ariana wasn't the type to sit on the passenger seat. she always felt more comfortable with the wheel in one hand, the other one working the stick. that's where she felt the most alive, at peace. the faster the car went, the faster her heartbeat quickened. of course, its wasn't all about speed. it was about feeling the car, hearing every single sound it made. the agility, how sharp could it take the turns? she loved every aspect of it.
regardless, when you are driving with han lue you don't really get a choice. he's always going to drive.
that didn't really matter to the girl as long as they arrived wherever they needed to be.
ariana stepped out of the car, fixing her hair before closing the door. before she could go over to han, takashi got to her first.
-"ari, i didn't take you for the passanger princess. if not i would have given you a ride." takashi said. embrancing ariana in a small hug, her hands around his stomach.
-"you know i'm not dk. i'm working a new on a new design for my car, it's not ready yet. besides, he likes to drive me around." ariana said while looking at han, who had approached them. he didn't say anything, just gave takashi a smirk. they didn't waste time before starting a conversation of their own.
she recognized the car that pulled into the building, the blue and black gradiant paint that neela and ariana had worked on themselves. she walked over to her, just in time to hear the conversation.
-"hear that? it's still not right for the way i drive." neela said, expecting some sort of answer from the girl in front of her.
-"they way you drive is wrong." the girl showed her the computer, justifying her point. a computer can't tell you everything about a car. it takes a driver to do that.
-"you don't need a computer to tell her about her throttle response. besides, you don't look like you know much about driving. am i wrong?" ariana said. neela gave ariana a smile, backing up her statement.
-"okay. then we're done here." the girl and the boy left.
-"i told you, you should have just brought it to the garage yesterday." ariana said turning to face her.
-"i forgot, i'll bring it tomorrrow." before ariana could respond, the new guy caught her eye. she didn't see him as the drifting type, they definitely don't do that in alabama. ariana nodded at sean, signaling to neela that he was approaching them.
-"hi, cowboy. didn't expect to see you here." ariana said.
-"i can say the same thing about you, ari." he replied smiling at her.
she contemplated staying before leaving but figured she'd leave them alone, before someone grabbed her by the arm. the guy turned her around, making her give him all of her attention.
-"when are you going to let me give you a ride, ari? maybe i should let you give me one, you look like the type of girl that has expertise." the guy said leaning forward. she mimicked his movements, her lips hovering over his left ear.
-"you wish. you're disgusting." she whispered before shoving him off her, making her way towards takashi and han. both looking right at her. takashi nodded at her, making sure she was safe before his eyesight was set behind her. she knew that he was staring at, sean. ariana started to make her way towards him.
-"who's the tourist?" takashi said, leaving his spot beside han. han rolled his eyes at him.
-"what's with you and the schoolgirls, d? "you got to elevate your company." han said grabbing dk's shoulder.
-"like you're one to talk." takashi replied making his way towards neela. ariana caught him midway.
-"kashi, he's harmless. be gentle." he slipped right out of her grasp, ignoring her words. she sighed, brushing her hands over her hair before her eyes caught han's . she made her way to him, him staring at her every move. she glared at the girls around him, them going away at the sight of her.
-"am i not good enough company for you?" ariana batted her eyelashes at han, she stood at his side. he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and staring down at her.
-"company is the one that you pass around, you're just for me." han said. ariana smiled at him, him returning it.
-"you always know exactly what to say, don't you?" ariana stepped out of his embrace. standing in front of him, his hand dropping to her waist. he leaned forward to say something but was caught off by something behind. someone behind them. ariana turned to look at the commotion, watching neela try to calm down takashi.
ariana didn't waste time to walk by her side, han following close behind her but sitting on roof of neela's car.
-"takashi, stop." ariana tried to pull him away, his hands tight on neela's body. she opted to try to pull sean away, standing next to him.
-"we were just talking." sean said, closing the gap between him and takashi.
-"sean, this isn't your scene." ariana said, trying to get him to back up. she looked at the boys, neither of them had intentions of giving up. so ariana did. walking a few feet back towards han, sitting next to him.
-"that word you called me, gaijin or something other? what does that mean exactly?" sean asked. takashi held neela with pride, as if she was merely his trophy in a battle of who was the better man.
"means, turn around and keep walking." takashi said. twinkee fidgeting in fear.
-"that's exactly what is we is going to do. come on, man, let's roll." twinkee said, attempting to pull sean with him. sean giving in, walking away with twinkee before turning to face dk again.
-"he's stubborn, i'll give him that." ariana commented to han, him chuckling as a response. he couldn't pull his eyes away from the situation, to intrigued to do so.
-now, see, that's funny. cause' i thought this was, like a free country. where a girl could talk to whoever she wants." sean said. that's not really how it works, specially not here. not with takashi.
-"you know who i am, boy?" he moved neela behind him, their faces a few inches apart.
-"yeah. you're like the justin timberlake of japan, right?" sean said. ariana laughed to herself, not wanting to throw more wood to the already burning fire. neela got enough, stepping in front of takashi. with his hands on her hips she walked back.
-"leave." she gave the simple command. trying her best to no get him killed.
-"damm, man. you know yakuza? the mafia?" twinkee whispered to sean, walking away from the 'couple'.
-"look, sorry dk-san. monkey didn't have his banana today." twinkee apologized for his friends. han placed his hand on ariana's back, standing up.
-"hey, d, let's go. it's time to race." han made sure ariana was walking in front of him, that way she wouldn't go talk to sean. making dk mad at her as well.
-"hey, good luck, timberlake." ariana spun on her heels, catching up to neela and dk. dk walking towards sean. ari grabbed his forearm attempting to stop him.
-"he's not worth it, let's go." ariana said to him in japanese. takashi and sean were a few inches apart, ariana's hand still on his forearm. takashi stood with pride, analyzing sean.
-"you're the one that's lucky, 'cause i'm about to race." takashi said, without backing away.
-"then let's race." sean said. he didn't know what he was getting himself into.
-"sean, don't be stupid." ariana said, pleading with her eyes to get him to back away. he didn't pay attention to her. takashi laughed in his face.
-"with what, huh? your skateboard." takashi said. sean looked down, before staring right back at his eyes.
-"easy to sound cooky when you got no ride." takashi said, a sinister smile of his face.
-"take mine." han said, throwing his eyes. sean catching them. ariana glared at han, that piercing look in her eyes. she walked towards him.
-"are you crazy? he's going to wreck it. what are you doing." ariana stabbed her finger in his chest, mad at his reckless decision.
-"it'll be fun, ari." he tried to calm her down, grabbing her hands. only causing her to yank them away from him.
-"let's race." takashi said. leading the pack of people to a part of the building.
-"i want to see what the kid's got." han said to takashi, before turning his eyes towards ariana.
-"come on. it'll be fine." han said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her over to him. putting his arm around her shoulder before following takashi.
twinkee and sean rode the elevator up to the next level of the parking lot. twinkee contemplated sean's decisions in his head, while sean tried to prepare for something he wasn't ready for.
-"can he drive?" sean asked.
-"can he drive?" twinkee laughed in his face.
-"you know what dk stands for?" twinkee asked.
-"donkey kong?" very funny sean.
-"drift king." twinkee said.
-"drift, what do you mean drift?" sean said before twinkee walked out of the elevator. people's screams and cheer echoing in the space. cars gracefully drifting in front of sean.
-"you know that real famous painting? the one with the woman who's always smiling all the time?" twinkee asked sean walking towards han's car.
-"the mona lisa." sean replied, earning a nod from twinkee.
-"well, look, man, this car right here's like the mona lisa of the drift world. han and ariana rebuilt this bad boy from the ground up. we are talking forged pistion, bigger turbo, new rods, new crankshaft." twinkee explained leaning on the car door.
-"hey, ariana is the best mechanic around here as well as one of the best drivers. ariana and han? their labor is not cheap. do you understand." twinkee having zero hope in sean.
-"well, if i needed a 30-second lesson on how to drift." sean asked, it couldn't be that hard right?
-"all right, look man, there's a lot of ways you can do. hand breaking is the easiest, so the first thing i want to do is rip that e-break. after that, i want you to power over." sean looked back at him with the most confused look on his face. twinkee sighed in fear.
-"you know what? just don't mess up mona, all right?" twinkee smiled at his, patting the car door before leaving his side.
-"i'm not working a single bolt into that car, you understand me? he's going to wreck that car." ariana told han, setting the record straight. months she had spent elbows deep in that car, wasted. han just looked back at ariana, sliding his hand on her waist.
-"he'll pay me back for it, every cent." han promised ariana, pulling her close.
dk revved his car, making eye contact with sean, waiting for the signal. the guy looked at the two girls beside him, dropping his cigarette on the floor. he looked at both dk and sean, smirking.
-"go!"