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

“You distracted me a little.” Joel said with a smirk and gave her a playful elbow. With her head leaned on his shoulder it was easy to land a soft jab. He knocked back the rest of his drink and proceeded to refill surveying the rest of them. This lot was nothing but lightweights with the possible exception of the heavyset Russian. He liked the idea of an air tour of Sol. In spite of what “Team Air” may have thought he actually liked aircraft quite a bit too; anything with an engine and a purpose. His mind was wandering, thinking about the prize he was going to collect when he went back to Japan- A prize he hadn't mentioned a word of to anyone. Glancing down at her and considering her words, [i]Tokyo[/i] would be a long trip to take alone. He already had his ticket booked, first class on Cathay Pacific, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford another at this point. She said she’d never been there, [i]though they had never even really been on a date[/i] it seemed like fate kept throwing them together. He weighed the thought of it as Vika spoke up.

“Hey, you stop trying to pimp out your sister, chick.” He shot back at Vika with a sharp grin. He had an odd habit of pointing with two fingers and he leveled them at her with the same arm that Marlin had nestled into. He chuckled a bit. She looked like a strong gust from a ceiling fan might knock her over. Poor Vika would be stark drunk momentarily, “Don’t make me have to call the principle on you.” 

It was about that time another female rolled up to the counter. Since the day had been continually full of people he’d never seen before in chaotic procession, he was feeling considerably more social than he normally would’ve been at some haunt down on the Southside. That and the fact that many of them were female and damn near scantily clad. He stole another quick glance at Marlin’s magnificently toned leg as his eyes wandered up Sio’s figure into firm eye contact. What was interesting was how both Vika and Marlin immediately seemed to bristle up at the redhead’s approach. He grinned a little. [i]She was into him more than he thought[/i]. Being the winner had its perks in many ways and that thought was instantly confirmed as Sio took a seat directly next to him before the sisters could scare her off. 

Joel liked seeing Marlin get defensive and very crisply pointing out that she was, in effect, [i]hosting the Gala[/i]. The perfect English she spoke was cutting and he would be lying if he said he didn’t like the sound of her voice. However, the redhead seemed to be eating it up and was completely unperturbed as she took a seat next to him. His spiteful tendencies caused him to immediately turn his head casually before he could really indulge in a full view of the girl’s backside. Whenever they threw it in his face, he never gave them the satisfaction of knowing he was looking- It’d taken Marlin a few tries to catch on. As he turned his head to look back out across the floor, he could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t look at her either. 

What surprised him though, was the new girl’s slightly technical questions and his first instinct was [i]suspicion[/i]. He thought she might be some kind of reporter looking for an angle or maybe she worked for a gossip column or something and had armed herself with some Wikipedia ice-breakers. He did, however like her choice in drinks and when the round came up he rifled it down without an ounce of hesitation. “It passed the post race inspection,” He said glancing over at her with a slight shrug. She was much closer now and he could tell he had a few years on her. His eyes had a more tired, worn look about them compared to her youth. “We have to surrender the car for twenty-four hours after finish line and I think my sponsors here had some kind of plans for it.” He briefly glanced over at Vika and her large escort as he thought about the rest of the girl’s questions, “Engine’s fine,” He continued thoughtfully thinking about his pride and joy, “I was damn near pushing that bastard down the track at the end, they knew I was faster in the turns.”

[@Almalthia][@PrinceAlexus]