twisted rod came to rest on its passenger side. The roof had been crushed near the windshield. A passerby stopped.
