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ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY - February 25th
Kate’s speeding down the back straightaway with Peter taking up her entire rearview mirror. Her heart pounds in her ears and all she can really think about right now is how dry her throat is.“Clear up top,” her spotter, Pietro, reports, “top line is seven back. 16’s behind.”She dives into turn three and four, praying that Peter doesn’t get an advantage up top and digging into the throttle as she comes out of the corner.Kate’s pretty sure that Pietro says something else, but all she can comprehend is Peter encroaching on her and going wide up top. She’s pretty sure that he’s next to her when she crosses the finish line.In that moment, she’s convinced that her heart stops beating until she hears Clint whoop through the radio, “You got it!”“Holy shit!” Kate calls out, easing off the throttle as feeling returns to her body. She won, she won, she won. “Thank you guys, great work, you’re all amazing. And someone please tell Peter he’s buying tonight.”Peter love-taps her back bumper and she sees his hand hang out of his window when he passes by her, waving. Kate’s not sure if tears are falling down her face or sweat.By the time she does her burnout and gets out of the car to get her checkered flag, she’s vibrating with excitement. An interviewer is waiting by the car when she walks back down the track and Kate finally takes off her helmet and HANS device, egging the crowd on for another cheer as she puts them in the car.“Kate, what a win!”Kate’s grin is face-splitting as she runs her fingers over her sweat-dampened bangs, “Oh my god! We’re going to the playoffs!”The crowd roars again and Kate grins, “I’d like to thank my crew chief, Clint, my spotter, Pietro, and my whole pit team and of course, my dad for getting me here and making sure I didn’t oversleep this morning. And my sponsors, thank you Coca-Cola, thank you Xfinity, and thank you Twitch for this dope paint scheme today.”“Congratulations on the win, how did you hold off the 16 car on those final laps?” the interviewer asks.“Well,” Kate glances back at her car, the scuffs on the front left of the bumper from when the 8 car crossed over before he was clear sticking out like a sore thumb, “Peter’s a great driver, so I really just had to not let him get close enough to me. He puts up a good fight every time we race for whatever position and then we get beers after. Great teammate, can’t wait for him to win this season.”“There was a discussion among a lot of teams about fuel consumption, was that ever a worry for you and the 23 team?”“No, no,” Kate shakes her head, thankful that her brain is half-working, “we stayed out on that final caution because we were confident in our fuel consumption. Would we be cutting it a bit close if there was an overtime, yeah, but Clint and I have a lot of trust in each other and it worked out really really well.”“Well, congratulations again, Kate,” the interviewer smiles pleasantly at her, “Celebrate this win!”Kate grins and waves to the crowd again before taking her checkered flag out of her car and waving it even harder, leading the crowd to cheer even louder.There’s nothing like winning a race.When she gets the car into victory lane, her crew chief, Clint, is waiting there already by the trophy and with her hat in his hand. She puts it on backwards, something that the press has loved to run with because it’s her “thing.” Kate thinks it’s cool that she has a thing, if she’s being honest.As soon as she steps out of the car, confetti goes off and she laughs loudly, overcome with excitement and even avoiding cringing when soda’s sprayed all over her. She won the race. The rest of it matters later.They take photos, Kate’s father pulls her into a hug and whispers a congratulations in her ear, and she toasts a Coca-Cola as part of her sponsorship deal and tries to not cringe at the taste as she takes a couple more interviews about the win.She’s finally released from her press obligations after an hour and she sees that her dad is speaking to a redhead and a blonde. The redhead is easy to place - Natasha Romanoff, a former IMSA powerhouse who now runs a portion of Penske motorsports. She’s shorter in person.Who really catches Kate’s eye, though, is the blonde next to Natasha. Short golden hair is tucked behind her ears and half-covered by a red and black 16 hat. Sunglasses hang on her white t-shirt and she’s wearing a pit jacket and she smiles with all of her teeth and holy shit, are those piercings hot.“Katie!” her dad, former racer and now team owner of Bishop Motorsports, waves her over, “Come here.”Kate walks over, hoping that being covered in not only her sweat but also whatever they sprayed on her when she got out of the car isn’t the most unattractive way to meet new people. It surely can’t be worse than the fact that she met her last boyfriend when she was hammered.“Ladies, this is my daughter, Kate,” her dad holds the back of her shoulder, “Katie, this is Natasha Romanoff.”Kate reaches forward to shake her hand quickly, “Nice to meet you. Your career is remarkable.”“Thank you,” Natasha looks pleasantly surprised at the compliment and then Kate’s eyes fall on the blonde at her side.“And this is Yelena.”
Yelena.
“Oh, shit, like, Yelena Belova? You’ve been making moves in IMSA recently, right?” Kate asks, shaking her hand first and then Natasha’s, “You’re both with Penske?”“Yeah,” Natasha nods, “Congrats on the win, by the way. That was close between you and Parker.”Kate smiles bashfully, “Yeah. It was super fun, even if I did have to get defensive in turn four. He’s kick-ass, though.”“Yeah, I’m bummed he didn’t win,” Yelena comments, not looking nearly as disappointed as she sounds.Kate almost foams at the mouth. Who was going to tell her this woman has an English accent?“Well,” In a moment of complete delusional confidence, Kate takes her own hat off and gives it to Yelena, “Here’s a winning hat.”Yelena cocks her head to the side, a delighted smile on her face as she hands over her own hat and takes Kate’s, inspecting it in her hands, “It’s sticky.”“That’s Coke,” Kate shrugs, trying not to think about the fact that the soda sprayed is also in her hair as she puts the 16 hat on backwards, “Tradition. Makes it more authentic, if you ask me.”“Kate Bishop, I do not want your sticky hat,” Yelena says, though she doesn’t look that appalled by the notion.“Oh, come on! It’s a winner!” Kate tries to justify, “Here, if I run into you again, I’ll get you a clean hat. And I’ll sign it.”“Because your signature is worth so much?” Yelena asks, “How do you know I’m not going to just turn around and sell it?”“Because you’re still holding my sticky hat,” Kate smirks, patting her Dad’s shoulder before looking back at the two women, “and it was lovely meeting you guys, but I desperately need a shower and change of clothes.”“Oh, Katie,” her dad interjects, “This isn’t the last you’re seeing of them. Yelena’s coming over to race a couple of times this year.”“Oh, really?” Kate meets the blonde’s electric green eyes again, “So I’ll see you… when?”“Circuit of the Americas,” Natasha answers, “She’ll be racing the fourth Penske car… what number did they tell us?”“The 33,” Yelena confirms.“Well,” Kate grins, a little too excited at this prospect, “I can’t wait to see you there.”-After showering and changing out of her fire suit and into something more comfortable - opting tonight for jeans, a vintage Coca-Cola t-shirt, red and white Vans, and a jacket - Kate heads to Peter’s trailer.Kate also grabs the hat that she got from Yelena earlier being that it matches with her outfit and maybe because she can’t stop thinking about her. Sue her, Yelena’s hot. And Kate’s kind of a sucker for blondes.When she gets to Peter’s trailer, she finds that some of their friends have already arrived.Cassie Lang, daughter of 2-time champion Scott Lang and driver of the 10 car, sits on the couch with her eyes trained on Peter’s TV that’s playing an NHL game. America Chavez, who drives the 4 car and has been driving cup a year more than Kate (she also won Rookie of the Year in her first year), is digging through Peter’s fridge.“Who else are we expecting?” Kate asks, catching the attention of the girls in the room, “and where’s Pete?”“Bathroom,” America crosses the room and catches Kate in a tight hug, “Congrats on the win, Bishop.”“Thanks,” Kate responds, “how’d your day go? You won stage one and then I didn’t see you again.”“Got caught with a pit road penalty,” America shrugs, “Good day anyway, ended up eighth.”“That race was fucking awful,” Cassie comments, pouting in her spot on the couch, “I couldn’t catch a break once. I’m surprised the fucking engine didn’t blow with how the car was handling.”“Where’d you end up?” Kate asks, taking a beer when America offers it to her.“Twenty sixth,” Cassie groans, “Congrats to you, though. Is the second win as exciting as the first?”Kate shrugs, plopping down on the couch next to Cassie, “I’m just glad I have a playoffs guarantee.”“Dude, please be excited,” America leans up against the table, “Humble looks weird on you.”Kate rolls her eyes, “Okay, whatever.”It’s then that Peter comes out of the bathroom, grinning when he sees Kate, “I hope you know, I was this close to taking you out for the win.”“Thank you for not doing that,” Kate gets up and hugs him, “Second’s still good, though, even if you are first loser.”“Yeah, yeah,” Peter rolls his eyes, “Billy and Tommy are coming, by the way.”“Oh yay! I thought they flew out this morning,” Kate responds, “Didn’t Tommy win last night? Or did I hallucinate that?”“He did,” Cassie confirms, “did you guys see that Yelena Belova was at the track today?”“I know someone who did see her,” Peter says, eyeing Kate, “actually, off topic, Kate, why are you wearing one of my hats?”“Oh,” Kate feels her face heat up, “Yelena may or may not have traded me for it. Well, I traded her. Either way, she has my hat and I have hers.”“So…” America gives Kate a look, “don’t tell me you’re gaying over this, didn’t you just meet today?”“Uh,” Kate furrows her eyebrows, faux confusion on her face, “I won today. And if I did or did not flirt with a woman during my post race high is between me and God.”“You don’t even believe in God,” Peter interjects.“Bro, the photos of you two meeting were on Twitter an hour ago,” Cassie interrupts, “So unless your dad or Natasha Romanoff are god, I think a few too many people heard your flirting.”Kate shrugs and sips on her beer, “Y’all need to stop hating. I talked to a girl, that’s cause for celebration.”“If you say so,” Cassie responds, “Now, come on, tell us about her.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
COTA - March 24th
Kate’s having a very bad day.She woke up late, she nearly missed the drivers’ meeting because she forgot to take her ADHD meds until halfway through the day, and pre-race inspections revealed that her car had some kind of unapproved adjustment and that she had to start from the back of the field.Not to mention, even though Kate likes to think that she’s pretty fucking good at road courses, she qualified like shit yesterday (a measly 18th) and ended up with her pit stall being dog shit, too.Thankfully, Kate’s made decent progress already, climbing from 37th to 19th in twelve laps and now getting stuck behind the 33 car.That’s the car that Yelena’s driving. She knows that Yelena’s had experience at COTA before with her IMSA history, but she didn’t expect Yelena’s first foray into stock cars to be so successful. That doesn’t change the fact, however, that Kate is faster than Yelena and that she’s been trying to pass her for four turns now. Yelena’s very defensive and it’s driving her crazy.She’s going into turn twelve when Yelena gets super defensive and almost makes Kate hit her, but she holds back (and loses a second on her in the process), muttering, “What the fuck was that?”“She’s probably still getting used to things,” Pietro, her spotter, comments with a little laugh, “Give it time. You’ll get around her.”“Or, she could just move out of the way for the more experienced driver,” Kate retorts as she shifts into a lower gear for the hairpin, “Stupid ass.”“She’s trying to win just as much as you are,” Clint says, “Ease up, Katie.”Kate rolls her eyes and shuts up as she focuses on encroaching on Yelena’s left back bumper, hoping for an opening on the inside that she can get through.She doesn’t get it.It’s not until she’s in turn twenty, about to end up on the front stretch that she gets a run on the outside and glides past Yelena with ease, “Thank fuck! That was fucking brutal.”“Hey, you still got 47 laps to go, tiger,” Clint comments, “Settle in.”Kate hums and just speeds down the front stretch, smiling to herself when she sees the crowds. It’s pretty fucking cool.“Peter still leading?” she asks during a caution. Clint’s yes is a reminder that drinks are on her if Peter wins tonight.“Yellow’s out in 14,” Pietro reports at one point and Kate and Clint agree that she should pit. It’s just her luck that Yelena ends up coming out in front of her in the rotation - she went for two tires while Kate went for four (which is the correct decision, obviously) - and Kate ends up finishing right behind her for the stage.The race doesn’t exactly end badly. She thinks a whirlwind of curses when Yelena tries to keep Kate behind her in the final ten laps and considers flipping her the bird when she finally gets past, but other than that, it’s okay. She finishes 10th for the day and celebrates America’s win with her and Peter and Cassie.Things get worse when Peter puts on some post race interviews. He starts with America’s, which Kate didn’t get to see. She’s excited in the clip, raving about her car and her team and thanking her sponsors all in one breath.The final question that she’s asked is “How will you be celebrating tonight?”“Oh, that’s easy,” America grins big, “with my friends. We’ve always got each other’s backs.”“You sap,” Cassie says, watching as Peter scrolls through some other interviews. “Put on the new girl’s. I heard she and Kate got into it.”“We didn’t get into it,” Kate says, sipping on the beer that Peter just opened for her, “She was just being super-defensive for a couple of laps and I said some not nice things on the radio. Clint already yelled at me about it.”“What is your definition of not nice things again?” Peter asks, pulling up the interview and pausing when it starts, waiting for Kate’s response.Kate just shrugs.Peter gives her a look but unpauses the video regardless.The interviewer’s quick to jump into things after spewing a couple of compliments, “How was your first race in NASCAR?”“I think it went pretty well,” Yelena’s got her 33 hat on and her fire suit only zipped halfway up her chest, showing off her black undershirt, “We raced hard and COTA is always a fun track to come to. It was nice seeing what it’s like in a stock car and I’m excited to continue racing with NASCAR this season.”
“You’ve been racing with Team Penske almost your whole career, how does it differ among the different series?”
Yelena adjusts her hat as she thinks, “I don’t think there’s much difference aside from setup. NASCAR has different rules and regulations than IMSA which has different rules and regulations from Formula 1 and so on and so forth. For me, it’s more about trusting the people I work with and I trust the people on the 33 team. And this Money Lion car has worked out very well for us today, I didn’t expect to run a top 15 finish in my first run out.”The interviewer nods and Kate can’t help but watch the way Yelena’s eyebrows furrow together as she squints. Kate can’t help but wonder why Yelena doesn’t have sunglasses on her, but she finds the way Yelena squints oddly endearing.
“Driver of the 23 car, Kate Bishop, was heard cursing you out over the radio. Do you have a response to that?”
Kate’s pretty sure that her heart drops through her ass.Yelena tilts her head, “May I ask when this was?”“You two spent a couple of laps battling for position,” the interviewer informs her, “Twice.”“Oh, yes,” Yelena nods, “Well…”She takes a second, looking away from the interviewer like she’s thinking again.Her gaze slowly trails back to the interviewer and she finally shrugs, “I think if she’s coming up to the Cup Series and expecting not to compete, she should go back down to Xfinity. I remember her winning pretty often down there.”
What the fuck-
“Woah!” Cassie’s eyes bulge, “That’s insane!”“Jesus, Kate,” America gives her a look, “What did you say on that radio?”“She doesn’t even know what I said on the radio!” Kate exclaims, “Oh my god, I’m gonna get fucking murdered. My dad’s gonna fucking kill me.”“You need to iron that out,” Peter says, “Like, soon.”Kate slumps back into the couch and buries her face in her hands, “I’m gonna die.”“I’d argue with you but we drive around three thousand pound hunks of metal,” America’s hand lands on Kate’s shoulder, “Nice knowing you, Bishop.”Kate doesn’t find it funny. She’s having such a bad day.-Knowing that they have nothing going on the next day, Kate doesn’t hesitate when MJ comes and asks if anyone wants to do shots.That’s how she ends up stumbling out of Peter’s motorhome and slumping against it, trying to collect her scrambled thoughts. She needs to talk to Yelena. She needs to let Yelena know that words hurt and that she didn’t appreciate being basically told that she’s a child that doesn’t deserve her place. She deserves her place. She’s a good racer! A really good racer, in her opinion.Kate adjusts the hat on her head that she stole from Peter and weaves her way between some of the motorhomes, making race car noises as she walks to entertain herself.She finally lands on Yelena’s, knowing it’s hers from the 33 on the door, and she’s quick to knock on it. She needs to talk to Yelena.Yelena, Kate rehearses in her head as she waits for a response, I’m sorry for cursing you out. I get mean when I’m racing but I’m not like that. I’m very nice.She knocks again when nothing happens, replaying the comment that Yelena made about her going back down to Xfinity in her head. That was mean. Did Kate really deserve that? She doesn’t think so.Kate’s about to knock again when the door swings open and almost smacks Kate in the face.“What?”Yelena’s angry. That wasn’t part of Kate’s plan.“Can you,” Kate focuses on Yelena’s nose, “be less mad?”“I heard the clip, Kate,” Yelena retorts, glaring at her, “I’m not interested in whatever you’re doing or however fucking drunk you are.”“I came, though, to, like, apologize. Well…” Kate presses her lips together, trying to put together her thoughts, “yes, I’m sorry, you’re pretty and I’m drunk so there’s very little happening up here.”Yelena looks confused, “How drunk are you?”“Mostly,” Kate replies simply, “just. Fuck. I am mean on the radio. I’m mean to my crew chief and my spotter and to everyone on the track because they’re all in my way to win. And I wanna win. I wanna win so bad, Yelena. And you were in my way, so I got a little cursey. But don’t we all? Isn’t that just the human experience?”Yelena tilts her head and Kate doesn’t know what to do with that.“I’m sorry,” Kate bows her head, “I’ll try ’nd keep it in my head next time. Can you stop being mad at me, though? I don’t like it when pretty girls are mad at me.”“Okay, you know what,” Yelena sighs, taking Kate’s wrist in her hand and tugging her into the motorhome, “Sit there. Do not move.”Kate nods and sits down on the couch, way too drunk to take in the room she’s in.Yelena comes back thirty seconds later with a cold water bottle and gives it to Kate, “Drink some of that.”Kate nods stupidly and does as asked, “You still mad at me?”“For starting drama? Yes,” Yelena responds, leaning against the dining table and staring as Kate drinks her water.“Sorry,” Kate closes the water bottle and stands, getting close to Yelena, “You are really pretty, though.”“Thank you,” Yelena replies, catching Kate’s side when she loses balance for a second, “You really are fucking hammered.”“Nah, I’m good,” Kate replies, taking her hat off and putting it on Yelena’s head, “Peter finished higher than I did today, it’s your victory, I think.”Yelena’s lips curl into a smile and Kate leans forward, holding the bill of the cap up so that she can properly kiss Yelena.Her body presses against Yelena’s and she slides her other arm around the blonde’s waist, smiling when Yelena mumbles “fuck” against her lips before kissing her back.They pull away for a second and Kate takes the opportunity to turn the hat around on Yelena’s head and slip her other hand under Yelena’s shirt. She kisses Yelena again, harder this time, smiling when Yelena’s hands slip under her own shirt.Suddenly feeling a lot more in her head, Kate steps back. Is she really about to do this? She can’t tell her dad that her feud is solved because she made a drunken mistake with a girl she finds insanely attractive.“What’s the matter?” Yelena asks, her voice soft.Kate shifts the hand that she still has on the small of Yelena’s back, “I don’t want to… do this drunk? Another… some other time.”Yelena nods and Kate leans forward again, pressing a chaste kiss to Yelena’s lips, “Maybe next you’ll kiss the winner.”“Hmm,” Yelena kisses her this time, “I’ll hold on to this hat for now.”Kate smiles, fully planning to prove her wrong. She will win the next race that they have together.Wait, “What race are you doing next?”“Talladega.”Kate nods. She will not win the next race they have together.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY - April 21st
Nearly a month passes between COTA and Kate and Yelena’s next race together at Talladega.Talladega is a super speedway, the longest super speedway on the schedule at 2.66 miles, and Kate’s least favorite track. It was fun to watch as a kid, but as an adult racing, it sucks. She never knows what to expect and ever since racing here in trucks, she’s sucked at it.So, sue her, but she stays in bed as long as she can all weekend until her father comes pounding at her door and then finally trudges her way to her obligations. Practice goes shitty, she ends up falling to the middle or back of the pack, and qualifying is even worse with her qualifying in 28th.Her poor showing doesn’t go unnoticed by press, either, and she’s grilled by two separate reporters about her failure.The third reporter, though, has more intrusive questions.He opens with the typical, “Tough run. How do you and the 23 team plan on getting to the front and winning this coveted race?”Kate sighs, adjusting her hat on her head, “Listen. I’ve never said I’m good at super speedways. I guess you could say I’m good at Atlanta and so that’s a copout, but just because Atlanta’s now engineered as a super speedway doesn’t make it one, you know what I mean? That’s besides the point, though. Clint and I work on this track in the off season a lot with sim-racing, but there’s only so much you can do. The strategy here is to stay with the pack, maybe work our way to a top ten finish, but really just aim to not crash.”“Does it help that you already have a win on the season and a guaranteed seat in the playoffs?” he asks next.Kate grits her teeth. Stupid stupid stupid question.“The win and you’re in model only guarantees so much,” Kate responds, “yeah, it helps? But we have to keep up with consistent top finishes and winning stages and races to really stay in contention. Looking at it to just get into the playoffs is missing the big picture, which is the championship. We can win races all we want and rack up playoff points, but consistency is key and this race does not happen to keep that consistency.”The reporter nods, looking down at his notes before asking, “Is the approach to the weekend not winning?”“What? No,” Kate bites her lip, trying to outright avoid asking if he’s stupid, “The approach to the weekend is surviving. Always has been. I would love to come in and say we’re going to win it, but you and I both know that this track doesn’t work like that. You can run laps as fast as possible, but unless you’re clear enough to avoid wrecks completely, which you can’t be with how pack racing affects the air movement and speed on the cars, I will operate on the assumption that the end goal is to not crash out early.”The reporter nods and looks down at his notes again, “Yelena Belova is set to race this weekend, she qualified 23rd. You two have a bit of a history, will that rivalry flare up this weekend?”Kate rolls her eyes, “Who screened these questions, Jesus Christ. Will that rivalry flare up this weekend? No. What the fuck kind of question is that? I got angry on a radio, that is hardly a rivalry. A rivalry is what I’m about to have with you and your stupid fucking baiting. Yelena and I are fine. We’re professionals.”“Yelena did say, and I quote-”“Yelena made a comment about me going down to Xfinity,” Kate sighs, “It was a bit harsh but I was being a dick, too. We sorted our differences, we’re fine, and I’m excited to be racing her again this weekend.”“One more question…”Kate grits her teeth.-Kate Bishop hates Talladega.She’s hot, her hood is plastered in tape, and the vibration in her front right has only gotten worse the more she’s towed this car around the track.She’s pretty sure that if it wasn’t for the drafting in this track, she’d be six laps down by now, but instead she’s at a firm 15th and wedged between Peter and one of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. They’re on the inside line, but Kate’s been getting updates about the increasing pace of the top line and she knows that Pietro and Clint want her to move up and lead that pack, but she doesn’t trust her car to do so.“Word is Chevies and Toyotas pitting on this next lap,” Pietro says, and Kate nods, not loosening her iron grip on the steering wheel for even a second. She can’t fuck this up.“Pitting for four tires?” Kate asks, laying heavily on to the gas as they come out of turn four.“Trying to fix you up a little bit, too,” Clint responds, “how’s that vibration?”“Still bad,” Kate responds, gritting her teeth when Peter gets loose in the middle of turns one and two, praying for him to not move any more once he catches it.“We’ll get that taken care of,” Clint says, “Keep your head up, Katie.”Kate rolls her eyes.As they come out of four, the pack splits and Kate follows everyone to the pits. Thankfully, her pit stall is surrounded by Fords and there’s no one around her pit team.She ends up losing a couple of spots because of the repairs, but it’s nothing she can’t gain back and Clint is sure to ram that into her head as she exits pit road. Something about regaining confidence or whatever.They resume racing, though, and Kate finds herself behind America as they merge with the other cars. Lucky for her, America’s an extremely stable driver. Kate’s always been a bit envious of that, but right now, she’s grateful.Stage two ends a couple of laps later, and despite being on the outside of eligibility for points, Kate feels a little optimistic. She’s not in bad standings and aside from the hood of her car being a little worse for wear, the vibration in her front right has disappeared for the time being.“Final stretch, Katie, bring it home,” Clint says as they through turn four and the pace car turns off of the track.“We’ll see about that,” Kate responds, getting into the gas as soon as she hears “Green green green!” yelled through her radio.The first few laps go by fine, but as she’s getting into turn three, Kate can immediately tell that something is wrong.She’s trailing Peter, and as much as she tries to stay drafting him, her wheel keeps straying and she feels the car crawling up the track. That wouldn’t be so much of a problem if there wasn’t a top line, but the top line has stayed with the bottom line since the race restarted and Kate can’t help but have visions of her car losing control completely and her being at fault for taking out both lines.“I’m going to have to come down,” Kate reports, keeping the car under control as they come out of turn four, “Next two laps or so.”“What’s the matter?” Clint asks, “Is the vibration back?”“Worse,” Kate responds, keeping an iron grip on her wheel as they barrel down the front stretch, “I’m worried about the car making it around again.”“Pit at the next lap,” Clint replies, “And try and figure out what’s wrong, we’re not going to have a ton of time.”“Thank you, Clint,” Kate rolls her eyes. Should she climb out and fiddle with the engine, too? All she knows is that the vibration in her right front is debilitating on the car’s performance.“Kate, careful, 33’s behind you,” Pietro advises through the comms, “We don’t want to keep that drama going.”“Thanks, P,” Kate retorts, driving into turn one, “Any more comments from the peanut gallery?”“Win if you can,” Clint comments.“33’s moving up to the top line, she’ll be in front of that pack. Currently on your outside,” Pietro reports before Kate can reply.Kate doesn’t get a second to do anything with that information, though, before her right front tire blows and her car flies up the track, colliding immediately with someone else.Kate’s entire body jolts with the collision, but she just holds her arms to her chest and hopes that nothing else happens once she realizes there’s no saving it.She’s on the apron of the track in no time, knowing by the dull ache in her back that she’s going to be sore tomorrow, and knowing by the way her right side is caved in that her day is over.“Katie, you good?” Clint asks, his concern showing more than normal. Kate’s heart warms at that, it’s nice knowing he cares.“Yeah, just achey,” she responds, dropping her window net and undoing her seatbelts, “I’m gonna disconnect.”“We’ll see you in a bit,” Pietro says, and Kate nods, taking off her helmet and HANS device before climbing out of the car.A couple of other cars are strewn about, but Kate focuses more on her car. The wheel well where her tire blew is completely busted - the bursting of the tire having blown off the front right and damage from her hitting someone on the right side completely ripping up that side of the car. Kate cringes at the way the metal’s bent in sixty different ways.“What the fuck is your problem?”Kate turns around, confused, “What?”Yelena’s barreling towards her, anger writ all over her face and her destroyed car settled in the grass behind her, “You really do have it out for me, don’t you? Fucking sliding up the second I get a chance and taking me out of the race!”“I’m out of the race, too, genius!” Kate retorts, gesturing to her car, “I didn’t mean to fucking get up into you, my tire blew. If you think I have that much control over my car, you’re the crazy one.”“Are you calling me crazy?” Yelena’s in Kate’s space now, furious, but still pretty somehow, even though her hair is sticking out in all different directions and her face red from being in the hot car all afternoon.“Yes!” Kate exclaims, “What the fuck else do you want me to call it? You are acting insane! Sorry for crashing up into you, but I can’t control my fucking tire bursting nor can I control where the fucking air pushes me!”Yelena’s jaw visibly tightens, but that’s when NASCAR officials finally get to the scene and tell them to cool off. Kate rolls her eyes at Yelena. She can’t believe she ever kissed her.-Her post race interview goes a little like this;“Kate, you were reporting throughout the race that your right front was giving you issues, what would you have done differently?”Kate shrugs, “These cars are all built the same but sometimes stuff happens. I don’t know what happened that made it so unstable, but it’s alright. We have a solid standing on the season and I’m excited to get to Dover next week and maybe get a win.”“You’ve notoriously not done well at Talladega, do you boil that down to bad luck or is this just not a track that you enjoy?”“It’s not a strong suit, that’s for sure,” Kate laughs uneasily, “I just do the best I can. It sucks that this track is so unpredictable, but that makes it more fun for the fans and we really want to give them a show, so I hope I can give them that.”“Speaking of a show, did your incident today with Yelena Belova bring up any animosity?”Kate sighs, “Yelena and I are both very passionate people. That translates to the racing we do and when something like today happens, it results in a heated conversation. I respect her a lot as a racer and I hope she does the same for me, but I would never intentionally do something to her nor do I hold any animosity for her.”The interviewer goes to speak again and Kate cuts her off, “Have a good one.”Kate can’t help but think as she walks away that she’s definitely foiled any chance she’d ever have with Yelena. Her heart aches a little at the thought, but she tries not to linger on it.There’s still more to go, anyway.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY - June 30th
Kate might go so far as to say that she hates Nashville if this weekend continues in the direction that she thinks it is.She got the opportunity to run an Xfinity car for the weekend, and despite the car handling well and her leading 132 out of the 188 laps, she ran out of gas in the last lap and finished towards the end of the cars on the lead lap. She doesn’t know where the miscalculation came from, but it was at least comforting to see that a handful of other teams ran into that same issue due to the long green flag run they had in the third stage.It doesn’t help that her cup car has been handling like shit all weekend, either. From issues with vibrations in her right side to the car trying to overheat during practice to the heat in Nashville making her tires slick and leading to her crashing during practice, Kate’s pretty over everything.It’s been a decent couple of months since Talladega’s failure, too, which makes it all the more frustrating. She’s got another win at the Coke 600, a crowned jewel event due to the fact that it’s 600 miles long, and scored top five finishes at six other tracks. She’s on a roll.Except for this weekend. She’s pretty sure that this is her luck running out.Qualifying is the only thing to go okay, with Kate getting a 6th place spot on her car clinging to the edges of life and it only makes her resentful of the win she definitely could’ve pulled off this weekend.Regardless, it’s Sunday, and as she finishes with the driver’s meeting, she and Peter walk out together to their cars.“I have a bad feeling,” Kate fidgets with her water bottle, “something fucked is going to happen today and I’m going to be embarrassed and never be able to return to racing and I’ll have to move to the woods and live with that fucking snake from The Jungle Book and die.”“I think you’re being a little dramatic,” Peter responds, adjusting his hat and squinting as they step into the sunlight, “You just gotta get across the finish line.”“Pete, I think my car is going to explode,” Kate retorts, surprised to see that there’s a pretty big turnout of fans waiting for autographs.“Hey, at least you won’t have to worry about moving to the woods if you’ve exploded,” Peter says with a shrug and Kate rolls her eyes, switching her attention to greeting fans.“Can you sign this?” a pushy woman asks as Kate takes a picture with a ten-year-old, “Kate, sign this please!”“Ma’am, chill,” Kate responds, turning her attention to the boy and signing his hat for him, “You’re gonna keep that, right?”The kid nods and Kate moves past the pushy woman and to another fan wearing a shirt with her car on it, “Hey! Love the shirt.”The fan gapes, “Can we get a picture?”“Hell yeah,” Kate grins big as they pull out their phone, hands shaking so much that they almost drop it, “Want me to take it?”The fan nods and Kate gently takes the phone and takes a couple of quick selfies with the fan, “Oh, awesome. Have a good time watching the race!”She hands the phone back and moves further down the line, signing some more random fan items and taking more selfies before finally making it out to pit road.When she gets to her pit stall, her dad is perched on their pit wall, talking with Clint about something that’s clearly not serious by the way that they’re both laughing.“Hello father,” Kate nods to her dad and then to Clint, “and other father.”“Katie,” her dad stands and pulls her into a hug, “You going to win today?”“Maybe,” Kate shrugs noncommittally, “Are you taking Pietro’s job today?”“No, no,” her father shakes his head, “I’ll be in the box, keeping an eye. Clint told me I don’t get a microphone, so nothing to worry about for you, Katie.”Kate hums, making a note in the back of her head that they should be paying Clint more. The last thing she needs today is to have her dad on the radios.She doesn’t get a chance to actually write that down, though, before she’s approached by a small group of people. Among them is Natasha Romanoff holding a little boy, and, of course, Yelena.They’re accompanied by a couple of people that Kate doesn’t recognize, one including a redhead who’s looking at everything like she’s never been to a race before. She looks vaguely familiar, though, and Kate can’t help but stare for a second before her dad greeting them snaps her out of it.“What is this, a display for cameras?” her dad asks, a smile on his face despite the clear panic in his demeanor.“Nah, Lena’s probably here to just slash my tires,” Kate says, snorting when Yelena gapes, offended.“I would never do such a thing,” Yelena retorts, “and if I did, you would never know that it was me, Kate Bishop.”“I genuinely cannot tell if you guys actually like each other or not,” Natasha comments, making both of the girls’ eyes snap to her.Kate’s eyes slowly move back to Yelena, finally giving her a once-over. She has a pair of sunglasses hanging on the front of her black tank top, white wide-fit pants, and a fucking 16 hat again.“Oh come on, you’re coming to my box in the enemy’s merch?” Kate asks, stepping into Yelena’s space and taking her hat off, swapping it for her own hat, “Much better.”Yelena hums, “I’m glad that it isn’t sticky this time.”Kate smirks and hands the 16 hat off to her dad, who adjusts the size on it and puts it on proudly. The 16 car is still one of his cars, so despite the betrayal by her own father, Kate gets it.“It was sticky because I won,” Kate retorts petulantly.“As much as I would love to watch this,” Natasha interrupts, “The anthem is soon.”Kate fakes a grin, “Yippee.”“Can’t wait to watch you lose,” Yelena says with a sickeningly sweet smile, “I’ll sign your hat so it’s worth something when I sell it later.”“I’ll win so you look like a fool,” Kate responds, mocking the smile, “And I’ll put 50 bucks on it, so you know I’m serious.”“Kate, that car isn’t making it the whole race,” Yelena replies, “50 bucks if you make it 100 laps.”“You could’ve just walked away with fifty bucks,” Kate says, raising an eyebrow.“I want there to be at least a little competition, Kate Bishop,” Yelena says, sticking her hand out, “Do you accept?”“Yeah,” Kate nods, shaking Yelena’s hand firmly, “May the best woman win.”“I will,” Yelena smiles.Kate’s dad nudges Kate, “Come on, time for the anthem.”“Alright,” Kate sighs, “Yelena, wanna come with?”She doesn’t miss the way that Natasha looks at her or the way that her dad quietly lets out a warning “Kate…” - and holds her stare steady, waiting for Yelena’s response.“Yeah, okay,” Yelena nods, following her over the pit wall and to Kate’s car.The opening announcements start and they introduce the singer of the anthem after asking everyone to remove their hats. The singer isn’t bad, but she’s definitely heard better renditions of the Star Spangled Banner.The flyover - a display of a large military plane that Kate can’t be bothered to know the name of - occurs as the singer belts the final note and Kate glances over at Yelena, who’s looking up at the plane. She’s squinting, but a big smile’s on her face and Kate’s stomach brews with butterflies. God, Yelena’s cute.Applause roars through the super speedway and Kate looks out, excitement thrumming through her veins. The adrenaline is beginning, she’s excited to race.What she doesn’t expect is for one of Yelena’s hands to grab her face gently and then for Yelena to press a quick kiss to her cheek. Kate’s eyes widen and she glances at the blonde, who only murmurs, “One hundred laps, Kate Bishop.”“You better go to the ATM, Belova,” Kate responds, surprised when Yelena places her hat back on her head and snatches the 16 hat back, “Rude.”“I have to rep the enemy,” Yelena says with a smirk, “Best of luck.”Kate’s smile doesn’t leave her face.-Kate is 67 laps in when her engine starts smoking.She’s pissed, she’s hot, and she’s embarrassed as she drives the car to the garage.Clint’s waiting for her when she gets there, already prepping to run a full diagnostic on the car with the team and offering her a water bottle.Kate pours the water bottle over her head against better judgement, and her dad comes in a few minutes later to tell her about a couple interviews that she has before she can change and go back to the motorhome.The interviews are fine, just bullshit about the car blowing and condolences, and it’s not until someone asks about Yelena that she’s really paying attention.“You and Yelena were seen together during the anthem today and she kissed your cheek. Have you and Yelena solved your rivalry ahead of next week’s race at Chicago?”Kate sighs, “We never had a rivalry. You guys ran with that inflammatory language. I have a lot of respect for Yelena and Yelena has that respect for me. We’re passionate drivers who want to win, shit happens.”She ceases answering questions after that and heads to her motorhome to shower, surprised when she sees a text from Yelena waiting for her as she steps out of the shower.brash blondieI have vodka.Kate Bishopoh say no moreShe changes into a Bishop Motorsports hoodie and a pair of jeans before heading out to the pit road suite with her hair still wet. It barely fazes her when she realizes that it’s drizzling.By the time she gets to Yelena, it’s really starting to rain and Kate’s unsurprised to hear an announcement playing through the track about red flag conditions.Yelena’s sitting in one of the middle rows when Kate finds her, watching the pit guys intently as they run out to cover the cars. She’s all alone in the suite (probably because people found better spots to sit out the rain), and Kate can’t help but be grateful that they get some time alone. It feels like they’ve been watched too much recently.“Hey,” she sits down next to Yelena.The blonde hums an acknowledgment, but doesn’t say anything for a minute before finally looking at Kate. She’s taken her hat off since Kate last saw her, and she has a raincoat draped over her shoulders.“Do you have my fifty bucks, Kate Bishop?”“Do you have to say my whole name every time?” Kate asks, forking over the cash into the blonde’s extended palm.“Yes,” Yelena nods firmly and reveals a skinny brown bag from under her seat, “Go easy. That’s expensive and it’s strong.”“Alright,” Kate nods, opening the bottle and taking a shot’s worth, “That’s insane. What is that, 99% alcohol?”“Your typical 40,” Yelena says, taking a long drink herself, “I just tell people that it’s strong so they don’t take as much. Either way, we’re going to be here a while, might as well have some fun.”Kate nods, a little dazed. She should’ve eaten before she drank anything.“When did you know that the car wasn’t going to last?” Yelena asks, slumping back in her seat a little.Kate hums, “Probably around 54. Something shifted, the car started driving like shit after that.”Yelena asks more questions about the car and the moves on to other topics. It’s like she’s doing a deep dive on Kate, asking about whether she always wanted to be a racer or not (yes, she has, it’s all she’s ever wanted), whether she went to public school (no, and sometimes that feels very obvious), has she ever tanked a race? Kate’s head starts spinning from the vodka halfway through but she’s never felt more secure.Something in Yelena’s eyes shifts when she realizes that Kate’s not sober, something more caring and kind than the teasing-goofy vibe Kate got from her prior.“We need food,” Kate says as they watch the jet-dryers go past for the third time, “I’m hungry.”“I’ll text Wanda to get us something,” Yelena says, pulling out her phone, “Your spotter is Pietro Maximoff, right?”Kate raises an eyebrow, “Why are you asking, blondie?”“No reason,” Yelena replies, looking up from her phone and turning it over in her lap, “Why’d you kiss me that night after the race and never bring it up?”“I’m not drunk enough for this conversation,” Kate responds.“You’re laying on the floor, Kate Bishop.”“I am laying on a towel,” Kate counters, listening to the gentle rumble of engines in the distance. “That is not the floor.”“You’re avoiding the question,” Yelena presses.“No, I told you I’m not drunk enough,” Kate responds, glaring lamely at Yelena, who’s fiddling with the cap of the vodka bottle.“Okay, but,” Yelena stares for a long second, “you kissed me. You came to me drunk, and you kissed me.”“It seems like you have it figured out,” Kate says dryly, pointedly not looking at Yelena anymore and instead staring at the canopy top over her.She can feel the burn from Yelena’s stare on her, but Kate doesn’t elaborate further. She really counted on forgetting all about that embarrassing display, even if she really did enjoy kissing Yelena and has thought about it every day since.It’s mind-boggling, the amount of time that she’s spent thinking about Yelena. She’s never had feelings this persistent before.“Would you want to kiss me again?” Yelena asks eventually, and Kate slowly turns her head until her eyes meet Yelena’s. She wishes that she knew what Yelena was thinking.“Yes,” Kate answers honestly, “but when I’m sober. Which is not right now.”“Okay,” Yelena says softly.It doesn’t take long for someone to come with food, and Kate recognizes her as the redhead that was with Natasha and Yelena before.“First,” the redhead hands Yelena a water bottle and then Kate, “hydrate. I saw that bottle earlier, Yelena.”“You and Natasha are such buzzkills,” Yelena mutters, graciously accepting the food when the redhead places it down on the empty chair next to her, “Oh, Kate Bishop, I haven’t introduced you yet. This is Wanda, Natasha’s wife.”Kate sits up slowly, “Nice to meet you.”“You too,” Wanda smiles at her and Kate can’t tell if it’s genuine or not. It’s gone too quickly for her to analyze and Wanda’s attention is back on Yelena, “Easy on the vodka, our flight leaves early tomorrow.”“Whatever, mom,” Yelena responds.Wanda says something in a language that Kate can’t understand and Yelena responds in that same language before Wanda leaves entirely.The cars rev to life in the distance and Kate digs through her food, far more occupied with her curly fries than the burger that Wanda brought her.“Who do you think is going to win?” Yelena asks to break the silence.“Fuck if I know,” Kate shrugs, “Pete’s got a shot, Cass has a shot, I’m sure that fuckface in the 22 car has a shot.”“What do you have against him?” Yelena asks with a little laugh, “he was nice when I met him.”“Creeps me out,” Kate doesn’t explain any further, “Sorry, I forgot you drive for his team. He’s fine, I guess.”Yelena hums and they eat a little more until Yelena pulls out her phone, “Do you typically have drama with drivers, Kate Bishop?”“Not typically,” Kate replies, glancing up at Yelena, “What about you? I remember watching IMSA races and everyone always talked about the bold new driver on the scene, Yelena Belova, but the only bold thing you were doing was winning a bunch.”“You must know that this sport is intimidated by women,” Yelena responds, not meeting her eyes and setting her phone down on the chair with the race stats up, “I think that they were just marveling at the fact that Natasha Romanoff’s little sister was making a capable driver.”“You’re her sister?” Kate asks, eyes wide, “Really?”Yelena tilts her head a little, “Yes.”“I didn’t know that,” Kate ducks her head, embarrassed, “I thought you were, like, business partners or something. I don’t know. Wait, why don’t you have the same last name?”“Adopted,” Yelena replies, “Our parents had us keep our last names so they wouldn’t overstep or something. I don’t get it, really, but it’s worked out okay.”Kate nods, “How many years are between you and Nat?”“Twelve,” Yelena responds, “more like eleven, though, her birthday is late. She got me started in racing, though.”“That’s cute,” Kate comments softly, turning her gaze to the cars now pacing around the track. She then looks back at Yelena, “You know, despite all the drama, I wouldn’t be mad if you stuck around for a couple more races.”Yelena smiles a little at her, “Maybe I will.”