As June turned to July, I found myself spending every waking hour with Judy and Rex. I'd spend most of the week helping them get the car ready, then join them every Saturday for the races.

I grew closer to Judy in the process. She'd teach me little things here and there, like how to change the oil in her car or what the hell a socket wrench was. But, when we weren't watching races or working on her car, we'd go into town for lunch, or head to the drive-in. And some days we'd just stay at her place, talking 'till late in the night.

My dad wasn't necessarily happy with all the time I was spending away from home, but Trisha encouraged it. She said it was good for me to make friends, that it would give me something to do.

All in all, I was starting to enjoy small town living...

July, 1973

Judy and I laid on the floor underneath her car.

"Can you hand me the half-inch socket?" She asked.

I rolled over and grabbed the wrench from the toolbox.

"What're you working on?" I asked, handing her the wrench.

"Pullin' the rear end out so I can put shorter gears in it."

I just looked at her, no clue as to what she was talking about.

She chuckled. "The shorter the gears, the harder the car will launch."

"Oh, why not start with that?"

She smiled and nudged me. "How else are you supposed to learn?"

I smiled back, staring deep into those big brown eyes of hers. To lost to even answer.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Well?"

"You have really pretty eyes..." I replied.

She giggled, a light shade of pink forming on her cheeks. "So do you..."

I felt my face flush as she looked at me, appraising me.

"Can I ask you something..?"

I just nodded.

She finally moved her eyes from mine, seemingly nervous. "Well, I was wonderin'-"

The sound of the barn door opening startled us apart.

"Come take a look, Judy!" Rex called out, setting a heavy box on the workbench.

We shared a quick smile before rolling out from under the car.

"Oh, hey, darlin'. You're here early." Rex said as I approached.

I shrugged. "Couldn't sleep much."

He just nodded, looking between the two of us.

"Anyway, what you got there?" Judy asked.

Rex seemed to snap back to reality. "Oh, right. I have your ticket to beating that jackass Ronnie Burch." He said as he ripped the box open, revealing a large, complicated piece of metal.

Judy whistled. "Woo, ain't that pretty?"

"What is it?" I asked.

"This, my dear, is a supercharger. It'll push more air into the motor which means more power." Rex replied.

I nodded. "Alright, let's get to work then."

   Rex and Judy shared a quick smile before grabbing some tools to get started...

   It was around midnight when we finally got the thing on right and tuned in.

   "Start her up." Rex said.

   I sat behind the steering wheel and turned the key. The car started up just like it always did, this time though, it emitted an extra whining sound.

   "Is it supposed to be making that noise?" I asked.

   "Yep." Rex replied.

   "Give it some gas." Judy added.

   I nodded and stepped down on the pedal a few times, the familiar feeling rushing up my leg and a smile forming on my face.

   "Alright, cut it." Rex said.

   I shut the car off and joined them by the engine.

   "Well, she sounds good, but we'll have to do some test runs to really dial it in." Rex said.

   Judy nodded. "How 'bout tomorrow?"

   Rex lifted his hat and rubbed his head. "Well, I'll be kinda busy tomorrow."

   "I'll go." I chimed in.

   Judy glanced at me, a small smile on her lips. "Alright, it's settled then."

   After finishing up the work on the rear end for tomorrow, we walked outside and closed up the barn.

   "Alright, ladies, I'll see you Saturday for the race." Rex said before waving and walking off to his truck.

   "You headin' out to?" Judy asked.

   "Unless you don't mind me hanging around for a little while longer..."

   She smiled. "I don't mind, actually there's something I've been meaning to show you. Wait right here."

   I smiled and nodded as she ran back into her house, re-emerging a minute later with a huge blanket.

   "Nice blanket?"

   She chuckled. "This isn't it, silly. Follow me."

   I laughed a little as I followed behind her.

   We walked down a narrow trail that led deep into the woods, emerging a few minutes later into a huge, open field.

   "Wow." Was all I could get out as I took in the beautiful view.

   She laid the blanket out in front of us. "This isn't even the best part."

   Then, she laid back on the blanket and patted the spot next to her.

   I joined her and looked up at the sky, it was lit up with thousands of stars, all spread as far as the eye could see.

   I let out a low whistle. "Now this is a view."

   "Tell me about it."

   I pointed up at the sky. "Look, there's Hercules."

   She moved her head closer to mine, attempting to look exactly where my finger was pointing.

   "Where? It just looks like a bunch of dots to me."

   I laughed as I tried to point out all the constellations I could see, unsurprisingly, she didn't see a single one. But, that didn't matter, what mattered was the time we had together. I found it fun just talking to her. There were so many things we've learned from each other in the last month and I was really looking forward to learning more...

   After about an hour or two, we finally made it back to her farmhouse.

   "This has been great, but you should be getting home, I don't want your parents to worry."

   I nodded. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."

   She nodded back. "I can't wait."

   I waved goodbye and started heading on my way, when a thought occurred to me.

   I turned back before she could make it inside. "Hey, Judy? What were you gonna ask me earlier?"

   She stopped at her door and looked down, that same pink hue lighting up her cheeks. "Nothing that can't wait 'till tomorrow, now get your behind back home before your parents come lookin' for you."

   I smiled, a small laugh escaping me. "Fine, see you later."

   "Bye."

   I quietly walked back into our house, hoping to be able to sneak in without my parents noticing.

   Unluckily for me, my father was up and waiting.

   "Do you have any idea what time it is?" He asked.

   I lowered my head and shut the door. "No."

   "It's two in the morning!" He scolded.

   "I'm sorry, dad. I promise not to stay out this late anymore."

   He sat back in his chair, staring a hole right through me. "You've been spending an awful lot of time with this new friend of yours."

   I rolled my eyes. "It's not like that, dad."

   "It better not be, because if I see anything like that, I'll put an end to this little 'friendship' and you'll never see her again. Understand?"

   I lowered my head, a few tears threatening to leak out. "Yes, dad."

   "Good, now go to your room."

   I slowly walked upstairs to my room, the fear of losing Judy spinning through my head...