[b][center][h2]Joel Nicolosi[/h2][/center][/b]

Joel yawned. The women were throwing their weight around which he found particularly boring. Who was more important in politics or who had the most money, [i]blah blah blah[/i]. Neither one was a very good look as far as he was concerned. He didn’t sign on to some night of dick measuring. The redhead, Sio, had some dirt she wanted to spill about Marlin and they had apparently met before. Women talked shit, and though he didn’t really care what about, their bickering was beginning to get on his nerves. He knocked back another drink, still completely unphased. They were all far behind him on drink count. Even Vika’s mountain sized escort hadn’t put up much of a fight. 

Sio landed some social blow that Marlin found offensive and to Joel’s surprise, scurried off leaving him sitting there next to Sio. She seemed so confident only a few moments ago and then been reduced to running away in only a few seconds. He snorted a little in amusement and thought more about the car. They’d banged fenders a few times with the GT-R, but it didn’t look like anything more than superficial. The carbon fiber panels were damned expensive, even for Tommy’s budget and he’d taken great care over the years not to trade hard shots with anyone else. He wasn’t paying a lot of attention when he heard Marlin call him an asshole, which seemed a tad impertinent considering he’d just drove his ass off to win the race, but he let it roll off. He was a proud asshole.

Others arrived and the counter was becoming crowded along with the rest of the main hall. There was some extremely tall person patting Sio and Vika on the head and then some language other than plain English was being tossed around like the alcohol he was trying so hard to imbibe in peace. Vika seemed to be taking considerable offense to Sio and unable to let go of some comment. He was getting irritated as the whole scene was turning into some silly comic strip. He refilled and returned a raised glass nod to the tall blonde who seemed to be at least [i]attempting[/i] to be civil. When Sio mentioned another round, he knocked on the counter and just pointed at the glass for the barman without even looking at anyone. These people were pathetic drinking partners, he thought.

The words, [i]Fuck This[/i] were beginning to flash in his mind like a derelict traffic light at a busy city intersection. The Russian language continued to be batted back and forth to the point that Joel began to wonder why they hadn’t put up a Russian flag instead of an English one… or an American one. He was getting a headache and it wasn’t from the alcohol. Nearly on the verge of getting up, he stopped when he heard Vika say something to the effect of making Sio buy her own drinks and he felt a fire in his soul ignite like gasoline and a sedaline torch. 

It was the way she said it… that high school, snooty, bitch tone. He could remember it well. All those losers and dirtbags he hadn’t kept the slightest bit of communication with since graduating flashed through his mind. In his high school days many girls wouldn’t give him the time of day and they all used that exact, same tone. He was a bit of an outcast then, but the street had been his great equalizer, his stage. The same car that had just won the Sol City Grand Prix had slayed many on the street back then and he found those same prissy girls and their cuck boyfriends armed with parents’ money singing much different tunes when they were forced to pay up after losing to him and the 300. It was no surprise he hadn’t even received an invitation to his ten-year high school reunion. He rolled the fingers of his now open arm along the countertop as they continued to bicker. Just the petty, selfish nature of it was writhing in his chest. He had no idea what was between Sio and Marinalia, but he did know how she must have felt: Singled out and told she wasn’t cool enough to sit at their table and have free drinks. He bit his tongue and looked straight ahead. He was unable to hide his lips from curling slightly. He had spied an open upper level when he first walked in and he knew where he was headed.

Without a word, Joel took one of the whiskey bottles along with his glass and walked off into the crowd. 

[@PrinceAlexus][@Almalthia][@Silver Fox]