Alec didn't move from the couch when Max ran up the stairs and returned to the living room dragging something along with her. It was only five seconds after she shouted "I'm borrowing the Viper!" (Alec had gotten far too used to Max stealing his cars to care) that he realized that the thing she had dragged along behind her was...

His girlfriend. Rachel.

"Wait!" Alec sprang up from the couch and ran to the garage. Max was still trying to figure out which key went to the Dodge Viper when he burst through the door. "Where are you going?"

"Rachel's going to the brunch with us, hope you don't mind," Max said, finally deciding on a key and sticking it in the door. It fit.

"Did Rachel agree to this?" Alec asked. Max looked at Rachel with a meaningful stare. Rachel was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Yeah, she totally agreed. Get in, Rach," Max all but shoved Rachel into the passenger seat.

"Rachel, you know, I know she may seem sort of like a demon, but Max is only human. You i can /i say no," Alec reminded her.

"No, it's all right," Rachel smiled wanely at him. "I'm glad to help her out."

"See?" Max stuck the key into the ignition. "She's all for it. You're just paranoid." And with that, the car tore out of the garage (nearly hitting Alec's bike - which he wasn't happy about at all) and onto the street outside. Alec didn't feel very good about this whole situation at all. But he wasn't about to worry himself about anything. His bio mom always used to tell him "Don't worry or you'll get wrinkles!"

So Alec called up some of the dudes from school, told them to bring money and had a poker party in the game room.

"Dude, why did no one tell me we had a game room?" Sketchy asked after recieving the voicemail invitation (Alec had to clear the game room - which was where Original Cindy and Max commonly held their little girly sleepover parties or whatever in - of all girl-related paraphenelia, so he had Bling call the guys and invite them).

"You're telling me," Alec crossed his arms. "I only learned this place was down here four months ago. Turns out it was originally supposed to be a panic room or something... well, the plans fell through and Mom covered all that stainless steel with wall paper and added some throw pillows and other girly shit. I'm pretty sure there are still some bank notes hidden under the floorboards, though." Sketchy gave him a look.

"This place originally belonged to my bio mom, she was a designer," Alec explained. "Interior, fashion, cosmetics... the family had a hand in pretty much everything that chicks used."

"So what happened?" Sketchy asked.

"The divorce," Alec shrugged. "Dad took Mom for everything she had and more. I think she's actually paying child support now, too."

"What about Original Cindy's biological dad?" Sketchy asked. "What did he do?"

Alec chuckled. "We haven't figured out who Original Cindy's dad is yet. But don't worry, when we do you'll see a whole special about it on Oprah."

Everyone arrived at about eleven and the game started a few minutes later. Joshua had some trouble holding his cars at first, but then he took his paws off, revealing... absolutely normal hands. A little pale, but with no odd disfigurements or anything.

Well there goes all of Alec's theories about what Joshua looked like under the suit.

"Have we ever seen those before?" Alec muttered to Zack, gesturing at Josh's hands.

"He takes his paws off to drink tequila shots sometimes," Zack told him. "but that's about it."

"Are you talking about me?" Joshua asked in a scarily rumbling voice.

"Uh... no, no, no." Alec shook his head. "I fold, you win, man." Very triumphantly (as much as Alec could tell from the movements of Joshua's hands) Joshua gathered the chips over to his side of the table.

"Zane," Zack yelled over to where Zane was messing with the remote control. "No," Zack said firmly. Zane made a face and dropped the remote.

Zack had explained when he came over that Zane preferred not to play card games... mostly because he had a lousy poker face. Zane, of course, had taken an immediate interest in the home entertainment system and wasn't heard from for the entire time they'd been playing. It was starting to freak Alec out because he'd never really taken Zane as the quiet type.

"So, Alec," Zane said, taking the empty seat next to his big brother. "You live in this house, like, all alone most the time with Maxie and Cin, right?" he asked.

"And Sketchy," Alec said, pushing two more chips into the pile.

"So you must see some pretty gnarly stuff go down?" Zane asked, completely ignoring Sketchy's presence.

"By 'gnarly' he means 'girl-on-girl'," Zack translated.

"No, not really," Alec shrugged. "Cindy was a lot worse before Max and Sketch moved in. She used to always have chicks over. It was kind of unbearable." He grinned. "And hot."

"But nothing since then?" Zane asked. Alec shook his head.

"Cindy hasn't even had a girlfriend since that last one cheated on her and went to jail for, I dunno, murder in the first degree or something. Before that she used to be a real wildcat." There was silence around the table for a few moments.

"Murder?" Sketchy asked.

"Cheated on Cindy?" Joshua repeated in shock.

"Oh yeah, OC was heartbroken, she never expected it." Alec leaned closer to the center of the table and gestured for them to do the same. Everyone did except for Krit, who was still looking at his cards. "I'll tell you everything that happened, just as long as it doesn't leave this room."

"Oh yeah."

"Sure."

"Talk, Romeo."

"Ruff." Alec quirked an eyebrow at Josh.

"He sometimes gets confused by the dog persona," Zack whispered to Alec.

"Oh," Alec nodded. "All right then. It started a little like this."

And he started to tell.

Original Cindy was, well, originally an average girl named Cynthia McEachin (something known to only family members and teachers). Her mom was kind of...

"Promiscuous." Alec said after a pause.

"You mean a slut?" Sketchy asked.

"Well, I think the term they like to use is 'exotic dancing 'til graduation'." Because Cynthia McEachin's mom was in training to become an ER nurse. When Cindy was three, her mother achieved her life-long dream and became a nurse. While working as a nurse, she met Alec's dad and through a mysterious string of events found out about Alec's dad's... um, side business...

"Side business?" Zack chortled. "You make it sound like your family's in the mafia." Everyone at the table, excluding Alec, shared a laugh until they realized that Alec wasn't exactly denying it.

"I'll continue," Alec said in a completely serious tone.

So, Cindy's mom met Alec's dad while working the nightshift in the ER. Alec never really understood why his dad was in the ER that night, he was too young to remember it, but his father often referred to that night as the "night your Uncle No Nails got his Manticore manicure". Needless to say, two weeks later Mrs. McEachin and Mr. McDowell were married in a lavish ceremony complete with the releasing of twelve white doves.

Fastforward ten years later, to where Cynthia McEachin had become a slightly mal-adjusted young teenager who didn't talk much (while Alec's charm and good looks and selective sociopathy made him a hit with the girls at school). Cindy had struggled to find an identity for herself for the past three years. She wasn't quite like her mother, Boss McEachin, and she wasn't quite like Alec's family either. Not to mention she couldn't really find clothes that she liked in the designer stores that her mother insisted she shop at. And then she met Diamond.

"Who's Diamond?" Sketchy asked.

"Gettin' there," Alec growled. "Diamond was Original Cindy's first real friend. Then she was her first girlfriend and then she was her first... well," he shrugged. "You know where I'm heading with that."

"How do you know all of this?" Zack asked.

"Our last house had a very extensive air vent system," Alec said. "I heard everything."

"So what happened then?" Joshua asked.

"Well, then OC - "

"Who ya'll talkin' about?" a voice said from the doorway.

All of the guys turned to the door and saw Original Cindy, still fly as ever even in fuzzy slippers and a nightshirt.

"No one, Cindy," Alec said, sitting back in his seat. "Why would you think we were talking about somebody?"

"'Cuz it's you," OC said. "And if you didn't invite me, then you must be talkin' about me."

"We're rating girls," Krit said suddenly. Everyone turned to him. Well, damn, Alec had kind of forgotten he was still there. "We were just on you but Alec said you were inapplicable." Original Cindy frowned.

"Inapplicable? Why?"

Krit shrugged, but didn't speak.

"Psh, I'll show you inapplicable," Original Cindy headed over to the table. She stared hard at Zane, who immediately jumped out of his chair and offered it to her. "Deal me in," Cindy ordered. It was then that a thought occured to Zane.

"Hey, Alec, what's... Manticore?" Alec and Original Cindy shared a look.

"So how far have you gotten on this whole rating game? 'Cuz I want in on that, too," Cindy said, ignoring the question.

"We just finished the cheerleading squad and we're on the debate team."

Five hours after Original Cindy kicked all of their asses and won five thousand dollars, Alec and Cindy were, by definition, chillin' on the couch and watching a cooking show. All the guys were gone, including Sketchy who had gone to Druid's house.

"We should get Bling to make this stuff sometime," Alec said.

"Mm-hmm," Original Cindy agreed. "So what were you guys really talkin' about in there?" she asked.

"You," Alec said immediately.

"Okay."

And they were still in their slightly-less-than-comatose positions when Max came in through the garage entrance jabbering like she'd just downed a fifty-pack of Red Bull.

"Hey guys. How's it going? Great. Me? Nothin'. Gotta go finish my chem homework - you know Vertes, she's a killer. Nice talkin' to ya, gotta blaze." She spoke continuously until she was up the stairs, then they heard the door to her room slam.

It was only a few minutes later that Alec noticed something wrong with this picture.

"Where's Rachel?"

A/N: Yes, yes, I know. "It's been several months, why haven't you updated? Rotten tomatoes all around." Well, I assure you, I have NOT lost interest in this fic and I am going to continue it. It's just that school wasn't nearly as over as I thought and I had to deal with some stuff. But, now that I've got the new schoolyear coming up, I'll have lots of time!

So, the next chapter should be out soon. Hopefully. Yeah, bye!