Chapter 7
Max or Dick? Which would YOU pick?
Ryan was sat at the bar and was having a rather broken up conversation with Dick, who had his head in his arms nursing a beer glass.
"You ok?" asked Ryan.
"…yeah…You?"
Ryan nodded and went back to staring at his drink.
Dick raised his head and sat up straight.
Suddenly, Pat walked into the bar closely followed by Julie.
Ryan and Dick blinked in surprise.
Pat went and sat down at one of the tables over at the other side of the bar.
Julie, walking by Ryan, quickly whispered in his ear.
"I thought I’d better be polite. I can’t exactly ignore him can I?"
Ryan raised his eyebrows and smirked sarcastically.
Slapping his arm, Julie went to sit with Pat.
Dick turned his head to look at Ryan and smirked, then went back to nursing his beer glass.
Pat scratched his head nervously and smiled at Julie.
"What would you like to drink?" he asked shuffling in his seat.
Julie sighed and said she wanted a Vodka and Lime.
Pat gasped, as he wasn’t used to hearing females order stronger drinks than him.
Nodding, he went up to the bar.
Dick still had his head in his arms and he stared at Pat through half open, tired looking eyes.
Pat frowned and proceeded to order the drinks.
"Vodka and lime," thought Pat, "Wow, she’s a strong lady."
Julie was enjoying every moment of his absence and nearly sunk into her seat when he returned.
Muttley was still in the hotel room and was quite bored.
He wandered around the room aimlessly, trying to find something exiting to look at.
He wandered up to the balcony door, but didn’t realise they were closed and smacked straight into the glass.
Regaining his composure and cursing, he ran out the door and headed to Luke’s room.
Suddenly, all of the racers burst out their rooms in unison, so Muttley hid behind a pot plant.
Rachel was with Max and he had his arm round her nattering happily in her ear.
She, however, had other things on her mind.
Dick wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Rachel had awful visions of him taking his own life, as he was that depressed.
She tried her best to laugh at his jokes and smile whenever he looked.
He was wearing a bright red crinkle-effect shirt that was unbuttoned at the top.
He had swept his hair sideways and was wearing some strange smelling aftershave.
It was actually quite pleasant and Rachel found herself edging closer, just to be able to enjoy it.
Max didn’t mind, of course.
All the other racers were eyeballing the pair, wondering what was going on.
All the animals had been left in their rooms, but had wandered out and had met in Luke’s room.
After the racers had disappeared, Muttley shot out from behind the plant and went up to Luke’s door.
He pushed open the door and carefully peered round the corner.
Blubber, Sawtooth and the Dragon and Sea Serpent that lived in the Creepy Coupe’s bell tower both looked up to see who was at the door.
They all urged him to enter and join them.
Muttley smiled, walked in and plonked himself down in front of the bed where they were all rolling dice around.
Adjusting his plaster cast, Muttley grinned at Sawtooth, who was sneezing for no apparent reason.
Blubber looked around for the dice, as they had vanished.
Suddenly, the Sea Serpent coughed them up and giggled.
Down in the lobby, all the racers had met up… Except Dick, of course.
Luke was wearing his straw hat, a bright pink shirt, a white jacket and white skin-tight flares.
Rufus was wearing what he always wore, but minus the hat revealing his… AHEM, Flat Top.
The Slag Brothers were wearing big gold medallions.
Sergeant Blast was wearing his usual outfit, but had no helmet on.
Private Meekly was wearing a Navy Blue polo-necked jumper and a pair of ordinary jeans.
Pat Pending was too proud to wear anything different.
Peter Perfect had slicked his beautiful blonde hair backwards, which was a new look for him.
He was wearing a smart looking blue shirt, with a yellow tie and a Red jacket and red trousers.
Penelope, who was arm-in-arm with Peter, was wearing a long pink spaghetti strapped dress.
The Anthill Mob were also unchanged in their appearance and the Gruesome Twosome were wearing matching blue jumpsuits.
Ryan was wearing a black shirt with smoke grey skulls all over it and a pair of black pinstripe bondage trousers with lots of chains dangling from the belt.
Dick was still sat at the bar nursing the same beer glass he had been nursing for the past hour or so.
His head was slumped on the bar and he had tears in his eyes, partly due to depression and partly due to anxiety.
His stomach was churning with nervousness.
The bartender, while drying a beer glass with his towel, raised his eyebrows.
"Are you done hatchin’ that thare glass? Or are you gonna move on to another one any time soon?"
Dick looked up at the bartender and looked at his name tag on his shirt.
"Johnathon Kirk, eh?" he mumbled, "Why not just keep your nose out of my business?"
Johnathon twitched and turned around to the shelf to put the glass back where it should be.
All the racers had gotten into their cars by the time Dick left.
He sighed and looked longingly at the moon.
Sighing and shrugging, wondering why he was going to such a sad, idiot-filled place, he got into his car and drove off.
At the club, everyone was laughing and joking, dancing and drinking.
Most of the racers were sat in booths clutching various alcoholic cocktails.
The place had a very purple colour scheme and was very cosy.
Lights danced back and forth, illuminating everyone in a hypnotic spectrum.
Penelope and Peter were on the dance floor grooving to the cool tunes being played.
Suddenly, Luke decided to have a try, with a little persuasion from the others of course.
He swaggered onto the dance floor, paused, then as the music changed, he started to groove maniacally.
Everyone cheered and clapped, as he was actually very good at dancing.
The Red Max was sat with Rachel in the booth that was in the far right corner.
He was talking about hobbies and about family.
"So, what kind of things do you like?" he asked inquisitively.
"Oh, you know… music, art, writing etcetera."
"Yeah? What sort of music?"
"Usually heavy stuff.." she replied not really wanting to go into detail so as not to offend.
"Ah…", replied Max smiling and leaning backwards, "I like classical I’m afraid."
"Nothing wrong with that," giggled Rachel, "I’m quite partial to a bit of Beethoven if the occasion calls for it!"
Max grinned, he was happy that he had found some common ground… Things were looking up.
"So," he continued, "art you say?"
Rachel nodded.
"Paintings…? Sculptures…?"
"No", she said shaking her head, "I like using good old pencils and pens. I also use the computer at home to do a lot of my art."
"Ah, very good! What sort of things do you do? Landscapes..?" asked Max leaning forwards again.
"I don’t usually do landscapes, no… I do Anime." she explained.
"Anime huh? I’d like to see some of your art some time", Max said while smiling.
Rachel nodded in agreement and told him that he would have to visit her at her house some time.
Max stretched his arms outwards and yawned a bit.
"OOOohh! Excuse me…"
Giggling, Rachel patted him on the hand.
"What sort of things do you write?", he said after he had finally finished yawning.
"Various stuff, its usually Fanfictions… But on a ‘Novel’ scale," she said sipping her drink that was sitting next to her right arm.
"I’ve always wanted to write something," said Max dreamily, "But I haven’t ever found the time… I now and then attempt poetry, but it’s never very good."
"I bet it’s great! I’d LOVE to hear some," exclaimed Rachel leaning back in surprise.
Max blushed and twiddled his thumbs.
"I’ll have to see what I can come up with…", he said smiling softly, "So… are you writing anything at this moment in time?"
"Yeah. It’s a long fan-novel called ‘Wacky Races 2004’", she smiled, "It’s based on all you guys, cause I used to watch your races on the TV."
"WOW! That’s a definite read then," Max smirked tilting his head.
There was a long pause as the pair watched Luke, Peter and Penny jig around.
As Rachel was watching, Max took the time to look at her.
She was everything he had always wished for.
Then she suddenly looked round and he had to avert his gaze to something else.
His whiskey glass seemed appropriate.
Luke got tired of dancing and retired to his seat that was with Sarge and Meekly, but Penny and Peter carried on.
The Gruesome Twosome finally joined in and started break-dancing, much to everyone’s surprise.
Suddenly Dick walked in and hovered in the doorway.
