Wrestling like this feels familiar, like returning home after a long time abroad. Walking through the front door and kicking off his shoes.
Until Robert whispers, “Don’t get hard.”
Matt yelps and retrieves his hands, shoving them under his armpits. He’s not turned on—not even close. It’s such a—a stupid and terrible thing to even suggest.
Robert’s smile is still teasing, but there’s a gleam in his eye Matt hasn’t seen in years. Matt’s cheeks heat as he turns away, back towards the director. “Next question, maybe?”
“Burgers or tacos?”
Matt knows his face is probably red, but still, he points to tacos. He nods with approval when Robert chooses the same.
“Giving gifts or spending time with someone?”
They both choose spending time.
Robert explains, “We don’t get a lot of time off, so time is just more valuable than things are.”
“You guys are agreeing on a lot more than I expected, hang on.” The director pulls out his phone and scrolls. “Let's find one you disagree on. Pop or rock music?”
“Country,” they say, in unison. It was all Mr. Miller played, so their childhood was adapt-or-die.
“Travel back in time or forward?”
“Back,” they both say, but Matt even knows the exact moment he’d return to.
“Wet circuit or dry?”
“Wet.”
“Boobs or bu—no, that’s too raunchy for this.”
“Butts.”
“Cats or dogs?”
Matt hesitates. “I don’t really have a preference, do you?”
Robert shakes his head. “They’re both nice, but I’m gone too long to own pets.”
“Yeah, I could pick one if you need us to say something different from each other?”
The director just groans. “A couple months ago you wouldn’t even talk to each other. Now you can’t disagree on anything?Anything?!”
“I’m cool with dogs?” Robert says.
“Yeah, cats are nice.”
In Bangkok, both drivers are knocked out at the end of Q2, landing Matt in eleventh and Robert in twelfth.
On his springy hotel bed, Matt taps his pencil eraser against the back of the closed laptop. He needs to do something different this weekend. The way they’ve been racing isn’t working for either of them, it’s just keeping both drivers outside of the points.
Well, if Andes is going to make him concede the spot anyway, maybe Matt can just save himself from future frustration and plan his race strategy with that in mind.
Matt powers up his laptop and grabs his notebook, ready to dissect races from the point of view of both his teammate and everyone else starting around them.
It’s a good enough plan in theory, but the more he watches, the more frustrated Matt gets with Robert’s driving. He’s not surethey’re close enough yet for feedback, but since it’ll affect his own race, he takes a leap and texts.
You jump too early when you try to pass in fast turns, losing valuable time and tire deg when you recover.
