A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, overtime just about killed me. Please review and let me know what you think.
With intentions of forgetting about Bender, Claire decided she should head for the mall. And like a lab rat that never learns their lessons, she ended up back in Saturday detention. After sitting all day in the presence of the school's not-so-finest, she made a promise to herself, right then and there, that it would be the last time she would do something so stupid as to get caught skipping class.
She left detention with the wretched feeling of wasting a good pre-summer beach day on one lousy pair of Gucci shoes. When she left the building the sun was setting in her eyes and she looked up as if to thank God for small miracles. Making her way to the parking lot in the front of the school she noticed the silhouette of a person leaning up against a motorcycle next to her car. As she approached, she found the silhouette to be none other than John Bender. She couldn't control her stupid stomach from doing flips at the sight of him, but thank goodness for her she had enough sense to control her brain.
"New wheels?" She asked, squinting into the sunset.
"I guess," he replied, shrugging off the coldness that was in her voice. "Wanna come for a ride?"
She stared at him then, noticing that he took the time to bring two helmets with him. She stared directly in his eyes as if trying to read him. She took the time to slowly lean against the passenger side of her car, leaving at least 3 feet distance between them and cross her arms, keys still in her hand. If she had any brains at all, she would have just replied with a simple and concise "No." But of course, logic in that department seemed to always fail her, so instead she settled on "Where have you been, John?"
"Around," he replied, as nonchalantly as if he were talking about the weather.
"You know what?" she asked, still staring in his eyes. "That was the wrong answer." She said decisively as she brought herself up to standing and headed around the car to the driver's side. Silently cheering herself on she put the right key in the lock when she heard him.
"Please, Claire," he rumbled quietly. When she looked up, as if to see if he actually said it he repeated, "Please."
She froze there, in the unlocking position and asked "Why?" In all honesty, she didn't care what his answer was, just a real answer. An answer with some sort of substance and, maybe, even some heart.
When he replied "Because, I have something I want to show you," she made up her mind. Pulling the key from the lock she walked back around her car to him and his motorcycle. When he handed her a helmet she looked at it and smiled. It was a plain black helmet, more beat up than anything else, but there was a shiny purple star sticker on the side. "So I know which one is yours," he replied before she could comment.
She let that comment slide, because from the look on his face he was mortified that it had slipped out of his mouth. She put the helmet on her head, and to her surprise it actually fit her. He smiled as he took the chin strap and snapped it closed. He then put his helmet on and heaved one leg over the motorcycle. He looked back as if to see if she was actually going to join him. "You coming, Princess?" he asked tauntingly. Hell yes, she was coming.
She mimicked his actions in hauling her leg over the motorcycle, there wasn't much grace in that action, but she didn't care. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. When the motor started, she instinctively threw her arms around his waist and clasped her hands in front of him. She could see him start to laugh before they sped off onto the street.
Feeling the power of the motorcycle beneath her and hanging onto John Bender, she didn't think she had ever felt so free or alive in her entire life. When she finally mustered the courage to look over John's shoulder at the road ahead of them, she noticed her earring in his ear. When they stopped at a red light, she fingered it, as if letting him know that she noticed. The light turned green and he gunned it and started laughing when she gave a yelp and returned to her previous position of holding on for dear life and huddling behind John's broad shoulders.
When the motorcycle stopped in a gravel parking lot, she knew they were somewhere in the North side of town. The North side wasn't a bad area of town, really, but in comparison to where Claire was used to living, she was a little uncertain as to why they were here.
She knew that contrary to popular belief, John's parent's actually lived in the most upper class neighbourhood, which just goes to show about judging people. "Why are we here?" She asked quietly, looking around at her surroundings.
In typical wordless John fashion, he grabbed her hand and led her into the building. The climbed three flights of stairs and she was winded when they reached the top, but John seemed rejuvenated. Almost excited. He took his keys out and pushed one violently into the door marked 307 and turned. He opened the door and backed out of it, allowing Claire to enter first.
"This," he said, as if proving a point, "is where I have been."