When they were both back at the bike, Arya said "I just love winding Sansa up. I hope you don't mind?"
He grinned back at her and said "I hope you don't mind, but I told your Mum that we were going out with each other". Her eyes widened in surprise and he quickly added "I know it's a lie, but it was worth it just to see the look on their faces. I hope you're not too angry with me?"
How could she be? He was too damned sexy to be angry with. His thick, black hair was still all tousled giving him a boyish, just out of bed look and he kept pushing it off his face with those big strong hands. That, together with the dancing blue eyes and the leather suit could make her forgive him anything today.
"Of course not you big, stupid Bull" she replied and punched his shoulder playfully with her fist. It had just come back to her automatically. That's what she'd used to call him when they were kids and then she would punch his shoulder. He looked relieved that she wasn't mad at him for lying to her mother and he seemed not to mind her punching him.
"Look! I got my gloves. I hope these are acceptable to you Sir Gendry" she laughed. Again it had just come out of her mouth - she used to call him "Sir Gendry" to annoy him and he'd called her "Milady" which wound her up even more.
Sure enough, he was quick to reply "Milady's gloves are most acceptable" which warranted another punch to his shoulder.
"Right Milady, helmets on and then gloves" Gendry laughed. He fastened his helmet quickly but Arya was still fumbling with the chin strap on hers when he had already got his gloves on, had swung his leg over the bike and was sitting waiting on her.
"I can't see what I'm doing" she wailed. He pulled his gloves off again and leaned over to help her with the chin strap. His fingers were sure and steady, pulling the strap into place and fastening it with deft fingers. His visor was up and as his attention was focused on her neck, she had a chance to study those long dark eyelashes and then, finally, she noticed the bull horns painted on his helmet. The art work really was superb, making the horns look like they were in 3D.
"Wow, that's a fantastic helmet" she gasped, her voice now muffled by her own helmet. "It's just so, so… you, you good looking, big Bull." She added.
When he looked up at her, all of his gorgeous face, except those blue, laughing eyes was concealed by the helmet. His eyes were all she needed to see to know he'd appreciated the complement. Arya smiled to herself. Men were all so simple. Flatter their egos and they fell for it every time. Gendry was a good looking big bastard, so there was no need to lie. Arya knew a woman could tell any man, no matter how ugly, she thought he was handsome and he would believe her. Women were just so much savvier. Yes! I am going to have you Gendry Waters she smirked to herself.
"Right Arya Stark, time to get your leg over!" he ordered. He had rocked the bike off the centre stand and his feet were planted firmly on either side of the bike. The pillion seat was quite a bit higher than his seat and she regretted wearing those skin tight, skinny jeans as she tried to lift her left leg over the back of the bike. The jeans just wouldn't allow her to stretch her leg high enough.
"I can't" she wailed again.
"Well, try and stand on the foot peg and swing your other leg over" Gendry suggested in a muffled voice. It took two attempts, but she finally managed to settle her bottom on the pillion seat and both feet on the pegs.
"Now hold on tight to the grab rail at the back of your seat" his muffled voice ordered. As the bulky ski gloves made it extremely difficult for her to feel anything, it was a few moments before she could nod to confirm she had done it.
"Hold tight and lean into the curves" he shouted as he started the bike up with a big, throaty rumble. She felt the thud, thud of the engine travel through the bike and up her thighs. So much for getting to hold onto him, she thought ruefully, as they set off slowly down the drive. She wanted to look up at Winterfell to see if Sansa was watching them, but felt that she was balanced rather precariously on the back of the bike and to turn round might be enough to topple her off.
He still had his visor up and after a few hundred meters; he turned round and shouted "All right?" at her. As her visor was firmly down and as she wasn't about to risk taking a hand off the grab rail to open it, all she could do was nod at him. He obviously got the message as he opened up the throttle and the bike jumped forward. Arya was taken by surprise at the acceleration and was jerked backwards as the bike pulled in the opposite direction. Just as she was getting used to the speed, he braked at the junction with the main road. She head butted him right between the shoulder blades as her body jerked forward this time. He turned round and asked her if she was ok, and miserably she nodded. This was harder than she'd expected. Already her arms were beginning to ache from holding on so tightly behind her and they hadn't even made it out of the Estate yet.
Gendry accelerated smoothly out onto the main road, toward the village and his flat. Arya couldn't see where they were going. If she tried to stick her head out from behind his shoulder, the wind hit her helmet, pushing her neck back and making her even more uncomfortable. She didn't like the lack of control either. She was stuck back here, hanging on for her life, without being able to see the road ahead. When they came to the first bend, she forgot he'd told her to lean into the curve. As Gendry eased the bike over, her instinct was to lean as far as she could in the opposite direction. By the time they reached the next bend, she had remembered what he'd said about leaning into the bend but she just couldn't do it. She felt she might fall off the side of the bike if she leaned over too far.
The next time he braked, she managed to avoid head butting him, but as she wasn't holding on tightly enough to the grab rail, she slid down the bike seat and bumped into his arse. While that wasn't too bad, trying to wriggle herself back up the pillion seat into the correct position while he was doing God-knows-what –speed proved to be pretty difficult and put more strain on her poor arms.
He had been right about her being cold. Although it was a sunny summer morning, as the bike cut through the air, her ankles, back, neck and any other part of her not fully covered was exposed to the wind. They had only been riding for about ten minutes and already her lower back, particularly, was becoming pretty cold and uncomfortable.
Just as she had decided this was no fun and she didn't want to go any further than his flat on his bloody bike, he pulled over and let the bike glide to a stop in a lay-by. Both of his feet went down to steady the bike while he turned round and pushed his visor up. Looking into her eyes, he squeezed her knee reassuringly. He had obviously realised she was having problems.
"Try holding onto me and you might feel less uncomfortable" he said, with his big hand still on her knee.
"Ok" she nodded and wriggled down the seat until the inside of her thighs touched the outside of his and her crotch was nestled behind his arse. It was such a relief to untangle her fingers from that bloody grab rail and put her arms round his waist. She rested her helmet and head on his shoulder and instantly felt better.
He turned round, started the bike again and this time she moved into the corners with him, enjoying the feeling through her thighs and arms as he shifted his body with the bike, taking her with him. It didn't bother her now that she couldn't see where she was going. Holding onto him and being so close to him was all she wanted to think about.
