Too Close

As it turned out, they'd managed to strap Earl to the top of a car and driven him around a closed down Mall. Earl had taken about a week to properly recover, and every time one of them moved in the garage, he would jump up, expecting to be grabbed at any moment. It was rather funny.

I knew the races were on again tonight, but I couldn't seem to muster up enough courage to go. Apparently Sean was racing again, and he was really confident he was going to win. I was sat in my apartment, eating noodles, my homework spread around the table haphazardly. I couldn't remember the last time I'd looked at it, so it was probably already late. I was almost unsurprised when I heard the rev of an engine. The person who had shown up didn't even bother knocking and just slid my door open.

"Don't you knock?" I scolded, not even bothering to turn around.

"Don't you lock your door?" Han replied smoothly, putting his hands over my eyes.

"This is really stupid Han, you already gave yourself away," I drawled, squealing when he squeezed his hands over my eyes. "OW!"

"Why aren't you ready?"

"Ready?" I finally turned to him. He was looking delectable in a blue shirt and dark jeans.

"The races,"

I sighed. "I don't want to go,"

Han had already gone into my bedroom. I jumped after him, watching as he turned my clothes inside out. "Seriously, do you have anything remotely sexy in here?"

"Get out of my clothes! I already told you I don't wanna go!" I exclaimed, watching in disdain as he threw some tops on my bed. "Han!"

He stopped for a minute. "Why not?"

"Because...because I have a ton of homework," I lied.

"If you're scared of Morimoto-"

"I'm not scared!"

Han grinned. "Then we have no problem, do we?"

"I...well..." I breathed hard out of my nose, folding my arms.

"Come on Princess, it'll be fun, plus you'll be with me," Han chucked my black skirt at me. It hit me in the face, and I pulled it off with my hands, glaring at him. He found my checked shirt, and chucked that at me too, which I managed to catch. "Put them on,"

"Are you seriously telling me what to wear?" I asked through gritted teeth. He nodded, walking over to me and pulling my hair out of its ponytail, so it fell loosely over my shoulders.

"There. Now hurry up," He left me in my bedroom, a grin on his face.

Fifteen minutes later, we were speeding off at record speeds. I watched the lights dancing over the car window, unable to bring myself to look at Han, who had been smirking the whole way. The radio was playing an upbeat Japanese song in the background, my nerves getting worse the further away we got from home. My leg began to do that funny little jig again, and it didn't go unnoticed by Han.

"I already told you not to be scared," He said, glancing at my hands as I twisted them around each other.

"And I already told you I'm not," I mumbled unhappily, wishing he'd stop looking at me. I felt exposed, like I was a shy puppy who'd been told off, and was now peeing itself in the corner. My skirt wasn't long enough, and neither was my shirt. I hadn't felt so bad in my jeans, but now I was flashing my bare legs around. "Anyway, haven't you got a billion other people you could take?"

Han, who was opening a packet of sweets with his free hand, just shrugged. "You're the most fun,"

"Oh, woo, I'm the most fun, yay me," I drawled, my words thick with sarcasm, making him laugh.

"Plus you look good in skirts,"

I rolled my eyes. "So do half the other girls at this place,"

"I didn't notice," He said airily, turning into the lot where Toast and a couple of other guys were standing, chatting away and laughing amongst themselves. I didn't know how to reply to what he'd just said, so I kept my mouth shut as we drove in. A mini me in my head did a little 'woop' dance.

I stepped out of the car, looking around, my skin itching with anticipation and nerves. Han was greeting everyone, as usual, as I leant on his car and waited for something to happen. A few girls had already draped themselves over him. I watched out of the corner of my eye, wondering if what I was feeling right then was jealously. I hadn't ever felt jealously before. I'd never had anyone to be jealous of, or jealous over. But right now, a big, green monster was crawling around my insides, trying to claw its way out and cause some havoc. Han gave the girls a slight smile as he watched me, before he brushed them off. He came over to me, and leant his arm on the car.

"What's wrong?" He asked, more of a demand than a question. I stared at him, surprised he'd just left the disgruntled girls standing there, giving us evils.

"That," I whispered, pointing at the guys I desperately wanted to avoid. Morimoto and Takashi, who were over the other side of the lot. They hadn't noticed us yet, but I was betting they would eventually. Han was so close to me I was pressed against the car tightly.

"Are you sure?" He smirked, his smooth voice sending shivers of pleasure down my spine. I narrowed my eyes at him, the tension thick between us.

"Yes,"

His eyes flicked to my mouth, back to my eyes, and his hand found my chin. "Liar," He murmured.

"Whoa! Break it up before Sean sees ya!" Twinkie exclaimed gleefully. Han swore loudly, and I blinked at him, slightly dazed.

"Twink I swear I'm going to kill you," Han said as he sat on his car.

"Well excuse me for tryin to save your ass," Twinkie replied as I shook my head, following Han's lead and sitting next to him.

"Save whose ass?" Sean appeared, none the wiser, looking at all of us questioningly. I just shrugged, my cheeks already red anyway.

"No ones. You ready to race?" Twink gave him a punch in the shoulder.

"You ain't gonna know what hit you tonight!"

I really wanted to grab Han and throw him down onto the bonnet of the car whilst kissing him until he couldn't breathe, but I controlled myself. Like Twinkie said, it might be a bit disastrous in front of Sean. Not that I was remotely bothered what he thought, Sean was...well, Sean. The fact I had been literally an inch away from his lips made me squirm, just the thought of it sent me into a crazy frenzy.

"I might put Earl on top of my car today," Sean mused as Earl straightened up, eyeing us all with wide eyes.

"Look guys, that jokes old now," He said nervously, backing away.

...

"So, I'm guessing you don't drive,"

I jumped, completely startled, as I heard a strange voice behind me. We'd been up on the roof for the past half an hour, waiting for Sean's race to start, and I'd been peering at Earl's engine for the past few minutes, trying to remember the various parts he had explained to me. Earl was now having an animated argument with Reiko, and the two were practically an inch away from murdering each other.

"Oh! Well, no," I said, turning to face the stranger. He looked pleasant, he was tall, with dark hair and tanned skin, his voice thick with a Japanese accent.

"You're Sean's cousin, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's me."

"Well I'm Isamu," He held out his hand. I smiled.

"Jenna," I replied, slipping my hand into his. "Are you a racer?"

"Yeah, never raced here though."

"Ah, so you're scoping out the competition, right?" I asked.

"You could say that," He laughed, raising his eyebrows at Reiko and Earl. I shrugged.

"They do that a lot,"

"So you're from America right? I went their once when I was a kid,"

"Where did you go?"

"New York,"

"Ah, good place, a bit crowded..." I felt someone behind and turned around. It was Han. "Oh hey," I said, not sure why he looked so stony.

"Sean is racing in a minute,"

"Oh OK," I turned back to Isamu, who was staring straight at Han.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Han said rather rudely. I frowned, wondering why he was being so harsh.

"We were just talking," Isamu said coldly. "Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Not if you want to race around here there isn't," Han threatened.

"OK! Han, let's go!" I exclaimed to him, giving him a gentle push towards Reiko and Earl. "Han," I warned when he didn't move. He didn't look at me, only glared at Isamu, before finally letting me drag him away.

"I'll see you later Jenna," Isamu said smugly. Han muttered something angrily under his breath.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" I hissed at him when we were out of earshot. "I was having a pleasant conversation with him,"

Han snorted. "You were having a conversation. He was trying to figure out how to sleep with you,"

I gave him an angry look, my mind reeling. Why would he think that Isamu wanted to sleep with me? Did I not have more to offer than just my body? I was insulted. "How do you know that?"

"I'm not stupidly naive like you," He said, giving my forehead a hard jab.

"Naive?" I repeated, my voice an octave higher than normal. "You...you are..." I couldn't quite think of the word. He raised his eyebrows, watching me in amusement, and I was glad he was back to his normal, laid back self. I gave a huff and folded my arms, aware I looked and sounded like a complete idiot. "A jerk!"

I spotted Morimoto and his cronies not too far from us and quickly used Han as my hiding place, trying my hardest to blend in. Han shook his head with a smile. "He's not even looking this way,"

"So?"

"So stop hiding, I told you, he's not gonna hurt you," Han gripped my shoulders and pulled me back up to my normal height, pushing my hair out my face like he always did. We heard car engines. "That's probably Sean,"

"The boy wonder?" I asked teasingly. "Didn't D.K tell you to get a new driver anyway?"

"Like I listen to D.K," Han lazily folded his arms and leant back against Earl's now closed bonnet.

"But I thought he was like, you know...the mafia or Yakuza or something stupid like that," I murmured, glancing over to him. He had his arm around Neela.

"No, he isn't. He thinks he is." Han patted the spot next to him and I obliged, folding one of my knees up to my chest. "His Uncle is Yakuza,"

"Oh...so is he just full of hot air?"

"Basically,"

I smiled slightly. The guy really was an idiot. "So why do you even bother with him?"

Han shrugged. "Profit,"

I should have known money was involved. It always was. My Dad always got wrapped up in the wrong kind of people for money. "You really think it's worth it?" I asked absentmindedly.

Han was twisting a piece of my hair in his fingers. "It's nothing I can't handle," We watched as Sean got out of his winning car, the crowd going ballistic, again.

"Are you sure?"

He let my hair fall through his fingers, back down to my shoulder again. "You're not worried about me are you?"

"No," I said stubbornly, though there was a grin on my face.

"Hey Han, get over here!" Twinkie yelled. "You too Jen!"

We got up, making our way over to Sean. My eyes caught a familiar face. Isamu. He had his whole body pressed up against a girl, who was in six inch heels and wore a belt for a skirt and a tank top. His tongue was shoved down her throat. I practically gagged.

"I told you," Han mused happily.

"Oh shut up,"