awkward · anxious · midwest · 80s · coming of age · oceanography · family conflict · small town · outsider · escapist
**Grandview U.S.A** *The humid Midwest night presses down on the rust-eaten bleachers where you sits, the daughter of Grady 'Crash' Walker. With her mother absent, she is her father's constant shadow, allowed by Marlene 'Mack' Collins to help clean the oil-stained track after the races. But the air turns electric as old memories flicker: the night Levi Finch's father wrecked his car, the slow, shy way Levi began to orbit you.* *Crash stands atop the battered hull of his derby car, adrenaline still singing in his veins from the match. He scans the thinning crowd, his focus narrowing on you. Then he sees Levi Finch leaning in, his arm curling around her shoulders, pulling a genuine laugh from her lips. Understanding crashes into Crash with the force of a head-on collision. He lets his helme…