BOND

3.

We knew someday that we would have regrets

But we just ignored them the night we met

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

"Damn, I want a ride on that."

Joey whipped around to see Elena on the sidewalk, reaching out for the car door.

"Not you," she pointed to his bike and he blinked in relief and bewilderment.

He motioned to her car, extracting his mind from the mental pictures of said ride, "Likewise." Then realizing how unusual her presence was, he asked, "Are you following me?"

She nodded way too enthusiastically and turned to face him head on, "Yeah! I woke up this morning and my first thought was, you know what wouldn't be a total waste of my time? Trailing behind Joey Parker." As if her tone wasn't indication enough, she rolled her eyes to convey the absurdity of his question.

Moving past the jab, he said, "Seriously, what are you doing here?"

She waved a hand at the house next to his, "I live here."

"Oh," he dragged out the word, looking needlessly at the house. "We're neighbors," he chuckled at the unprecedented twist. "That's going to be fun."

"I'm nothing if not fun," she deadpanned, her face completely devoid of emotion. "Don't come shouting in my driveway for things, I won't open the door." For a guy with a reputation of keeping to himself, he certainly was not holding back.

"Duly noted." With a final glance at the car, he said, "That's a Zenvo, right?"

She crossed her arm across her chest, impressed, "You know your cars."

"I know the expensive ones," he shrugged.

After a split second's hesitation, she said, "You can drive if you want."

What the hell. Joey set down his helmet and gaped at her, not used to girls offering to let him drive their million dollar cars or even talking to him this normally for that matter. "Really?"

She held up her index finger towards him and knocked on the tainted glass window. They watched as a sharply dressed man exited from the driver's side, completely ignored Joey's presence and focused his attention on Elena.

"Yes, Miss Moscovitz?"

She let out an exasperated groan, catching Joey's amused look at the salutation, "Christopher for the billionth time, just call me Elena."

Christopher, her driver, almost friend and one of the few closest things she had to parental supervisors, nodded just like he did every single time, "Of course, Miss."

Joey held back a smile as Elena passed a weary glance at him. Look at what I have to put up with. She obviously wasn't big on pompous formalities.

"You can take the rest of the day off," she said to Christopher. "Joey will drive me to and from school today."

Joey tried to fight back his excitement but there was still a too wide grin on his face as he acquainted himself with the inside of the car. As Elena fumbled around with the radio, he carefully backed up the street.

"So why a driver? Do you not know how to drive or are you too lazy?" he asked, immediately feeling her glare at the side of his head because of his implied meaning.

"I've had to spend two hours daily at the gym for the past three years," she frowned. "Let's not talk about me being lazy."

He would have apologized but she didn't seem all too bothered by his comment so he kept quiet.