September 15th. It was a day like any other, sitting cross-legged on a couch in Sei’ne’s living room. Raine was sifting through a RAVE magazine and drinking something fruity and vaguely alcoholic.

Sei’ne, with his normal enthusiasm was furiously typing, flipping through hundreds of webpages at incredible speeds, in search of the perfect new board.

No surprise he’d broken the last. With the jump he’d attempted, he was lucky he didn’t break more than just his skateboard.

“No, no, I want this new one to have some kind of abstract art or something on it.” He called over his shoulder. “Something cool. I mean, everybody has a friggin’ heartagram or Adio or a naked chick or something on the bottom of their boards. I need something cooler than that. Way cooler.”

Raine chuckled absently, pulling his long, waves back into a manageable ponytail, the RAVE open and resting on his ankles. “Too bad you couldn’t get one of these on your board. ‘Twood make it perfect.” He pointed with is chin to the page in his lap, both of his hands tangled in the depths of his hair. He wrapped it absently, pulling it up with a semi-conscious gesture that was almost ingrained. “This is SALEEN, one of my favorite artists.” Raine answered, vaguely, his eyes running over the texture of the ceiling. “What I wouldn’t give for her to do our next album’s cover art, or even direct a music video or something, anything.” Sei’ne rolled his desk chair over to swipe the magazine, pulling it close to inspect it.

“Why can’t you? Says here she’s a huge 545 fan.” He grinned, holding the magazine sideways to look at one of the more surreal paintings. “I’m sure she’d fall over herself to help.”

“She’s damnably hard to get a hold of; not like I haven’t tried.” Raine pushed his painted nails against his temples, trying to ward off a sudden headache. He covered his face with his hands, missing the odd look in Sei’ne’s eyes. “It’s that damn facelessness of hers, I’m sure...”

But Sei’ne had already seemingly lost interest, dialing a long remembered number on his cellphone, his fingers finding the keys without aid of his eyes or his mind. The phone dialed, purring its attempt at connection in his ear. Sei’ne mussed his hair, almost nervously. Raine watched him, the husky blue-white of his eyes wide and mazed with half-thoughts.

Finally, a sleep-groggy voice picked up on the other end of the phone, growling into his ear. “I’m going to fucking kill you, Sei’ne.”

He laughed, gently, at the beautiful sound of that oh-so-farmiliar voice. “Good morning, my darling. You know that favor you owe me?”

There was a lengthy pause. She shifted, sighing into the receiver. “This couldn’t have waited for a reasonable hour?”

“This is a reasonable hour; it’s friggin two in the afternoon. What are you still sleeping for?”

“Drove all night.” She answered, simply, without further explanation.

Sei’ne didn’t really expect one. “How far away are you?”

“About a shower and twenty-minutes.”

“What the hell are you doing in Virginia? Aren’t you supposed to be in Finland or something? I thought I was going to have to buy you a plane ticket.”

“I’m ‘supposed’ to be in England.” Her voice was slowly moving back to normal as she woke. Sei’ne listened to the sound of her stretching and smiled, barely believing how much he’d missed her voice. “However, I am not. Also, I came to drop some stuff off for my grandparents. Some of my mom’s old stuff they wanted.”

“You have grandparents?”

Raine chuckled, softly, amused at the half of the conversation he could hear.

Sei’ne ignored him, flipping through the magazine pages without looking at them as she answered: “What kind of dumb-fuck question is that?”

“You know what I meant; I thought they disowned you.”

“They did, but my mom would have wanted them to have that stuff. I volunteered to drop it off. An excuse to see you. Or it was, until you woke me up, you bastard.”

Sei’ne chuckled. “Get over here, and I’ll make it all better, baby.”

She laughed in spite of herself and hung up; no goodbyes for the wicked. Sei’ne clicked his phone closed, chuckling and sliding it back into his pocket. “You’re damn lucky I love you so much.”

Raine glanced up from his nails, which he had been inspecting, with a raised eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

“You might get your wish.”

“Huh?”

Sei’ne grinned. “What were you telling me, right before I got on the phone? You wanted Saleen to do your next CD cover, right? You’re fucking lucky she owes me a favor.” Grinning, he walked out of the house, pushing the screen door before him. Raine sat in shock as the full weight of his words soaked in, slowly permeating the thick layer of his disbelief.

“Sei’ne! Sei’ne, wait a minute! Sei’ne! What the hell!?”

Th1sBr0kenW1ng: I’ve known Sei’ne since forever. We grew up together, in a tourist city in Lithuania. We had the same mother, but he was born several years after my father had died and my mother had remarried. My mama always wanted me to have the best education; she taught me English herself growing up as well as Lithuanian, because she fully intended to ship me off to the Americas as soon as she could afford to get me a green card. She wanted me to succeed, and be far better off then she was. Sei’ne and I took off when he turned sixteen, going, not to America, but instead to Finland, the home of real metal and hard rock, where I made a name for myself in music. It wasn’t quite what Mama intended. She still lives in Utena, that little tourist town in Lithuania, no matter how hard I beg her to come to England to live nearer me. I believe it is because she has yet to forgive me for never going to America and getting a “real job.”

Th1sBr0kenW1ng: After we moved out, Sei’ne lived with me for a long time, skateboarding and trying his damnedest to hold onto a job. He left when he was twenty or so, wanting to go and make his own fortune in America.

“You never told me you knew Saleen!” Raine pulled furiously at his hair, tumbling the long curls from their tail. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked.” Sei’ne crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the brick siding of his house. Sei’ne was wonderfully proud of the house, and that he’d paid for every inch of it with his own money and no one else’s. The structure was tall, sound, if not overlarge, and the very embodiment of his sweat and tears. Sei’ne had come to America to make his fortune. He’d never been rich, and probably never would be, but he lived comfortably, running a small chain of restaurants in the city and skateboarding in every spare moment he had. Even now, his “spare board” rested beside his feet, and he rolled it back and forth with his left foot, as if itching for movement.

The younger of the brothers was a taller, scruffier version of his very handsome shadow. They were both pale complected, with curling hair and thin frames, but Raine’s curls fell far longer, just touching his shoulders while Sei’ne’s fell about his ears.

The black dye in Raine’s hair shown a glossy, purple-blue in the high sunlight, a halo of radiance setting off his boyish, innocent expression. They had beautifully formed faces, both born of a woman with handsome features who seemed more than willing to pass it on to her boys.

The two made quite a show of themselves, each in their own ways; it is something they would never quite grew out of. Sei’ne, with his soft, blonde emo curls had a charming smile and a flashy sense of color. He’d mismatch his clothes on purpose, mixing ridiculous hues with even more ridiculous patterns.

Raine was the quieter of the two, and far more thoughtful. He liked dark colors and dark hair dye, dark nail polish, and even occasionally dark lipsticks and eyeliners. The makeup was mostly fanservice, however, and, that day, his pretty face was clear save for a dusting of freckles across his nose.

The two bickered back and forth quietly in their thick accents, English barely discernible from the occasional Lithuanian insult or phrase, turning twin, husky-blue eyes to the road as an unfamiliar car pulled into the long driveway.

Th1sBr0kenW1ng: When I saw you, I just about died of shock. That weird chick I’d met on the road, who sang to me and then ran off, was actually Saleen. The Saleen.

Cl0ckw0rkSKY: “Weird chick?” Oh, thanks a lot. :P

Th1sBr0kenW1ng: Well, let’s see. We’ve been married for... almost three years and I still think you’re weird.

Cl0ckw0rkSKY: Hey! Get on with the story, you pain in the ass.

The car, ironically, happened to be a Saleen S331, painted copper with copper rims, looking like a cowboy’s wet dream coming around the corner. The vehicle was huge, looming over the driveway, not exactly a fitting car for the tiny woman who emerged from the cab.

“Whoa, nice truck.”

The woman smiled, her slip-on shoes making that funny flip-flop noise as she made her careful way down the hill of the driveway toward the house. She smiled, her jade eyes shinning deeply in the smooth tan of her face. She was dark from sunlight rather than genetics, and her hair was a shocking silver, spilling loose down her back, like a moonlit waterfall. She was beautiful, the curves of her body peeking out from under her baggy jeans and even baggier KMFDM t-shirt. The shirt was cut at the top, hanging off of her thin shoulder like she was from Flashdance. She wore no make-up save for a bit of eyeliner and three, shimmering jewels glued just under her right eye. “Thank you. I thought it fitting.”

“Saleen?”

“Of course.” She laughed, her voice low from cigarette smoke. “If you’re named after a car company, why not support them? They make beautiful trucks.” She suddenly turned to Raine, her eyes still glowing. “And this is the older brother, I assume?”

“Yes, this is Raine, the lead singer of...”

“545, yes, I know. I recognized him from the driveway.” She held out a tiny hand, tanned and tipped in electric-blue nails. “I’m Saleen.”

Raine held out his hand, the thin line of color running across his nose. “Raine Prunskiene.” He answered, shyly, pressing his hand into her’s.

“My brother found your article in RAVE, and I just had to call you. So blame him for waking you up this afternoon.” Sei’ne said, laughing, taking Saleen into his arms and lifting her off of her feet.

“Oh that.” She wheezed, pushing against his shoulders to get him to release her. He set her down and she carefully re-adjusted her clothes. “Damn magazine would call seven and eight times a day until I agreed to do their stupid interview.” She pressed her fingers against her forehead, rolling those pretty green eyes. “When I finally agreed, they called me in for a photo shoot. They called the faceless artist in for a fucking photo shoot. I told them to go to hell.” Sei’ne laughed, opening the front door and holding it open as Saleen made her way in, telling her story over her shoulder as she moved. Raine followed them in, quiet and thoughtful. “I had to make them sign a contract that no likeness of me was to appear in their magazine, and they try to take photos of me. I wouldn’t have ever said ‘yes’ to those idiots if they hadn’t been so persistent.”

“Poor, baby. It must be so hard, being rich and famous.” Sei’ne grinned, walking over to the bar in the corner of his living room.

Raine settled onto the couch, squeaking with indignity as Saleen flopped down into the seat next to him, her hair tumbling like gray ribbons into his lap. “Sorry about that; I should have put my hair up, but it was still wet when I left.” Grinning apologetically, she reclaimed all of her hair, pulling it up and throwing it unceremoniously over the back of the couch.

Raine smiled, shyly, uncertainly, his gut tight and nervous. This, this, was his hero, the woman who had captured his heart with her artwork. He was sitting next to one of the biggest influences he’d ever had, and she was oddly normal. ‘She’s nothing like I imagined she’d be.’

Saleen brushed at her long, long hair with her fingers, feeling just as nervous, and for much of the same reasons.

“So what kind of favor do I owe you now? I don’t remember you doing anything for me that I should be making up for. I already paid you back for hiding me from that FOX News reporter in Virginia Beach. And that little incident in Costa Rica. You still haven’t paid me back for running my last car into a lamppost, though.” Grinning wildly, Sei’ne handed them each a drink, nodding as Saleen thanked him out of habit.

“I had forgotten about the car, but I was thinking of that little incident in New Mexico, at that artshow last year, when you...”

Laughing, Saleen held her hands up in defeat. “You win, you win. But you better make this good, ‘cause I won’t owe you any favors after this.”

“For how long though? Anyway, it is worth it; it’s not for me though. It’s something he wants.” Sei’ne answered, pointing his chin at Raine. “He’s a fan of your art, Saleen, and wants some help on his next CD cover.”

Saleen turned so she could look at both brothers at the same time, and smiled, gently. “No way.”

“Why not?”

“What the fuck, why not!?” She was on her feet, furious, hand pressed against the thin curve of her hip. “I’ve told you and told you, I don’t deal with musicians, ever! I don’t do CD covers, and you know that!”

Sei’ne frowned at her, unaffected by her sudden outburst. “This is different though. He’s my bro, and it’s 545 for Christ’s sake. I thought you wouldn’t mind...”

“Well I mind, Sei’ne!” She took a deep breath, then turned to study Raine. He began to cringe under her furious scrutiny. “I will think about it,” she finished, diplomatically, her soft smile and calm returning. “I will truly and honestly consider it, if only because I love your brother. Alright?”

Raine nodded, caught speechless, shaking her hand when it was proffered.

“Well,” Saleen picked her drink up off of the side table and finished it in one gulp. “Even when I hate you, I love you, you little bitch. And I’ve gotten you something. Consider it a late birthday present.”

“It’s September, Saleen. I was born in April.”

“Thus the late part. Get the hell in the truck or I won’t give you anything.”

Cl0ckw0rkSKY: It was less the fact that he’d asked me to do your CD cover, and more the fact that he’d gone over my head and talked to you about before talking to me. And he knew I didn’t want to do any more graphic design work for the music industry.

Th1sBr0kenW1ng: He wouldn’t have done that, if I hadn’t been so into the idea; it was my fault almost as much as it was his.

Cl0ckw0rkSKY: Either way, I was angry for all the wrong reasons, blaming him for something stupid.

Th1sBr0kenW1ng: Well, I should thank you; if it wasn’t for you yelling at him like you did, he never would have been able to straighten himself out, and keep a job, much less start his businesses up and keep them going.

Cl0ckw0rkSKY: You’re welcome. ;)

Ahh, again. Chapter 2 of my final project. I have started Chapter 3, but only a little bit, and I'm off to a concert for the weekend, celebrating the fact that I finally got my f-ing degree. Woot.

Oh, and don't ask me how to pronounce Raine's last name, "Prunskiene." Honestly, I have no idea. I didn't know anything about Lithuanian names, so instead of looking like an idiot and making one up, I started looking up Lithuanian government officials and using their names for things.

And another thing: "Sei'ne" is pronounced JUST like "Sean" or "Shawn." The name is Gaelic (NOT Lithuanian, and I know this; Raine and Sei'ne's mother was educated, and named her children whatever the hell she wanted, instead of limiting herself to her country's names. Or, that's my excuse, anyway. I LIKE the name Raine and I LOVE the name Sei'ne, so deal), and one of my ex-boyfriends had a friend named Sei'ne and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, so tada. "Saleen" is pronounced much like "Celine," but has more of an "ahhh" sound than an "ehhh" sound. So like... Sah-leen rather than Seh-leen. Make sense? It's a car company; if you really care than much about the pronunciation, go watch some of the videos on the Saleen website, and see how the owner pronounces it. For real.

I have quit school for the summer, and I will be returning in fall to pursue my Creative Writing/English Master's Degree (be proud of me). I am also only doing part time work, so hopefully I will have lots of time to write (haha). Here's to the beginning of summer!!1

:mina: