<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>Dining Room<br/><br/><hr/><br/>"Sure..." Allison replied softly, feeling quite deflated as she drooped her shoulders slightly and walked away after Taras had more or less brushed her off, seemingly oblivious to her attempts at making an impression. It was the response that her brain had been expecting, but not the one that her heart was waiting for, so it still stung pretty sharply. Just then, the doorbell rang through the loft, undoubtedly heralding Claire's arrival since she was generally the only member of the group who chose to use it. Ally couldn't help but be reminded of the obvious chemistry between Claire and Taras at that moment. It filled her with mixed feelings, since she obviously loved them both very dearly as friends and wanted them to be happy even if that meant that they would end up together, but that darker side of her psyche kept intervening no matter how hard Ally tried to suppress it, causing a pang of jealousy to ripple through her thoughts.<br/><br/>She quickly snapped out of it, feeling like a horrible person for even thinking that way for a single second as she reached the kitchen. That wasn't the kind of person that she wanted to be - and yet those kinds of dark thoughts and feelings kept cropping up in her mind recently. She tried to wash the darkness away by taking two large gulps of vodka from the bottle that she'd retrieved for Taras, grimacing and leaning against the counter as the alcohol blazed down her throat. It seemed to work, at least for the time being. While she was already there, Allison also fetched the large pitcher of Sangria that she'd prepared the previous day in anticipation of the barbeque. All that was left to do was to add the appropriate amount of lemonade and some ice, which she went about doing before bringing it to the dining table, having to use both of her arms to carry it. She went back for the bottle of Stolichnaya as well as a stack of several glasses, placing the former on the table before bringing the latter to Taras as promised.<br/><br/>Ally forced out a weak smile as she handed it to him before moving to intercept Claire, hugging the girl excitedly and exchanging a peck on each cheek with her. They'd hardly had a chance to cross paths ever single Allison's return, and all that she could think about at that moment was that she really missed her, the darker thoughts from earlier having completely receded back into whatever depths that they'd emerged from. "Claire-bear!" she exclaimed happily, a genuine smile having returned to her lips. "You done acing all of your exams yet? You're always off studying, you must be a machine," Ally added with a mix of humor and admiration. She respected Claire a lot for sticking through school and succeeding so well at it, she knew that it wasn't easy, especially studying to become a nurse. It was also a considerably more noble calling than street racing or drug running, Allison mused to herself.<br/><br/>"Happy Fourth!" Ally let go of Claire and turned around towards Nick, giving him a silly little wave before pouring Sangria into a couple of glasses and handing him one. "Cheers. To you not blowing us all up yet," she toasted jokingly, knowing that Nick had been playing around with different fuel mixtures recently. Drinking about a quarter of the contents of her glass, Ally found that the Sangria went down easily; you could hardly even noticed the alcohol in it, which was a bit deceptive since it did contain a decent amount. She liked it a lot more than hard liquor like Taras' vodka, and she gave herself a small pat on the back, deciding that she'd done a pretty good job brewing it.