In a small cafe near the edge of the city, Neela was waiting impacently. It was two a.m. and it seems the entire city was finally asleep, except for her and the boy she was waiting for. She was waiting on Cole.

As she took slow sips of her coffee, her mind wandered to the story he had told her the night before. It seemed like a pretty crazy thing to happen but, it was not unbelieveable. Her friend Han had a similar story and so did she.

She heard the bell on the door ring and looked up. Not him. she was starting to realize how much she had missed Cole's company. The blonde had always been fun to race with and be around.

It didn't take long for Cole too realize how frequently lost he would be in this city, it was a nightmare to try to find anything. Eventually he found the cafe Neela told him to be at, and he pulled his evo nicely into a small parking space infront of the door. Double checking the sign, which was in Japanese, he carefully read it and determined it was the right one. He walked in and found Neela sitting at a table in the corner. He slide in the seat opposite her and smiled. "Sorry about the other night, I know it was a kind of a rough greeting."

Neela smiled when the blonde boy entered, a smile which got alittle bigger when he sat down acrossed from her. "It's okay. So care to explain who those two people are and why you and that guy got into a fight?" She took a sip of her coffee as she waited for his respondscene.

Cole sighed, debating whether or not it would be wise to tell her about Brian and Mira. Something told him now was not the time. "It was a guy I raced and beat awhile ago, he thinks I cheated. That girl that jumped in I think was his girlfriend, she had some guts to do that." Cole nodded, hoping she would buy that. He tried to change the subject. "So how have you been here? To be honest I'm surprised you haven't gone insane." He laughed.

"yeah I don't know many girls who would step between two fighting guys." Neela watched him her dark eyes taking in every detail. He looked like the same Cole she knew but something told her that he wasn't completely the same.
"Actually its not that bad here. The race scene is great and most the people are pretty nice after they get over the fact you aren't japanese. How about you? Whats going on in your life to bring you here?"

Cole was surprised how everybody seemed to like Tokyo, so far the only thing he liked about it was their orange chicken was pretty good. He'd better get used to it though, and find the good that everybody else was seeing.
"So far the race scene has been kind to me." Cole smiled as he quickly relived his victories. "I'm here mostly because of a bad decision that led me to becoming an FBI fugitive, so now I'm just camping out here until this whole thing blows over." Cole sighed and looked straight at the brunette. "Honestly Neela I can't began to tell you how grateful I am that we ran into each other. I'm not sure I can trust anyone at this point, not even those I call my friends. I feel like I'm traped into something I have no hope of escaping from, ever." Cole could practically feel his emotions just spilling over the table infront of him.

Neela stared at him in shock, though the pain in his voice quickly snapped her out of it. "There is always a way out Cole, we just have to find it." She tried to smile but it was hard to when she was staring at such a sad face of a normaly happy guy. It broke her heart alittle. "Was the mistake you made really bad decision? What was it?" She suddenly realized she might be asking questions on a VERY touchy subject. "Sorry. Only share what you are comfertable with."

Cole liked the way she said "we" instead of "you." Although the last thing he wanted to do was to drag her into this, it seemed like she had a great lifestyle here, he almost started to feel a little guilty for loading her with this.
"I started out wanting to help a friend who was in deep trouble, they were going to put him away for a long time for something I believed he was innocent of. The trouble is, I can't help but second guess myself. After getting to know him for who he really is, I could actually see him doing the things he was accused of. Sure, I'd be surprised, but I wouldn't deny that he could do such things." Cole leaned back in the chair and let himself slide down a little bit. "I hope to God I didn't help a criminal escape."

Neela took another sip of her coffee. "Wow... So where is your friend now?" He really had her attention now. He had really gotten himself into some trouble and she was determinded to help him out. "Where are you staying? And how long will you be staying?"

Cole tried oh so hard to watch himself, but he felt comfortable enough around her to let her in on a few things she probably shouldn't know. "He's in Tokyo, I just don't know where. We split up once we got here." Cole had to think on that last question for a second. "I'm just staying at different hotels for now. Sleeping in my car also works pretty good." He laughed. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea to rent an apartment or anything because I suppose cops could trace it." That part actually was truthful, he literally had no clue what to do. He wanted to eventually by a warehouse and build his own garage/mancave out of it, but he couldn't do it in his name.
"Do you have your own place?"

"It is just the two of you? Wow thats pretty amazing that you two could escape." Neela reached out and set her hand on his arm in a jesture that was ment to comfert him. "I have my own appartment. If you needed a place to stay, you could crash with me." She hoped he would take her up on her offer. The idea of him staying in his car or some random hotel made her a little uneasy.

Not wanting to give up any more details, Cole simply left it at that. "Sometimes things just go your way I guess, thankfully I've apparently developed a cop evading skill." He laughed. He was surprised Neela was so open to him, even inviting him to stay. He'd be lying to himself if he denied her touching his arm didn't send a tingle throughout his arm. "As long as it doesn't bother you in any way, I actually do need a place to park a car, since I'll be getting a new one in a day or two." He thought an apartment probably wouldn't have extra parking, but you never know. He really just needed some place to hide the evo.
Suddenly a thought came to him. If he stayed with Neela, Brian and Mira would probably not appreciate that, unless he could explain to them that it would be better they not be seen together everywhere they go. Either way, they'd have to deal with it. He wasn't about to turn down Neela's offer.

"No not much extra parking room." Neela thought for a moment. "But I have a friend who has a warehouse that he converted to a garage. He would probly set you keep your car there." She smiled when she felt that same little spark made its way up her hand. Thought it confused her. Since when had there been any spark between them, she had always thought of him as her younger brother, but now... He seemed to have grown up.

Cole found himself starting to get a little lost in his thoughts that he barely caught what Neela was actually saying. He snapped himself out of it and answered. "Uh, yeah okay that would work, as long as it doesn't impose on your friend in anyway...and is trustworthy." He pondered his last words a few seconds. Holding his other cars at someone else's garage was not the best possible thing, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
He wasn't sure, and he knew his "girl reading" skills were far from polished, but he just got this feeling that Neela looked at him differently. It seemed like he meant more to her than a friend, so what was his next move?
"When are you going to race next?"

"He is trust wothy.. at least I think he is. You can make the call for yourself." Neela pulled her hand back and picked up her coffee, taking another drink. "Well I don't race alot but I was thinking going to a drift race tomorrow night. Have you seen one of them yet? Alot different from what we have at home. If you haven't you should come with me." She watched him hoping he would say yes.

Cole decided to worry about that guy later. He trusted Neela's judgment though.
Drifting was something Cole always wanted to do, so of course he wanted to check it out. "Sure I'll go, I may even have my Silvia by then." He smirked at the thought of drifting that beauty, Silvias were built for that kind of thing. "I'm open tomorrow, so whenever you want to go I'm ready." He smiled. Brian was probably going to kick his ass though when he finds out Cole's hanging around this chick.

"Your getting a Silvia? From where? Whats wrong with your car?" Neela was surprised to hear he was getting a new car. "Alright do you have a cell I can call?" She pulled her i-phone out of her bag.

"The evo I have now is all wheel drive, cant drift it, so I need another car to drift." Cole explained truthfully, but decided to leave out that the car may be logged in FBI database. "That and I've always wanted a Silvia." He smiled. He pulled out his new phone and told Neela his number, then asked for hers.

Neela gave him her number then set him a text with her address. "Thats where I live. It's not to terriably far from here. I'll take you to my friend Han's to store your extra car sometime." She drank the last of her coffee. "How long do you plan to be around?" She hoped it would be a while, she wanted to explore the change of feelings between the two of them.

Cole looked at the address, he had no idea where that was but he could always look it up. "I'll stop by when I can, maybe before we go to the drift tomorrow night?" He looked at Neela with a little sparkle in his eyes. "I've got no commitments anywhere, it doesn't matter if I'm here the rest of my life honestly."