“I hope you're not weirded out by any of this, or, um... you know.”

"Of course not. It's really nice actually," Ashely admitted. "It's not every day that a pretty girl invites me to have food. It is usually questionable men I get attention from and..." She shivered and seemed to suddenly have goosebumps on her arms. "The blue glow stick... I'm bi, but the men around me make me want to be completely and 100 percent..." She lowered her voice when an old couple passed them. They looked at the two girls longer than normal as if they recognized one of them. When they were gone, she looked back at Charlotte. "Anyways... now I'm rambling."

She took the offered straw from the brunette and took a huge gulp of the carbonated soft drink, letting out a refreshed sigh. She did not drink soda very often. It was another one of those things her parents said was a huge no-no. It was bad for you. Blah-de-blah blah blah.

“What you said, about having someone like that in your life... don't you have anyone like that?”

Ashely blushed. "Well... not really. I mean I have some friends, but not any "real" friends. I mean, I don't believe I could tell them about this club or the blue glow stick, if you know what I mean. My parents are super rich and want everything to be just right and perfect, including me. It was kind of a stressing environment to be in growing up because I never felt like I could just be myself and I still don't."

"If my mom knew I was drinking this sprite or ordering Chinese food, she would nag at me for days about all the weight I'm going to gain." Ashely looked down at the table, absentmindedly drawing circles in the condensation that was coming off her drink cup.

Collaboration between Lily Kierstrider and YoshiSkittlez

---

For a split second, Giddeon felt his tense nerves ease up a bit as the blonde in front of him had confirmed seeing Kallian; but it didn't last very long. As he followed the girl's gesture to the bar stool where she had spotted Kallian sitting in earlier and finding it empty, he felt his heart drop once more. He couldn't help but to look around the Juice Bar once more in hopes that he would spot his little sister walking around somewhere nearby and was so engrossed into it that he hardly heard the girls apology.

"Huh? Oh..." He tried to bring his attention back from the crowd of people and back to the blonde in front of him. "No, no it's okay, it's not your fault." He shrugged his shoulders casually, catching a small group not too far from them whispering his name in between one another. He had to wrap his up and quick before everyone in the bar knew who he was, or maybe that's exactly what needed to happen.

"Could you give me a sec?" He asked the blonde before politely excusing himself and made his way directly to the karaoke area that was currently going on un-used and picked up the microphone. He tapped on the mic a few times, getting the DJ's attention and the music that had been playing was abruptly cut off.

Nicole watched the man thoughtfully. He seemed very disturbed over his sister's disappearance. It was actually kind of sweet. She was surprised when he left, walking over to the karaoke area.

"Um what are you..." Nicole frowned. She doubted he was planning to sing for everyone. She glanced at the other people in the bar, who were still staring, as he took up the microphone. She wondered what he was going to do.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Giddeon called out to the floor. There was no shakiness in his voice, no signal at all that he was nervous about speaking in front of a bunch of people like ninety percent of the human population would given his situation.

"My name is Giddeon Zelinsky, most of you might know me as Vincent Zelinsky's son, or maybe you know me from my few years of playing for the Tuscon Padres or hell, let me really go out on a limb here and say that most of you should know me for my Nightclub I opened up downtown called Verdant..."

This seemed to cause the group to stop whispering amongst themselves, and caused a pretty big quiet in the Juice Bar.

Nicole's jaw dropped. She was shocked at the new revelation. The man - no Giddeon - was famous? That would explain all the attention he was drawing earlier, but it still surprised her. She also felt a sense of pride.

That famous guy was talking to me! It felt good after years of being treated like crap by every other guy in her life, but still... She looked down at her red glow stick and bit her lip.

"But I'm not here for any of that. I'm here looking for my sister Kallian. She was here just a few minutes ago. Her phone has been misplaced for a few days now, so I've been unable to contact her that way but it's crucial that I find her quickly as we have had a sudden family emergency. Any information any of you have will be appreciated, and if it's useful information-" He stopped to look over at the DJ for a moment and held up his free hand. "-not trying to take away from Mingle here, but I can offer free drinks at Verdant for a night. Again, I'm sorry for interrupting you're quiet evening here, but this is pretty important. Thank you."

Giddeon set down the mic where he got it and stepped down from the stage, immediately swarmed by the group in their opportunity to speak with a celebrity. It took a while to get through everyone, and only one or two people had any real information to give to whom he wrote out a voucher for as he had promised earlier. His statement about having a family emergency was a complete lie, but he wasn't about to drag his little sister's name through the mud in front of everyone by calling her out on what she really was.

Finally able to push through everyone, he approached the blonde once more with a rather dejected look on his face.

"Well, she left here with some punk with tattoos. I...I don't know what to do from here..."

Nicole felt a flash of pity for Giddeon. He cared about his sister so much it hurt her to watch.

"Let me help you find her. I'm sure she couldn't have gotten far," without realizing it, Nicole had reached out to take his hand and was staring intently into his eyes. She couldn't stand to see any guy looking like that. Yeah, that's it, she thought, trying to reassure herself. I just don't like it when guys get upset like this, that's all... She couldn't lie to her racing heart though.

Giddeon took a moment to look at their connected hands and wasn't able to keep a small smirk off the corner of his mouth. Especially since that red glow stick couldn't have been shining any brighter in that moment.

Suddenly realizing she was still holding onto Giddeon's hand, Nicole quickly pulled away. She rubbed her palms together tensely and stood up, grabbing her purse and swinging it over her shoulder.

"So what are we waiting for?" Nicole attempted to put on a bravado and failed epically when her voice spiked at the end. Smooth.

"Only if you can promise me that your boyfriend won't surprise me with a fist in the face." He replied with a light laugh, only held back by the worry of his sister's whereabouts.

"Um yeah," Nicole replied tersely. "Wait, I mean no. I mean... I don't know what I mean. Nevermind." Again, she dropped her gray eyes to the floor. She couldn't tell Giddeon the truth: that she wasn't actually taken. That would raise too many questions. After coming here, she wasn't even sure why she did it anymore. It was stupid to try and avoid the guys at Mingle anyway.

"Let's just go find your sister," Nicole murmured and started walking towards the door, hoping Giddeon wouldn't try to bring the subject of her red glow stick back up again.

Relief began to settle in as Ashley waved away Charlie's worries, only to be abruptly halted at the words “it's not every day that a pretty girl invites me to have food”. She froze for a moment, the tip of the straw resting on her bottom lip, to absorb the compliment. Her cheeks flushed once she realised, as they often did whenever someone said something like that, and she tried to hide the blush behind her hands, pretending to rest her chin in her palm.

Considering she was usually covered in paint, dirt, and wearing some old clothes, hair up in a messy ponytail, she would never describe herself as pretty. Charlie forced herself to stop obsessing over the word and focus back on the conversation. She eyed the passing elderly couple, glancing at Ashley – did she know them?

“If my mom knew I was drinking this sprite or ordering Chinese food, she would nag at me for days about all the weight I'm going to gain.”

What she could derive from Ashley's explanation follows; she lacked proper friendship, she was in the closet at least to her “friends” and family, and her parents were idiots. Well, that last part was mostly opinion on Charlie's part. She found herself frowning as her imagination took over, painting Ashley's parents as evil diet-obsessed nag monsters. Unable to help herself, she sat up straight and spoke up.

“You know, a healthy diet actually requires a certain amount of sugary and greasy foods.” She launched into a lecture that would make any college professor jealous, using her hands to accompany her words. “Your body needs something from each food group on a regular basis, and as long as you don't each any of it in excess, all of it is used to keep you alive. The glucose in sugary foods is the only source of energy your brain can use, and it's important for your muscles too. It's only when we eat too much sugary foods that it becomes unhealthy. A sprite now and then is good for you.”

Only when she finished her lecture and sat back did she realise that maybe Ashley hadn't wanted to attend a class in nutrition.

To make up for it, Charlie quickly added, “you're nineteen, anyway, and you look great to me, so don't worry about putting any weight on. Wouldn't matter if you did, you'd still look great.” It was the kind of sentence that could have done with a “so there” added onto the end, but that might have been pushing it. Her rambling only served to make her blush worse.

I'm walking out of a bar with a guy. A hot guy.

The gravity of the situation finally hit Nicole full force, and she almost tripped over herself. She shook her head. She couldn't be thinking like this, not after she made a resolution not to form any relationships here. What she was doing with Giddeon was strictly business. Find his sister, say goodbye, find Emily, and go home. It was a simple four step plan with no room for shenanigans... she hoped. It all really depended on how long it took to catch up with Kallie.

Nicole risked glancing at Giddeon from the corner of her eye as they left Mingle. Would she ever even see him again after this? After all, he was famous, so he probably had a busy schedule. He would likely forget about her after they parted. Even though she told herself she was used to that sort of treatment, she felt a pang of resentment. She didn't want to be so easily forgotten, it just always happened. Then again, it was usually because she was overshadowed by her popular, wonderful, amazing sister, blah, blah, blah... whom Giddeon hadn't met; so Nicole had that going for her, at least.

Her steps faltered when they got out to the street. There were so many other places nearby, where would they even begin to look for Giddeon's sister? She shifted her weight awkwardly, adjusting her purse on her shoulder, and cleared her throat.

"So," Nicole started and looked up at him, trying to act casual. "Where do you want to start?"

Collaboration between Marx and YoshiSkittlez

---

Hours later, a very tipsy Kallian pulled herself into her car and started it up, giggling like a school-girl that just kissed a boy for the first time at the expense of having a very fun evening.

After she had left Mingle she had done exactly as she had told H she was going to do, and snuck into a bar with her fake ID. She had a few drinks, danced with a few guys and smoked a few cigarettes before she decided it was high-time she went home having ignored at least twenty of her brother's phone calls.

Now in her year-old black Charger, she tried to focus on the road in front of her that would eventually lead her to her empty house; both of her parents were gone on a business trip and Giddeon had his own place downtown somewhere. However, her intoxicated brain had other motives as it was proving to be extremely difficult to keep her eyes open.

Her green eyes suddenly jerked awake as she felt a massive amount off adrenaline shoot through her body, forcing her heart to pound harshly against her chest but it was too late; the squealing wheels of another car breaking and horn blaring in warning had woken her up too late and in her attempt to miss the oncoming car, she swerved, having the opposite car take out the back end of her car and with the built up momentum, continued to spin until the Charger was almost literally wrapped around a stop-light pole.

"Huh, sounds like someone fucked up awfully royally, don't it?" H asked the cashier, letting out a breath of air as he waited for the guy to finish ringing up his order. "C'mon man, it's $6.74, don't we do this like every night?" H grumbled, tapping his fingers on the plastic counter-top, exact change balled up in his right hand.

"Price six dollars, forty seven." the Chinese man said quickly, thrusting a hand out towards H without bothering to look up at him, instead choosing to look back at two hasty cooks who were drenched in sweat. The cashier barked some Chinese at the two, H opting to just drop the cash in the man's hand without asking any questions. Minutes passed by as H waited impatiently, more or less wanting to run out and see what all the noise was minutes ago.

"Cheers," H said with a nod, snagging the brown paper bag from the man, making his way out of the store quickly, each step bringing a sharp squeak from the shitty linoleum floor. H was already opening the bag as he made his way outside, reaching in and grabbing a handful of the rice which he greedily shoved into his face. Where he was going, he needed no silverware.

When his eyes caught sight of the source of the earlier commotion, he rose his eyebrows in surprise. "Yikes." he muttered, walking closer to the wreck, stuffing more rice into the gaping maw that was his mouth as he approached. When he saw the girl behind the wheel, he spit out the rice, causing the air before him to rain partially chewed rice. He set the bag down and cautiously stepped toward the car, "You're not the brightest in this neck of the woods, are ya?"

Off in the distance, sirens began blaring having been alerted to the car crash. The woman who had been driving the opposite car had stepped outside her vehicle to survey the damage on the hood of her car where it had collided with the Charger and began jabbering her frustrations out to herself in mexican, once in a while turning to flip off whoever was in the other car as she dialed for her insurance.

Kallian's eyes threatened to close once more now that the 'ride' was over with and let her head rest back against the headrest, her hands still clutching tightly onto the wheel. She felt a small trickle of sweat run down her forehead and released one of her hands to wipe it away, however when she pulled her hand back she noticed, through her barely opened eyes, the color red. She tried to focus, but her head kept nodding off and her vision getting only more and more blurry.

When had she hit her head? What had hit her head? She didn't know and right now she didn't care. Maybe she'd just crawl into the backseat of the car and take a quick nap and deal with all of this when she woke up in the morning. She thought that she could hear someone talking to her, but her eyes refused to open again to see if she was imagining it or not. What annoyed her the most right now, though, was the sound of the police cars getting closer followed by the wailing of an ambulance.

"Willsummon peaseturnoff teh alem? Ihavea headache..."

"Oi, girlie" H said, appearing by her broken driver's side window, "you with us" he snapped by the side of her head, trying to draw her attention. She looked well enough, minus the already drying blood. It was from a head-wound and by the looks of it nothing too serious, just a typical gash from wrapping oneself around a pole.

"You did something real stupid tonight, kid." H spoke sternly, taking a step back and giving the door a pull, realizing it wasn't going to open with any ease. He planted his foot on the door and latched onto the handle, giving it a rip, causing it to awkwardly jerk open an a lopsided angle, the hinge mangled and twisting. "Just stay quiet and don't do anything stupider, alright." H softly spoke, putting a hand on her shoulder and he undid her seat-belt.

"Now stay still and wait for the paramedics to check you out, alright? You have anyone I can call?" H gave her shoulder a soft squeeze, wanting to make sure that he could make sure that she was at least someone cognizant.

Kallian mumbled a bit, feeling her shoulder growing slightly warm. All that did was make her want to fall asleep even more, but the sirens continued to grow louder and louder until finally, two police cars and an ambulance came onto the scene. The first police officer went to the distressed Hispanic lady to get her story while the second police officer and his partner went to go survey Kallian and her car. The paramedics were quickly issued over when they realised Kallian was still in the vehicle

The partner of the second police officer quickly pulled H aside to take his statement, but he quickly came to the understanding that the boy was just a bystander and didn't know much, having arrived after the crash.

"I found her wallet!" The policeman called over to his partner. The partner nodded a thank you to H and headed back to the car where the two took a quick look at her ID.

"Kallian Zelinsky...21...why does that name sound so familiar?"

"You don't think she's related to Vincent Zelinsky do you? Did he even have kids?"

"Of course he had kids! He's got a brat-boy that turned down the business and went to go play baseball instead. Owns a club downtown now. Bah, spoiled rich punk..."

"Hold on, let me look her name up and see what we got...says here that Kallian Zelinsky is a seventeen year old girl, would ya take another look at that ID for me Stephens?"

"...Yeah, it's a fake. A really good one though, coulda fooled me if I hadn't looked twice..."

The two police officers watched as Kallian was pulled from the car and put onto a stretcher where the paramedics had room to check her vitals.

"Sorry fellas, you're going to have to wait until she checks out at the hospital. We've got a slight concussion that needs immediate attention." One of the paramedics told the officers, catching onto their conversation. The two cops looked less than pleased, but agreed that Kallian needed medical treatment more than iron cuffs around her wrist.

"Can we get a breathalyzer first? Mrs. Alvarez says that she was all over the road before the collision." The third police officer who had been talking with the Hispanic woman finally joined the others, and the paramedic gave a nod.

"Make it quick."

The police officer approached Kallian with a Breathalyzer in hand. It took a bit of effort on his part to get her to understand what she needed to do, but they eventually got a number on her, causing the cop to let out a whistle.

"0.13...Let's just hope that daddy's got a good lawyer..."

Collaboration between Lily Kierstrider and YoshiSkittlez

---

Giddeon's eyes were focused on the street the moment they left Mingle, always searching for a single sign of his little sister. He hoped, that just this once, he would get lucky and spot her car parked somewhere, or catch a glimpse of her car getting held up at a nearby stoplight or hell, right now he'd settle for seeing some shifty looking tattoed guy walking around. But the longer he looked, the more he came to realize that it wasn't the case. Kallian was gone, and finding her now would be just as easy as making himself into a legit female that very second.

"Dammit Kallian..." He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, looking up and down the street once more before turning his attention back to the blonde that had eagerly offered to help him. "I honestly don't know. Kallian isn't exactly...well, she could be anywhere and this is a big city. I'm really kicking myself right now for not installing a tracker on her Charger..." He shook his head again, and then let out a small laugh, extending his hand out a bit and gesturing towards her. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name..."

Nicole gaped at Giddeon. She felt her cheeks warm again at how scatterbrained she could be. How had she forgotten to tell him her name up until this point? This had to be some kind of new record for her.

"I'm so sorry," Nicole apologized hastily. "My name is Nicole, but, um, you can call me Nikki. If you want to that is." She shuffled her feet and reached to twist the glow stick on her wrist. Wait, the glow stick. She was still wearing it. Nicole quickly yanked it off of her wrist and stuffed it into her purse, making a mental note to toss it later.

"Nikki huh? It's quite fitting." He complimented. He couldn't help himself, she was a beautiful, taken woman, which made her all that more interesting to him. He wanted to believe that her wanting to help him find Kallain was genuine, but he would have to guess that him being somewhat famous was a bit of an added perk to her decision.

He pulled his arm back and rested his hand on the back of his neck, scratching it slightly. "Anyway, I do appreciate the help but I'm afraid that all I can do at this point is get back to my parents house and wait for her to show up. I mean, you can come if you want but at least let me buy you dinner first, or I can give you a lift home."

His offer could have been taken innocently, as a friend wanting to ensure that the others stomach was taken care of, or it could have been taken as a very bold way of asking her out. He knew this, and either way, he kept a small smirk on his lips on the verge of breaking into a smile.

Nicole felt a flash of dizziness, her legs suddenly feeling weak. First a compliment, then an invitation to dinner. She wanted to jump at his offer, but instead she bit her tongue and weighed her options first. This wasn't why she came to Mingle. She didn't plan to meet a guy and get asked out to eat. On the other hand, it wasn't a bad alternative either.

Nicole looked up at Giddeon suspiciously. Why would he offer to buy her dinner when she was wearing a red "taken" glow stick at the bar? She had felt confident it would ward off all the single guys. Or she could just be over-complicating this whole situation, and he was just trying to be friendly. That was the most likely explanation.

"Okay," Nicole said slowly, nodding her head. "I am kind of hungry, and I forgot to go shopping for groceries this week. I guess it couldn't hurt to get something to eat." Her voice trailed off at the end, and she coughed to try to cover it up. "I actually don't live in this area. Do you know any good restaurants near here?"

Giddeon laughed and motioned for Nicole to follow him and began walking to where he had less than gracefully parked his bike. Either she didn't know that he owned a club not too far from here, or she had forgotten, being all flustered around him. Either way, it was cute, but maybe he wouldn't take her to Verdant, he didn't want to overwhelm the poor thing.

Upon reaching his motorcycle, he straddled the bike and handed her the only helmet that had been strapped onto the back. "You like pizza? Not trying to be cheap or anything but pizza always just seems like the easy choice since everyone seems to like it, and I know a place a few blocks from here that has a weird kind of pizza and pasta buffet thing going on..."

Nicole slipped the too-large helmet over her head and fumbled with the strap below her chin. She'd never ridden a motorcycle before. The idea was both thrilling and frightening to her. After figuring out how to adjust the strap, she fixed her eyes on the bike and realized she would be sitting right behind him on it. Like, right behind him. She almost considered changing her mind and calling Emily to give her a ride home instead.
No, you came this far. Don't chicken out because you have to get a little close, Nicole chided herself mentally. Spacing out again, she only partially heard Giddeon's suggestion to go out for pizza.

"Sounds good; I like pizza," Nicole replied, her words sounding a bit too rushed in her ears. Shifting her gray eyes between the bike and Giddeon, she asked: "So... How does this work?" She knew she must have sounded ignorant, but she would rather that than mounting the bike wrong and looking like a bigger fool.

"Well first you stand on your head and drink a glass of water." He teased. It was only too easy to pick on her, but he did it with good taste and a smile before cracking into another laugh. "Nah, I'm just kidding. Just hop on and hold onto me real tight." He could tell by her body language and the way that her eyes kept looking over the bike that she wasn't all too experienced with riding a motorcycle, so he added on a quick, "I won't go too fast; promise."

Nicole shot him a fake glare at the comment about standing on her head, and then rolled her eyes. She should have seen that one coming. She stepped over to the side of the bike and swung one leg over the side to get on, but lost her balance in the process. She grabbed on to Giddeon's shoulder to steady herself, but swiftly pulled her hand away.

"Sorry," Nicole mumbled. Giddeon had said to hold on tightly to him, but the only way to do that was... She swallowed and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist. She was grateful to be sitting behind him so he couldn't see her red face.

He waited for Nicole to get situated, not at all minding the close contact now between them. He had to remember to offer women rides more often when he rode his bike.

"Still promise that your boyfriend won't try to kill me?" He asked as he gunned the bike to life, leaving it as a rhetorical question followed by a laugh to symbolize that he didn't care what the answer to that would be. He had his fair share in dealing with a jealous boyfriend or twelve. Usually all he had to do was offer up and apology and free beer of Friday nights at his club, which really wasn't any loss to him. The bike took off, down the streets towards the pizza place he was talking about earlier but at a much slower speed than he was used to lest she fell off somehow.