Tuning Lives (Part 1-3)

Part 1: The Out-Of-Town Tuner

Daniel grasped the last of many wilted plants that resided on the hillside.
This particular improvised hand-hold was spinier than the rest, which was only overshadowed by Daniel's feeling of triumph for finally reaching the top.
"The top" being a small gravel landing that was nearly one of a kind on Mt. Lavenner.
What made this particular spot so desirable, that Daniel would get his hands all dirty and itchy, is that it resided right next to the only road down Mt. Lavenner.
Daniel swiped off the dirt on his clothes nonchalantly before checking his watch.
10:02.
He had a few minutes before his plan came to fruition, so he turned his attention to the city.
Kelmont stretched out all over the valley, more out than up, with several skyscrapers interrupting the faintest signs of the sunset that tailored to the longest night of summer.
The lights twinkled in rival of the sky, what a perfect night.

Admiring over, Daniel turned back to the guard rail and beyond that, the road.
He could already imagine the rest of the race.
He broke it into two parts.
Firstly, the Mazda RX-7 just had more to it power wise, and would muscle out a lead against the Nissan 240SX on the first straight stretch.
However, the 240SX sat with a more experienced driver, as someone had mentioned about the out-of-towner.
Therefore, with some of the later long corners, like the one Daniel stood at now, the RX-7 had a good chance of being past.
The RX-7 was still the favorite to win though, as people had often seen its power leave its opponent's headlights a few corners behind it.

Daniel had heard about the race weeks ago, and had spent a good deal of time reading up on both cars, and had decided to make this his watch point.
He had first noticed this personal viewing spot from the very commonly chosen corner that he could see up the mountain on the other side of the road.
While he was waiting for the racers a few weeks ago, like he was now, he had examined the course and had, mostly by chance, noticed the little spot.
He knew it wouldn't be easy to reach, between not having a car and beyond that, not being able to just park it on the road, Daniel had elected to climb up from below it.
Only now, after examining his clothes closer, did he realize what a bad idea that had been. His jeans had several holes in them, and a greater number of tears.
His shirt was dirty and frayed in several areas and finally, his shoes were practically ruined from the mud.
He regretted for only a moment, before mentally shrugging it off on cue with the sound of motors and screeching tires, cheers from the corner above, and the swing of headlights above.
It must be close, Daniel thought, and it was only a matter of time now before the 240SX and RX-7 passed by the crucial point in the race, the spot where Daniel stood.
Daniel had always admired the street racers that sped the mountain passes, and these two were going to be something.

It was all over in a few seconds.
Both cars had made the first left turn to come into Daniel's view at top speed.
The out-of-towner must have done his homework as to know that that corner was only a preliminary to the lengthy one where Daniel stood a little ways past its Apex.
There must have been some desperation now for the follower, because as the RX-7 flashed its brakes the 240SX only lowered its engine's hum before both cars broke into a long drawn out slide, each of which started slow, precise and meaningful.
But as the desperation now set on the RX-7, who's driver soon realized how fast his opponent was cornering on the outside of him, he knew he'd be over taken if he didn't act quickly, so he steered his car inside a few degrees and put the smallest amount of his foot's weight on the gas.
The result was instantaneous but not completely desired as the RX's back end slid within inches of the 240SX's front fender.
The two cars slid nearly parallel but if the slid continued as it was the winner would be obvious.
With the inside line on the next corner and no other place to pass on the mountain, all the 240SX had to do was catch its tires and the rest would be simple.
But instead, when the 240SX driver tried accelerating out of the corner, his sideways inertia overcame everything else, and all the weight shifted to the right, throwing the car nearly into the guard rail where Daniel stood.
With just enough clearance on the narrow road, the RX-7 came out of its slide and sped out of the corner.

Daniel got his first good look at the out-of-towner's car as it slowly recovered from its failed corner.
Although he was no expert on cars, Daniel could distinctly tell that it didn't look like an 240SX S13 like his friend had.
Nor did it sound or act the same.
That car that burned away from Daniel was something special, and Daniel felt a little remorse for it having lost the way it did. But beyond that, after witnessing what he did, Daniel felt free.

Part 2: The Ride

Daniel finally blinked after what seemed like hours later.
When his gaze fully focused, he witnessed the slew of wanna-be's and enthusiasts make the slow haul down the mountain, bumper to bumper, like rush hour for the people of this culture.
Every headlight and brake light flashing the vision that was now burned into Daniel's memory.
He had never seen a race so vividly.
When he stood with the other people, he was always too short to see anything but flashes of cars and headlights and he could barely hear the engines and tires over the crowd.
Beside's that, Daniel fell under the category of naturally incognito.
He was generally shy, which showed in his dark eyes when you could see them past his mousy brown hair.
But this night was different.
The reflecting dance of leaves and headlights, the smell of tires and asphalt, and the sharp lightning second of machine and man taking full advantage of physics.
But beyond that, Daniel felt like in that split second, he had seen into the people who drove those monsters.
Daniel carefully climbed over the guardrail when the line of cars came to a temporary stop, and crossed to the empty side of the road, as no one was driving up the mountain.
Daniel ignored the driver who was yelling something about dirt on his car and began going down the mountain.
Again and again his mind played over the numbing sensation of the two drifting cars.
He was so into the replaying thought that he jumped when a lone oncoming car honked at him.
Daniel only had enough time for a quick step to the left and fell to the misfortune of a pot hole full of water being splashed up at him by the passing car.
He scowled at his luck of being dirty, muddy, and now, soaked. He ringed out his shirt and walked on, nearly questioning now if the whole night was worth it.
Daniel did not have to wait long for something to remind him as to why he came up here.
It was another honk that sounded exactly like the last, followed by one of the driver's stuck in traffic calling out.
"Hey you!" the driver called, but Daniel ignored him, as he didn't want any trouble.
But the driver persisted: "Hey! Do you want a ride?"
At this, Daniel turned around and saw that it was the 240SX that raced earlier, now ironically stuck in the rush of traffic down the mountain.
"Well?" the driver called again.
Daniel hesitated as the all the cars moved forward before coming to a stop again.
"Ummm...sure." Daniel answered, and made the best of his next opportunity to get over to the car.
Daniel crossed to the passenger side before being struck with the realization of how dirty he was.
"Actually I better not," Daniel changed his mind to the driver, "I'll get the inside of your car all muddy."
To Daniel's surprise, because he could not see anyone through the dark black window tint, the passenger side window rolled down.
An older looking girl with reddish-blond hair sat in the seat, and she smiled amusingly at Daniel in response to his concern.
"We have to clean the inside out anyway." She said matter-of-factly, as she stared hard into his eyes, "So it's not a problem."
The girl got out and leaned the front seat up so Daniel could get into the back.
"Jump in."
There were fast-food wrappers and pop cans among other things littering the floor, which was not visible below the garbage.
Daniel caught himself staring, but the girl saved him from embarrassment by introducing herself.
"Oh right, yeah, hi, I'm Paige." she said, and held out her hand.
Daniel went to shake it, but she pulled a switch, and instead pulled him into the car and threw him into the back seat, before sitting down hurridly up front.
"Yeah, I'm.....hey what?! Ow!" Daniel exclaimed as he joined the mess of the back seat.
"Kidnapping again, Paige?" The driver asked loosely as he moved the car forward before quickly stopping again.
"It's not kidnapping if they want to come." Paige started, "Beside's Trevor, he climbed up all that way just so he could have a chance to see you race. So we owe him a ride, he was just taking too long to jump in."
"Heh, I guess." Trevor resigned coolly.
Daniel straightened himself with the rustling of the backseat's garbage. He looked over the driver, Trevor.
Trevor had messy dyed black hair, large gauged pierced ears, and looked older as well.
He held the steering wheel loosely while tapping his fingers to the music he had playing.
Then something struck Daniel as odd.
"Wait, how did you know I climbed up there to watch him race?" Daniel spoke up.
"Because there's no other reason for you to climb up to there." Paige answered.
"No, I mean how did you know I was there?"
"Well because I saw you obviously. Looking all dirty and petty. I told Trevor that if we saw you while we drove down, we'd give you a ride. You must be the only one stupid enough to not drive, it would have taken you hours to walk back down."
Daniel smiled as the car moved forward and stopped again.
"Yeah, like as long as this will take." he whispered.
"Touche." Paige admitted, hearing him.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Trevor agreed. "Well, I guess it's no use keeping this up."
And with that, Trevor honked, pulled into the oncoming lane and accelerated.
Paige laughed of triumph, and Daniel flew back into his seat with a perplexed look on his face, before laughing too.
"Later fags!" Paige yelled out the window as she blew kisses to all the motorists still stuck in the line.
Daniel laughed at her and Trevor smiled to himself as they flew down the mountain.

"So how long have you two been going out?" Daniel asked conversationally as they sat in Walt's, an all-night restaurant that was Daniel's favorite.
"What?" Paige asked, confused.
Daniel jumped shiftily. "Uhh...never mind."
"But what did you say?" Paige asked.
"I was just wondering how long you two have been going out, but it really...." Daniel was interrupted by Trevor and Paige bursting out into laughter.
Trevor brought himself under control first. "Very funny. We're brother and sister."
"Oh...." Daniel sighed, embarrassed. "But you don't look very alike."
And it was true.
"Half, parents met and got married." Paige explained, now having stopped laughing.
"Oh..." Daniel sighed again, feeling awkward.
"Don't worry about it." Trevor suggested as their food arrived, "You're not the first person to ask that."
"Oh okay." Daniel said, feeling a little better.
Daniel watched Trevor dig in, and generally did everything he could to avoid the way Paige looked at him.
Half in disbelief, half in amusement, she stared, with him looking out the window, and Trevor eating.
He didn't know it, but that moment would burn into his memory as something to always remember.

Part 3: The New Beginning

Daniel wiped the grease off of his hands.
It had been nearly a month since he had witnessed the race that changed his life.The race that had really changed him."How does that look to you?" Trevor asked, whipping his head out from under the hood of his 240SX.
Daniel looked over the engine.
Every inch of the now maitenenced engine looked nicely in place.
"Looks fine to me." Daniel stated.
"Heh, I better look over it again then. You still have quite a bit to learn about engines." Trevor reminded.
Daniel shrugged as Trevor rechecked everything.
He had spent the past week or so helping Trevor and Paige with the 240SX.
He had mostly done trivial things, a hand here or there and an extra pair of eyes, but he felt he knew enough to know how to help, and was more or less correct in that assumption.
"Well it looks alright." Trevor said as he emerged from his double check, "Guess I won't know until the next time I race."
Daniel nodded.
He remembered Trevor's last race against a Mazda Miata.

Trevor had entrusted Daniel to learn everything he could about the opponent's car, as he was impressed when Daniel admitted how much he knew about Trevor's car.
Luckily for Daniel, Taylor's Miata was well known.
Her Mazda MX-5 NC had a carbon fibre hood ("As if the Miata wasn't light enough." Trevor had said), lime green neon under lights, and a screaming bubblegum pink paint job.
Daniel had also found it easy to find people who knew the car, but he had, however, found it difficult finding out exactly what was under the Miata's hood that made it a reputable mountain racer.
People either talked about a "bolt-on" or a "swap".
When he had reported these things to Trevor, he had been bothered by both prospects, but mainly the latter.
"More power to a feather on wheels like that means trouble." Trevor had admitted.
Daniel's mind had worked fast, and he started talking, with out-of-character confidence, as to where the Miata could attack on the mountain, one such spot being "Daniel's Cursed Curve" (Paige had called it).
Both Paige and Trevor had looked at Daniel in amazement after his ten minute long rant on Lavenner's course.
"What?" Daniel asked, confused by their impressed looks.

Trevor had spent the days working out the kinks in suspension for Kelmont's mountain pass, and adjusting his cars engine for a little sharper of acceleration ("The engine won't like the extra pressure, but I'll need it for this one." Trevor had admitted before turning to Paige "Just this once.").
During the night, Trevor, Paige, and Daniel went up to Mt. Lavenner to work on the techniques to tackle certain corners that took more than Trevor's instincts.
Paige had made several good points, and Trevor was well prepared for the race.

"Wish me luck." Trevor said, as he let Paige and Daniel out at Daniel's Cursed Curve.
"Good luck." Daniel said before climbing over the guard rail.
"You better win, I've got money on this one." Paige said with a smile before following Daniel off the road.
Trevor drove away up the mountain to the starting line, leaving Paige and Daniel alone in the dark.

Silence sat between them as they waited, until Daniel tried to break it:
"Did you actually bet on the race?"
"No." Paige answered truthfully.
"Then why did you say?" Daniel inquired
"It'll make him race better, he knows I get mad when I lose bets."
They both snickered.
"He really is something." Daniel said conversationally.
"Yeah. I'm glad he takes me with him." Paige agreed.
Silence.
"I'm glad I met you guys..." Daniel trailed off quietly.
"Hmmm?" Paige said, snapping out of her thoughts, "Did you say something sentimental?"
"Uhhh....." Daniel turned a little red.
"Heh, you're always doing that." Paige smiled, "You talk like you could die any second."
"Well I could." Daniel said trying to recover.
But Paige just gave him a sceptical look.
More Silence.
"It's just...." Daniel started, but stopped when he caught eyes with Paige.
"Just what?" Paige asked softly.
"It's just I wish we packed some food, I'm hungry." Daniel admitted honestly.
Paige stared at him in surprise, before falling over with laughter.
"But beyond that," Daniel continued in a more serious tone that made Paige sit up in curiosity, "My life wasn't the same before you two. I mean I had no plans, after high school, so I just worked and slept and ate and lived and wasted. I feel like I'm actually doing something now."
Paige stood up and moved closer to him.
"Trevor said he probably wouldn't be going into this race with any confidence if it wasn't for you. He's really thankful. Without you, this would have only been a practise battle and another lose under his reputation."
Daniel looked at Paige in reaction to her sincerity.
"And I'm glad you're around too." She admitted shyly.
They locked eyes and Daniel could feel his face getting warm and his palms sweaty.

The screeching of tires interrupted their moment.
They both rushed up to the guardrail to witness the Miata and Trevor race by.
Trevor's practise had paid off, and he held the corner with the Miata just behind him.
There would be no passing anywhere else in the race, and the 240SX got it's first win on new turf.

Trevor had raced back up the mountain to pick up Paige and Daniel.
When they got in the car, he was silent.
They congratulated him and talked about other stuff, expanding what they had in common, all the way to Walt's, Trevor not saying a word.

They got their usual table and ordered their regulars, the night waitress Leslie now knowing them by name from the multiple times they've come in.
"What's wrong?" Paige asked, hoping that her worst fear hadn't come true, and her secret was still safe.
But Trevor stayed silent.
"Trevor...man..." Daniel started as Trevor pulled a pink piece of paper out of his pocket.
Paige looked shocked.
Daniel looked confused.
Trevor was still silent.
"You raced for pink slips?!" Paige exclaimed.
"No..." Trevor finally spoke.
"Then what...?"
Trevor unfurled the paper.
There were seven digits on it, a heart, and a name.
"Taylor...." Daniel said, musing the name over.
"You got her number?!"
Daniel and Paige looked at Trevor with anticipation and burst into laughter when he nodded.
Trevor's smile grew and grew, until he was laughing too, as the waitress cleaned up their plates.