JB, for a second time, offered the two girls a lift in his rusty, probably-unsafe tow truck, Jessamine this time taking a seat in the wrecked car; a rather large perk about his services, though, was that he was a drug addict himself, so he didn't tend to ask many questions about why a particular person needed towing, which is why JB was given the honor of 'Official Car-Tower' for the Black Skulls.

Finally, the two women were dropped off at Los Santos Customs. JB creepily oggled Jessamine in particular as he drove off.

"Hey...you're Alexia, right?" asked an Asian man with a buzz cut and an oldschool basketball jersey.

"Yeah...How do you know me?"

"Oh, Lamar was here last night, told me to be lookin' for this chick that was kinda dark and emo-lookin, so...I just guessed," he said, laughing stupidly.

Alexia narrowed her eyes at the man, obviously taking offense to being called an 'emo'.

"Ay, ay, that was Lamar, girl, not me. But, uh, anyway, I got yo' car done, and the expenses have been paid fo'. It's, uh, over there."

The man pointed to a small corner of the cracked pavement and chain-link fencing that made up Los Santos Customs' small lot.

"And uh...the name's Hao, if you two ever wanna have a race or...hook up." Hao was staring intently over Jessamine in particular as he said this.

Alexia and Jessamine walked briskly away from him and towards the newly-painted, completely-fixed-up red Ubermacht Oracle, which shone brightly on the dull concrete it was showcased on.

Finding the key (with the decorative Black Skull keychain still attached), Alexia turned left out of LSC and onto the blacktop, Hao enthusiastically waving them goodbye.

Jessamine sighed in exasperation.

"Alexia...why do you think guys are such jerks?"

"Pfft. Hell if I know," Alexia responded as she navigated the car down the small road adjacent to Los Santos International Airport.

"I mean, SERIOUSLY! You know how many times I was hit on and catcalled, just as I was driving to your apartment this morning?!"

Alexia looked over at her friend as they were stopped at a red light, awaiting an answer from her.

"Ten! At least! And I was WITH my boyfriend! I mean...just because I wear really tight shirts and dresses and I have a redonkulous body, i-it doesn't mean I should be treated as an object, Lexi!"

"Yeah, I hear you," Alexia agreed as she hung a right. "Now you see why I wear dark, concealing clothes most of the time."

"Um...yeah, speaking of that...we gotta get you a freakin' DRESS, girlfriend," Jessamine revealed, smiling at her.

"A...dress?" asked Alexia timidly, almost as if she had never heard of the word. "...Why?"

"For the party! The explosion didn't knock that memory loose, did it?"

"No, no, I...I just thought that because...Curtis-"

"Yeah, I mean, Curtis was my date. But since he's kinda now lying dead under the Olympic Freeway, I dunno...maybe...you can be my date."

Alexia looked at Jess perplexedly, and prepared to carefully and gently tell her that she was not a lesbian.

"I-I mean, not romantically or anything, just...we can go and hang out, have a few beers, dance and talk. It's not gay at all, if that was what you were wondering."

"Oh, so you mean like...a-a girls' night out?"

"YEAH!"

Jess's happy scream effectively blew out Alexia's right eardrum, which caused her to recoil sharply in her seat.

"...Sorry," said Jess, smiling nervously.

It took a good uncomfortable minute or two for the ringing in Alexia's ear to cease. At the moment, her mental impulses were telling her to be angry at her friend. However, not wanting to ruin the new relationship they had just formed, she managed to force herself to hold her temper.

"Yeah, um...I'll go with you. Where do they sell dresses around here?"

"Well, I got mine at Ponsonby-GO LEFT!"

Alexia panicked and cut another car off as she turned left onto a side street. She could hear the other driver honking and cursing at the Oracle as it sped off.

"...Really?!" Alexia snapped at her.

"I'm SO, SO sorry, Lexi-this is the way to Ponsonby's-but like...I just can't help myself, I'm just SO excited that my best friend is going clubbing with me! Especially since I don't really...have that many female friends to hang out with..."

Jessamine sighed and looked out the window as traffic passed by.

Feeling bad because of her outburst, Alexia spoke up.

"Yeah, it's cool, Jess. I can kinda understand that, cause...I really don't have many friends either."

"I have some friends, Lexi...it's just that they're mostly guys. There really aren't that many female Black Skulls. And a good chunk of these guys just end up wanting to hook up with me and gettin all...touchy-feely. I don't want that. I just want someone to, I dunno, just hang out with casually, someone who doesn't try to unclasp my bra when they go and hug me, or slap my butt whenever they say they that there was a bug on it. I just..."

Alexia felt utterly appalled and angered by the contents of Jessamine's short speech. Her uncle had not made her aware of a sexual harassment epidemic in the male-dominated crew, and she was unsure that he was even aware of such gross misconduct by his chosen people. Alexia decided internally to discuss it with him later, as she still couldn't let Jess know that she was related to the crew leader.

"Uh, Ponsonby's is just up here," Jess pointed out, attempting a smile to lighten the mood.

Alexia abruptly turned into a small divot in the concrete, where several high-class cars were currently parked. She put a few quarters in the parking meter and stepped inside the store with her friend.

"Hello, welcome," the older woman at the front desk unenthusiastically greeted the two friends.

They greeted her back, then headed straight for the womens' section of the store, which showcased a whole host of lacy dresses, skirts, earrings, and other forms of high-end jewelry, all of which Alexia stared at in amazement and awe.

Back in South Yankton, Alexia normally purchased all of her clothing from the local thrift/bargain store, and she really could not recall the last time she had even worn a dress. After some thought, she deduced that it was at her third cousin's fourth wedding, a full 15 years ago, when her mother had forced her to be a flower girl, a job which she so desperately hated. Through most of her childhood years, Alexia had been an ardent tomboy, sworn against dresses, Barbies, and virtually everything perceived as 'girly'.

Nowadays, however, Alexia's horizons had drastically broadened. As she inspected the beautiful, silk-patterned fabric before her, she found it increasingly difficult to stop running her hand over the soft, cloud-like material, despite the judging glares of the stern woman behind the front desk.

"...Are you going to buy something, ma'am?"

She jumped as she was suddenly awakened from her dreamlike state. She turned to the Ponsonby's sales clerk and blushed, mumbling a brief apology.

"Alexia, dude..." Jess began; she looked rather excited and anxious to show her friend a particular item that she held behind her back. "I think...that I have found the absolute PERFECT dress for you. I mean, please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this look so epic?!"

Alexia's smile practically lit up the entire store as she was presented with the all-black, sequined gown that came equipped with sleeves, a pair of sequined black gloves, and a decent, non-revealing neckline. Jess also held up a pair of matching black pumps that she had found in the shoe section, on the opposite side of the store.

"I-I mean, it's not indecent or slutty, it's your favorite color...are you sure this wasn't made especially for her, ma'am?" Jessamine directly turned and asked the woman at the front desk.

"No, it wasn't. Really, that dress is for anybody that doesn't want to show skin."

Alexia wordlessly took the dress from her friend, then hightailed it to the nearest changing room, eager to see what she looked like.

Jessamine, who was enthralled by the sight of Alexia being so happy, was stationed at the front entrance with her iFruit phone on Snapmatic mode, her ring finger itching to take a picture once Alexia emerged.

Finally, Alexia stepped out of the changing room, only to be blinded by a white light that suddenly engulfed her eyeballs. She cried out in surprise and desperately rubbed them to remove the hundreds of translucent squiggles that now saturated her vision.

"Oh. Sorry, girl, flash was on-OH MY GOD, YOU LOOK SO AMAZING!"

"R-really?"

She jokingly attempted to mimic a Vinewood celebrity or famous musician as she posed with one hand over her hip and one leg crossed over the other. Jess quickly snapped a picture of this, finding it utterly hilarious. Several storegoers, who were mostly middle-aged women from the nearby Rockford Hills neighborhood, turned their gazes toward the changing rooms due to the sound of Jess's wild laughter and gave the two friends strange, hostile looks.

Observing herself in the mirror, however, Alexia realized that she did indeed look quite sophisticated; the dress came down about 4 or 5 inches above her knees, and despite it not being overly tight, it showed off her ample figure quite nicely. She wore the black gloves on both hands to conceal evidence of the injuries she had sustained the night before. The sleeves were also a nice touch, but they were in fact a part of a shiny, sequin-dotted covering that acted as a drape over the actual sleeveless dress underneath. The sleeveless part, however, was still visible, as the covering left quite a few holes near the top that showed off some bare skin near her shoulders and the very top of her chest. Towards the top, these holes were designed in a crisscrossing floral pattern, one that Alexia came to like as she spun around many times, the soft, angelic black fabric flowing about her legs, for the first time feeling like someone who was beautiful and capable, instead of the shy nervous wreck that she usually was.

"Okay, uh...there's GOTTA be a catch to this or something," Alexia confessed to Jessamine, still smiling giddily at how fantastic she currently looked. "I mean, it's just not possible for a piece of clothing to be this perfect."

Alexia held out her sleeve so that the dress's price tag could be scanned.

"You'd be surprised, my friend. There are many, many dresses out there, and each trip to the store gets you ever closer to the absolutely perfect-"

"That will be $10,950," the front-desk woman interrupted, smiling devilishly.

With those words, Alexia suddenly felt as if her world was tumbling down around her; never in her life had she ever possessed that much money, and even now she had only $1,600 in her account, from doing 2 highly-dangerous jobs.

With her newfound confidence and beauty about to come to a screeching halt, she felt tears about to well up in the corner of her eyes when a bright blue debit card shot out onto the counter. The clerk readily took this and swiped it in the electronic payment device; a green checkmark came up, signalling that the the enormous purchase was approved.

"I got you, girlfriend," Jess whispered to Alexia. "Juuust be sure to pay me back later."

Alexia readily nodded.

Then, she reached up and hugged Jessamine right in the middle of the store, with about 10 curious onlookers staring at them from the various sections of Ponsonby's. Not really caring who was watching at the moment, Jess put her arm around her friend's shoulders and hugged her back, holding Alexia close to her body.

Several customers 'aww'ed at the adorable scene. Some, like, the front-desk lady, instead scoffed in disgust.

"Okay, save it for the honeymoon, you two. This is a clothing store."

Realizing that people were now garnering the wrong impression entirely, the girls separated, stuttering shyly and attempting in vain to explain that they were not romantically involved. Jess eventually decided to give up trying. She took her debit card and walked out of the store. Alexia followed close behind, her fancy new dress flowing about her legs.

"That was...embarrassing," Alexia admitted as she loaded a bag containing her previous outfit into the Oracle's trunk.

"Yeah. But, uh, speaking of, like, gay people...I happen to know this super excellent, super gay hairstylist, he's just around the corner over there. So, uh...I dunno, since we're here, maybe we should go and get you a new 'doo, Lexi."

"You mean...cut my hair?"

As she said this, Alexia couldn't help but notice the reflection of her face (or rather, what she could see of it through her thick black hair) in the rearview mirror of her car. Her bangs possessed a chopped appearance, but were very long, all but completely concealing her magnificent bluish-green eyes. The back of her head wasn't much better; it was teased completely straight and came down to about her shoulders.

"Oh my God..."

Alexia suddenly came to a frightening realization, one which caused her terrible feelings of anxiety.

"...I've literally had this same emo-ass hairstyle SINCE I WAS 16!"

Jess tried desperately to hold back her laughter at Alexia's sudden epiphany. Instead, it managed to come out as a series of high-pitched pips and squeaks, ones which she simply could not control.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, JESS! This is a fashion emergency right here! It makes this awesome dress you got me look completely out of place! Well, I'm gonna go down to that homosexual hairstylist, and we'll see just what he can do with this pathetic emo mess on my head!"

Alexia accordingly marched off down the sidewalk, leaving Jess as a crumpled, laughing mess lying down next to the car.

"AND I'M PAYING FOR IT THIS TIME, YOU BEAUTIFUL, GENEROUS SAINT OF A WOMAN!" Alexia shouted at her from across the street.

"Alexia, i-it was no trouble, really!" Jess called out as she raced after her friend.

After walking for a few yards, the two women reached the business of Bob Mulet, a world-renowned hairstylist and gay rights activist who had cut the hair of many famous Vinewood musicians and actresses in his career.

"Hi, how are you?" he gently greeted the women in a slight lisp.

The women both returned his warm greeting. Jess took a seat in the waiting area and began skimming over a magazine, while Alexia picked one of the many empty barber chairs on the floor and sat down.

"So, what do you want done today?"

"...Uh..."

Not quite sure exactly what she wanted, she turned over to Jess, who seemed to have become enthralled with a magazine full of gorgeous male models showcasing the latest hairstyles for men.

Accordingly, Alexia also reached for a magazine for womens' haircuts and skimmed through it, looking for anything that suited her fancy.

Finally, she came across a photo of a beautiful, black-haired woman, about the same shade as hers. This woman, however, had her hair cut extremely short, not even reaching down to the collar of her shirt in the back. It was also parted unevenly (slightly to the left) and even featured a little mess on top.

"Um...you think you can do this?"

"Sure! That's a LOT of hair to cut off, though, you sure that's what you want?"

"Y-yes sir," she confirmed as a floral hair covering was placed around her neck. "I just...I don't wanna look so...emo and teenagery anymore. I wanna look dignified and pretty...you get me?"

"Yeah, I hear you girlfriend," Bob Mulet agreed as he started to spray her hair down with a gentle mist of water. "I've been removing emo hair since before it even became a thing, so don't you worry a bit. I'll get you cleaned up."

Alexia smiled at the friendly hairstylist as he picked up his scissors and started to go to work on her.

"So, um, I know I got a lot to get rid of, but how long do you think it'll take? 'Cause me and her got a-"

"Oh, I finished AGES ago, sweetums," he informed her, smiling.

"..."

Alexia stared at her reflection in the large mirror, dumbfounded and filled with the utmost mix of shock and horror. In not even 5 seconds, not only was her hair perfectly sheared, trimmed, and messed, but it also followed the book to a T, with no deviation whatsoever.

"Wha-uh...WHAA?!" Alexia attempted at forming coherent words through the fear that had overtaken her.

"You...seem like you don't like it."

"No...J...HOW?!"

"How what, Formerly-Emo Girl?"

Alexia grabbed the collar of Bob Mulet's white dress shirt and aggressively pulled him down to her level, shaking him violently.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT SO QUICKLY AND PERFECTLY, YOU PARANORMAL BEAST!" Alexia screamed in Bob Mulet's face, in the loudest possible voice that she was capable of.

The frightened homosexual hairstylist managed to wriggle himself free and run to the nearest hairdryer, which he used to rid his fancy jacket of all the pure-black strands of Alexia's hair that were scattered on it.

Sensing that Alexia was about to experience a mental breakdown, Jess intuitively came to her side and put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"He's not a paranormal, Alexia," Jess informed in a soft voice. "He's just...good. He works right next to the movie studio, so he's ALWAYS gotta be doing hairstyles quickly and efficiently, so that people can get back on set."

"That's right, ma'am!" proclaimed Bob Mulet. "...How'd you know that, anyway?"

"Well, y'know, I'm kinda familiar with the movie business. In fact, I...worked in it for a while, starred in a few flicks."

"Oh yeah, you kinda look like..."

His eyes widened with shock as he again looked over the woman standing in front of him.

"...JESSAMINE HENDRIX?! IS THAT YOU, GIRL?!"

"Sho' is, Bobbarino!" she confirmed in a hilarious high-pitched accent.

The two went over to each other and embraced in a warm hug.

Alexia remained seated in her barbers' chair, completely lost as to anything that was going on at this point.

"Wow, Jess! You look so grown up and pretty! I-I didn't know it was you for a second!"

"Well, I was only 13 when I shot my last movie. Children of Lucifer 6, you remember that?"

"Ohh, yes I do. I had to style your hair so many creative and different ways for that one. Really...I was just starting out when people saw my designs I did on you, it's what made me so famous! I-it's such an honor to have you stop by again!...How about I make your friend's haircut free?"

"Sure!"

"NO!"

Alexia defiantly stood up from her chair, the hair covering still hanging from her neck.

"Jess, you don't have to help me out again! I can take care of it!"

"But...Alexia, it's a free-"

"I know, I know! Just...you're being...way too nice to me..."

Alexia furiously rubbed her temples, a result of her insufficiently-rested brain trying to process all of this new information at once.

"Lexi, really. You're new here, and I'm more experienced, which means I have more money. It's perfectly fine for me to help you out, girl. I'm completely okay with it."

After some more eye-rubbing and halfway thought processes, Alexia finally caved in, begrudgingly allowing her haircut to be free of charge because of Jess's influence.

"I'm...I'm sorry if you feel like I'm babying you, Alexia," said Jess as they headed back towards their parking spot. "I know that you're self-sufficient and everything and you can take care of yourself, I'm...just trying to treat you a little, y'know, as my new friend. Nothing too-"

"Yeah, I know, Jess...I just...I am really, really grateful for all that you've done; buying me a dress, offering encouraging words, a free haircut...saving my life..."

"Saving your...? Oh..."

Jessamine suddenly recalled the events of this morning, including the moment when a split-second decision by her meant the difference between life and death for Alexia.

"Well...yeah, I...I guess I did do that...that's pretty cool, actually. I didn't think that much of it at first."

When they reached the car and climbed inside, Alexia sighed somberly and leaned forward in her seat.

"Honestly...I don't think I'm EVER going to be able to repay you for all of this. EVER. And all that you've been doing for me recently, it...it just adds to the impossibility of that task..."

Alexia suddenly stopped; her lip started to tremble, the surface of her now-visible bluish-green eyes became watery, and Jess fully expected what was to come next.

Jess rushed into action as Alexia burst into tears, readily embracing her in a warm, comforting hug and running her fingers through her friend's newly-shortened, stylish black hair.

"Shh shh shh...it's okay, Lexi..."

She allowed Alexia to sob into her chest, the products of 24 hours worth of tension, anger, sorrow, uncertainty, and anxiety being let out in liquid form and absorbed into Jessamine's bright green cocktail dress.

Jess, meanwhile, rocked gently back and forth while cradling her weeping friend in her arms. She started to rub Alexia's back, which helped to reduce her anxiety level considerably and to simply let all of her emotions out, be it through words or just more mucus and saltwater.

"No one..." Alexia started as soon as she found a break in the tears. "No one's ever been this nice and...kind to me before..."

"Yeah, I feel you, all the way...No one was really nice to me either growing up...My parents, they just used all of my acting money on boats, yachts, beachhouses...of course, I didn't get to use any of that because I was always busy. Literally all the time, I was either on set or practicing for being on set. I was always dieting and exercising and...I never just...got to live, relax, have fun...that is, until I was committed to a mental asylum, for biting off my dad's ear."

Alexia, while understandably shifting uncomfortably in her seat, still kept her arms wrapped around her close, trusted friend.

"Yeah. I know that was kind of extreme, but...it really was worth it, to get away from all that mess. In the looney bin, my only responsibility was to sit on a nice, soft bed all day and eat my free food, watch a little TV and make macaroni art if I was good. It was...blissful, i-if that's the word...But then things kinda got weird when the Black Skulls came along, helped me and a ton of other inmates escape, offered us jobs. Nowadays, I'm makin' a buttload more money than I ever did acting. And more importantly...I'm finally happy. And to celebrate my newfound path in life, I often just like to share that happiness with other people, y'know, crack a stupid joke, pose a dead body in a funny way, buy something for a noob. Just...anything that makes people smile and laugh."

Alexia sniffled and looked up at her friend. Jess smiled and gently wiped a single tear from her cheek.

"So, I know exactly what you can do to repay me...keep smilin', Alexia. To see you as excited and happy as you were when you tried on that dress, it really does elate my spirits as well...And who knows, maybe, like, you'll save my life one day, and then we'll be even on that. But, uh...y'know, don't think of my debt as a pain in the ass, like student loans. It's more of a 'you might do it, you might not' type of thing, I'm not gonna push you."

After a few more minutes, Alexia felt that she had finally cleansed herself. She sat up in her seat, took a deep breath, and smiled at her new best friend.

"Thank you, Jessamine...You're the best friend a shy, awkward noob girl like me could ever have."

The two friends embraced once more.

As they did this, Alexia noticed for the first time a small crowd of people that had mysteriously gathered around the Oracle.

"Uh...were they watching us the entire time?" Alexia asked her friend.

"Yeah...I knew about it, I just didn't wanna upset you further."

"...Can you guys, like...kiss and get naked?" asked a higher-pitched male voice in the audience.

In response to this question, Jessamine pulled out her submachine gun, stuck it out of the passenger-side window, and fired a few shots into the air. The entire mass of people was sent running down the street in fear, screaming and tripping over themselves.

Both Alexia and Jessamine were doubled over with laughter at this point, but Alexia managed to calm herself somewhat so that she could floor it down the street before the cops could arrive at the scene.