"Hey," I slid onto the bar stool next to the kid. "I'm not one to talk, but aren't you a little too young to be in a bar?" Smirking with humor, I looked at him.

He shook his head, hand wrapped around a half-empty glass of beer. "Fake IDs can get you a long way, dude." He raised his glass in a cheers motion.

"What can I get you to drink?" The bartender held a towel, using it to clean a glass as he asked me.

"Strongest whiskey you got." I answered, turning back to the kid. I pulled out my own fake ID. "You got that right."

Raising his eyes, he looked at the card skeptically. "How is that not real? Yours is so much more believable."

I shrugged. "Being a twenty-year-old alcoholic does wild things to you. Life is hard." The bartender slid my drink over to me, I nodded in thanks.

"Preach." The kid raised his glass again, cheers-ing as we both took a long swig of the alcohol.

"Evan." Holding out my hand, I smiled at him, my other hand still curled around my beer.

"Marcel."

-

A few drinks later our conversation was interrupted by my phone buzzing in my pocket. Pulling it out, I checked the caller ID. Tyler. Damn.

"Give me a sec." I told Marcel as I answered the call, pressing it to my ear. "Yeah, Tyler?"

"Dude, where the hell are you? I thought you were in your room but apparently you're not."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine, Tyler, promise. Just went out for some fresh air. Don't worry."

"Evan of course I'm going to worry, you just finished healing from when you got shot."

"Look, I'm not dead, okay? I'll be fine." Frustrated, I hung up, placing the phone on the counter in front of me, taking a sip of my drink, finishing it completely.

"Who was that?" Marcel asked, looking at me with worry as I ordered another round of drinks.

"Tyler, my friend, he's a major dick." I said, taking a sip from the new drink the bartender handed me. "He just doesn't trust me."

"Well, you are aggressively drinking whiskey." Marcel pointed out.

"Well, you do have a point there." I put down the glass, checking the time with my phone. "Damn. It's getting late, I should go."

"Yeah, me too, actually."

"Want me to walk you home? The streets are no place to be walking around alone."

"I'll be fine." Was his quick reply.

"Are you sure? Don't want a kid like you getting hurt."

"You're only like two years older than me, don't call me 'kid'."

I shrugged, getting up as I tossed a few crumpled bills onto the counter- enough to pay for both of our drinks.

"You don't have to pay for me." Marcel said, gawking at the money like he's never seen it before in his life.

"It's fine, trust me, I have enough." As I began to walk away, I lightly rubbed my newly healed wound.

Marcel had followed behind me. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I just got shot a few weeks ago and it still kinda hurts every once and a while." After I had spoken I realized I said too much.

"You got shot? How?" His eyes widened as we began to walk down the sidewalk.

"I live pretty dangerously."

"That sounds so cool, my life is so boring."

"Boring is good, I wish my life was boring sometimes."

"Why?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "It's pretty stressful, doing what I do."

"What do you do? Rob banks? Steal cars?" He gasped with excitement. "Are you the mafia?"

I laughed at his drunken humor. "No, I'm not the mafia, but I do the other two. Sometimes."

He gripped my shoulder tightly. "I want in."

"What? Why?" We were now facing each other in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Because you run a gang right?" I nodded without question. "Gangs are like family, I want family. My own family sucks, my parents absolutely despise me and my siblings never notice me. Please." He pleaded, looking at me hopefully.

I caved. "Fine." I said. "Lets go home."

-------------

Evan smiled fondly at the memory, able to recall how Marcel had searched every newspaper for the next few weeks after that to see if anyone had been looking for him. No one. But he didn't care.

A warehouse, a coffee shop, Main Avenue, a rooftop.

Additional objectives: boardwalk, a burnt down building, the desert.

--

Slowly, the memories began to come back to him.

Meeting Craig, who was a complete nervous wreck once he saw him in that warehouse.

Or Tyler, who was so confused the entire time.

--

"Hey, super weird question, but can I make out with you real quick?" I looked around the rooftop, searching the crowd for the people I was trying to avoid. Good idea to lose them in a rooftop party.

"Um, can you run that by me again? You want to make out with me real quick? I don't even know you." His blue eyes shone in confusion as his light brown hair fell into his face.

"Evan, nice to meet you. Can I make out with you?"

"Tyler. And why?"

I sighed, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Look, there's some people at this party who I'm trying to avoid, so will you please make out with me? They're wearing completely black suits. Please, trust me."

"Fine." Tyler said as he pulled me close to him, our lips meeting in a rushed motion, absolutely no feeling between us as the kiss deepened. One of his hands ended up in my hair and the other rested on my waist, while both of mine wrapped around his torso.

Rushed footsteps sounded behind me after a few seconds into the kiss.

"Where the hell did he go?" A deep voice asked behind me. I tensed up, as did Tyler as he began to realize the people were right behind me.

Struggling for breath, I pulled us apart, resting my head in the crook of his neck instead, still holding onto him like we were dating.

"Thank you." I whispered as he patted my back comfortingly, kissing the top of my head.

"Hey you." I could feel a man march up to Tyler. "You seen a criminal running around here?" I gripped him tighter.

"No, sorry. Also, could you be a bit quieter? My boyfriend here has a bit of a headache."

"Oh yes, of course, so sorry to bother you." The man apologized and continued walking.

"He's not here." I could hear his voice farther away. I breathed out with relief.

"Thank you so much." I said as soon as I pulled away from the stranger. "I'm sorry for bothering you."

He smiled at me, rubbing my shoulder. "Dude, its fine. Honestly, I really respect you. I could definitely never walk up to someone I don't know and ask to make out with them."

I chuckled. "Heh, yeah, I guess. Anyway, I should probably get going before they come back. Thanks again for the help."

"No problem, really made my first day in the city memorable."

"It's your first day? And you ended up here? Nice." I glanced over my shoulder. "I gotta go. See you around, Ty."