"See you soon, Arty!" The red-haired beauty blew a kiss with her bright crimson lips as she said goodbye. Pretending to catch it and press it to his heart, he winked.
Alice was a femme fatale, bright, energetic and sociable. I was even a little sorry that we had broken up. And the main reason why? "Grow up, Artem! You're acting like a child."
"Brr," I heard her stern voice as if in real life, still pensively staring at her receding figure. Or, more precisely, at the most beautiful part of her in tight leggings of a slightly strange colour. To be honest, I couldn't quite figure out what colour they were.
"Come on, pull yourself together!" I sighed and slapped my cheeks, distracting myself from the attractive sight.
"What if I don't want to grow up?"
I pulled down the sleeve of my leather jacket and looked at my watch. Damn, I'm late again, I'll have to hurry up a bit: at twelve o'clock there's a club meeting where yours truly plays the role of court bard, if I may say so myself. In general, many people could play the guitar, but somehow it turned out that I was entrusted with this responsibility. I won't say that I wasn't flattered...
I turned the starter and the rounded contours of the iron horse began to tremble rhythmically to the hollow roar of the engine. We loudly called our group of enthusiasts, motorcycle lovers and rock fans the "Black Dog" biker club, but in reality, we were just amateurs, and only half of the club actually owned bikes... But it sounded cool, even if it was a bit maximalist. But hey, we were young! We had our whole lives ahead of us. And I hoped it would be very bright!
I'm only twenty, studying linguistics, like half of my friends, everyone is well-off, young, some even rich. And Alice... Maybe she'll change her mind someday. We'll ride together again, singing songs, shouting over the wind, and scaring old ladies on benches.
I raced through the half-empty streets of the northern capital, stylishly overtaking slow metal coffins. Good old AC/DC was playing in my headphones, and the speedometer needle, which had passed the 120 mark, was stirring my blood. Life was beautiful! The road often helped me relax and clear my head.
There was a familiar traffic light flashing green. It seemed empty, but just in case, I slowed down a little. My intuition was scratching at the back of my mind, quietly whining in a bad voice, making me tense up. Accidents sometimes happened here. A couple more kilometres, the familiar turn into the courtyard, and I would be where I needed to be.
I glanced at the digital clock for a second — twelve minutes to go. I'll make it!
"What?!" A girl dressed in a red jacket and, for some reason, carrying a school bag, appeared out of nowhere at the crossroads. I could have sworn she wasn't there a second ago. And where would a schoolgirl be at midnight? Run for your life!
I still had time to see her face frozen in disbelief, turning pale in the headlights. My hands clenched the handlebars in a death grip as my left foot automatically shifted into low gear. I wouldn't be able to brake in time.
"Yoo-hoo!" The motorcycle skidded around the child and sped away. Behind me, a woman was screaming wildly, but I couldn't hear her anymore. The bright white light of the headlights of a slowly approaching truck flashed across my eyes. A moment of wild pain and emptiness, only my headphones continued to scream for some reason...
Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Yes, I'm back in black...
(AC/DC — Back in Black)
***
The entire story has already been written at:
patreon.com/posts/reborn-as-sirius-142654970