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“C’mon,” Fiona whined, practically dragging Rhys behind her, “You guys have to come.”
Rhys moaned pathetically in argument. He had a paper due in his computer programming class tomorrow. He didn’t have time for this.
“Whyyyyyyyy?”
“Because my sister is DJing for the first time tonight and I promised her I’d be there!”
“Then why do we have to come?”
“Because you two,” She gave pointed looks at both Rhys and Vaughn, “need to get out more.”
Indignant shouts exited both of their mouths, Vaughn insisting that he didn’t need more social time, and Rhys saying he got enough exercise already.
“Pokemon Go doesn’t count as exercise, Rhys.” Vaughn sighed.
Rhys pouted, muttering under his breath that it did.
Fiona let go of Rhys for a moment, stepping into the center of the duo’s small dorm room. “Well, honestly? I don’t care what you think you do or do not need,” She grabbed onto both of them, “You are coming with me.”
And with that, they left the dormitories and began walking to the nightclub.
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The Purple Skag was the most popular club around. Hordes of students flocked to the glowing purple sign almost every night, attracted by both the hypnotic beat of the music thundering through the dance floor, and the creative drinks that were mixed there daily. Tonight, there were hundreds of customers in the club, creating a massive, sweaty throng of people, pulsating in time with the beat.
This was exactly why Rhys & Vaughn usually avoided nightclubs.
The two were currently standing around a small circular table, trying to avoid contact with any of the horde, many of whom were either drunk or high. Some of them had passed by the two and tried to flirt with them, only to get turned down very, very quickly.
It wasn’t that Rhys didn’t like the company, in fact, he often tried to get Vaughn & Yvette to come with him on excursions like these, but tonight was not a good night. This was his only free night this week, and the rest were going to be spent working part time at Scooter’s, and he really needed to get this paper done.
“Hey, Vaughn?” He said, turning towards his friend.
“Yeah?”
“How much sleep do you think I’m gonna need if I want to feel fully rested tomorrow?”
“Probably about 6-8 hours.”
At this, Rhys groaned and slammed his head onto the table dramatically.
“Well,” Vaughn continued, “I mean, you could always substitute some of them with coffee.”
“So I might have enough time to get my paper done tonight?” Rhys asked hopefully, lifting his head off the table.
“Yeah, providing you leave in about… twenty minutes.”
Rhys groaned again. At the rate this night was going, he’d be lucky if he got home in twice that.
Fiona was currently as close to the stage as she could get without being absorbed into the horde, which basically meant she was yelling and giving thumbs up from the sidelines to her sister.
Neither Rhys nor Vaughn had ever met Fiona’s sister before, as she was always mysteriously ‘busy’ when the rest of them were free, but tonight that would change.
Eventually, another DJ took over and Fiona rushed over to her sister, enveloping her in an excited hug and ushering her to the table where Rhys and Vaughn were.
“Rhys, Vaughn,” Fiona said as she got closer, “this is my sister, Sasha.”
Rhys looked up to say hi and immediately made eye contact with the most gorgeous woman he had ever laid eyes on.
Her brown skin glistened with sweat, making it shine in the dim lights. Her bright green eyes seemed to take in every detail at once, yet remained focused on him at all times, and she was oh so beautiful.
Vaughn pushed him back into awareness of his surroundings with a gentle shove, and Rhys realised that he had been staring at Sasha for a while.
“Uh-um, hi.” He smiled, offering a small wave, which she returned with a knowing smile. He blushed.
“Nice to finally meet you guys.” She said, folding her arms across her body, “You want drinks?”
“Uh huh.” Rhys answered absentmindedly, more focused on how beautiful she looked in the dim purple lights than the actual question.
“Okay,” She seemed slightly bemused by Rhys, although she answered cheerfully enough, “Fi, you got any cash?”
“But Sash.” Fiona moaned, “It’s my money.”
“C’mon, please?”
There was a moment of silence. “Ugh, fine.” Fiona said, sadly handing a wad of dollar bills to her sister.
“Thanks, Fi. You’re the best.” Sasha shouted after her as she ran towards the bar. As she left, Rhys’ gaze slowly drifted to the rather indistinct clock on the wall, counting down the seconds, minutes, and hours.
Oh shit. He thought, a sudden realisation crossing his mind, I need to go home and do my paper.
“Shit.” He echoed.
“What?” Fiona asked.
“I need to get back. I have a paper due tomorrow and I need to get it done. Sorry.” Rhys told her, the words leaving his mouth in rapid fire, almost like they were coming from a machine gun(although a lot less deadly). He quickly grabbed his coat and waved goodbye to his friends, shouting a ‘see you later’ at the both of them.
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The next day, Rhys was working after class at Scooter’s. The owner of the garage had a lot on his hands, what with the business expanding to a chain, and had put up a notice for a job. Rhys, being broke, was in dire need of the money, and so, he’d gained another responsibility to add to his plate.
He was currently working on a fancy black and gold Jaguar that some jerk named Vasquez had brought in. The asshole had burnt out the cooler, and now Rhys was saddled with the job. It didn’t help that the guy drove by every day in his other car to check on the black one and jeer at Rhys along with his cronies.
Maybe, he thought as he slid underneath the car for the umpteenth time after it had refused to start, I would get the car done faster if jerkhole assface McGee didn’t show up to distract me.
Caught up between cranking his wrench under the surface of the vehicle and his fantasies of Vasquez dying a slow and horrible death, Rhys didn’t notice the door of the garage opening, or the footsteps that padded across the floor.
“Hello?” A voice echoed around the room, jerking Rhys out of his thoughts and making him bang his head on the car, “Is anyone here?”
“Yeah, yeah,” He half yelled in response, crawling out from under the car and making his way towards the first aid kit he kept on the bench (just as a precaution), “Just gimme a second.”
“Okay, well, my caravan’s pretty busted up.” The voice said, and now it started to sound vaguely familiar. Where had he heard that voice before?
“Uh, yeah, okay. Just bring it in and I’ll take a look.” He told them, tentatively prodding at the small bump protruding from his forehead. It would be sore for a bit, but at least it wasn’t anything worse.
There was a small sigh, and then he heard the door clang shut once again. Rhys turned around and saw that they were gone, presumably to get their caravan. Why did their voice sound so familiar, though? Were they one of asshole McDouche face’s cronies?
Nah, Rhys thought to himself, They’d never set foot in this place.
So who was it?
Just as he was wondering this, the loud honk of a horn came from outside, making him flinch, and quickly grasp at the switch for the car entrance.
The door rolled up to the ceiling, letting a small, shabby caravan enter the building. Just taking one look at it made Rhys cringe inwardly. It had three wheels. What kind of vehicle has three wheels? Not to mention the rather obvious (and extensive) work that needed to be done.
When the vehicle was parked properly, the driver hopped out, letting Rhys see them finall-
Oh.
It was Sasha.
Shit.