"Emmmy!" Alyssa screeched sharply, pounding against her door. Emmalyn shielded her eyes from the light peeking in between her blinds. She groaned, struggling to lift herself vertically. "I'm up, I'm up! What do you want?" she moaned sleepily while rolling out of bed. The cool, bare slick concrete floor jolted her awake. Emmalyn swung the door open; her roommate was plainly beaming on the other side. "Come on, woman! We've got a four day weekend and you aren't sleeping in or staying in. Besides you promised you'd come with me." Alyssa reminded her, intruding her way into Emmalyn's room. "What? I thought that was next weekend." Emmalyn whined, rubbing the crust from her eyes and sitting on the chair near the desk.
Alyssa rolled her eyes and glared at her friend. "Listen up, tonight we're going to the opening performance for the Feed Dogs and my brother has a demolition derby on Saturday." She announced, sorting through piles of clothes and tossing them on the disheveled bed. "You never ran this by me. I've never been to a Feed Dogs show or demolition derby in my life." She protested candidly. Alyssa spun around on her heels, hands on her hips. "Look, you're coming. Stop your griping and put on some decent attire. I'm pretty sure people are going to be there by the time we get there." Alyssa remarked and motioned Emmalyn towards the bathroom.
Approximately seemingly long twenty minutes passed. Emmalyn had showered and brushed her teeth. She was surprised to find her overnight bags stuffed to their limit. "Alyssa, I know I don't have that many clothes!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Oh, I added a few things here and there!" Alyssa replied loudly, who was in the midst of circling her eyes with black liner. Emmalyn shook her head exasperatedly, shutting the door behind her to get dressed. She slid into her dark blue jeans, a white tank top and black and white converse. "You almost ready? We've got to be at the show in an hour!" Alyssa cried from her room. Emmalyn could hear her searching for her car keys and with this, Emmalyn dove and snatched her black bomber jacket from her closet, throwing it on her body.
With bags in hand, Alyssa rushed Emmalyn out of the dorm. "We're taking my car, more room." Alyssa said hastily as the two women strolled across the deserted parking lot. Alyssa drove a custom-made crimson and gold Swindle. "Where are we going?"Emmalyn solicited nervously. She had yet to know the entire details of the holiday weekend's plans. "My place. I haven't been there in awhile though." She replied. "And why not?" Emmalyn asked nervously. "Matt lives exactly down the street from my brother and I." she answered, giving her roommate an impish wink. Alyssa began to back out of the parking lot and took off without warning. She was recklessly weaving through cars and almost slamming into a pedestrian.
"ALYSSA!" Emmalyn yelled, "I want to arrive alive!" The woman in the driver's seat merely laughed, speeding down the loopy highways that led to the undisclosed back road in the Airport District. "Wait a minute, there are houses back here?" Emmalyn exclaimed. "My family doesn't like living out in the open. Secrecy is preferred." She stated, turning a corner down an empty, serene and lightly trodden street. High and lush emerald trees soared over them; she could see a few houses that nearly scraped the sky blending in behind the trees.
Her mouth slightly hung open as she perused the environment. "It's pretty swank, huh?" Alyssa teased, pulling into a long winding driveway at the end of the road. As they continued, they could see the Atlasbreaker and a Compensator parked side-by-side in the driveway. Near the wheel of the Atlasbreaker, sat a small Asian man, by the name of Donnie Wong, he was a renowned mechanic in Stilwater. The Swindle came to a stop and the two hopped out, grabbing their bags from the backseat. "Gimme your bags, stay right here." Alyssa ordered, seizing Emmalyn's bags and dashing inside of the house.
Emmalyn could never have imagined that Alyssa was a person of atypical privilege. The house stood high over the lawn, its off-white color was sparkling and unsoiled. It was well taken care of. It did, however, bring question of Alyssa's background. Who were her parents? Who was this mysterious brother of hers and what did they do for a living that would enable them to live in such concession? An innumerable amount of these questions bounced back and forth within her mind as she scanned the neighborhood. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Donnie wiping his hands on a filthy rag. He was standing up by this time and walking over to her. As he drew near, she could see the uninteresting red dyed tip of his chocolate brown locks. His black work shoes were visibly smudged with oil and grease. The smell of exhaust was permeating through his red and black lined jumpsuit – it made her a tad ill.
"I've never seen you 'round here before. You must one of Alyssa's friends?" he quizzed, hungrily staring at her. "Yeah, I am." She responded shortly, hoping Donnie would go away. Emmalyn was leaned against the Swindle when Alyssa emerged from the house, another man striding ahead of her. Alyssa was struggling to keep pace with his steps. She was obviously rambling a mile a minute to the man. "You'll be ready for the competition tomorrow." Donnie told the man, nodding and finally leaving. This brought Emmalyn grand relief, Donnie irked her for some unimaginable explanation. The duo walked closer to the vehicle and a flood of warm sensations swam quickly throughout her body as she glanced back from Alyssa's face to the man's.
Alyssa caught wind of this, smiling smugly. "I thought you would've realized by now. For someone so smart, you sure do catch on to things a little late." She teased, punching Emmalyn in the arm gently. She was slightly offended and retorted, "It isn't like you mention much about it." Alyssa huffed, blowing off her buddy's comeback. "Bro, this is my roommate. Emmalyn, this is Maero. My younger twin brother." She put great emphasis on the last sentence. Maero smirked, his brawny arms crossed tightly. To the average human, Maero's absolute presence had the capacity to terrorize anyone he met. He stood at a staggering 6'7" and housed an incredible amount of muscle – each seeming to be carved and chiseled perfectly.
His scarlet red hair was styled into a shoulder length mullet, something typical of many of the men who were associated with Maero. His skin held a pattern on elaborate black and red tribal tattoos, some of which extended to his left cheek. His various facial piercings glistened in the sunlight that managed to break through the trees. Emmalyn felt her knees weaken at his being there. Being the shy creature that she was, she meagerly waved and smiled. She knew full well Maero's occupation – leader of the violent gang the Brotherhood. Out of the remaining three gangs in Stilwater, the Brotherhood was the strongest. Often using brute force to take what they wanted.
Emmalyn knew her parents would not agree to her even being friends with Alyssa if they knew this piece of information. "It's nice to know that Alyssa wasn't making you up." Maero joked, eyeing his sister who wanted to protest. Emmalyn chuckled, trying to stifle her laughter. "Whatever, we have to get going. She's staying with me, so don't get any ideas. Not that she'd be attracted to an asshole such as yourself." Alyssa warned walking around to the driver's side of the Swindle. Maero released a gruff mumble and shook his head. "I'll see you two tomorrow then." He saluted and with that, Alyssa backed out of the driveway.