Stars rushed past the window, buildings rushing by as merely colours of grey illuminated by the meagre orange glow of the streetlights. El's dark blue V-8 Ford Mustang, the colouration and lack of headlights lit giving it a natural camouflage. Inside El's face was dirty and focused, her brunette hair cut short in natural curls, she wore brown and green camo cargo pants, battered sneakers, a Metallica T-Shirt and fingerless gloves.

In the seat to her right sat a guy who just two hours ago, had been looking up the barrel of her gun, he wore a white shirt a loosened tie, black dress pants and formal shoes, his face almost cloaked by the black mop that drooped from his scalp matching the colour of his suit. His first eye though now closed due to the drugs El had slipped into water, normally shone a bright blazing shade of green as well as the second did, however it now was covered by a flow of bright red blood the source of which was covered by a tuft of his hair, his sexy, sexy rock star like hair she just wished she could grab it pull aside and...

Hopper! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you were supposed to kill him not kiss him!

She cursed at her subconscious for interrupting her enjoyment but no matter how much she tried to push the issue to the side, she had just in essence denied a direct order from the Don of the biggest mafia this side of the Illinois border and she had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't understand how sexy hair solved the issue that lead to his assassination order.

Now she thought about it why was a guy like him on the mafia's hit list? I mean he didn't look like a criminal what with his nerdy freckles, lack of scars and no tattoos. Plus El had seen enough abhorrent people in her lifetime to be able to tell the difference between a murderer and this guy he looked about her age going off his height and bare bones stubble he called a beard.

Stop sugar coating it he's a nerd, a loser I mean come on El even YOU can do better than THAT.

This time her subconscious seemed to take the voice of her feisty redhead friend Max, El smiled. Max lived just outside Chicago and had temper as red as her hair, in the days when El would be ogling Max would say stuff like that all the time El would then lean over and quietly whisper into Max's ear, to the point it was not much more than a breeze 'At least they don't play D and D' and every time, without fail she could remember Max's cheeks turning almost as red as her scalp. Max had always been nerdy, she loved the arcade, was great at gambling card games and secretly had a love of Dungeons and Dragons. El remember the first few months they'd known each other she'd hidden her love, afraid of El wanting to get away from her as soon as she found out. However to her surprise when El did indeed find out she didn't want to get away in fact when she had found Max's board, notebooks and pieces poorly hidden under one single pillow she, had wanted to play right away. Since then both of the girls wasted hours talking about campaigns, designing characters, wasting hours upon hours in Max's basement and El's lounge playing the game, drinking various brands of sodas, eating eggos and Doritos.

El looked down at the gun that rested in the holster on her right the yellow circle a clear reference to her favourite snack the red lettered 11 her lucky number, once on a campaign she had defeated the boss on their longest campaign (80 combined hours) with that number.

I still don't know how you managed to get through all of that.

El turned the radio on, the sound of the latest pop by Generic Pop star number 564 blared through the speakers, El turned the music down and changed the station, taking out her cracked phone she opened her messenger clicking on the contact affectionately known as "Ginger nerd".

'Hey zoomer' she typed. It wasn't 20 seconds before she got her response.

'Hey, how's my favourite bald babe doing?' came a response.

'Fine you big geek' she soon responded 'I need to crash somewhere tonight you mind?'

'No, I don't mind, the key is under the plant pot I'm out of town at the moment, you got a guy with you?'

El chuckled softly, if only she knew 'Maybe...'

'Ha! You nymphomaniac.'

She's right you know.

'You love me really'

'Someone has to'

I like her

'Kay when I get back from business I'm inviting Kali over and we're playing like the old days as payment deal?'

'Oh My God! Yeees!'

'Okay thanks, speak to you later'

'Bye'

'Bye Zoomer'

El turned and saw the guy beginning to stir he held his head and was silent for a few minutes the silence not awkward yet still not comfortable, he sat for a moment before asking 'Where are we going?'.

Mike couldn't recall much from the night he was taken from the warmth of his hotel and normal life and thrown into a whirlwind even later in his life when he tried really hard. What he did remember was the splitting headache and the person who sat before him, her hair was cut short and looked as though she had done it herself. When asked by many what she wore that night he always gave different answers sometimes he said she wore a dress of pure white other times he simply answered 'Those street clothes that all the kids were wearing back in those days' when he did give this answer those around him would hold their heads in their hands and comment on how old he sounded but to tell the god's honest truth he never noticed what she was wearing he was too infatuated with her face. It was covered slightly by her bangs, a small scar on her left cheek, she was texting quietly to someone, Mike's hand raced up to his forehead covering the wound he had sustained at some point in the night.

Mike, you need to stop drinking.

Mike looked forward to the dashboard and what he saw made him smile and begin to feel all nostalgia possible, a Dungeons and Dragons figurine, a female one at that, stuck in an action pose like a Hawaiian Hulu girl ornament. 'A mage' he thought although this guess wasn't very credible due to the fact his head was beginning to resemble a brass band falling down some stairs.

He sat for a moment of bliss remembrance, remembrance of Dustin, of Will and Lucas of the winter nights they spent sat in Dustin's lounge under several blankets watching The Thing and IT until their mothers dragged them back home, of the spring days in Lucas' attic playing any old board game they could find, of the summer months in Will's back yard playing tag or riding bikes to any corner of the town just too rush back to see who could do it faster and of the autumns when they would sit and watch the leaves change before crawling off to Mike's basement to play D and D until they couldn't move any more.

Then the other memories came the memories of Will's panic attacks, of Troy scarring Dustin's face, the day he told the party he'd be leaving, the day his best friends stood outside his old house and waved goodbye as he quietly wiped a single stray tear away, the day his father punched him and told him that boys weren't supposed to cry, the day he crawled to the feet of the Don and begged him for a new home.

He looked to the girl to his left and wondered did she have friends, still enamoured with her face and seemingly impossible beauty 'pretty' he thought.

God Wheeler you're a love sick schoolboy. It's sickening.

Mike sat and listened to the music it was a punk station and a fairly obscure one at that.

'So' he started trying to sound cool 'Where are we going?' Well that's WHAT Mike said but not how he said it as he had a voice break mid way through.

You're pathetic Wheeler.

(A/N) What's that you say Lassie? Sam's managed to do two uploads less than 2 months apart? Girl if you keep saying that sort of stuff then this Author's note is going to be more akin to Old Yeller.

Please feel free to leave me a review and call me a nerd with too much free time.

Also if you want to I'm sure you know how to follow and favourite.

If you want more of my bad writing I released what maybe (no promises) the last ever The Alley chapter so go read it.

I may see you on Friday or in September.

Thank you to Nerdygeekalex any and all praise, criticism or insults are welcome and encouraged.

Now if you'll excuse there's a valentine's day rejection with my name on it.

I will try and keep a more consistent upload schedule but.. Haha! Yeah I ain't telling you my plans I've learned from that mistake I'm not THAT stupid as to open the same can of worms again.

See ya.

The Southern Shitbag

Sam