Lila stirred ever so slightly, and Marcus was downright disgusted with the retarded, feeble way his heart fluttered. Like he fucking cared. He looked around at the crowd and shook his head. Fucking morons. Retarded, stupid imbecilic... Well you know how it goes.

Marcus took off towards Lila's car. Someone would have to drive it back, he got in and found the key IN THE FUCKING IGNITION! What a retard!

Silence. Pure as distilled water. Pure as 24 karat gold. Pure as seamless diamond. Untouchable silence. It coated Marcus' ears and softened the racket inside his head. He felt fine Italian leather beneath him. He smelled Lila. He heard nothing. It was a blissful moment. He closed his eyes, and savored it. Basked in that smell. Reality hit him as hard as a lead weight, when he opened his eyes and saw the others approaching in the rear-view mirror.

Marcus started the engine of little Pontiac Coupe and was surprised at the powerful purr of the engine. He eased the manual gear shift into reverse, and eased his way out of the parking lot. He hit the highway and pressed down on the accelerator. He was pleased to hear the whir of the engine increase ever so slightly, and see the needle swing viciously to one side. The little car was approaching one hundred kilometers an hour and he'd barely even touched the accelerator.

"Crazy bitch." He shook his head, and reached over with one hand to flip through some of the CDs on the dash board. There was some classic A-Capella, a barbershop mix, some Bedouin Soundclash, but it was an Italian tango-techno CD that caught his eye. He put it in the CD player, and let the rich strings wash over him. He drove faster than the speed limit the whole way into town, window rolled down, rushing air and music mixing and pulling all of his worries out the window. He wanted to get rid of her scent too, its effect on him was pissing him off, but it didn't work. Her smell clung about, reminding him of patchouli and snow.

He parked just in front of Gabriel's house, and stepped out of the car. He leaned against it, and crossed his arms. A tall dark-skinned guy with cornrows came stomping toward him from the house just next to Gabe's.

"What choo doin' wit Li's car, punk?" His voice was deep, and he was tall, threatening. If Axel was still human, he'd have been scared shitless.

"Excuse me?"

"Tha's Lila's car. What the fuck you doin' wit it? Why ain't she driving it?" Marcus smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"She's indisposed at the moment."

"Come on man, gimme a straight answer. I really don't want to pick a fight with you." All of a sudden, the 'gangsta' disappeared from the guy's voice.

"Lila should be here soon. She's umm, fine. She's really down about her boyfriend or something. Who are you to her anyway?"

"Tyler Simpson, I own the house she lives in. We're friends. What about you?"

"I- just met her today. I just brought her car. I'll be leaving now."

"Do you need a ride somewhere?" Marcus thought about the way that Lila looked right now. This guy really shouldn't see her that way.

"Uh, yeah. That'd be great."