Chapter Text
The night was hot and slick, the constant G-forces on the car from the high banks of Bristol didn’t help. Getting this late in the race you start to get lost in the track with how fast the laps go, you think with only having 4 corners you wouldn’t confuse them but it happens. Winding down the last 100 laps of the 500 lap slug of an event Alysa was feeling the burn. Settled into 13th after a restart on lap 327, crossing the stripe her spotter piped up “60 to go this time by.”
For the past 38 laps she was reeling in the #99 car in front of her, cutting down a second gap down to a couple tenths. That’s within striking distance, but still too much race left to use the bumper.
“50 to go”
Alysa’s spotter informed her the gap between the #99 and #17 was over half a second. With how the tires are worn this late she’ll only be able to pass the #99 before the races end. Amber was making her work for it, Alysa could swear she was mirror driving with how it seemed the #99 was always where she wanted to go.
“30 left”
Going into 3 Alysa got so close to the back of the #99 she swore she could see her reflection in the chrome bumper number. “Easy now, no need to make enemies over 12th. You’ll get around her.” Alysa hated being told how to drive, especially from her crew chief. “I swear the #99’s been predicting everything I do. It’s pissing me off.” Alysa rarely spoke over the radio during a race but she was getting heated.
“Car behind you picked up a few tenths, keep your head on your shoulders and bring it home.”
She was sweating buckets in the car. Becoming sick of the heat, sick of the noise, sick of the radio, sick of that damn #99 car.
It was a loud THUD, followed by the sound of 4 tires sliding across the concrete of the track.
Alysa had shipped the #99 from the bottom of 1 & 2 up to the marbles in the exit of 2, she was too far past the accident to hear if Amber hit the fence or not. All with 19 laps left. ”Fuck.” was all she said over the radio.
“No yellow, keep it rolling P12.” “What the fuck was that Alysa.”
Alysa never answered that question, she buckled down and ran like hell for those last few rounds around Bristol. Ended up passing 11th place on the outside with 6 to go. Crossed the stripe P11.
“P11. Not a bad night with the stage points we got early.” “Consider yourself lucky NASCAR hasn’t called you to the hauler for that.”
The weight of what Alysa did on lap 481 sat heavy. Amber was in the chase, she had a 1/16 shot at a title and Alysa just cost her a top 15 finish. A taboo since the start of the chase era was when a driver outside of the chase impacted the race of someone competing for a championship, and that's exactly what she did. As Alysa’s car whined down on the cool down lap, she didn’t even look towards the scoring pylon to see where Amber finished, if Amber finished. All she could think to herself was. “It was an accident.”
Alysa pulled her car down pit road to her stall and pulled herself out. She was taking off her helmet and gloves when she heard her crew chief shout her name from the top of the pit box. She spun to face her crew chief to see him pointing down behind her. In the same motion of her turning to where he was pointing she felt a hard and fast pressure across her face that knocked her onto her ass. Now looking up from the ground she saw that disheveled blonde hair and ford sponsored fire suit. The blood across Amber's knuckles told Alysa what just happened.
“Go fuck yourself Alysa. All of that for 12th?” Amber then spun around and walked away. Flipping her off with the same hand stained with Alysa’s blood.
Amber made it about 10 stalls before two officials caught up to her. She raised her hands like she was surrendering and let the officials guide her into the infield.
Her crew chief had gotten off the box and down to her by then. Asked if Alysa wanted to be taken to the care center. Alysa declined, asking for a ride to her motor coach instead. He obliged and after giving orders to the crew to pack up, they got onto the team golf cart and drove out the track under the tunnel.
Alysa went straight to the freezer when she entered her motor home, got an ice pack and went to the sink to clean up the blood stains on her face. Ice pack in hand she shuffled to the couch to doom scroll with the ice pack on her face. Very thankful she didn’t have to leave the track grounds until tomorrow morning.
After about half an hour there was a knock on her motor home's door. Alysa knew the possibility of it being Amber again and just accepted her fate. “It’s unlocked, come in.”
The door’s popped open and Alysa stared towards the front stairs to see Isabeau’s face turn the corner. She was relieved for all of 10 seconds that it wasn’t Amber only for Isabeau to shout at her. “You walled Amber for 12th!?” “She punched me in the face!” Alysa tried to swing Isabeau into sympathy but it didn’t bite. “Yeah I know, Connor showed me.” “Oh god there’s video evidence?” Alysa asked. Isabeau slipped out her phone, tapped on it a couple times and spun it to face Alysa.
Sure enough Connor caught the walk up of Amber approaching the #44’s stall, Phillip shouting, Alysa turning and then dropping. She winced at the recorded hit, almost like the injury flared up again seeing it from the third person. Isabeau sat beside her and scooched close, wrapping a friendly arm around Alysa’s shoulder. “Okay I’m done being angry. Did you or her apologize yet?” Alysa just shook her head. “I’ll text her now, I guess.” Alysa pulled out her phone tapped on it for a few minutes with Isabeau watching over her shoulder, correcting a grammar or spelling error here and there. Wrapping it up Alysa tapped send only for it to pop up with an error message. “She blocked your number.” “Thanks captain obvious, fuck me!” Alysa light tossed her phone onto the table and put her head in her hands.
“Not to be that guy.” Isabeau started, Alysa just listened. “Amber is now last in the chase standings” Alysa turned her head, a wide eye passing past her hand. “Where did she finish?” Alysa asked as she sat back up, attention fully directed at Isabeau. “31st, she cut a tire after a few laps from hitting the wall.” Guilt crept up Alysa’s body, She wanted to cry. So upset with herself for doing that, let alone doing it to her friend. “It was an accident.” Alysa’s voice cracked, tears started forming in the corners of her eyes. Isabeau pulled her into a soft embrace. “It’ll be okay Alysa. It’ll just take time and you’ll both just have to apologize the old fashion way.” “Could you spend the night, Isababy?” Alysa's request was weak. “Yeah, of course. Let me just go back to my bus and get my stuff.” Alysa forced a smile and a thank you before sinking back into the couch when Isabeau exited the doors.
Isabeau returned within 10 minutes with everything she needed. The two spent the night watching movies, eventually passing out.
Alysa's face hurt more in the morning than it did in the moment Amber punched her. Isabeau woke up before Alysa, already departed both the motor home and the race track. Alysa got herself cleaned up and fed before leaving herself. On the long drive back to Concord she thought long and hard about Amber.
NASCAR never talked to her about the incident on pit road, she did find out that Amber was put on probation for the rest of the season. Which at least meant Alysa was safe from any more physical contact.
The race weekends of Kansas and Las Vegas came and went. Alysa doing her best to dodge all onslaught of questions about Amber and if she was going to retaliate. Alysa pocketed a set of top 20s between the two mile and half tracks. Isabeau had a pretty gnarly wreck out of Kansas catching a little air after getting spun by the #23. Rebounding with a 9th at Las Vegas after a lucky two tire call. Resulting in her best finish of the season. Amber on the other hand was on fire. Finishing second in both races and with some other chasers misfortune she was 9th in the chase standings going into Charlotte.
Alysa always loved the Charlotte weekends, it was as close as you could get to a home game. Which meant more time at home, more time dodging Amber. The only problem is the game night they had scheduled for months. At Alysa’s house. For all three of them. That Alysa also forgot about.
Isabeau: Hey, have you talked to Amber yet?
Alysa: …
Alysa: no
Isabeau: We have game night tonight!
Alysa: oh
Alysa: im sick
Isabeau: It’s at your house
Alysa: shit
Alysa: have you talked to amber?
Isabeau: Yeah
Alysa: does she still hate my guts
Isabeau: You haven’t really come up in conversation
Isabeau: We’ve just be talking about how we’ve both been kicking ass
Alysa: a lot of smack talk from someone with one top ten this year
Isabeau: At least I don’t wreck my best friend for twelfth, Alysa.
That last message had a little sting to it. Alysa closed her phone, setting it on the couch and walking away to go start the menial chores needed for hosting game night. It dinged a few minutes later, a notification from the group chat.
Isabeau: Reminder! Game night at Alysa’s 7pm
Amber: kk
Alysa sent a thumbs up emote and groaned, returning to the chores at hand. By 6:30pm the chores were done, game boxes pulled from storage sitting stacked on the coffee table. Alysa popped out to go pick up the pizza’s she had ordered, her Tacoma roaring to life as she pressed the start button. Returning at 6:49pm with two large pizzas in hand. Perfect timing as her door bell rang a few minutes after she sat the boxes on the dining table. Alysa sprung around and made her way to front door, swinging it open to see Isa-
Amber.
Alysa choked for a second before greeting her guest, a simple “Hey Amber.” was all she spoke. Amber returned the energy with a “Hey” before walking in, taking her shoes off and excusing herself to the bathroom. Alysa swore sweat was forming on her brow. As she was standing at the open front door she did thankfully see Isabeau’s metallic blue Camaro pull up and park on the curb.
Amber was still in the bathroom when Isabeau walked in. The two girls got pizza and drinks, and decided between the two to start the night with a simple uno game. They chatted for a moment before Amber re-entered the living area. “Hey Ams, you okay?” Isabeau asked. Amber shrugged it off with a “Yeah, I’m good.” “I got pizza on the counter and there's Smirnoff’s in the fridge.” Alysa offered to Amber, the first real words she had said to her since Bristol. Amber grabbed a plate and a slice. “Cool, thanks.”
Amber joined the two at the table after grabbing a drink. They chatted for a little bit more, got through a few slices of pizza before starting their game. There was still an awkwardness in the air between Amber and Alysa, only made worse by the seating arrangement and the two plus4 cards Alysa had. The only two cards in her hand. She laid one down, Amber shot her a look before stacking her own plus4 on top. Isabeau continued the trend adding another plus4 to the pile, returning it to Alysa’s turn. Amber was down to three cards but the odds she had one more was slim, but then again Alysa held on to two. Alysa laid down her last card. “WOW” Isabeau exclaimed. Amber threw her remaining cards on the table. “You play cheap Alysa.” All Alysa could do was giggle. At that moment everything felt like it was normal. They played a few more hands before switching to a different game and cleaning up the leftover pizza.
“Anyone want to watch a movie or anything for background noise?” Alysa asked the group. “We haven’t watched kpop demon hunters in awhile.” Isabeau suggested. Alysa turned to Amber for an opinion which she just shrugged. Alysa took that as a yes and worked on getting to movie up on the TV. Isabeau had picked out ‘space base’ for their next game, which Amber and Alysa both reacted similarly. Neither of them had won against Isabeau in this game.
With the end credits rolling that statement stayed true. The group got 2 full games in and Isabeau won both of them. “Dude why are you cracked at this?” Alysa said as she packed up the game into its box. Amber giggled a little bit at the comment and Isabeau began to gloat. During the cleaning up, Amber checked her phone to find the time is a few minutes past midnight. “Shit it’s late.” “How late?” Isabeau asked, craning her neck over to read Amber’s phone. “12:09.” “Oh I’m sorry for keeping you guys so lat-.” “CAN WE STAY OVER.” Isabeau cut off Alysa. “Yes isababy you can stay, Amber you’re welcome to stay too.” Amber opened her mouth to decline Alysa’s invitation but Isabeau snapped to face Amber and begged her to stay too. Eventually Amber gave in. “Let me go grab my go-bag from my car.” Amber exited the house and returned with a backpack and pillow. “Damn, you keep a sleepover go-bag in your truck?” Isabeau asked. “You don’t?” “Dawg, I don't own a truck.” Amber rolled her eyes.
Isabeau fidgeted with the tv, deciding that the early AM was a good time to queue up the FNAF movies to watch. Amber excused herself to get changed and Alysa made popcorn. Everyone gathered on the couch with the movie rolling, that wave of normalcy rolled in again. Despite Isabeau picking the movies, she was the most vocal out of the 3. Resulting in a popcorn bowl shooting up in the air, and a snowfall of popped kernels. “Isabeau, why would you put this on if you couldn’t keep it together?” Alysa teased. Isabeau’s face reddened a tiny bit, Amber somehow filmed the whole thing. Posting it to her tiktok without the other two knowing. “No more ‘scary’ movies.” Alysa grabbed the remote, scanned the options and threw something else on.
The group calmed down with the popcorn mess cleaned. The hours rolled by and with the clock hitting 2AM, Isabeau was out. Amber noticed the little snores leaving her mouth and smiled for a second. Amber glanced over seeing Alysa scrolling through her phone, still wide awake. “Hey, Alysa?” Amber’s question slightly startled Alysa, now fully locked in on Amber. “Hi.” was all she retorted. “Do you care if I smoke outside?” Amber’s question puzzled Alysa, that was something new. “Yeah sure, I don’t care.” Amber got up moving to Alysa’s back deck.
Concord was beginning to cool down and fall swung into full swing. It was a nice cool temperature outside. The night sky was just bright enough to see the tree leaves phasing through colors. Amber quickly sparked and took in the peace of the outside. She heard the sliding door open and close behind her. “Fall here is so pretty.” Alysa said, approaching Amber, standing beside her leaning on the banister of the deck. Amber nodded, before digging in her hoodie pocket and pulling out a box. “Want one?” Amber darted her eyes at Alysa. Alysa took one out of the mostly empty box and Amber’s lighter. It took her a few tries but Alysa eventually got embers to flash on the end of the cigarette.
“So when did this start?” Alysa asked, not making eye contact with Amber. She cringed at herself for asking the question as soon as the words left her lips. “Darlington.” Amber’s answer was honest. “I haven’t told you or Isababy yet but there’s a lot of pressure on me this post season.” Alysa directed her attention to Amber opening up. “RFK is downsizing at the end of the year, and we don’t know who’s getting cut.” Alysa’s eyes widened and the guilt she felt 3 weeks ago returned. “Amber, fuck. I’m so sorry.” Alysa’s words were choppy. “I thought your contract was from 24-27?” Amber took another drag before answering. “Well with this team contracts don’t really mean shit, look what happened to Stenhouse after 2019. Also if we lose the charter they’re not going to field an open car for a season.”
The two girls fell silent, letting the embers fade out. Alysa put hers out and directed her body towards Amber. “I’m sorry Amber. I’m sorry about junking you at Bristol, I completely lost focus and just cleaned you out. I didn’t mean to and I know it’s awful I’ve waited this long to talk to you about it.” “It’s my fault that you couldn’t apologize to me, I blocked your number when they had me in the NASCAR Hauler. I was super overwhelmed and panicking.” Amber paused for a moment, putting hers out as well. “-And I’m sorry for knocking you on your ass.” Amber brushed her hand delicately over the spot she previously hit with force. “It looks like it’s healed okay.” Alysa blushed a little from the contact, a small smile forming on her face. “I deserved it Amber, I’m not upset with you.” Alysa wrapped her arms around Amber, pulling her into a light embrace that was matched. Alysa broke the embrace. “Did you see the video of it?” Amber shot her questioning eyes. “You decking me?” “There’s a video of it?” “Yeah Connor caught it, Isabeau showed me after the race.” Alysa said as she pulled out her phone.
“Wow, that looks so much worse from the third person.” Amber covered her mouth as Alysa played it again. “That’s what I said!” Alysa ended her sentence with a light laugh. “Come on, let's go back inside. Try to sleep a little bit.” Amber went and slid open the door, leaving it open for Alysa to step in before closing it behind them.
Returning to the couch, still finding Isabeau passed out. Amber grabbed the remote, putting on reruns of a cop drama. Alysa got comfy on her side of the couch. After a few minutes Amber returned to the living area. Picking up her pillow and blanket off the couch. Alysa was confused but before she could ask, Amber was walking towards her side of the couch. Amber set up her belongings next to Alysa and slid under her blanket. “Hey.” “Hi.” “Are we okay now?” Alysa asked Amber not wanting to make eye contact. Amber threw her arms lightly over Alysa giving her a squeeze. “Yes, I forgive you if you forgive me.” “I do.” A smile spread over Amber's face.