Night Drive

“…I know… yeah… haha…” my future wife spoke into her phone as we pulled to the red light in the middle of the two lane freeway.
I was smoldering beneath my calm exterior. She’d spent the whole night hanging on her ex and flirting. Very unlike her, but it had had its effect on me, her new boyfriend.
“Yeah, seriously… yeah, he’s right here.” She said glancing at me.
I sighed, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this new feeling. But, I could feel the fire in my belly. I heard the sound of a blow off valve to my left as another sports car came rumbling to a stop. What a beauty over there, must of cost 3 times what my little coupe had. We both had limo tint on the front windows (illegal in the state, I had paid 2 fines that year, plus speeding tickets, I was up to 4 points on my license, yeah, I was such an idiot, pissing away money and driving like a moron for my ‘image’), but I could feel the other driver’s stare as he revved the motor of his rear-engined European beast.
“Maybe… we’ll see… ye-” her voice was drowned out as I pressed the gas in neutral, the roar of my own naturally aspired power plant under the hood.
“Honey, I don’t think people in the next county heard how much you spent on your new cams, seriously, what are you doing?” She asked turning from her phone.
“Nothing baby, just greeting our friend over here.” I revved the motor again, hearing the throaty rumble of the back pressure as the RPM’s dropped when I let off the throttle.
The European replied, exhaust crackling like distant thunder.
“What are you doing? You aren’t going to race this guy ar-” She was once again drowned out as the light turned green, I spun the rear wheels but the car leapt forward like a tiger springing after prey. A wildfire was raging throughout my core, fueled by hot jealousy. The European wasn’t far behind, I could hear his turbo charger spooling up giving chase like a banshee as we sped down the freeway.
“Oh my gosh, stop this, we are going to die! Cynthia, I’m going to have to call you back, Jason is being a child.” She screamed.
“Nah, there’s no way we can beat him, but nothing wrong with a nice drive along the picturesque coast road at night, eh?” I frowned popping her into fourth and watching the speedo blow past 120 mph as I turned into the long sweeping turn ahead.
“Oh we are going to die…” My she cried covering her eyes.
I felt the fire turning inward and consuming itself, the oxygen sucked away, it began to puff out little by little. The European was gaining length by length, only a matter of time, on the straight he unleashed the full might of his force induction and blew past me, just as he passed I slammed on the brakes, the smell of burning rubber filling the air as the car came to a screeching halt in the middle of the empty roadway in a surprisingly short distance, glad those new rotors and cooling ducts worked so well, the motor meekly idled like a tamed kitten.
“What the hell is wrong with you! I can’t believe you’d do such a thing, you could have gotten us both killed! What were you thinking?! What are you doing?” She finished saying and started crying.
“Nothing baby, I was just testing out the new brakes. Shhh, shhh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I said, let out a sigh, the fire was gone, I felt the cathartic release, and now I felt bad of course for being a childish asshole; as a young man, it was hard to find constructive ways to deal with my emotions.
I caressed her shoulder and she turned and we hugged. The night noises, crickets, and the sea crashing against the rocks in the distance could be heard muffled by the windows. I put the car in gear and started back up the road, opened the moonroof and looked up at the stars, my future wife calmed herself, she tuned the radio and lay back looking up to the night sky as we drove.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t know you felt that way about me.”
I vowed never to let my temper or jealousy run away with me like that again, never to keep it inside and let it consume me. What a naive vow to make.