Dead Ringer for Love

[skip-stop]

"Why do we have to meet in the evening?.." Astrid thought.

Attire

When the traffic light turned green, she pulled the throttle and her black and yellow Suzuki GSX-R1000R took off. Usually she tried not to break the rules of the road. But sometimes the temptation was too great. For what else did she buy this beautiful motorcycle for? She loved to drive fast. It perfectly reflected her temperament and lifestyle. Astrid always moved forward at maximum speed.

The Norwegian woman turned right, the purpose of her trip was already visible, there were only a few blocks left to drive on a straight road. And now the traffic lights are lined up in the so-called green corridor. Could she have missed such an opportunity? No. Never. No one saw it because of the helmet, but Astrid grinned. And then she pulled the throttle again.

The roar of the engine filled the entire space around. The motorcycle got up on the back wheel and Astrid rushed forward like lightning. The blonde deftly maneuvered between the cars without slowing down. When Victoria was looking through the latest financial report, she was furious about the speeding tickets by Astrid's name. But it was easy to guess that the blonde did not pay attention to the dissatisfaction of her manager. She was a free woman. She was a proud dragon. And no one will change that. At least that's what she thought.

"Ops, I'm going right!" Astrid said.

The woman turned sharply into the parking lot. The spiral climb was particularly exciting, she bent to the side in order to shift the center of gravity. It seemed that one more millimeter and her knee would definitely touch the asphalt. But Astrid controlled the process perfectly. And finally she was in the parking lot.

She didn't even think to slow down, she kept driving forward while trying to find a suitable parking place. And her gaze caught on a suitable one, which she saw on the left between the columns and the cars. Without hesitation, Astrid turned the handlebar to the left. And it would seem that everything should be fine. In a few seconds she will be able to start braking and the ride will be over. But there was one small problem.

"Fuck..." flashed through Astrid's head.

Right in front of her was a woman who, apparently, was going to open the car door. There were only two possible options. Or try to pull the handlebar sharply and to the side and with that take a risk turning into mincemeat. Or try to stop. Although, having a lot of experience of fast driving, the Norwegian woman subconsciously realized that this distance is most likely not enough to stop. However, the choice was very small.

She pulled the brake handle, the parking lot was filled with the unpleasant sound of rubber rubbing against the asphalt. Smoke began to billow from under the wheels of the motorcycle. The blonde's gaze was focused exclusively on the woman standing in front of her. Pulling the brake handle all the way up, she forced the motorcycle to rise on the front wheel. And in order for it not to do a somersault forward, she turned the handlebar, forcing her iron horse to turn to the side.

The motorcycle stopped and only when the back wheel returned to the asphalt, Astrid exhaled with a little relief. It had been a long time since she had been in such a situation. Needless to say, the adrenaline in the blood has risen significantly? Straightening up, she turned off the engine. Astrid took off her helmet and shook her head, causing her long golden hair to be disheveled.

And then she looked at the woman she had every chance of bumping into a few moments ago. A young blonde almost as tall as Astrid. The Norwegian woman did not have to look at her for a long time to immediately notice her excellent physical fitness. But she would be lying if she said it was the most important thing. Perhaps it was the effect of adrenaline, but for a moment Astrid caught her breath. This woman was very beautiful, especially her unusual eyes. An incredible and attractive amber, almost red color. For a moment, the long-haired blonde forgot that she had almost killed this woman.

"Sorry about that," Astrid said with a slightly guilty smile, "my friend is sometimes bad at turns.”

[Devastated]

Spoiler

Belinda had finished up some business, mostly some paperwork and stuff. Contract extensions and what not, payment information and all that jazz. It was a lot more of a hassle in Japan but at least the chances of mistakes happening were a lot more slim. Though she wondered if it would be okay? She had recently switched banks and that had caused a lot of problems. Dealing with paper-forms was still the common practice here, and it had taken almost a month for her to receive the notes to sign over all the payment information for things like her water and gas bills.

Still, she hoped that with LAW helping out in the matter of well making sure her paycheck came in every month as it should...it would hopefully go smoothly. As she was letting her mind wander on the problems that could arise here in this far eastern land...she opened her car door and was about to get in but as she did the sound of a motorcycle got closer and as she turned her head she would see it practically speeding towards her.

The eyes of the blonde widened as she recoiled back a step but the sound of rubber burning and squealing as it scraped against the concrete of the parking lot ground...coming to halt barely a few inches away from hitting Belinda. The young short haired blonde's heart was in her throat, blood pumped violently through her as adrenaline flowed.

She let out heavy ragged breaths as the long haired woman removed her helmet.

She was quite attractive and if Belinda hadn't been under the conditions of a near fight or flight response after having come inches away from being splattered on the ground she would have taken the looks of the fellow blonde in more closely. Yet now, Belinda step forward.

"No kidding! How about you drive at a safe speed in a parking lot at least!" Belinda snapped, her tone of voice clearly having traces of anger as she scolded the biker.

[skip-stop]

Astrid didn't even have time to blink as righteous anger flew in her direction. The short-haired blonde's tone was harsh, and her words were more than serious. And the fact that she took a step forward, approaching Astrid, further emphasized her dissatisfaction. For a moment, the Norwegian woman raised her left eyebrow. She definitely didn't like being talked to that way. When she spends time in bars, such conversations usually end in a fight. But this time it was a little different. Why?

Because despite the fact that Astrid was a very proud woman, she understood that only she was to blame for this situation. And that's why this blonde had every right to be angry at her. She got off the motorcycle and put the helmet on the seat. Astrid smiled guiltily once again. Maybe other people didn't have a problem with it, but it was difficult for her to find the right words to apologize.

"Yes, you're right," she admitted, "I really should have slowed down, I apologize."

The situation was really not the most pleasant. And the woman understood that words alone would hardly be enough. Usually, her driving skills were enough to avoid such troubles. But this time it really could have ended badly. Astrid was supposed to meet with her manager in order to discuss further plans. But she just couldn't leave this short-haired blonde. But how could she fix this unpleasant moment?

"Listen..." she began, "I'm really sorry and I want to smooth this situation. Can I invite you to dinner as an apology, please?"

Was it an attempt to flirt with the short-haired blonde? No, not really. Astrid really wanted to apologize for what happened through her fault and try to start this acquaintance on a more positive note. Although, of course, it was pointless to deny, this woman was extremely attractive, which was an incredibly pleasant fact for Astrid. She blinked a few times, remembering one important thing. Because of the suddenness, she completely forgot about manners.

"I'm Astrid, by the way," she said, extending her right hand forward, "Astrid Avidsson."

[Devastated]

It wasn't very often that Belinda flew off the handle but at least this time it hadn't been as sever at it could be. The Swedish-American was the kind of person that let things bubble up to a boiling point, though it was pretty difficult to get her to that point...a near death situation was pretty close to causing her to burst at least a little.

Watching the fellow blonde move off of the bike and place her helmet on the seat, Belinda would keep her ground. Standing firm as her heart was still beating rather rapidly. Though it was slowly calming down, she would wait and see what the biker girl had to say and when she heard it she was actually surprise. The daredevil took the blame and she even offered to make it up to her.

Belinda would raise an eyebrow...backing up a step as she would bring her hand up to the back of her head and scratch at it a bit. "Ah..." Belinda spoke out, she had to give it a moment or two. When Astrid offered her that handshake and even her name, Belinda would let out a light sigh. She dropped her head forward a bit and then shook it slightly from left to right.

Bringing her hand up she would clasp onto Astrid's and give her a firm handshake. " Belinda. Northman." She spoke out, taking in a deep breath through her nose. " Yeah, sure. I'm famished actually." Belinda said as a slight smile crept onto her lips. " Though...I'm driving." She said as she would give a teasing wink of her eye to Astrid.

[skip-stop]

At some point Astrid thought that the other blonde would not accept her apology. It would be very sad, because the Norwegian woman was sincere in her words. She really understood that the current situation could have been avoided if she had been more careful. So when the short-haired blonde shook her head, Astrid braced herself for the worst.

But after a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief. The other blonde took the handshake and it was not difficult for Astrid to feel that this woman had a very firm and confident grip. And then she heard her name. This caused her to raise her eyebrows slightly. Given the fact that they were in the parking lot of the main LAW building, it was not difficult to guess that this blonde was somehow connected with the federation. But Astrid definitely did not expect that this name would be familiar to her.

"Wow," she said with a more confident smile, "it's nice to meet a colleague, huh, I've heard your name, reputation always goes ahead of us, right?”

Unfortunately, Astrid did not see Belinda's matches, but this woman's name was in Victoria's documents. The manager of their team has always tried to pay attention to those who, in her opinion, have great prospects. But even if you do not take into account Victoria, Astrid did hear Belinda's name in the corridors of the building. Was it a coincidence that they met here today?

"Then let's not waste time," the Norwegian woman said when she heard that Belinda agreed to dinner and that she was pretty hungry.

Only for a moment did the smile disappear from Astrid's face. She looked at her motorcycle. She preferred not to leave her friend for a long time. For her it was not just a means of transportation, for her it was not just a thing. She really loved her motorcycle. Astrid took a deep breath and then smiled again.

"Sure," she said, "then I can get in the passenger seat I suppose? I hope you know some good place to have dinner, to be honest, I haven't settled in Tokyo too well yet, I can only recommend a few good bars where you can drink and get into trouble, huh.”

[Devastated]

Belinda would shake Astrid's hand, giving the beautiful long haired woman a firm handshake as she threw a light smile her way. Feeling that Astrid had quite a grip as well she couldn't help but feel that the woman had to be a wrestler, her name being rather oddly familiar to her. Though she at first chalked that up to Astrid having a very Nordic name. She would however be a bit surprised when it seemed as if Astrid had already heard of her.

"Ah?..ahaha~ I mean, well I guess that's true but I'm no one special here. Really." Belinda said as she would give Astrid's hand one more shake before pulling her hand back. " Not yet at least~" She joked out a bit as she would give Astrid a wink of her eye.

When it came to the dinner, Belinda could tell that Astrid didn't seem to keen on leaving her bike here. She would raise her eyebrow for a moment and then see how Astrid took a deep breath before she spoke out to her again. " Good. Yeah passenger seat is fine. Unless you like, want to sit in the back or something haha." Belinda joked a bit. She would start to make her way to the driver side of a blue Mitsubishi lancer Evolution X. With a click of her keys she would unlock the car and get in.

" Hmm good food huh. I suppose that depends on how fancy you want it to be? Like what are you comfortable with paying haha. There is a lot of great food places in Japan. Overall the food quality is just a amazing."

[skip-stop]

Astrid smirked at the short-haired blonde's words. These words were filled with confidence and it was enough to strengthen the interest of the Norwegian woman. She had a certain weakness for confident and strong women. She found it very passionate.

"I'd love to see that, huh," she replied.

Oh, it seems Belinda was completely fine with her sense of humor. It was a good and rather rare trait. After arriving in Japan, Astrid lost all her friends. Now she had only one friend, Charlotte. And although this Frenchwoman had a real talent for sarcasm, she had problems with a pure sense of humor.

"Your car doesn't look like a police one, so I'll sit in the front, huh."

In addition, the Swedish woman had a very good taste in cars. Despite the fact that Astrid preferred motorcycles, she had nothing against four wheels. So she happily walked around Belinda's car and got into the passenger seat, after which she snapped her seat belt. And by this time Belinda had managed to throw another joke. The smile almost never disappeared from Astrid's face, she had not been in such a relaxed atmosphere for a long time. And she definitely liked it.

"I'll trust your taste," she said, "but let's without unnecessarily expensive exotics that can kill us, I find it not the smartest decision to pay a lot of money for puffer fish, then to put the sneakers in the corner, huh."

[Devastated]

" What?" Belinda let out, sounding genuinely surprised as she looked her car over. She shook her head and place her hand against her forehead. " I told them I wanted the most cop car looking one....I guess I messed up huh?" Belinda would jest as she stuck her tongue out in a teasing manner. It seemed as if Astrid had a fair sense of humor and she figured she would play along with it a little bit.

Now that they were in the car, Belinda would snap her seatbelt and then start up the car. Letting it rev up for a moment or two before she would start to back up. " Hmm...I guess we could go to Tonki! It's a bit pricey but they serve the best Tonkatsu around." Belinda said as she would drive them out of the parking lot at a safe speed. Turning out towards the road and with that she would begin to drive onwards towards the restaurant of choice.

[skip-stop]

Perhaps this was the first time Astrid had enjoyed spending time with someone since her arrival in Tokyo. Of course, she quickly found a common language with Charlotte. But constantly being in the company of the Frenchwoman was not only impossible, but also a bit boring. And apart from Charlotte, the Norwegian woman had no friends or acquaintances here. Instead of friends, Astrid managed to acquire several rivals, although, judging by recent events, these women could be called not rivals, but enemies.

Communicating with Belinda was easy and simple. The long-haired blonde felt very at ease. It was hard to describe, but she felt as if she had known this woman for a very long time. Perhaps this effect was created thanks to Belinda's constant jokes. It was as if there was nothing to stop her. However, Astrid wasn't going to do it. Especially considering the food offer, which she met with great enthusiasm.

"Ooooh,“ she said, "sounds great, so we're heading to Tonki, huh!!”

Unlike Astrid, Belinda drove very carefully. It cannot be said that the Norwegian woman was against it, but it showed a slight contrast between them. But maybe it was even good, because Astrid wanted to get to know this blonde better.

"So, tell me, Belinda, where are you from?" Astrid asked, looking with interest at her new acquaintance. “You have a very rare, unusual and beautiful name. It sounds like something Italian. Hmm... or maybe something remotely German... but something tells me that you are not from there.”

Astrid didn't want to be too insistent, but she was really curious. Besides, it was much more interesting for her to look at Belinda and talk to her than silently to look out the window at the evening Tokyo.

[Devastated]

Belinda was a fairly average driver...she didn't take much joy in it and mostly drove to get from point A to B. She usually didn't drive unless she had to or it was more convenient. Usually she would take public transport here in Japan as that was just so much easier and efficient in most cases. Tonight though she had chosen to take her car and she had gotten into this situation she had found herself in now. It was by no means a bad one, after all she was going to be treated to a dinner with a rather beautiful woman.

As they were driving she was asked a question about her place of origin. It seemed as if Astrid was curious about her name as well. "Oooo? Curious about my name huh?" Belinda teased as she would give Astrid a light glance of her eyes before returning them to the road. " Well...as far as I know my name is Swedish? I'm guessing haha. I don't really know." Belinda chuckled as she shrugged her shoulders, she wasn't exactly much for etymology.

" My mom and dad are both Swedish but well I grew up in the States." Belinda said " California if you want to get specific. I've been to Sweden a few times though." She would make a turn onto a different road as they were getting closer to their destination. " You're from there too right? Sweden I mean. Astrid is the name of a pretty famous children's book author as far as I recall." She would ask as she once more glanced over towards the beautiful blonde.