'Sup everyone! Since my mom let me skip today, I was able to finish most of the chapter so that I could update this longer chapter early! Just a present to all my dear readers!

One thing I loved while reading your reviews was seeing how almost everyone wrote that Rose was a slut or that they didn't like her. It was rather funny but I'm also glad I won't be stepping on anyone's toes when I have her acting like an attention seeking, boyfriend stealing, bitch-face.

So, please enjoy!

"Hey Winry?"

"Ed! How's everything going?"

Edward sat in the passenger seat of Al's old Honda Civic while he waited for his brother to enter the car. The two were on their way to the Motel were Ed's friends had been staying at. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous; this was an important meeting after all. Finally, Ed saw Al bounding happily from the front steps of his house and into the car.

"Hey Ed!" Al exclaimed as he buckled himself in. "Ready to go?"

"Oh my God! Is that him? Is that Al next to you?" Winry squealed into her cell phone.

"Um, yeah Win," Ed said while he tried to ignore the faces Al was making at him as he talked on the phone with Winry. "But uh, is it alright if we stop by the motel? Al wants to meet you guys."

"Is it alright? Of course if it! Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well I guess I was just asking more because it's not even noon and I wasn't sure if you guys would be-I don't know-trashed in your underwear."

"Who's trashed in their underwear?" Al asked in slight alarm as he put the key into the ignition.

"No one Al," Ed said as he stared at his brother with a smile on his face before he refocused on his other conversation. "So it's alright if we come by?"

"Oh yeah! Let me just get the other awake. But we should all be ready in a bit."

"Good. Well then I'll see you soon Winry."

"Bye!"

"Bye."

Edward stowed his phone into is pants pocket before he buckled himself and turned to look at Al who was give him an almost mocking smile.

"What?"

"Nothin'," Al said before he backed out, or more accurately floored, out of the driveway and began speeding down the side street as if it were a race track.

"Um, Al?" Ed said as he dug his fingernails into an arm rest.

"What is it Brother?"

"Uh don't you think you're going a little fast?"

"Me?" Al asked, continuing to stare at Ed.

"Yeah!" Ed exclaimed as he saw the speedometer quickly inch towards 45 miles an hour. "And can you keep your eyes on the road?"

"Oh, right, Brother," Al sighed exasperatedly. "But I don't think I'm going that fast. You're overreacting!"

"Alphonse! Look out!" Ed shrieked as a Kamikaze squirrel streaked across their path.

"I got it, I got it!" Al yelled as he squealed around the small rodent and almost went crashing into another car in the process.

"Al, you do have your licenses, right?"

"Learners Permit!" Al bellowed cheerfully. "Same thing really."

"Great…" Ed muttered as he sunk further into his seat and mentally promising himself to get a Learners Permit the second he could.

"Now let me just go and tell them that we're here, okay?"

"It's alright brother; you don't have to act so nervous!"

Ed gave him a parting smile before he got out of the car and began climbing up the motel steps and over to the motel room that he knew his friends were staying at. He let out a small, nervous sigh before he lifted is hand to knock on the door. As he moved to hit the door, it flew open, nearly smashing Ed in the nose in the process.

"Hey Ed!"

It was Jean who had opened up the door. He wore an expression similar to one on a child's face who believed Santa was just on the floor below him, setting out gifts. It was truly comical.

"Where's your brother?"

"He just down in the car down there," Ed said as he motioned over his shoulder. "I just didn't want to chance at scaring him for life in case you guys weren't decent."

"Ed!"

Ed peaked around and Maes and Sheska sitting on one of the beds; both fully dressed and awake. Roy was sitting at the small table, apparently mid-conversation with Riza, who was sitting across from him. Winry stood in the doorway of the bathroom. She looked slightly hesitant but smiled at him none-the-less.

"So is everyone ready?" Ed asked.

"Yeah!"

"Let's go now!"

"Whoa, whoa," Ed said while he held up his hands in an attempt to fend off his excited friends. "Don't scare the poor kid! I was going to bring him up here, alright?"

"Fine…"

"Good. Just stay right here and don't freak him out when he gets here."

Ed let the door close behind him before he turned and walked back to the car. Al opened the car door as Ed approached it, looking almost adorably excited.

"So what's up? Are they ready?"

"Yeah, we can go up now," Ed said with a smile.

"Awesome!"

Al jumped out of his car, slammed the door behind him, and took off up the stairs before Ed had even realized what had happened.

"AL!" Ed yelled once he realized what had happened.

"What?" Al asked once he had reached the top of the stairs.

"Slow down will ya?"

"Sorry Brother, I'm just so excited!"

"Well can your excitement be a little slower?" Ed asked once he had caught up with Al.

Together, the two brothers quietly walked the last few yards to the motel room. Ed gave Al a nervous grin before he knocked once more on the door and waited for the door to fly open.

SMACK!

This time, Jean's over-excited door-opening skills hit Ed straight on the nose, causing his eyes to water and blood to drip out of his nose. Al quickly lost interest in the other blond teen and turned to check on his older brother.

"Jean you fucking idiot!" Ed cursed as he pinched his nose in an attempt to stop the blood flow.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to dude! I-!"

"Oh just shut the Hell up Jean," Ed mumbled thickly while wiping his nose on his sleeve before he turned to Al and said in a bitter tone "Al, this is the almighty idiot Jean Havoc."

"Um, hi Jean."

"Heya Al!"

"Come on, let's get inside," Ed muttered as Jean moved out of the way.

The room was awfully quiet as everyone stared at one another. Al smiled shyly at everyone while everyone else gave nervous, half-hearted smile and waves in return. Finally, Maes broke the ice.

"Hey Al! I'm Maes Hughes!" he exclaimed while he over enthusiastically wrung Al's hand.

"Hi!"

"Wanna see something Al?" Maes asked, sounding as if he was struggling to contain something inside of him.

"Uh, sure."

"Ta-Dah!" Maes exclaimed as he pulled out his cell phone and shoved it into Al's face. Ed let out an exasperated noise once he realized what the picture was. "It's my darling girlfriend Gracia! Isn't she just a beauty?"

"Maes," Roy growled from behind him. "Gracia is not your girlfriend."

"Not yet! If it wasn't for this whole fiasco, I'm sure I would be hand and hand with her right this very minute!"

Ed gave Al a small grin as the two continued to bicker. It went on for almost another minute until Riza stood up and held an air-horn into the air, quickly breaking up everyone's thoughts.

"This isn't about you Maes so shut your trap before I do it for you!" Riza growled before she turned to look at Al, who had become quiet alarmed by her actions. "Hello Alphonse. I'm Riza, Riza Hawkeye."

"Just call me Al," he said with a pleasant smile.

"Alright then Al."

"Uh, I'm Roy Mustang."

"Yeah, my brother's told me about you."

"Oh really?" Roy asked as he turned to give a malice grin towards Ed. "What did he say about me?"

"Sorry! I can't tell you do to a brother-brother confidentiality agreement," Al said brightly, causing Ed to laugh lightly.

Al looked across the room and instantly met with a pair of bright blue ones. He smile at her, she smiled in return before she took a few steps forward so that she would be closer to him.

"I'm-."

"Winry, I know. Brother's told me so much about you," Al said with a suggestive smirk on his face, causing Ed to blush slightly.

"Oh really now?" Winry asked, he own cheeks pink.

"Yup!"

"Like what?" Winry asked as she gave Ed a look.

"Well first of all, Ed is totally in lo-."

"SHUT UP AL!"

"So where to now?"

"I don't know…we could always just hang out here for a while," Al muttered as he dug his feet a little deeper into the sand. "I mean, I could always call my friends and then we can all hang out."

"Sounds good Al!"

After talking in the motel room for a good hour, they all crammed into Winry's van and took a drove to no where in particular. No where in particular turned out to be the local kids' park, where they sat on swing and slides and jungles-jims and partook in childhood games that they thought they had forgotten.

"Cool, I'll call them now."

"Who's he callin'?" Roy asked as he sat down on the swing next to Ed.

"His three friends."

"Okay…"

Twenty minutes later, a vibrant red convertible came screaming into the quiet park and skidded into an extremely crooked parking job. A tall and curvy girl popped out of her seat and stood straight up before she began shouting as if Al was a football field away, instead of a few yards.

"ALLLL-PHOONNNSE!" the girl screamed until she jumped out of her car with two blond teens behind her. "WE'RE HEEEERRREEEE!"

"Um, so that's Rose…" Al said sheepishly to the others before the girl in question tackled him from behind.

"Al!" Rose giggled loudly into Al's ear, rocking back and forth from one stiletto heal to another.

"Hi Rose."

It was at this point that Rose seemed to finally realize that there were more people there. She stared at each of them for a moment with her large brown eyes before they finally rested on Ed's perplex and slightly hesitant face. Rose unwrapped her arms from around Al's shoulders and walked towards him while wearing a rather flirty smile.

"Hello there. And now who is this very handsome friend of yours Al?"

"Uh, Rose…this is Ed. My brother," Al added, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the way that Rose was staring at him.

"What?"

"Yo! Alphonse!"

Ed redirected his attention to the other two teens that appeared to be momentarily forgotten. He instantly recognized Russell and Fletcher from their pictures. Ed was then aggravated to find that Russell was a good four of five inches taller than himself.

"Hey Russ! Fletcher!"

"Hey Al," said Fletcher. "Who're your new friends?"

"Yeah Al, are you thinking of ditching us?" Russell joked with a cocky grin that Ed had always associated with Roy.

"Well I was going to explain it right now if you don't mind," Al began before he turned to Ed and said, "This is my brother-Edward."

The three friends gave similar responses to when Ed informed his own friends that he had a younger brother on the other side of the country. Their jaws were left hanging while they blinked rapidly in confusion.

"You mean," started Russell in a weak voice, "that this is the Ed."

'The Ed'…Ed thought smugly, that has a nice ring to it.

"Yeah. He's my brother."

"Well then why the heck didn't you tell us that he was coming?" Fletcher yelled.

"I didn't know he was coming! He just showed up on my doorstep yesterday!"

"Really?" Russell asked in a tone that indicated mild surprise. "That takes guts man."

Russell took a step forward to give Ed a hard handshakes, one that nearly brook Russell's hand in the process when he made the mistake of shaking Ed's right hand.

"Dude! What's up with your hand?" Russell asked, finally noticing that not both hands that stuck out of Ed's red hoodie were flesh and bone.

"Accident," Ed mumbled, feeling suddenly uncomfortable with the three strangers staring at his extremities as if he was on display at a museum.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's do something exciting!" Sheska exclaimed, unintentionally breaking up the awkward moment.

"Perfect," purred Rose, returning to giving flirtatious glances at Ed. "We can go to my place. It's completely empty."

"Cool!" Roy said, apparently not noticing the looks Rose was giving Ed.

"Let's get going," Jean said, spring up from his swing. "Lead the way." He added, grinning at Rose.

"Oh, of course," she said with a false, high-pitched giggle to Jean.

Jean then took her arm and began leading her to her car; Rose continued to throw looks at Ed over her shoulder as she went. Ed turned around when he heard a loud scoff and saw Winry standing there, arms crossed while she glared at the brunettes' wiggling backsides. This too made Ed uneasy.

"So who's driving what?" Russell's voice rang out behind them.

"Well we don't have much more room in my van," Winry said. "So I think we'll just follow you guys behind…Rose's car."

"Alright."

"But what about my car?" Al asked. "It's still at the motel!"

"We can get it later Al," Ed said, not keen on having to rid in a car with his brother at the wheel.

"Or we can just stop by the Motel again on the way there-," Riza began, unaware of Al's driving style.

"No," Ed said firmly. "Let's all just drive together."

"Why?" Al pouted.

"Well…Al, you're a worse driver than Sheska and Jean combined."

Everyone there who was aware of the twos driving skills either winced at this statement or shuddered at the horrible thought of what Al's driving skills would be like.

"I'm not that bad Ed! It's not like I hit anything!"

"Yeah, but Al…" Ed trailed off as he tried to find the right words to let his brother off lightly while still trying to sound firm. "You almost hit things…constantly. And you speed, a lot."

"Fine, fine Drama King. I won't drive."

"Good."

They pulled up to a large and impressive looking apartment complex. In Ed's opining, it looked more like a hotel than anything. With its wall-sized windows and a large and luxurious pool, he had to wonder how much it cost to rent out an apartment here. Ed saw Rose bounce out of her car with Jean in tow in front of him before he glanced over to Winry, who was looking particularly murderous. What was her problem?

"You ready?" Ed asked as the sliding door behind their seat was flung open and hot and humid summer air infiltrated the once air-conditioned car.

"Yes," Winry said with a small snap in her voice before she practically bolted out of the car, leaving Ed alone and rather confused.

"What's with her?" Ed grumbled before he hopped out of the car and ran towards the shelter of air-conditioning.

Ed stared around Rose's large apartment on the fifth floor. It was lavishly decorated in furniture and appliances no average teen should be able to afford on their own. All the walls that Ed could see were painted a pale lavender color. She had a large plasma television that hung on the wall in front of her large and comfy looking couch. Resting beneath the television was a top of the line stereos system. In-between the items were a beautiful wooden coffee table that held a pot of fresh, red roses.

In the dinning room area she had a grand, eight-seater, wooden dinner table and above it, Ed had to feel this was just a bit too pretentious, she had a beautiful decorative glass chandelier. He couldn't see the kitchen, her bedroom, or her bathroom but he expected them all to be filled with equally lavish and gorgeous furniture and more state of the art appliances.

Ed looked around at his friends and found them all staring at all of Rose's spoils in her apartment. The only person whose house may have come anywhere close to this degree of grandeur was Maes' house, but he had to share it with his mother, father, and the occasional relatives over the holidays; Rose had this kingdom to herself.

"Oh, yes," Rose said in what Ed assumed to be her failed attempt at a modest voice when she noticed everyone's eye popping out of their sockets. "I know it's a bit much but…they were gifts-I couldn't get rid of them!"

"Who the Hell gave you these things?" Jean asked as he eyed her stereos. "Because I want to meet them and ask them if they can give me some gifts!"

"Well…I'm sorry but you can't," Rose said quietly, her face suddenly dropping its bright causality and her eyes began to moisten, "b-because he's…dead."

All of Ed's friends suddenly developed expressions of grief, except for Winry and Riza. One look at the two quietly whispering girls and Ed could tell that their bullshit-meters were going through the roof. But why would she lie about something so serious? Or maybe she wasn't lying and the two girls were simply misjudging her.

"What happened Rose?" Jean asked with so much forced sympathy in his voice that Ed could only imagine how badly he wanted to get into her pants. "Who was he?"

"He w-was my b-boyfriend! Kain!" Rose sobbed loudly before she covered her face and collapsed onto the couch. "H-He d-d-died in a car w-wreck! We ran a-aw-away together! From our parents who wanted us to separate! But then a few months later, he died! It was only a year ago! I still miss him terribly!"

Ed turned to look at Russell, Fletcher, and Al. All looked uncomfortable but slightly annoyed. How many times could she have said this story to make the teens look that way?

Maes and Sheska stood a bit in front of them, both wearing expressions one would have when at the deathbed of a dear friend. Winry and Riza remained by the door, still whispering while shooting Rose skeptical looks. Roy and Jean on the other hand were both sitting on either side of Rose on the couch, both competing for Rose's shoulder to cry on.

Was this girl for real? Ed had no clue as to whom he should side with. All he knew was that tonight would be long and complicated with all of these characters. But what he didn't know was all of the drama that would ensue because of the maybe-pretend-sobbing girl in front of him.

Just a little note, Kamikaze squirrel/rabbit/bird/insert small-suburban-animal-here is what my mom says when she's driving.

I loved writing this chapter. I realized that as I was writing Rose, I love writing snobby, overdramatic, bitchs. I hope you all enjoyed your extra-long, early chapter because I thought it was a good one.

Winry's pissed off and I have a feeling that there will be a cat-fight in the near future. :P

BYE!

-FSK