<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Allison Saurer<br/><strong>Title:</strong>Mechanic / The Final Touch<br/><strong>Locations:</strong>Garage > Loft Second Floor > Dining Room<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Standing below her baby blue Porsche which laid on top of the raised alignment lift, Allison struggled to adjust her front toe-in to the specifications that she'd decided on for Saturday's race, her usual city course setup which she'd already meticulously calculated and adjusted down to the hundredth of a degree. She normally wore a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt while working in the garage to avoid getting her skin dirty as much as possible, but with the air conditioning system being down, she'd opted for a thin black tank top instead. As usual, Ally had a bit of trouble with the physical aspect of it, struggling valiantly against one of the tie rod jam nuts with her pair of wrenches until it finally came loose as she groaned from the exertion. She usually enjoyed tinkering with her car despite the occasional difficulties that her slender frame presented her with, but today she was getting impatient and just looking forward to finishing.<br/><br/>Ever since she'd come back home a couple of months ago, she'd been having trouble sleeping properly, so the fatigue just kept piling on day by day to the point where even working on her own car had become a chore, and now the air conditioning situation was making things even worse. Allison's eyes were glued to the huge flatscreen monitor mounted on the wall in front of the alignment lift which displayed the adjustment values of each wheel as she messed with the tie rod until the toe-in degree was just perfect. The more challenging part came next, however, since she had to re-tighten the jam nut without moving the tie rod at all. It took several tries, in between which she had to pretty much start over each time. By the fifth attempt, Ally had sweat dripping down into her eyes and she was already really frustrated, so when she pushed against the wrench, her hand slipped and slammed into the steering knuckle.<br/><br/>She bit her lower lip hard, partially muffling a yelp right before the wrench that she'd suddenly let go off came clamoring to the ground loudly. "Damn it!" Ally cried out before kicking the wrench away in anger, causing it to crash against the large tool cabinet placed in front of the alignment lift, making even more noise. She immediately regretted letting her frustration get the better of her and felt ashamed of her little tantrum, which was quite unlike her and would normally never have happened. Ally doubled over and clutched her hand, pressing it tightly against her stomach until the pain began to recede, at which point she straightened back up and wiped some sweat away from her face with her forearm. She picked up the wrench from the floor and collected the other one which was still hanging from the tie roe, putting them both away in the proper drawer before hurrying upstairs, realizing that she needed a break since she was tilting hard. Allison kept her head down until she reached her room on the upper level of the loft, feeling too embarrassed to make eye contact with anyone and just wishing that she could go crawl into bed and sleep for the rest of the day.<br/><br/>That wasn't a realistic option though, she knew that. It was the fourth of July and the barbeque was an important family event, and she wasn't about to blow off her family just because she was feeling gloomy. Allison had pretty much staked her claim on the guest room near Taras' room since she'd moved into the loft a few weeks earlier, and she could hear the water from the shower running in their shared bathroom, so she was at least able to lie down on her bed for a few minutes while he finished up. Turning her head to the side so that she was staring in the direction of the wall that separated her room from the bathroom, Allison allowed her mind to wander off to places that it probably shouldn't have until the water got cut off. She suddenly realized that one of her hands was on her belly, the tips of her fingers just barely beginning to poke beneath the waistband of her pants before she jerked it away and sat up.<br/><br/>She hopped into the shower as soon as Taras had left and stood still underneath the cold water for several minutes before finally turning the heat up and washing herself, feeling at least a little bit more calm and awake than before. After that, she spent a good bit of time working on her hair, applying various products, combing and finally blow drying it out piece by piece to achieve those soft curls that were basically a signature look of hers. Then came the always challenging task of finding something to wear, made even more difficult by the fact that it was for a special occasion. Even though Allison wasn't feeling her best, she could still try to look good at least.<br/><br/>She settled on a long, pink tunic style shirt which she wore as an extremely short dress that barely covered her butt, although she did put on a pair of very short shorts underneath to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions. Ally pulled a pair of grey thigh high socks over her long legs and slipped into a pair of strappy black gladiator heels that put her slightly over six feet tall and made her legs seem like they went on forever, leaving only a few inches of her thighs peeking out in between the socks and the shirt. Finally, she threw on a thin grey cardigan with big pearl buttons that she kept open, a studded black leather cuff bracelet and several mismatched necklaces of various styles and sizes. She kept the makeup relatively subdued; mascara, nude glossy lips, a bit of eyeshadow and a dab of foundation to conceal the light purple creases beneath her eyes.<br/><br/>Using the railing to make sure that she got down the stairs without breaking her neck, Allison succeeded in making it to the first floor without issue, at which point she headed towards the super spacious exterior dining room to join everyone else...which was apparently only Taras for the time being. Butterflies began to flutter about in her stomach as she walked over towards the grill to join him, her high heels clicking delicately against the floor with each step.<br/><br/>"Hey." Ally put a hand on Taras' shoulder. The part of her that wanted to tell him the truth about everything, not only about how she felt but also about who she was and everything that had happened nagged at her, pleading with her to finally unburden herself from those secrets. "I'm gonna go get something to drink, you want anything?" She couldn't do it. Maybe she'd have the courage after a few drinks, she told herself half-heartedly. She'd been using alcohol - amongst other things - to numb her feelings a lot ever since the loss of her family, and the fourth of July was as good of an excuse as any to drink more than she should. Ally lingered a bit before turning back towards the kitchen to fetch the refreshments, secretly wishing that Taras would turn to look at her and notice her in a different way than he had before and that she'd be able to read it in his eyes. That  just a pipe dream, she knew. Especially since her 'big brother' was always stoic and far from overt about his feelings, which he probably didn't have for her beyond their sibling-like relationship anyways but a girl could still dream, couldn't she?