Monday night on the Boardwalk

Cole had continued to walk with the girl. The one who had finally introduced herself as Star.

He almost had to face palm himself when he let out an impromptu slip up with making a humourless joke about her name. These things were like a fuse wire, one wrong thing said and the whole thing could blow up or fizzle out to nothing. It just took the right amount of sweet talking and silliness thrown in for good measure to keep the pleasantries on track.

And because he could see that she looked mildly offended, he had to think on the fly. So he told a few white lies about his own name to even the score.

Of course, he wasn't close to being called any of the names he mentioned, although he could remember his father mentioning that they did have some difficulty in deciding on his Christian name before he was born. But when he was breached, he was born with the thickest head of black hair and it was decided by both mother and father that Cole was a perfect name.

"Star-" Cole said in a quiet tone, he was walking towards his and Jay's parked motorbikes. Cole raised his eyebrows when he saw Jay, but he didn't say anything. And he purposely ignored the smooching faces that Jay was pulling.

Cole cleared his throat again, "Star, do you wanna go get something to eat?"

She looked at him, and he could see that there was a slight look of apprehension on her face. She responded with: "Okay."

Her answer was quicker than Cole had expected, and he smirked at Jay when he saw that he was mouth agape with her quick response.

Cole noted that she looked worried for a few seconds, and just as soon as he had asked her that question, both his and Jay's head's span around to the loud and obnoxious sound of a group of motorbikers who had approached with an impressive speed. They had literally cleared this section of Boardwalk, yet again.

The engines were evidently unrestricted, as were the exhausts. Ridiculously so. Cole had to literally raise his voice to a shout to even hear himself.

Cole swung his leg over the bike and sat down on his seat. He was about to offer the pillion seat to Star and maybe the two plus the third wheeling for Jay; they could go out for a meal.

Suddenly, above the sounds of the other loud motorbikes came the crisp and clear tone of another man's voice. A voice that neither of them had heard before. Star had, since she knew who this was.

Cole and Jay had looked up and found that within a few seconds, both of their bikes were surrounded by four others. Cole didn't say anything but did look mildly incensed that these guys showed up, yet again to steal the show.

Four young bikers, all distinctly different. One with long black hair, a rockstar appearance about him and his smug grin made him seem that much more dangerous. The dark-haired biker even had a kid on the back of his bike, and neither were wearing a helmet.

Then there was another biker, this one had long blonde hair and was just out of Cole's peripheral but he still turned to observe him.

Cole could have sworn that these two long haired biker dudes were a huge fan of back combing, because there was no way that their hair would be that voluminous without the use of a shed load of styling, unless they slept upside down! And Cole would know, since he had roomed in with Kai, enough times to know how much styling those spikes of his took to tame and point.

The third biker was completely different. He actually wore a colourful ensemble with tight black ripped jeans. This young dude had long and curly hair. An almost outgrown mullet in style but he wore it well. It blended with his tasseled, multicoloured jacket and he would have made an exceptional stall holder on the boardwalk, if he ever needed a job...well, that was Cole's first un-verbalised thought anyway.

The fourth biker was the one who seemed to be testing Cole's mettle. He was, by the looks of him, the one who was the leader of these other three. He was wearing black, from collar to toe. And, he was the only one who was really staring daggers straight at Cole. He cast a look of familiarity at Jay but said nothing. The other three bikers were all looking at him, waiting for him to speak.

Cole thought the others were unable to speak or maybe they were shy. He looked to his slightly younger brother, the usually overly talkative master of lightning. And, for once, found that Jay was just as speechless as he was.

Jay had already placed his helmet but he was unsure of what to do or say to the added amount of young men that had just surrounded them. He did notice that this girl, whom Cole hadn't introduced yet, was staring solely at the same blonde haired man. The one from yesterday who just stood and watched as Jay took a right hook to the jaw.

"Where you going, Star?" The blonde haired man asked. The voice was smooth, the tone was testing and questioning.

Star looked nervous, but determined, and stated: "For a ride." She replied, flatly, it was fairly obvious after all. She was about to get on the back of Cole's bike, but her face had dropped. "This is Cole," She added.

Cole was getting annoyed with these other bikers. Counting this time, he'd only seen them a grand total of twice and already they seemed to revel in destroying his well laid plans in wooing this girl... "Come on, let's go." He said, hoping that she would oblige him and his offer of a meal.

The man with the short-haired blonde mullet spoke again, the others remained silent. "STAR?" He said, much louder this time. Casting his rolled cigarette to the wooden floor carelessly. His eyes were fixed on her and her alone, the others were too.

It was a visible standoff.

Cole was beyond annoyed now. She had been so close to getting on his bike, and now, she was unsure of what to do. His stomach and heart sank when she began to walk back towards this man, just like yesterday all over again.

All he was waiting for, was for Jay to say something snarky and that would be it. Jay still said nothing, he was just as shocked.

She didn't even turn to look at Cole, she didn't see his face and expression scowling as she lifted her leg and got onto this other man's bike.

He grinned at Cole, the sickest smug grin possible.

It only exacerbated Cole's anger further as the long, blonde-haired biker laughed at him.

Again, the man with the short blonde hair spoke. The other young men were smirking along with him and yet his face was devoid of any emotion. "You know where Hudson's Bluff is?" He inquired with the same emotionless visage. Looking at both Cole and Jay as he revved his bike loudly, "Hey, Hudson's Bluff, overlooking the point?" He clarified further.

Cole looked back at Jay and his brother finally nodded, albeit nervously. "I-I do, but it's risky at nighttime." Jay said, he was leaning across to Cole, so only his brother could hear.

Cole looked back at the man who had spoken, "I can't beat your bike." He replied truthfully, honestly. There was no point in even trying to lie about that fact.

"I'm not asking you to beat me, Cole," The man replies with wide eyes, a look of mischief on his face, "You just have to try and keep up." He revved his bike, louder than was required.

Jay, cautiously put his bike into first gear. "Are you sure you wanna do this? I-I mean, I'm all for male bravado and initiations and stuff but this is plain reckless."

Cole looked at Jay, then back at Star, "You could always stay here, then!"

Jay looked askance at him. "Haa, err, no that wasn't what I meant, Cole. Look I'll come with you, just, I've got to be back to pick Nya up when she finishes, alright?"

Cole nodded once and started his bike.

The black-haired biker was talking to the kid on the back of his bike, but Cole didn't catch it. Although, Cole was hoping that the biker was telling the kid to get off or maybe hold on for dear life.