Prologue Race Part 2

So we had two options; either navigate through the rush hour traffic of 8:00 AM, hoping we won't be held up, or take the much longer but safer route through the mountain pass which won't have too much traffic. Aki and I are like, "Yeaa we'll go through the pass". And Catalina, being the genius that she is, says "I'll stick to the city, I think I can take the back alleys and stuff to avoid traffic." Before turning left and instantly being held up by some slow moving cars going side by side. Those back alleys aren't wide enough to accommodate a Cappuccino.

So Me and Aki start driving again heading towards the twisted turns of the mountains. As expected, the traffic isn't too light but it's light enough for us to overtake them through the opposite lane. After a while, we hear a sound for a split second. The same kind of sound when someone gets disconnected from the radio.

"She out of range?" I ask.

"Seems so, but say the "thing" anyway just to be sure."

"Ok." I reply before breathing in and screaming "SUZUKIS SUCK ASS!". We wait a few seconds for a reply.

"No insult?" I say.

"Nope, Doesn't seem so. Definitely out of range".

"Nice. So Aki, help me out here, let me take the lead for now and you'll bump-draft me on the longer straights. We can battle for a position later. Let's just catch up to Catalina first."

"That is assuming Catalina is actually moving here. It's New York level traffic out in the city."

And thus Aki doesn't defend a corner here like his life depends on it on a corner letting me take the lead. After the corner, it's a long straight, I get the better exit and it doesn't take long for Aki to catch up and start pushing my car. After a few minutes of driving, we see Imperial Café on the horizon. And our draft train turns into a drag race as Aki swerves to the lane next to me and we both step on the throttle. And on a rolling drag race from 160 KMH against a supercar with like a 100 HP advantage over me, I got zero chance. Aki is pulling away from me. But it doesn't matter. I'm not worried about winning a drag race. I just need to not be in last.

But Catalina is back in range and joined the radio.

"Yo... I did get held up in the traffic, But... I got my foot flat to the floor now that I'm at the outskirts of town." I get slightly anxious and I shift to 5th gear without lifting off the gas pedal.

"Looks like the drag race that didn't matter does matter after all." I say to myself.

But then I realize that Catalina is a whole 3 Kilometers away from us.

"Well we already have the finish line in view. " Aki replies.

"Buuut Guess what... Had my comms turned off until I had the destination on view just for a nice surprise attack. Looks like it'll be a drag race to the end."

"Tyler, you might just quit the race and head on over to a nearby ATM."

"..." Yeah I got no words here.

After that, Aki and Catalina arrive at the finish line at nearly the same time, Aki being just ahead of Catalina. And I arrive right behind Aki.

"So who won?" Aki asks.

"Doesn't matter does it?" Catalina replies. "Guess not." Aki says as both of them turn their heads to me.

"Did you know I left my wallet and cards at home?".

"Bullshit" They simultaneously say and Aki follows it up with "And even if you did you'd still have enough change in your car to pay for everything."