I'm re-posting this story since I've found the original version I thought was lost! In a haste to post something I re-wrote a crappy version. Here's my original version! I haven't written in a long time. I started reading stories here again since I was a teenager and got the urge to post something. Hope it's not too awful to read!

*small update, I've revised the chapter after re-reading and fixing some errors, no change to the story though*

CHAPTER ONE

You know that feeling when you wake up after a long night of drinking and only slept for a few hours? This is a reoccurring feeling for me lately. It's how I feel at this current moment. It's not fun.

"How much did I drink last night?" I asked, slouching painfully hungover in the front passenger seat of a crummy '98 Tercel I bought for $300.00.

"Too much. I told you to stop so you punched me," my serious sounding friend grumbled almost too quietly for me to hear over the ringing in my ears.

We were parked on a busy street somewhere in Los Santos. I have only been here once when my associate's Father died. It was a gloomy trip fueled by drugs and alcohol in celebration of the passing. I couldn't stick around and watch. Normally we looked out for each other when we partied really hard, but he had a lot of old friends to keep him from going too far so I decided to find my own party. I never met his Father, but I was told he was a raging piece of shit. I thought it was best to let Sean grieve with people from his past who understood better than I.

This trip is different. Things took a turn for the worst for me and I had to get as far away from Canada as possible. I guess it was all my fault, but when something isn't right you do something about it, whether others want you to or not.

"I don't see him yet."

I looked at my long time friend. He must have had considerably less to drink than I did. If it weren't for him, I'd probably be dead. He got me through the boarder without alarming the authorities. I'm still impressed, I've tried sneaking across many times, unsuccessfully. The Americans don't want me in their country, so the few times I have crossed undetected was because of Sean.

"I must have blacked out, I don't remember anything. Is that why you have a shiner?" I asked noticing his black eye.

"Yes. You tried to beat me up but I got you in a head lock and calmed you down before you could hit me again."

He looked at the dash for the time and grumbled under his breath. He was never late for anything, and didn't appreciate it when others were. Which is why I made sure to always be early for him. It took us over two weeks and two cars to travel almost 4,500 kilometers, or somewhere under 3,000 miles. He was especially restless after all that.
I could tell the trip started to wear Sean down several days ago. He's the sleep in a comfy bed, shower everyday type. I'm the shower when I REALLY need it, sleep anywhere type. I could just live my life on the road like we had done the past couple weeks but I owed Sean my life now, he would be deciding our next moves.

We slept in a shitty motel last night when Sean couldn't get a hold of his friend, Franklin. I noticed that the local corner store carried booze and made the decision to make the night a little more fun. Where we came from booze isn't as readily available as it is here in America. Unless we're in Quebec, the french speaking province, booze isn't sold in grocery stores or convenience stores. Just in booze specific department stores with shitty hours. I was in heaven. The last thing I remembered was straddling Sean in my underwear laughing like a hyena.
Now heaven was a distant, blurry memory and with great haste I opened the passenger door and hurled on the sidewalk. That's better. A woman walking by looked at me with disgust, so I gave her the finger.

"I think I see him, I better go get him. Get in the back," Sean told me as I gently shut the door.

Without waiting for a response he was gone, so I crawled into the back. It's nap time.


I knew I was late, but there wasn't much Sean and his friend could do about it. I forgot what car they'd be in so I walked around for a bit. Last time I saw Sean was when his Dad died. He always looked the same, so I knew it wouldn't be hard to recognize him. I think I might have met his friend back then but it's been several years now. She wasn't around much anyway. All I remembered of her was her mohawk and black clothes.

"Yo!"

"Hey, man. Good to see you," I replied, finally noticing him crossing the street at the lights.

It really was good to see him. We didn't always see eye to eye on things but he was probably one of the most level headed guys in our circle. It was sad seeing him leave Los Santos.

"It's good to see you too, how's it goin'? We're just parked over there," he said pointing to a shitty white car parked in a bus zone.

"I'm great. You look pretty rough yourself, how was the trip?"

Aside from needing clean clothes and a shave Sean looked the same as he had always been. Sometimes you meet white guys trying really hard to fit in with our crowd. They'll try so hard and act real tough but you can sense very easily how fake they are. He wasn't like that, he didn't try hard to fit in. Sean grew up in my neighbourhood so he just naturally fit into place. He'd always stick his neck out for us and didn't take any shit from the guys making fun of him for being a white wanna-be gangster. He was a solid guy.

"Fucked. We should have been here already but Max was pretty shaken up for the first while. I had to drive almost half way before she got her head together."

"I don't remember her much."

"Yeah, she came down with me when Dad died. She didn't stick around for the party, just for the wake. I'm not really sure what she did when she left the party, but you'll recognize her when you see her."

"Whatever she did up there she must be a solid chick for you to stick around with her," I said as Sean smiled and nodded solemnly.

Shit must have got pretty bad, he was always the neat and tidy looking type no matter what was going down, now he looked like a mess.

"Watch out for the vomit on the sidewalk," Sean pointed out as we came up to the car.

As I stepped around the puke I couldn't help but notice their car was in a very sad state. I should have just picked them up somewhere, I'll be damned if this car gets us to the Vanilla Unicorn to meet up with Michael and Trevor.

"Fuck off!" I heard from the back as we got in.

"It's just us, Max."

I heard mumbling as I sat down. I turned to say hello but she was curled up facing the back of the seat. She looked like she'd been living on the streets. That I definitely remembered.

"I remember her now,"I said turning back after I couldn't help but notice her butt peeking out from under her really short skirt.

"She doesn't exactly blend in with the crowd. Alright, which way? Everything is a lot different now I have no clue where we're goin'."

"The Vanilla Unicorn. Head that way."


"Franklin says they're a bit late," I explained looking at the message on my phone.

"No shit, it's been half an hour. This better be worth it, I got work to do."

"Really? Like what?"

"Managing! This place doesn't run by itself, you know. Then I gotta go back to Sandy Shores, see Ron about this whole thing we're doing for Franklin and his friends."

"That's right. Why am I even here? I'm not playing games anymore."

I wasn't about to turn Franklin down when he asked for a favour. I guess I feel like I kind of owe him. Of all the people I know he's one of the few I can trust. He wouldn't bring me any bullshit I'll regret. I got up and headed for the back door to go outside for a smoke.

"Come on, maybe they're here already."

It was always a shock leaving that place during the day. A white car that sounded like it was going to break down any minute pulled up as my eyes adjusted to the light.

"Took long enough," Trevor remarked as I lit a smoke.

Franklin and, I'm assuming, Sean got out of the car as I took a drag.

"Better late than never," I said giving them a hard time, I didn't really have anything better to do.

"Sorry about that, I had to drop off my car at the shop. Fix the speedometer."

"You must be Sean. I'm Michael, this is Trevor. Wasn't there suppose to be one more?"

"Yeah, sleeping beauty is here in the back seat," Trevor pointed out staring with a creepy look into the back window of the car.

"You want to wake her up so we can get things done?" I asked Sean noticing him almost glaring at Trevor.

"Yeah, hold on. If I'm not careful she'll give me another black eye."

Sean opened the door and I realized why Trevor had been staring. Her ass was showing a bit. He crawled in and after a minute he climbed back out.

"She's comin'."

I took another quick drag of my smoke, watching this young thing in some amusement. This girl whom I was told is named Max emerged from the car. She was more beautiful than I had expected, especially since her attire wasn't anything like you'd normally see around Los Santos. Her clothes were dirty, full of holes and crudely sewn on patches seemed to keep her tiny skirt together. She had layers of ripped stockings held up with a garter. One thick studded belt seemed to keep her skirt up, and another hung loosely on her hips over another belt of bullets like you see around the shoulders of action heroes in movies.
She reached inside to grab a leather motorcycle jacket and put it on. It was full of studs and patches. Her hair was half white blonde, half black, her skin covered in tattoos. Quite the impressive get up.
I could tell she was taking her time to stand up, I could also tell she must have been drinking. She pulled herself up with the help of the car, swaying a bit in the process. I didn't know what to think about her expect that she was probably a lot of fun in bed.


I couldn't help notice the two sets of eyes on me. The handsome older man in his fancy light grey suit was sizing me up differently from the grimy looking one. It was obvious he wasn't completely impressed with me but he was polite enough not to say anything. He was definitely the Michael in the stories Sean told me. The other looked like he had dirty thoughts racing through his head. His name wasn't coming to me so quick.

Despite still being inebriated and the world literally spinning around me I was sizing them up myself. I knew Franklin could be trusted, I'd always take Sean's word in judgement of character but he didn't know the others except for what Franklin told him.

Sean gave me a look, one I couldn't decipher at the moment, as he spoke with Franklin about his car in the shop.

I unzipped a pocket in my little fanny pack on my hip and fished for a smoke.

"Need a light?" asked the well dressed man as he held up a lighter for me.

"Thanks," I said with a smile.

As I went for the lighter I had a rush of the spins and I found myself in the arms of the grimy looking fella. It was all slow motion in my head as I almost fell to the ground. The thinning haired man sure had good reflexes.

"Oops," I said with amusement as I used the man holding me to straighten myself up and grabbed the lighter.

"You need me to carry you?" he asked.

I escaped easily from his grasp as I lit my smoke, shaking my head in response.

The grimy man gave me a good look up and down as he stepped back. I was glad he caught me, falling on my ass from still being a bit drunk and with the spins wouldn't have been a very impressive first impression. It was a bit flattering the way he looked at me though.

"How about we get inside and figure some shit out. I don't want to spend the whole day here," Michael said as he started for the door.

"We'll catch up with you guys in a minute, I'll help sleeping beauty find her way in," said the grimy one as he began to circle me.

I could tell Sean was hesitant but I gave him that look I always give him to reassure him I can handle myself. He knew I could but he had always been protective of me, especially lately since shit hit the fan. I heard the stories about this character and I was kind of intrigued by him.

"You must be, Trevor," I finally recalled his name.

"That is correct, Max. I hear you had a part in all that shit happening up in Canada."

Just thinking about it made my stomach churn. I felt my heart pound hard in my chest. A lot of people died and most of it was covered on the news so it wasn't a surprise Trevor was bringing it up.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now."

"Looks like you need a distraction, come on, let's get out of here. Your friend can figure everything out, I'll bring you back to him later. I've got a great cure for a hang over!"

I gave him a suspicious look as I took a drag from my smoke. I looked at the door the others had entered then back at Trevor who reached out to me invitingly.

"Alright, let's go," I caved easily and took his hand as I threw my smoke to the pavement.