Collaboration between Lily Kierstrider and YoshiSkittlez ---------------------- Giddeon's eyes were focused on the street the moment they left Mingle, always searching for a single sign of his little sister. He hoped, that just this once, he would get lucky and spot her car parked somewhere, or catch a glimpse of her car getting held up at a nearby stoplight or hell, right now he'd settle for seeing some shifty looking tattoed guy walking around. But the longer he looked, the more he came to realize that it wasn't the case. Kallian was gone, and finding her now would be just as easy as making himself into a legit female that very second. "Dammit Kallian..." He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, looking up and down the street once more before turning his attention back to the blonde that had eagerly offered to help him. "I honestly don't know. Kallian isn't exactly...well, she could be anywhere and this is a big city. I'm really kicking myself right now for not installing a tracker on her Charger..." He shook his head again, and then let out a small laugh, extending his hand out a bit and gesturing towards her. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name..." Nicole gaped at Giddeon. She felt her cheeks warm again at how scatterbrained she could be. How had she forgotten to tell him her name up until this point? This had to be some kind of new record for her. "I'm so sorry," Nicole apologized hastily. "My name is Nicole, but, um, you can call me Nikki. If you want to that is." She shuffled her feet and reached to twist the glow stick on her wrist. [i]Wait, the glow stick.[/i] She was still wearing it. Nicole quickly yanked it off of her wrist and stuffed it into her purse, making a mental note to toss it later. "Nikki huh? It's quite fitting." He complimented. He couldn't help himself, she was a beautiful, taken woman, which made her all that more interesting to him. He wanted to believe that her wanting to help him find Kallain was genuine, but he would have to guess that him being somewhat famous was a bit of an added perk to her decision. He pulled his arm back and rested his hand on the back of his neck, scratching it slightly. "Anyway, I do appreciate the help but I'm afraid that all I can do at this point is get back to my parents house and wait for her to show up. I mean, you can come if you want but at least let me buy you dinner first, or I can give you a lift home." His offer could have been taken innocently, as a friend wanting to ensure that the others stomach was taken care of, or it could have been taken as a very bold way of asking her out. He knew this, and either way, he kept a small smirk on his lips on the verge of breaking into a smile. Nicole felt a flash of dizziness, her legs suddenly feeling weak. First a compliment, then an invitation to dinner. She wanted to jump at his offer, but instead she bit her tongue and weighed her options first. This wasn't why she came to Mingle. She didn't plan to meet a guy and get asked out to eat. On the other hand, it wasn't a bad alternative either. Nicole looked up at Giddeon suspiciously. Why would he offer to buy her dinner when she was wearing a red "taken" glow stick at the bar? She had felt confident it would ward off all the single guys. Or she could just be over-complicating this whole situation, and he was just trying to be friendly. That was the most likely explanation. "Okay," Nicole said slowly, nodding her head. "I [i]am[/i] kind of hungry, and I forgot to go shopping for groceries this week. I guess it couldn't hurt to get something to eat." Her voice trailed off at the end, and she coughed to try to cover it up. "I actually don't live in this area. Do you know any good restaurants near here?" Giddeon laughed and motioned for Nicole to follow him and began walking to where he had less than gracefully parked his bike. Either she didn't know that he owned a club not too far from here, or she had forgotten, being all flustered around him. Either way, it was cute, but maybe he wouldn't take her to Verdant, he didn't want to overwhelm the poor thing. Upon reaching his motorcycle, he straddled the bike and handed her the only helmet that had been strapped onto the back. "You like pizza? Not trying to be cheap or anything but pizza always just seems like the easy choice since everyone seems to like it, and I know a place a few blocks from here that has a weird kind of pizza and pasta buffet thing going on..." Nicole slipped the too-large helmet over her head and fumbled with the strap below her chin. She'd never ridden a motorcycle before. The idea was both thrilling and frightening to her. After figuring out how to adjust the strap, she fixed her eyes on the bike and realized she would be sitting right behind him on it. Like, [i]right[/i] behind him. She almost considered changing her mind and calling Emily to give her a ride home instead. [i]No, you came this far. Don't chicken out because you have to get a little close,[/i] Nicole chided herself mentally. Spacing out again, she only partially heard Giddeon's suggestion to go out for pizza. "Sounds good; I like pizza," Nicole replied, her words sounding a bit too rushed in her ears. Shifting her gray eyes between the bike and Giddeon, she asked: "So... How does this work?" She knew she must have sounded ignorant, but she would rather that than mounting the bike wrong and looking like a bigger fool. "Well first you stand on your head and drink a glass of water." He teased. It was only too easy to pick on her, but he did it with good taste and a smile before cracking into another laugh. "Nah, I'm just kidding. Just hop on and hold onto me real tight." He could tell by her body language and the way that her eyes kept looking over the bike that she wasn't all too experienced with riding a motorcycle, so he added on a quick, "I won't go too fast; promise." Nicole shot him a fake glare at the comment about standing on her head, and then rolled her eyes. She should have seen that one coming. She stepped over to the side of the bike and swung one leg over the side to get on, but lost her balance in the process. She grabbed on to Giddeon's shoulder to steady herself, but swiftly pulled her hand away. "Sorry," Nicole mumbled. Giddeon had said to hold on tightly to him, but the only way to do that was... She swallowed and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist. She was grateful to be sitting behind him so he couldn't see her red face. He waited for Nicole to get situated, not at all minding the close contact now between them. He had to remember to offer women rides more often when he rode his bike. "Still promise that your boyfriend won't try to kill me?" He asked as he gunned the bike to life, leaving it as a rhetorical question followed by a laugh to symbolize that he didn't care what the answer to that would be. He had his fair share in dealing with a jealous boyfriend or twelve. Usually all he had to do was offer up and apology and free beer of Friday nights at his club, which really wasn't any loss to him. The bike took off, down the streets towards the pizza place he was talking about earlier but at a much slower speed than he was used to lest she fell off somehow.