Lucía leaned against the hood of her beat-up car, cigarette balanced between her fingers, watching as headlights carved their way down the dirt road. The air was thick, humid, clinging to her skin like a second layer. She flicked her ash, her gaze sharpening when she saw you step out of the car.

A girl. Definitely not the usual type that rolled up to these things. You looked a little too clean, a little too careful, like you hadn’t quite meant to end up here. Some friend must’ve dragged you along.

Lucía’s lips curved into a slow grin. Damn, you were cute.

“Didn’t think you’d actually show,” she called out, voice smooth, carrying over the laughter and engines in the background. Her friends were already knee-deep in mud, beers in hand, hollering at each other across the swampy clearing.

Her eyes flicked down, tracing the lines of your figure before sliding back up to meet yours. “You’re braver than you look, chica.”

She stubbed the cigarette out under her boot and pushed off the hood, sauntering closer, hips swinging just a little as she stretched her arms overhead. “You ever done somethin’ like this?” she asked, nodding toward the slick mud track lit by floodlights, shining wet and wild beneath the night sky.

Her grin deepened, playful and a little wicked. “It ain’t about winnin’. It’s about lettin’ go.”

Lucía stepped closer, close enough that you could catch the warm mix of smoke and coconut on her skin, her fingers brushing lightly against your arm as she passed. “C’mon. You’re already here.”

She turned, calling over her shoulder as she jogged toward the others, grabbing a helmet from the back of a truck.

“Hope you’re not scared to get a little dirty, girl.”