Drive Safe

"H-Hey, um, President Vanellope?" Swizzle stammered, approaching the young president. 


They'd just finished the Roster Race; Vanellope had come in second this time behind Candlehead, but she didn't mind of course. He'd placed third, just behind her, but it didn't do damage to his ego like it normally would. 


"Yeah Swizz?" she replied, turning to face him. 


He felt a blush rising up, so he looked down at his shoes to hide it. 


"Umm, I was just...wondering, Miss President-"


"You can just call me Vanellope, Swizz. It's only president if it's one of those formal meetings or whatever that Dad holds." 


"Er, right, sorry; so, I was just...wondering if, I dunno, maybe you'd wanna, um..."


"Yeah?" 


Her big hazel eyes blinked curiously, and he swallowed the lump in his throat. 


"Would you wanna...h-hang out with me later? You know, go for a drive or something?"


She stared at him for a moment, and he feared she would say no, or laugh at him, or-


"Sure!"


Or say yes. 


"Y-Yes? You will? Oh, um, okay great! See ya in three hours?"


"Sure, I'll have to run it by Dad, but I'm sure he'll be cool with it! See ya!"


She skipped off in King Candy's direction, and Swizz felt a sense of relief going through him. She'd said yes! Great, he'd gotten the difficult part over with, now he just had to pick her up and drive. That wouldn't be half as challenging, right?


As he was getting in his kart though, he noticed the president talking excitedly to the king with a large grin on her face. At first, it seemed the king shared her enthusiasm, but then he made eye contact with Swizzle, and the young racer felt like he was staring straight into his code. 


Swallowing, Swizzle hurriedly started the engine and drove off. 


:::::::::::::::::::;:;:::::::::


A few hours later, Swizzle screeched to a halt in front of the castle doors. He thought he'd just be picking Vanellope up there, and they'd leave. But no, Wynchell and Duncan were there instead. 


"King Candy wanted to talk to you before you left." Wynchell stated. 


Fear took root as he jumped out of the kart and followed the two donuts inside. He was led to the library, where the king was sitting at one of the tables, an open book on the table, and his comically large reading glasses over his eyes. In any other situation, Swizz would've laughed when Candy looked up with huge magnified eyes, but at the moment, he felt like anything inappropriate would get him a one way trip to the fungeon. 


"Sire, we brought the kid like you asked." Duncan announced, pushing the slightly pale Swizzle forward. 


"Yes I see that, thank you, that will be all." 


The two donut officers left, and closed the graham doors behind them. The sound of the closing doors made Swizzle wince, and he meekly met King Candy's gaze as the king removed his glasses. 


"Ah, Swizzle Malarkey, how are you this evening?"


"Am I in trouble?" Swizz blurted out suddenly. 


King Candy tilted his head curiously. 


"No, why would you be in trouble?"


Swizz let out a sigh of relief. 


"Oh good, I thought you were mad at me or something!"


"Of course not, what makes you think I'm mad?"


"Well...you know, cuz, I, um...asked Vanellope out?" 


King Candy laughed as he stood, and approached the young racer. 


"Oh that, well, it certainly surprised me, but I'm not mad. Now then, let's chat while we wait for her to finish getting ready. Mod knows how long it takes for girls to get ready."


Swizzle laughed.


"Yeah, I know what you mean! This one time, Taffyta and I-"


He cut himself off upon seeing King Candy's sharp gaze. 


"Erm, I mean Taffyta and Rancis went out on a date, a-and I heard that she took like, an hour to put on make-up. Rancis said that, heh heh...."


"I see..."


Swizz grinned nervously. 


Note to self, do NOT mention your dates with the other girls! 


"Tell me something, Swizzle, how many dates have you gone on with the other girls?"


Crud...


"Oh, um, I-I don't know...eight?"


"How many all together?"


"Uhhh...."


King Candy's eyes narrowed, and he gulped. 


"T-Twenty, okay?! It was twenty! But they weren't really dates, they were just drives around Sugar Rush! They weren't really that fun anyway! B-But when I asked them out it was easy! It was different with Vanellope because it was harder to ask to her! I don't know why but it was hard! It's hard for me to even talk to her! I don't know why but it is! She's different, but it's a good kind of different!" 


He panted for a moment, before looking up with wide eyes. 


"I-I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean-"


King Candy put a hand on his shoulder, cutting him off. 


"Calm down Swizzle; if she wants to hang out with you, that's fine. But I do want to make one thing perfectly clear,"


The grip on his shoulder tightened, and the king seemed to loomed over him. 


"If you so much as lean on her, I will send the devil dogs after you; if you're not back in exactly one hour and thirty minutes, I'll send the entire guard out to find you, and you can spend the night in the fungeon, and most importantly; I swear to our programmers if you hurt her in any way, I will hunt you down myself, I will find you, and I will see to it no one ever hears from you again!"


Swizzle was staring at him with wide eyes, when the doors suddenly opened, and Sour Bill peeked in.


"She's coming, sire."


King Candy backed off, his usual smile on his face.


"Well, you'd better get going then," he announced, brushing nonexistent dust from the racer's head and shoulders. He then ushered him out the doors, where Vanellope was waiting, talking to Wynchell and Duncan. 


"So as I said; have fun, and watch out for road hazards." King Candy said, speaking as if they'd just finished a pleasant conversation. 


Vanellope looked towards them, and smiled. 


"Oh, there you guys are. Ready to go Swizz?" She asked. 


Oh, I'm ready to leave alright, ready to leave and not look back!


He gave a hasty nod, and followed her towards the doors. 


"Oh, one more thing, Swizzle," King Candy called. 


Swizzle looked back nervously, and the king gave a wave and a knowing smirk. 


"Drive safe."


The racer nodded frantically, before rushing out the doors to sanctuary. The sound of an engine followed seconds later, before quickly fading into the night. King Candy gave a chuckle, before heading back inside the library, with Sour Bill following close behind. 


"Sire, don't you think President Vanellope is going to get suspicious if all the boys are terrified to even speak to her?" the sour candy asked. 


"That's the point, Sour Bill."


Sour Bill rolled his eyes, before grabbing a feather duster and proceeding to dust the shelves and knickknacks that decorated the library. 


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Precisely one hour and twenty-five minutes later, Swizzle and Vanellope returned to the castle. King Candy and Sour Bill met them in the foyer. 


"Hey Dad, we're back!" 


"Early, I see." King Candy remarked.


"Yep, early! And she's perfectly fine! Picture of health! No harm to her whatsoever! See?!" Swizzle stated frantically, giving her a slight nudge towards the king. She rolled her eyes with a smirk, and glanced at King Candy. 


"Yep, I'm fine. So, see ya tomorrow, Swizz?"


"Y-Yeah, see ya! Umm...b-bye!"


Swizzle was out the door and driving off in his kart within seconds. Vanellope shook her head, before meeting King Candy's gaze with a smirk. 


"You gave your big speech again, didn't you?" 


"Of course."


She sighed. 


"If you keep this up, everyone's gonna be too scared to even look at me."


"Not everyone, just the boys."


"You worry too much."


"I worry enough, you're my daughter, it's required."


She rolled her eyes again and sighed. 


"At least there's only three of them," Candy continued, "Although, this one had the gumdrops to ask you himself, so I suppose that's a step up. The other two didn't even reach the actual date part of it; Rancis only heard the speech before fleeing the castle. Goyd didn't even get that far, he could barely speak fluently enough to ask to take you out, and he ran off before I could even start."


Vanellope shook her head, before putting a hand on his arm. 


"Dad, I love you, but please stop scaring the guys."


He rolled his eyes as well, but sighed. 


"Alright, I'll ease off."


"Good, so I can hang out with 'em?"


"I suppose..."


"And you won't send Wynchell and Duncan to spy on me like you did tonight?"


"Yes..."


"Great, cuz I invited him to race me at Diet Cola Mountain tomorrow! Thanks Dad, night!"


She raced up the stairs to her room, leaving King Candy and Sour Bill in the foyer. After a moment, Candy smirked a little, and glanced at Sour Bill. The sour candy looked up at him, before sighing heavily.


"Oh Sour Bill, I'll need you to run an errand for me tomorrow..."