AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Clutch on the left. Got it.”
“The brake pedal is in the middle, and the gas pedal is on the right—just like in a regular car. The trickiest part is changing gears. If you don’t get it in the correct spot, it makes a really loud noise.” I moved the shifter, and an unpleasant sound screeched throughout the car.
She cringed. “That’s terrible.”
“We’ll take it slow, and I’ll help you change gears.”
She nodded, squaring herself in the seat, placing her left hand on the steering wheel and her right hand on the shifter. I’d never seen anything sexier.
“If you pop the clutch too quickly, you’ll stall the car. Most people do this, so I’m just preparing you ahead of time.”
“Do you ever stall the car?”
“I did when I first learned how to drive a stick.”
“Who taught you?”
“My dad. He had so much patience with me. I tend to get frustrated very easily.”
She nodded as if she already knew this about me.
“The car is in neutral while we’re stopped right now. You’re going to push the clutch in and shift the gear into first. Then, come off the clutch slowly while pressing on the gas at the same time.”
She did as I instructed, but stalled the car on the first try.
“Oh, no.”
“That’s okay. Try it again.”
She exhaled and tried again. This time, the car accelerated.
“Awesome! Now, you’ll need to shift into second when you see the needle on the tachometer point to the three.”
“I’m going to stall again, aren’t I?”
“Probably.” I didn’t mind. She could burn my transmission up for all I cared. I just needed her to stay with me.
Carefully, she executed each step in the order I told her. She braced herself for the ear-piercing noise, but it never came. The car did not stall and we accelerated down the road.
“I did it!”
I applauded. “That was great. Let’s practice slowing down.”
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “Can we go up one more gear?”
My eyebrows lifted. “You want to go faster?”
“Maybe one day, you’ll teach me how to do a doughnut or pop a wheelie or something.”
I threw my head back with laughter. “If you pop a wheelie in anything but a motorcycle, that’s not a good thing.” I am going to marry this girl.
She shrugged. “Okay. I step on the clutch, and then I move this into the number three,” she said as she performed each action. “Then, I come off the clutch and step on the gas.”
The car lurched forward even faster.
“You’re a natural.”
“Okay, okay. Help me slow this thing down. I’m getting nervous.”
