Streets of Manhattan

James suddenly remembered what that meant, and cringed. "Um yeah... then I think I might have to change my vote on that."

***

"Um I don't know, see thing is she's acting like nothing is wrong. I'm sure she hasn't even told Ev yet. She'd probably deny you at first, but its worth offering. I offered her too, but she declined since I've kind of been on my own for awhile now so she said she feels bad taking money from me." Jesse shrugged, he did wanna help out his sister and he had put some money in her account. It wasn't much but it would help.

***

"Huh? Oh the hair." Antonio grinned, putting his phone in his pocket. "Chicks actually dig it. They think its edgy." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Which you clearly aren't." Jake added cheekily.

Antonio flicked him off and turned to Evelyn, "But yeah, its like I've gotten used to it but other people still kind of stare. But oh well. My mom flipped when she saw the picture but no big deal."

"Well you could always dye it brown," Evelyn suggested, turning in her seat to stare at Antonio's bright head. "Or, you know, join an anime club and spike the hair up with lots of hair gel." She grinned and turned around - and her eyes alighted on a passing cafe out Jake's window. "Waiiiiit! There! That's the one!"

***

Seth nodded. "I don't think she'd tell Evelyn right now either. Evelyn's kind of been all nun-like-freaking out from what Jake's been telling me." He shook his head. "I'll ask Ashlee - oh, we're here, I think." He'd caught sight of a sign reading Blue Flame along the side of hte road. "Fuck, no parking, but I can't say that's unexpected." He turned the GTR down a side street and they emerged onto a sort of back plaza behind the cafe, where a few cars were parked. Seth sighed. He always really hated leaving his car in a place like this. Racers were not made ot be left alone for thieves. "You knwo what, I'm gonna park elsewhere." Seth reversed out of the plaza and turned back onto the main street, merging back behind Jake and Ashton's cars.

"Yo," Ashton called, leaning out his window as Seth drew level with him. "Where do we park?"

Seth bit his lip. "You can park in that plaza behind the cafe," he called back, leaning around Jesse. "I'm gonna go ahead and Jesse and I will walk back."

Ashton flashed him a thumbs up and rolled up his window because it was starting to get colder.

Seth turned off the street and snagged a parking spot several meters down, in front of a secondhand bookstore.

Ashton turned onto the side road and entered the plaza, parking behind the cafe. He unlocked the doors and they all piled out. "Shit, it's cold!" He rubbed his bare hands together, blowing on them, and then locked his car and led the way aorund the edge of the plaza to the front, where the front door of the cafe stood gleaming.

Seth and Jesse were now out of the GTR, and Seth flicked the remote lock button, tucking the remote back into his pocket as they walked. Two soft clicks let him know the GTR was as safe as it could be.

Jake pulled up in the spot besides Ashton, turning off his car. He got out and went to open the door for Evelyn, "Alright everyone out." He shivered a bit, damn it had been pretty cold out tonight.

"Yeah it is." Lola's teeth chattered a bit as she zipped up her [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Ashlee and James following behind her.

Evelyn had almost thrown open her own door, and then stopped, momentarily confused when she saw Jake walk around ot her side. She grinned as she stepped out, hugging her arms around herself in the cold. Ashton, Lola, Ashlee and James were just a few paces away, round the side of the cafe.

Evelyn, Jake and ANotnio made their way behind them, Evelyn blowing on her hands as she went Seth and Jesse were crossing the street when they reached the front.

"Everybody good?" Seth asked, and then pushed open the door to Blue Flame's, stepping inside.

It wasn't as shabby as he'd thought. It was actually pretty modern inside, with sleek, dark shiny wood on the surfaces of tables and the counter. There was a barista in one corner of the counter, where pastries and cakes were displayed under soft lighting.

The tables each had small tealights and the whole atmosphere was almost sleepily quaint.

"It's cute in here," Evelyn murmured to Ashlee, moving over to her. She looked around and spotted the cleared space where a mic and amp were set up. Luke's dark blond head was visible as he bent over his guitar, singing, of all things, Wonderwall.

Predictably, a gaggle of teenage girls probably around their age was sitting near him, sipping coffee and giggling quietly as they listened to him.

[[To [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]]

[[ Jake, Evelyn, Lola, Ashton, Ashlee, Jesse, Seth, Antonio, Luke and James from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ]]

Everyone had gone to McDonald's and gotten food.

Jake looked at Evelyn and sighed as he pulled into the drive thru behind them, and looked to Evelyn. "I didn't mean to you know that, sorry. Are you hungry?" He asked her.

Evelyn bit her lower lip, still looking out her window, and then sighed. She had something clearly wrong with her stomach, but since Ashlee had it too, it wasn't the McDonald's. "Um, just a large fries and a drink," she murmured, figuring a burger would only make her throw up again. She dug in her bag adn pulled out her wallet, holding out a ten dollar bill to Jake.

Jake hadn't been hungry so he ordered Evelyn's food for her, and handed the ten dollar bill to the person at the window. And gave Evelyn back her change. He put Evelyn's drink in the cup holder and handed her food to her.

"There you go." Jake said as he pulled out of McDonald's.

Evelyn unwrapped her fries and popped two into her mouth. She glanced over at Jake, frowned slightly and held out the box to him. "Not hungry?"

Jake shook his head, "Nah, I'm good. If I was hungry I'd be whining." Jake grinned.

"Well, Seth's not here to cater to your whims," Evelyn pointed out, popping some more fries into her mouth and reaching down to grab her drink. She took a sip and then put it back in its spot, returning to eating again in silence.

"So you're gonna ignore me for the rest of the night I take it?" Jake asked, as he pressed down on the gas speeding up a bit and swerving in between two cars, so he could be in the front.

"I'm..." Evelyn expelled a breath, biting down hard on a fry and swallowing it without really chewing. She swayed in her seat with the motion of the Mustang and reached down for her drink when Jake slowed down again.

"I'm not ignoring you," she finished, toying with a fry between her fingers. "I just don't have anything to say."

"You sure?" Jake asked, cutting off a small silver car. Which honked loudly back at him.

Evelyn's eyes widened and she nearly dropped her box of fries, gripping onto heer arm rest with her free hand. "Um, don't you think you should slow down some? There was a cop here," she remarked, trying not to sound too unnerved.

Jake hadn't seen the cop, but when he did he had slowed down a bit until they were out of the officers sight again. He stomped down on the gas and the car roared as he flew past a few cars and as soon as he made the corner he, slammed down on his breaks turning his wheel sharply to the left. The Mustang swerved and screeched loudly as he turned sharply and flew down the street.

"Ahh I miss this." Jake said calmly, flying down the street.

Evelyn's eyes had closed for a moment as her stomach lurched when the Mustang taispinned a little around the corner. She was clutching her arm rest so tightly, the knuckles on her left hand were white. Her other hand gripped the box of fries in its McDonald's bag - some of which had tipped onto her lap before she could stuff them back into the McDonald's bag.

She breathed out evenly and glanced up at the lunatic driver. Biting down hard on her tongue, she held back a few expletives and just swallowed. She couldn't tell if Jake was toying with her and psyching her out on purpose.

It looked like he was. The asshole.

Then again, Evelyn had a fear of heights, not a fear of overspeeding vehicles. She popped a fry into her mouth and then returned to clinging to the seatbelt with both hands silently.

Jake shot a glance at Evelyn, but continued speeding through the streets. In and out of lanes, and in between cars. He then looked at Evelyn and smirked at the road ahead, "Hey Red, ever played Chicken in a car before?" His eyes glimmered, as he passed over into the opposite lane.

Evelyn sucked in her breath, feeling the blood drain from her head as she realized exactly what he was doing.

Oh my FREAKING GOD! HE'S GOING TO KILL US!

"Jake," she began, trying not to let her voice quiver. "Wh-what are -"

Huge headlights flooded her vision. Evelyn yelped and clamped her hands over her mouth, shutting her eyes as a huge SUV barreled down on them.

Jake sped up and just as the cars seemed like they were going to collide, the guy driving their SUV's horn blared at them as he swerved out of Jacob's way. He quickly swerved, his tires squealing as he went back into the correct lane. His heart had been racing, "WHOOO!" He hollered. Adrenalin had been coursing through his veins, he reached over and thumped Evelyn on the shoulder.

"Man! That was fun." He cheered as his car slowed to a more normal pace.

Evelyn was still trying to breathe right so she couldn't reply. Adrenaline pumped through her but unlike Jake, she wasn't cherishing it. Her hands shook and she swallowed hard.

Shit, he life had just flashed before her eyes.

She rubbed her face with her hands and expelled a breath, dropping her McDonald's bag on her lap. "How about you let me out and go streetrace alone?" she managed to squeak out.

"Nah its cool, got it out of my system. Didn't mean to scare you, I was just having fun." Jake said slowing down even more as they rounded the corner and drove down towards campus.

[[Everyone to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]]

[[Ashlee and Seth from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]]

Seth unlocked his car and they got in, buckling up. He let the car warm up and watched snowflakes float past gently. He whistled to himself and turned up the heater, finally pulling out onto the street toward Midtown.

Ashlee was clearly tense. Seth glanced over at her and then swerved violently to the right because a car ahead of him had just braked hard.

Seth slammed on his brakes and the GTR skidded with a deafening screech.

A little old lady in an oversized fur coat jaywalked across the road. Seth thumped on the wheel in some annoyance. "You gotta be kidding me!"

Even buckled up Ashlee felt like she nearly flew out of the windshield, her heart was beating erratically and she muttered a swear under her breath as the old woman crossed. Normally she didn't even pay attention to pedestrians but this woman really! "God, how annoying."

Seth grumbled under his breath and rolled down his window while the old woman crossed in front of his car with snail-like momentum. He leaned out. "MOVE IT, GRANNY! THE GRIM REAPER WON'T WAIT FOREVER!"

The old woman ignored him and kept plodding slowly, slowly, slowly...

She was still not clear of his car yet. Seth uttered a few choice expletives and looked around him. Cars on both sides. This was only going to take a few more centuries.

He tapped his fingers on the wheel. "Sooooo, what's your favourite colour, Ashlee?"