Wilhelm Dautch and his twin brother Ron were expected to return to the concert venue over a half hour ago. Their band, German Blood, had been rehearsing for the final night of their U.S. concert tour when they decided to break for lunch and Ron and Wil decided to take a short tour of San Diego.
It was more like the downtown shopping district.
They wandered through several stores on their way back to the car, just eye shopping here and there. It was mostly for Wil's benefit as he enjoyed that kind of thing but then again, Ron was bored out of his mind and was considering whether or not he should leave his younger brother to his own devices. Knowing Wil he would probably end up getting mauled by fans and that would only result in a month's worth of the cold shoulder treatment.
Nonetheless, it was only a thought. Ron chuckled softly when the image of Wil trying to run away in those tight jeans he loved wearing from lots of screaming girls as they chased him up and down The Embarcadero popped into his head. Wil heard the snicker and turned to stare at his brother curiously. "Are you losing it, Ron?" he asked in German. They were almost to the end of the pathway when he noticed a small boutique tucked away behind Ron. It wasn't the elegant way in which they displayed their chic merchandise that caught Wil's eye. It was the girl who stood inside chatting easily with her friend. She held a light blue sweater in her hands and the artistic black and white design on her skillfully manicured nails were striking against the delicate color of the fabric. Wil stared, as if spellbound, when she lifted the white sunglasses she wore and stuck them on the top of her head to reveal the most beautiful face he had ever laid eyes on.
Ron was speaking but Wil didn't hear a word that left his mouth. It was almost automatically that he moved towards the boutique, purpose in his stride and an odd feeling in his belly. Wil's mind was a muddle of thoughts at that moment but his resolve was unmoved as Ron followed him with curses and the reminder that Earl, their manager, was going to throw a fit when they got back.
"Just as long as no lamps are involved" joked Wil as he held the door open for his brother who appeared cross at the reminder of when he lost his temper and flung a lamp at him.
"Stick to singing, Wil. Your sense of humor needs work" said Ron who still became irritated when he thought about the embarrassment from that day. It was almost like a pet peeve of Wil's that if he did not spend 3 solid hours on his hair then he would not be giving 100 per cent for whichever appearance they had to make. As such, the bandmates insisted on Wil being dressed and ready to go at least a half hour before everyone else. This was mostly to avoid a repeat of when Wil caused German Blood to be embarrassingly late for a performance because he couldn't decide how to style his hair.
"Never again!' yelled Ron after they had returned to the hotel room that night. "I was completely humiliated tonight and it is all your fault! ...Arthur, please do not tell me that I am over here ranting and he is staring at his nails!" Ron, totally blinded by his rage, grabbed a nearby lamp and hurled it at Wil's head.
Fortunately, Lars grabbed Wil off the couch where he was seated and out of the way before the lamp connected with his cranium. Ron beat Wil up so bad that night that he had to visit the hospital...twice. Wil was able to write a couple of songs based off that experience which made it onto their self-titled debut album. Those songs raised more than a few eyebrows among their fans who were itching to know what the inspiration behind Wil's rage in the songs came from.
German Blood were for the most part an alternative pop group and the lyrics in their music were usually emotive and at times touched on matters of a romantic nature very sensitively. Through his music, Wil got to express himself with no limitations, no restrictions and he welcomed that feeling. German Blood fans got to see his dark side a little through those songs he wrote after the fight with Ron and he made no excuses. Wil didn't try to conceal the fact that although he realized he was wrong for what he did, he was still pissed at Ron for not approaching him in a better way than he chose to.
They had moved past that day, moved forward both professionally and as family. The latter was the more important of the two for the Dautch twins and they had vowed to never take trivial matters to unnecessary extremes as they both realized that they would only be weakening their bond as brothers. Nothing in the world could make them sacrifice that.
Thalia Guillermo knew the instant she laid eyes on him that he was trouble. After she and her best friend Jennifer Morrison had completed registration for their second year of classes at San Diego State University, they both felt it was a perfect Saturday afternoon in August to do a little shopping.
They tried convincing themselves it was for back-to-school so that when their dads got the bill at the end of the month they would have a solid reason for going a little overboard. Thalia and Jenny were going to have an apartment off campus this year and had spent most of the afternoon picking out furniture and kitchen utensils. It had become tedious so they moved to their favorite boutique in downtown San Diego for clothes shopping.
Crimson Chic was really secluded and stocked Thalia and Jenny's personal styles all year round. Thalia, since getting saved, had become a lot more conservative than before. She had an amazing shape that she rarely showed off preferring instead to wear clothes that hinted to the sexy figure hidden beneath the fabric. Now she wore a white v-neck button-down top with silvery beads, sequins and an attractive foil print, white slacks and white linen mules. She wore her long black hair down in a centre part with natural waves, very little makeup and the only jewelry was a pair of small silver hoop earrings.
Fall was rapidly approaching and San Diego was becoming a lot cooler which made Thalia's outfit not only beautiful but also very sensible. Jenny's, on the other hand, was not. She was wearing a very short and strapless, light green summer dress with a butter yellow bikini underneath it, green slippers and was complaining about feeling chilly.
"That's what you get for exposing yourself so much, Jenny...here, put this on" said Thalia shoving the sweater she held in her hands towards her shivering friend.
She didn't expect him and his friend to stay long in a store that mostly catered to women. Thalia was surprised to see him walk over to the make-up counter and ask the sales girl if they had any liquid black eyeliner because he was all out.
As soon as she heard that coupled with the effeminate way in which he had said it, Thalia could not stop herself from assuming that he was gay. He wore a red T-shirt that was small but hung loosely on his thin frame and had a large skull printed on it, black denim jeans with a green belt and red and black checked Vans on his feet. He also had a green tote bag slung over one shoulder as he looked through the nail polish racks. His long shoulder-length black hair was teased up and out, away from his face and streaked with red at the front and back, his eye make-up was dark and soft pink lips completed the look.
He was pretty. Thalia couldn't think of another word that would suit him better. He had extremely androgynous good looks, his beauty striking and almost flawless with his face completely spotless and free of nagging imperfections. There was no acne, no blemishes, no nothing.
His eyebrows were highly arched above big brown eyes and he possessed a slight cleft in his chin that wasn't very noticeable at first. Then he smiled at something his friend said and Thalia had to look away, it was getting to be too much.
She also didn't want to appear like she was eavesdropping. That would probably leave her mortified if he caught her staring. She mentally berated herself for behaving so strangely. When she went shopping, she saw the latest fashion and kept an eye out occasionally for purse snatchers.
Thalia had seen her fair share of wanna-be rock stars which he obviously was and didn't even spare them a fleeting glance. Why was he any different? He was just a random guy, she thought to herself. With the cutest smile ever, added Thalia reluctantly.
Jenny looked at the sweater then back at Thalia. "No way! I'm not ruining my outfit...I'd much rather freeze to death. At least I'd look hot!" said Jenny as she side-stepped Thalia to go try on sunglasses. Jenny and Thalia had been best friends ever since Junior High and since the seventh grade their plan had been to attend college together and live near campus.
It was compulsory that they live on campus for the first year of school, especially with their majors-Jenny was studying Medicine and Thalia was pursuing her Bachelor's in Aviation-but now that their second year was almost here, the plan was materializing right before their eyes. It wasn't as if their home situation was anything to balk at because both girls resided in very posh San Diego mansions. They just wanted a little taste of independence...although their uber-rich dads were paying for it. Thalia and Jenny would take it any way they could get it, though. "How much fun is it gonna be to finally have a place of our own?" asked Jenny sounding thrilled at the prospect.
