Friday afternoon, Adam lay on the couch. Upstairs he could hear his brother playing some kind of rap music. It sounded like Eminem, the latest CD album, the one Tucker had borrowed from him two months ago, and still hadn't returned.
Adam sighed and closed his eyes.

She was there....red and black in the moonlight, smiling up at him....he gazed down at her....no other female made him feel this way...he gently smiled back at her, and rubbed against her....

"Adam?" He heard his brother cry, and snapped out of the trance he'd gone into. He wondered vaguely where that thought had come from before racing upstairs.
"What? What is it?" Adam burst into Tucker's room, expecting to see a herd of men with machine guns pointing them at Tucker.

But only Tucker stood there preening in front of the mirror. "What colour do you think is best with the black?" He held up two shirts to his trousers. "The grey or the blue?"
Adam stared at him. "The blue." He frowned. "Where are you going?"
"Oh didn't I mention? I've got this hot date....with....with...." Tucker clicked his fingers, trying to remember, "....oh yea, Jenny, that's who."
"Oh." Adam stated, and looked again at his brother. "Even after last night, you're going with her?"
Tucker grinned. "I like my more experienced woman."
"You'll kill her off with your moves," Adam replied sarcastically.
Tucker turned. "Hey I can have any babe I want."
Adam smirked. "Yeah, and you choose that old biddy. Nice one stud." He turned and left the room, going back downstairs, shaking his head.

~

Demi Rinter lay on the bar, her red hair fanned out around her, tapping her foot to the track on the jukebox. She had gone to the bar area for some quiet, to relax. To think about him. About what he did to her and what he was trying to do to her sister.
"She'll fall for it, not like me," she thought to herself, as the music beat changed.
Shaking her head, she got up, and aimed the remote control at the backing track machine behind the bar.
The music to "Pretty Woman" blasted from the speakers, and Demi began practising walking on the bar. She'd not been as good recently, hadn't been concentrating on her moves. In fact she felt pretty tired.
She spun around on the bar twice, not getting dizzy, and started swanking up and down the bar in true tradition of the film....her thoughts drifted...

She giggled up at him. He looked down at her, smiling, brushing his paw over her cheek, and she felt weak. Then....the....oh...she felt hazy....something happened...he held her in his arms and whispered to her, and she drifted to sleep...

"Hey!" The voice interrupted her thoughts and Demi spun round to stare. But it was only Jemi, who hopped up onto the bar beside her.
"Demi, you've been going through it a bit lately. Mum says you've been drifting off into space, thinking, and no one can rouse you from it."
Demi grinned at her step-sister. "Jemi, you worry too much. So does Bella." She looked at Jemi. Actually for mother and daughter, Bella and Jemi were close, but they didnt really share the same characteristics.

Although they were both dark skinned, and had dark black hair, and a terrific singing voice (Demi's and Bomi's father Ronny had met Bella on holiday after she amazed him with her singing on the karoke) the similarities finished there.
Jemi was very small, with green eyes, and always dressed in black and red. Today she was wearing a black leather top and red trousers, and Demi marvelled at her ability to do such a thing.
Bella would normally be found wearing her favourite black clothing behind the bar, but when she dressed up, she would make heads turn in her favourite black evening gown and fur coat. Ronny adored her, so did Jemi, but Demi and Bomi kept their distance, Bomi in particular not wanting to have anything to do with her.
Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" came on the track machine then, and Demi giggled, dancing off, Jemi following her as best she could.

They didn't notice the door opening, and someone slipping inside.... She danced as if she would never dance again. Spinning round on that bar, Demi's heart took flight, singing along to the track, Jemi watching her in awe.
"I love this track!" Demi yelled over the blasting music.
Jemi laughed, and joined in with her dancing. Demi started clapping to the beat, Jemi copying her, and they strutted along the bar, having a great time. Both a mixture of red and black.
Demi turned at the end of the bar, just as the words pricked her ears. "Hi there."

~

She jumped, turning to face him. Jemi had never been sure about this lark her sisters seemed to love. She was sure it was dangerous to be about men, most men...she preferred her quiet life now. The first time in the bar last night, someone had tried to grope her over the bar. She'd disappeared and hadn't returned all night. And tomorrow they had to do their routine again...
Now she stared down at the man, his hair dark in the bar's half light, and cocked her head to the side. Something stirred in her....she could swear....nah....she'd never seen him before.
"What the hell?" She heard her step-sister cry, and before Jemi could do anything, Demi had jumped down from the bar running for the back door.
Jemi stayed, frozen to the spot like a rabbit caught in headlights, shaking. She was all alone with this strange guy and she didn't like it.
"Well, she seems friendly." He came out into the light. His hair, Jemi noticed, was the deepest black, his eyes very dark, but understanding, friendly...
She shook her head, trying to clear that thought. She looked closely at his white jumper, across which was emblazoned 'Nike' and he wore black jogging trousers with white trainers. Despite herself, Jemi grinned at him.....
"JEMI! GET DOWN OFF THAT BAR!!!" She heard another voice, and turned to look behind her. Bomi, her blonde hair streaming behind her, ran out into the bar, and grabbed her sister by the waist. Because Jemi was so small and light, this enabled Bomi to drag her off to the safety of the back room.

~

She came into the bar to face him again.
"Get out," she ordered. He stared at her. She was pretty damned hot. Her long red wisps of hair hung in her face. As she brushed them back out of her eyes, he saw her eyes were the darkest brown, and her face a little flushed. And red and black clothing....woo....he grinned to himself.
"What you grinning at? Ain't you never seen a woman mad before?" She asked, and he shook his head.
Taking that for a answer, she shoved him. "Better get used to it honey, I said get OUT!" She practically screamed the last word.
He put up his hands, "K....K....just one thing."
She put her hands on her hips. "What?"
He held out one hand. "Adam. Nice to meet you."