Ineffable ꕥ Joost Klein ꕥ

7.

'What's the horsepower on this thing?'

'When I put my foot down, it takes a little while for it to actually go.'

Joost nodded thoughtfully and Elke snickered, knowing he was making fun of her. The slanted windshield huffed up and she fiddled with the air-conditioning to clear it. Flickering her eyes to and fro, Elke steered the wheel down the quiet street. The radio played some lyricless music and the closer they got to Amsterdam, the more headlights rode over Joost and Elke's faces.

When they arrived at Elke's car, Joost had to push the chair all the way back. His legs would never survive in the cramped footwell and the click of the chair locking in place made Elke say,

'I don't think anyone as tall as you has ever been in here.'

'What, Roan isn't a passenger princess some times?'

'Roan has never let me drive before. He always drives.'

Some would say that was chivalry, Joost saw it as something else. He imagined Roan picking Elke up and her Swift sitting unused for most days. If it were up to him, Joost would gladly skip driving at any opportunity. He loved the thrill when it came but every trip reminded Joost of when he would need to be at his best for a job. To hear that Elke was subjected to yet another one of Roan's insecurities played at Joost's irritation and degraded the image of the man further.

While turning a corner, Elke glanced to her right to see Joost looking out the window. His hand scratched absently at his cheek and she caught sight of tattooed numbers.

'What are those numbers?' she decided to ask, looking back to the windshield. Joost turned and paused his scratching. He realised what she meant and tucked his thumb into his palm. Displaying the numbers with his fingers downturned, Joost let Elke see better when she next looked to him.

'1983 was the year my brother was born,' he then pulled his other hand up to show the next tattooed combination. '1982 was the year my sister was born.'

Elke nodded along and Joost dropped his hands into his lap.

'Do you have any tattoos?' he asked.

'No. I've thought about them but I can never decide what to get.'

Joost mind wandered to where he didn't want it to go. When he looked in the mirror, he saw nothing but a tattooed mess. He would book appointments when drunk or as soon as he thought about a inked idea. His pale skin was covered in bad decisions but from Elke's innocent admission, Joost thought about what her clear, flawless skin looked like underneath her clothes.

To distract himself, the blonde thought about what irritated him. Roan's attempt to embarrass him tinged his nerves as much as it made him laugh. Without his friends to continue the commentary, Joost remembered how much he had wanted to race and show Roan how unimportant he was.

But then, Joost remembered when Elke had first mentioned the car meet.

'Who was I supposed to meet tonight?' he asked as Elke pulled into the underground carpark. Pulling up the handbrake, she turned her head with raised eyebrows.

'What do you mean?'

'You said that your boyfriend wanted me to meet someone tonight.'

It dawned on Elke that Roan had indeed said that.

'Oh yeah...' she undid her seatbelt and turned off her engine. 'It might have been Nathan. He left before you arrived.'

Joost's eyebrows rose in interest, pausing in undoing his own seatbelt. Alarm bells attempted to warn him but he convinced them that they were overreacting. There were thousands of Nathans in the world. It was a western name and people from all countries visited or moved to The Netherlands.