It was about two years before the Emerson boys moved to Santa Carla when the beginning of it all took place. If I remember correctly, the boys first ran into one another on the fourth of July, down at the boardwalk…
"Yo' Paul, you think we lost them?" Said an eighteen something guy, looking over his shoulder as he and his friend roared onto the boardwalk, carefully weaving their motorcycles through the vast crowd. It was the good ol' Fourth of July and the place was packed tighter than a sardine can. It was the perfect place to blend in and hide and that was exactly why the two had hiked it out of Los Angeles and headed for this middle-of-nowhere boon dock town.
"I think so man. Don and the guys wouldn't bother coming out this far, even after a couple of no-good punks like us." Paul said with a crooked grin as he parked his bike by a side rail, his eyes following a pair of gorgeous bare legs that walked by him.
"Yeah, but how can you be sure? I mean we're not exactly out of the state. Those guys won't stop until either we're both dead or out of the fucking country." Marko snorted as he killed his engine and hopped off of the bike. He quickly scanned his surroundings, but with all the people swarming around him, he couldn't pick out a single face.
"Marko, dude. You seriously need to relax bro. Think of it like this. They think we're long gone and if they think that, why the hell would they bother lookin' so close to home? C'mon, they're not friggin' geniuses." Paul said as he threw his arm around Marko's shoulders and steered him away from the bikes. Marko looked over his shoulder once more before he let Paul herd him into the crowd.
"I know. But I can't help think that…" Marko started before Paul cut him off abruptly. Paul's hand grabbed Marko by the jaw and turned his head to the side. Before Marko could protest, his eyes fell on a vision in leather. Both he and Paul stared wide-eyed and slack jawed at the woman with what had to be painted on leather. She walked right past the two and vanished into the crowd without batting an eyelash. It took a few moments before the two friends remembered to breath again.
"Paul, I think we died and finally reached nirvana." Marko said quietly as he turned to look at his friend.
"Either that or hell is fucking awesome." Paul responded as he looked down at Marko and then at the direction that the woman had gone. A sly smile touched his lips as he grabbed Marko by the back of his jacket and hauled him to the side rails. Paul leapt up onto the railing and scanned the crowd carefully, looking in the direction that she had gone in.
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you don't stand a chance in hell at even finding her again, much less actually holding a decent conversation?" Marko muttered as he adjusted his jacket, rolling his eyes at his friend's antics.
"Marko, does the phrase "divide and conquer" have any meaning to you? With a girl like that, conversation is the last thing on the list." Paul said as he squinted slightly, trying to figure out if the leather clad figure by the carousel was the one he was looking for. Marko simply shook his head and sighed.
"You know, you don't have to screw every girl you see Paul. Maybe that's why half the female population of L.A. can't stand the sight of you." He said as he leaned against the railing, eyeing the crowd as he did so. He had the urge to knock Paul off his perch but before he could swipe his legs from under him, Paul let out a victorious howl and leapt back onto the ground.
"You found her?" Marko asked, unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice.
"Let's go little bro. It's time for us to do a little stalking. C'mon." Paul said as he dashed off with Marko hot on his heels. The two weaved and shouldered their way through the crowd, not bother to apologize when Paul shoved a kid out of his way, receiving a scalding look of the kid's mother.
"Slow down man." Marko called out as he tripped over an upturned garbage can, his eyes glued onto Paul's tailed coat, least he loose his friend in the crowd.
"And loose the prize? Never!" Paul laughed over his shoulder as he beckoned Marko to hurry up. Pity he wasn't look at where he was going.
"Watch it punk!" Snarled a voice when Paul slammed into the back of another guy. Marko skidded to a halt when the stranger turned around and grabbed Paul by his shirtfront, holding him an inch away from his face.
"Yo, sorry dude! Relax man! Didn't see where I was going." Paul said, staring the offended guy eye to eye. Even in a sticky situation, Paul didn't loose his roguish edge, which had a habit of landing him into even deeper shit. The other guy, roughly Paul's height with a mane of black hair, eyed him up and down, but didn't let him go.
"Hey man, I don't swing that way." Paul growled, bringing both arms up to break the other's guy's hold on him, but even that quick action didn't do dick all. Ok, the guy was strong; there was no need to panic.
"Excuse me?" The guy said, his voice sending chills running down Paul's spine. Paul suddenly found himself dangling a foot off the ground, gripping onto the guy's wrist for dear life. "What did you just say?"
"Nothin' man, I said nothin'." Paul gasped, due to the fact that the guy's hand was now slowly crushing his windpipe as he struggled to free himself. So the guy was really strong and about to kill him, still no cause for panic.
"Really?" Came a growled response, catching Paul unaware. It sounded like an angry grizzly growl instead of human. Paul's eyes widened as he saw the guy's eyes slowly change colour, from a dark brown to a vibrant shade of orangish-yellow. Ok, now it was time to panic.
"What the fuck!" Paul yelped, as he kicked out, landing a hefty blow to the guy's gut. Instead of doubling over, the guy didn't seem to flinch. It just made him a whole lot angrier. "Marko!" Paul cried out.
Before Marko could jump the guy from behind, a voice rang out like a whip-crack, stopping all three in their tracks.
"Dwayne! What are you doing? Put him down, you idiot." Snapped the voice, as the leather-clad woman that Paul had been chasing after seemed to appear out of nowhere. The guy, Dwayne, looked over his shoulder and dropped Paul, not even bothering to give him a second glance. Marko backed away from Dwayne and grabbed Paul, hauling him to his feet.
"You ok man?" Marko asked Paul as he kept an eye on the two, now conversing quietly a few feet away.
"Yeah…I think so." Paul gasped, massaging his bruised throat. "Who the fuck is that guy? The Hulk?"
"Who cares. Let's get the hell out of here." Marko said as he tried to steer Paul away from the two. But Paul didn't budge an inch. "Paul, this is no time to butt heads with the neighborhood psycho. Come on man. She's taken, you're beat and I don't want to get my ass handed to me because of you. Come on." Marko growled quietly as he twisted Paul around and shoved him ahead of him.
"Boys! Hold up for a second." The woman called out as she moved away from Dwayne and jogged over to the two. How anyone could jog in a pair of steel heeled stiletto boots was beyond any of their reckoning, but they weren't worry about that right now. Dwayne stood where he was, glaring darkly at Paul, while the woman slowed and gave the two a small smile.
"Sorry about that. My friend there isn't the most stranger-friendly guy around." She said, as she looked Paul over quickly, making sure he wasn't missing any limbs. She eyed the darkening bruises on Paul's throat and gave him a sympathetic look. "You ok?"
"Yeah, I'll live." Paul said, trying to keep his eyes from traveling down from his savior's face, least her "friend" come over and rip his face off.
"You two are new to Santa Carla, aren't you?" She said, raising an eyebrow. It seems that Paul was fighting a loosing battle. "You know, I'm up here, not down in my chest."
"Eh…sorry." Paul said sheepishly, quickly averting his eyes. Marko saw Dwayne scowl darkly, but since the guy didn't move, he wasn't going to say anything.
"Yeah, we just got here." Marko said, trying to give Paul a chance to save face. "I'm sorry. I'm Marko and this idiot here is Paul." He said, nudging Paul in the ribs.
"A pleasure to meet you boys. I'm Fay and that's Dwayne." Fay said, holding her out her hand. Marko shook it, but Paul, for all of his overdriven sex drive, hesitated. Fay held back a laugh and grinned at him. "Don't worry, as long as you're with me, he won't hurt you."
Paul looked over at Dwayne, who was watching the little exchange like a hawk, and gave him a toothy grin while he shook Fay's hand, holding on for a little longer than necessary. Dwayne visibly bristled, but instead of going over and tearing Paul to pieces, turned his back to the three of them and stalked away.
"So, is he your boyfriend or something?" Paul asked, looking back at Fay. Marko just groaned quietly and sighed. Some things just never change.
"Maybe." She said, looking over at Marko and gave him a knowing look. "So what are you boys doing so far from home?"
Marko and Paul exchanged a glance before Marko spoke up. "Well, it's kind of a long story."
"Ah, one of those. I see." She said, nodding her head slightly. For all of Paul's banter and mischievous ways, he couldn't help but stare at her like a moon-struck calf, his eyes following her every move. Fay noticed this from the corner of her eye and held back a smirk. Instead she raised one hand to her hair, watching Paul as his eyes followed her hand, much like a cat watching a piece of catnip being dangled in front of his nose. "You know, I could do this all night and I think your friend here won't even notice." She said causally to Marko who mirrored her grin. Paul blinked and looked at them a tad bit confused. This caused Fay and Marko to burst out laughing.
"What?" He said, knowing that he was the butt of some joke, but unable for the life of him, figure out what the joke was.
"Nothing man, it's nothing." Marko said, restraining himself to keep from humiliating his star-struck friend even more. "Anyways, how about you. You live here?" He asked Fay.
"You can say that. It's kind of a long story." Fay replied, crossing her arms over her chest, which caused Paul to stare obviously once more. Marko just shook his head and looked over at Paul. His friend was acting like a complete ass, more so that how he usually does. Well, there was only one thing for it. Marko casually smacked Paul side the head.
"What the hell? Hey!" Paul said, taking a step back. He scowled at Marko, but it seemed to have worked. The spell was temporarily broken.
"Welcome back." Fay said with a small smile. It was hard to say if she was enjoying all this, or just being polite, but either or, both boys didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable around her. It almost felt as if they had known her for ages, as strange as it sounds. "Anyways boys, I have to cut our little introduction short. Oh don't worry Paul, it's not like I'm going to fall off the face of this planet." She said kindly when she saw the disappointed look that crossed Paul's face. He blushed slightly and muttered something under his breath, as he looked away, embarrassed that she had seen him like that. Hell, it was like she had eyes out of the back her of head. She just seemed to see, well, everything.
"Are we going to see you again?" Marko asked, looking from Paul and then to Fay.
"Sure you will. I live here remember?" She said with a wink as she looked over her shoulder. Dwayne was back and nodded to her. "Right then. I'll see you around." She said as she turned to go, but stopped and turned back when she remembered something. 'Let me be the first to welcome you two to Santa Carla. And in this town, people are strange." She said, giving them an unreadable smile before she turned and walked away. Dwayne lowered his head and muttered something into her ear before both of them melted into the crowd, leaving Paul and Marko to themselves.
"She seems nice." Marko said causally as he looked at Paul from the corner of his eye. "What the hell is up with you Paul? You acted like a complete idiot. And let me stress idiot."
"Marko, I just think the unthinkable happened." Paul said, giving himself a good shake, his blonde mane fanning out across his shoulders, trying to clear his head.
"What?" Marko asked, walking out into the crowd with Paul stalking beside him.
"I think I've just fallen for a chick. I never fall for anyone. It's usually the other way around." He said quietly, trying to make sense of it all. "Is this normal?"
Marko shook his head and smiled. It seemed that the unthinkable had happened after all. "Yeah man, it's normal, but for you, it's abnormal." He said with a quiet laugh as Paul eyed two blondes that walked past. Like I said, some things just never change. "So, what do you want to do now?"
"Get something to eat and check out the night life in this place." Paul said, the roguish grin appearing on his lips once more. And that is exactly what they did.