A/N: So, this is the first really big and actually plotted work I've really dedicated myself to finishing. I will get it done and it will be sad, and I'm excited. Please comment with suggestions, critiques, ideas, I'd love to hear it all! Happy reading!
On the outskirts of town, behind the old high school, there is a disused set of train tracks, almost completely overgrown by weeds. If you follow that a few miles, it curves sharply and runs through an old lot, which had once been used for an auto shop, but has long since been left by the owners. Weeds have tangled themselves into the crumbling tarmac and it is still littered with spare parts, newer cigarette butts, and empty bottles of liquor.
I met them there for the first time three years ago. I knew a friend of theirs from college, which I had long since dropped out of. Her name was Porrim Maryam, and we got along well. She was sexy and outspoken, taking what she wanted without hesitation. She had long, beautiful black hair that tumbled down her shoulder to her mid-back, and bright jade eyes. Her lip was pierced, and she had spirals of tattoos across her whole body. She was not shy, and she would wear low-cut shirts and tight mini-skirts, and with her fierce attitude and amazing body, she could pull it off.
It was after about a half a year of knowing me that Porrim told me about the Striders, a biker gang she was part of. She explained that they were mostly of a group of friends who would ride together, drink together, smoke together, and would always have each other's backs when I blanched at the word 'gang'. She said it was named after the two brothers who were looked up to as leaders of the gang, and that I would love it. I agreed to come along, since I had my own bike, even though it rarely saw the light of day since my drinking habit had gotten so out of control—not that I admitted it was a problem at the time.
Two days later, I found myself standing in that field for the first time, leaning against my bike. Porrim was across from me, and we were sharing a beer as we waited for the others to come. The first to arrive was a boy with curly brown hair and a seemingly permanent scowl on his face. He parked his bike across from Porrim, eyeing me as if I'd threatened him. "Who the fuck is this?" He snapped, pointing at me. Porrim smirked and introduced me. His name was Mituna Captor, and I soon learned that his bark was worse than his bite. In reality, he was quick to defend himself, and he eyed me, and even Porrim, as if we were hawks and he was a rabbit.
The next to arrive was a girl with bright red glasses and a wide grin, and she greeted Mituna with a kiss before giving me a fist bump. When I explained who I was, her grin just spread and she said, "Totally radical, girl!" I decided I liked her.
Slowly, almost everybody had arrived. There was Meulin Leijon, a girl with wild brown hair, olive skin, and a short skirt, who watched me almost too closely. There was Cronus Ampora, a boy with slicked-back hair who wasted no time in getting my number. There was Meenah Peixes, a sassy bitch whom I immediately loved. There was Damara Megido, who was quick to anger and withdraw to speaking in Japanese and making crude gestures. Then there was Rufioh Nitram, who's already unfair height was only accentuated by a large red-and-black tri-mohawk hairdo.
Damara and Cronus had brought the cigarettes while Meenah and Rufioh had taken care of the alcohol, and I was talking with them like I'd known them all for years when the Striders arrived. It was like a cliché TV show, but I'll never forget that next moment. They pulled up to complete the circle, and slipped of their bikes in tandem. They lifted their helmets off their messy blond heads, and I could see their faces. Both of them were wearing shades; the shorter's were pointed while the taller's were aviators. Both of them held completely neutral expressions on their faces, though the rest grinned (or glared, as was the case with Damara) at them. They accepted beers and insults about their timing from Meenah, and the taller Strider turned to glance over me.
"Who is this?"
I realized that I had been staring at them wide-eyed, and felt my face heat up slightly. Porrim jumped to my rescue, though, and introduced me. "This is Dirk," she gestured to the shorter, "the other is Dave. They're the Striders." She told me. I'd recovered enough to say hello.
"You the one Porrim was talkin' about wantin' to join?" Dave asked, his voice slightly affected by a Southern accent.
"I would assume so." I say, giving my best coy smile.
"I vote for her to be let in!" Meulin called out, holding her hand up as if we were still in primary school. "She seems totally cool!"
I smile at the compliment but frown when Dirk replies, "You think everybody is cool, Meulin."
She shrugs. "Okay, sure. But she's like, double cool!"
Dirk shrugs and, barely even glancing at me, says, "Sure, you can join."
I grin, though I'm still not entirely sure if I'd been expecting any other answer. I warned them all that it was the first time I'd ridden in months, and Dave assured me that it would be fine as we all slipped our helmets on and mounted our bikes.
The Striders took the lead, followed by Meulin and Damara, then Meenah, Rufioh, and Cronus, the Porrim and I, while Mituna and Latula got the back. I was able to keep up for the most part, and we rode until we were a good 50 miles outside of town, then they veered off down a dirt road. We rode for a couple more miles before we reached the canyon. We parked our bikes by the edge, and all split the weight of the alcohol and hiked a bit down the canyon. We came across an alcove in the rock large enough to hold us all, and we sprawled out against the stone.
I sat cross legged between Cronus and Latula, and across from where Meenah was leaning against the stone. Latula, Mituna and Meenah were all held in animated conversation, and I noted that Mituna was obviously far more at ease in Latula's presence. Not wanting to interrupt, I turned and began talking to Cronus.
"Could I get a smoke?" I asked in order to initiate conversation.
He smirked and plucked the just-lit fag from his lips and placed it to my own, then pulled out another and pressed the butt of it against mine to light it. It took a bit to get his lit, because I was giggling so hard, but he didn't seem to mind it at all.
"Wow, dude!" Meenah called out, sneering at Cronus. "You might, like, actually get laid."
There was a squeal from the other side of the alcove and Meulin's face was lit up with excitement. "I ship it! I totally ship it!" She called out, grinning widely.
Meenah, Porrim, and Rufioh's eyes rolled in sync, but I was lost. "Ship it?" I asked, wondering if I'd missed something.
"It's her thing." Meenah explained. "She ships her friends, which is totally fuckin' stupid, but what the fuck ever."
Her explanation did nothing to help my confused. "Ships us where?"
"Means she thinks we'd be a hot couple." Cronus said, touching my shoulder lightly.
With that, I suddenly became all-too aware that everybody was watching me now, and I blushed. "Oh my God." I mumbled, trying to figure out what exactly was an appropriate response to the situation. I decide to turn the attention back to Meulin. "That is so cute! So, like, Mituna and Latula are totally a thing, but who else?"
The rest of the group exchanges glances, Meenah sticking her tongue out at Cronus, but Meulin looks like Christmas came early. "Yeah! Mitula is canon, and Meenah has a girlfriend named Aranea, and Rufioh is, uh," She glances at Damara quickly before rushing on, "with our mechanic, Horrus." Damara mutters something in Japanese and flips off Rufioh, who looks away pointedly. But Meulin presses on. "And I'm dating Kurloz, who's our drug dealer. And Damara used to be with Rufioh. And, um," She glances over at Dirk and Dave, who look at her expectantly. "They're not with anyone, I think. Though I ship Dirk with Jake English, who went to our school when we were in high school. And Dave should totally get with Jade Harley or John Egbert."
Dirk's jaw tightens almost imperceptibly at the name 'Jake English' and I figure there's some totally taboo business that went down between them. Dave, however, chuckles when Meulin lists his 'ships' and informs her that he "tried both of them, but shit was against the fuckin' creed of Mother Nature or whatever the fuck Kurloz says." Meulin giggled and stuck her tongue out at him, but I could tell that she was offended by the comment on her boyfriend.
If I were to be perfectly honest, I'd say the only part of that whole speech Meulin had given us that I cared about was the fact that Dirk Strider, in all of his sexy glory, was single as hell. But at the moment, I just turned back to Cronus with a coy smile and said, "So, you're single?"
Okay, I was desperate. I hadn't been laid in at least a month, and a girl has needs. So after Meulin produced weed out of nowhere ("Oh my God, you saint!" Meenah said, voicing all our thoughts.) and we we'd passed it around a few times and Cronus offered to shotgun it to me, I agreed. I had no intention of keeping it as solely a shotgun kiss, and apparently neither did he. He passed the pipe over to Meenah in order to wrap his arms around my waist and pull me onto his lap without even breaking the kiss.
I don't know how long Cronus and I were making out, but it was long enough for Meenah to lose interest and stop laughing at us, and Meulin to stop telling Porrim that she, "totally called it!" When I pulled away, I noticed that Dave had pulled out a video camera and, though it was currently pointed at Dirk to catch the smoke curling oh-so-seductively from his lips, I yelled at him.
"You were totally filming us, weren't you?" I said, feigning melodramatic disgust. In all honestly, I couldn't have cared less, especially since I was high and drunk and still perched on the lap of a rather muscular man.
Dave shrugged, not turning the camera from Dirk's mouth. "Yeah, well, I was filming the group. If you two were caught sucking face in the back, that ain't my problem."
"You hear that, Cron?" Meenah says, leaning in and grinning wickedly. "She doesn't want to be seen with you."
Cronus' grip on my hips tightened, and he shot back, "Oh please, you really think that's true? She's on my lap, not yours."
"At least I've got the same girl in my bed ev-er-y night." Meenah retorted.
"Who says I won't?" His fingers were growing almost painfully tight against me, and I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for him.
"Puh-lease! You couldn't keep a girl if she was on a God damn leash. And we both know that's not just a metaphor."
I squirmed slightly against his grip, then leaned in and kissed him again lightly. Partially to make Meenah stop teasing him, but mostly to make him let go. It worked on both counts.
As the sun starts going down, people begin to filter back to the bikes, until it's just Cronus, Dave, Dirk, Porrim, and myself. Meulin let the weed and pipe with us, so we kept smoking until it we could barely keep our heavy heads up ("Shit feels fuckin' leaden," as Dirk put it) and it was clear we were in no shape to be riding back. I was straddling Cronus' lap, and we were pressing kisses together between our fits of giggles at absolutely nothing. Porrim had her head in Dave's lap and was arguing the finer points of feminism with Dirk enthusiastically. Dave had one hand stroking Porrim's hair lazily, and the other supporting his video camera, which was mostly focused on Dirk. When it got cold, the five of us huddled together to keep warm, and I fell asleep with my arms wrapped around Cronus, and Porrim's chest pressed against my back.
The next few weeks flew by. Cronus and I became friends with benefits, and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that he seemed to genuinely care for me on the 'friends' point. Almost every day, we would meet up and head out somewhere, rarely hitting up the same spot twice unless we particularly liked it.
Mostly, I enjoyed learning the group dynamic and inserting myself everywhere I could. Honestly, I adored every member of the group and they quickly became like my family. Even Mituna slowly became more comfortable around me, but he still sat with his shoulders hunched and arms folded over his chest until Latula would arrive.
She was loud and used the word "radical" far more than necessary, but she was friendly and would laugh at all of my jokes. She and Meenah were close as well because, as the Peixes claimed, she was the only cool one there. Meenah was dramatic and blunt, not hesitating to call others out on their shit, but she liked me well enough because she thought I was adorable, even she claimed I had shit taste in men. She was constantly teasing Cronus, and he would pass it off mostly by faux-flirtation, but I could tell that some things she said would get to him. One day, she brought up someone named Kankri and he broke her nose. She managed to get a punch to his jaw in before Dirk and Dave interfered. After we had sex, we liked to cuddle and talk, but he would leave if I ever brought that incident up. He was gentle with me outside of the bedroom, and we would sit together and share cigarettes and try to ignore Meenah's teasing.
Though I loved his company, my interests had been hijacked by Dirk Strider. He was an enigma with a strong jaw line and wonderfully soft hair when it wasn't full of gel, and perfectly toned muscles. He had a fucking six-pack and could carry me like I weighed nothing. I would constantly flirt, and he would return the flirtations but without any hint of sincerity. It was infuriating, but God was he beautiful. Even Dave kept his camera focused on his younger brother for the most part.
I learned that Dave and Dirk would produce music together and make videos for their songs out of the footage collected on the camera that Dave had out every day. It was mostly rap, but they were actually very good for a pair of white boys from Texas. It turned out that they had a surprisingly loyal and decently sized fan base, and Dave showed me the comments to the latest video in which people were wondering who I was. It was slightly unnerving, but I decided to think of it as flattering instead when cumslut69 said they would "do me on every piece of furniture available".
In the next weeks I met Horrus when we drove by Zahhak Auto to pick up Rufioh. When we walked in to find Rufioh pinning a well-built blond against the wall, I thought Damara was going to hit one of them. Instead, she started shouting in Japanese yet again, crude gestures and all, and then disappeared for the day. That was how I learned not to bring up Horrus with her around. When she wasn't flying off the handle, she was pretty nice. She and Porrim seemed to have an ongoing competition of who could be the most sexual without actually fucking. It was hysterical to watch, especially since Porrim would easily deflect Damara's 'advances' with a crude yet classy remark about female anatomy in a form of wit I could never hope to master.
A few days after the Zahhak/Nitram incident, I was introduced to Kurloz who, quite frankly, scared me. He had thin and gaunt face with large eyes and high cheekbones which gave him the uncanny appearance of a skeleton. But when Meulin kissed him, I noticed that his eyes lit up ever so slightly, making him appear to be almost alive. I decided to trust him, despite my initial aversion, because it was obvious that Meulin loved him and she was, as I discovered, an incredible judge of character.
The weeks blended together easily, and soon I was spending time with them even when we weren't going out together. I would go clubbing with Damara or Meenah, I would hang out at Zahhak Auto with Rufioh, drinking and watching Horrus fix cars and bikes, I would go over to the Strider household, which mostly consisted of Dave just watching bemusedly as Dirk dodged my blatant advances, I would watch Mituna and Latula at the skate park, and they even tried to teach me once, but it ended up with two broken fingers on my part, I would go on long, adventures and get lost with Meulin, who would always somehow lead my drunk ass home in the end. They became a constant in my life, and it was refreshing to have a real group of friends for the first time in, well, ever.
When we were all together, speeding down roads, or watching the sunset on the roof of any abandoned building we'd find, or even when our hangouts would turn into a large, very awkward group wrestling matches, everything felt truly familial and, well, perfect.