Ineffable ? Joost Klein ?

As soon as they paid the bill, Joost made sure that Elke's hand was tightly in his. The four rose from the table after a tense meal. Arabella had relaxed since Elke's attempt to sway her in the bathroom and saved the night from being a silent ordeal. Her general chatter with Aggu some times drew in Elke or Joost's forced input, but when the time came to stand from their seats, Arabella was just as relieved that the night was over as the unusually quiet couple.

Joost made sure to keep his pace towards the door. Aggu and Arabella took the lead, the girl hanging off his arm with a bright smile. The blonde took the moment to look down at Elke, who clutched his hand in-between both of hers.

'I have a plan,' he whispered and Elke looked up in surprise.

'You do? What is it?'

'You're going to have to trust me. I've had to agree to his terms.'

Elke's eyebrows drew together and she caught Joost's hard look. Whatever he had agreed to couldn't be good, but like every other time, Elke would blindly follow him into anything.

'Text Alanis,' Joost continued as they stepped outside, making sure Aggu and Arabella were still at a distance. 'Tell her to track your phone.'

Just before Elke could plea for an explanation, Arabella's voice made her and Joost pause. She clenched the fingers that were threaded with hers as Aggu stood with her best friend. His arm was around her shoulders, his smile lopsided and his eyes narrowed at Joost and Elke.

'Well, it was nice to see you guys. Get home safe-'

'Actually liebe, they're going to come to the meet with us,' Aggu interrupted and Arabella looked up to him.

'Oh. You didn't tell me that...'

'Joost and I talked when you guys went to the bathroom. I thought he could help with some of the translations since he knows about cars. You know how bad my Dutch can be some times.'

Arabella hated car meets, Elke thought to herself. It was just another thing that Arabella was ignoring because of her infatuation with Aggu. She felt pathetic, angling herself so that she was partially behind his shoulder. While Arabella sent confused looks to her boyfriend, Elke glanced up at Joost while chewing on her lip.

Whatever Joost and Aggu had agreed to during dinner, Elke had a feeling that cars weren't the main event.

Joost took the lead after Arabella and Aggu. The black Lancer was parked in the street and he made sure to keep a distance as Aggu held the back door open. Arabella slid in behind the passenger's seat, which Elke was thankful for. Even though she would have sit behind Aggu, who would be in the driver's seat, Joost would only be adjacent to her.

But before Joost could step off the curb, Aggu called,

'Joost.'

They stopped and the blonde tore his hard gaze away from the road below.

'You're driving,' the ring of the keys whistled as they were thrown through the air. They were silenced by Joost's catch and Aggu walked around the bonnet to head for the passenger's seat.

The metal keys cut into Joost's hand at his strong clench. He didn't want to spend the drive concentrating on the road while Aggu was free to do as he pleased next to him. But when he thought about it, Joost found some solitude in knowing he could look in the rearview when needed. With Elke behind him, Joost could feel safer with himself and her on one side of the car.

Elke had to pry her fingers from Joost's as she lowered into the backseat. It wasn't from his grip, but from her unwillingness to let go. She pulled the door shut after her and watched Joost do the same in front of her. The ends of his blonde hair peaked out from around the headrest and Elke hoped that he could feel her burning stare.