~Waking Up in Vegas~ (Full)

[elphy_and_fiyero]

I laughed as I couldn't help but over hear his conversation with whoever was on the phone. But when he turned back around to order me a drink I shook the head as the bartender placed two cups in front of us. "Oh, no." I laughed nervously. "I don't drink. Ever. It's not really my thing."

The bartender chuckled and waited to see what Eric wanted to do. Since, apparently, it was his call. Not mine. A woman, nearby, couldn't help but over hear what I had said. Or declined. The woman looked a little older than me and wore a little busty shirt and tight jeans. Possible hooker or even a simple casino worker of some kind.

"Sweetie," The woman began in her Southern accent, "when a nice gentlemen offers you a drink then you take the drink gladly." She walked over to Eric and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Though, if she won't accept your kind offa I will gladly accept if you want to buy me a drink." I could sense Eric's discomfort and decided to try something. I lifted up my left hand and rested it on my chin. The woman noticed my shiny ring and assumed what I knew she would. "Well, excuse me I see you're already taken. No matta, I like me a cowboy anyway." The woman walked away and I smiled at Eric. The two glasses still in front of us.

"Something tells me she's had too much to drink all ready." I laughed looked around the bar. The bartender, I noticed, leaned against the counter behind him as he continued to watch us. I knew he could sense my nerves still. I didn't want to drink. It wasn't like me. So what if this was Vegas? A place where you do anything you want. Just like the saying goes: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Yeah, and then you pay for it when you get home.

(Sorry it's short.)
 

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

I looked to Melinda and smiled. Taking down the rest of my shot, I ordered up another. I had this thing for alcohol and I knew it. But, that was okay. I'd learned when enough was enough. I wasn't stupid.

"She's totally not my type anyway," I laughed. Then I turned my attention to the drink I'd ordered for Melinda.
"Come on, just try some. It's really good, I promise. Just dip in a finger and give it a taste," I encouraged. Usually it wasn't like me to do such a thing, but I just had to get her to have a taste. I mean, the thing was the most amazing blue I'd ever seen in my entire life and it had the coolest umbrella thing on the side of it with a pineapple slice that fit so snug against the rim of the glass that you thought it'd been made that way.

"You'll like it, I know you will. Just...break outta that goody two-shoe shell of yours and do something wild for a change. We're in VEGAS for crying out loud."

And then came the catchy phrase that even I couldn't believe I was gonna say...

"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...right?"  

[elphy_and_fiyero]

For some reason, what he said kind of hit me hard. He was right. I always had been a goody two-shoe hiding behind a shell. Now was the time to come out and say hello to the world. After all, I had a reason to celebrate. I was getting married!!! "Fine." I said with a smile. The bartender looked pleased and kept watching us. "I'll do it. But on one condition." I said pulling up a finger to add emphasis. "You're drinking with me." Eric was about to protest but I wouldn't have it. I was just getting into this.

"No whining! Remember. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Now drink!" I laughed and, at the same time, we grabbed the glasses and drank everything in the glass. For a moment, I paused to try and put together what I had just done. It was fun! And I wanted to do it again! "Bartender, another round if you please!" The man smiled and poured us another one. Round after, after round, after round. We drank until we were full and wanted to move on. The rest was kind of blurry and I didn't really remember anything that happened after that. But I didn't care. I was having fun and that was all that mattered.

~~~~~~~~

My phone vibrated on the table next to the bed. The constant buzzing was making my head pound. Like someone was taking a sludge hammer to my head. Continually, beating me with it. I pressed a button on my phone making it stop. I didn't even bother looking at who it was. Tiredly, I rolled back over and rested on something soft. It was better than a pillow.

Wait.

Something was not right. The pillow was breathing and something else seemed to be resting on my shoulder. Carefully, I opened my eyes. Because of the sunlight and my throbbing headache it was hard to at first. But when I finally did I soon regretted it. I looked up at the face of Eric, still sleeping.

I. Just. Slept. With. Eric. My Fiance's brother!!! How was I going to explain this to James?!?!?! He was going to kill me. And worse...his brother. Out of shock, I pulled my hand to mouth. However, the sooner I did the sooner I realized something else. A bright silver ring was now resting on my finger. This silver ring was definitely not there before. Which meant.....

Oh mother in heaven. Help us all. This was why I NEVER drank! This was why I NEVER should have listened to Eric in the first place. Drinking was NEVER good. Vegas was NOT fun! I wanted to go home. I wanted to see James but how could I when I was married to his brother!

More realizations soon followed. I wasn't wearing any clothes, neither was he. The room was a mess. The table had been knocked down along with the chairs. I didn't even want to think about what we did. I sat up and grabbed my phone. Thirteen texted messages, seventeen missed calls and sixteen voice mails. That was the last time I kept my phone on vibrate. I was dead. I looked up and noticed two more things. Not only were we in a suit not the one we were supposed to be in but there was giant bag of money sitting on the chair next to me.

Grabbing the top layer of the blanket, I climbed out of the bed. The realization of everything was crashing down on me even more. Tears were forming in my eyes. "Eric." I whispered. "Eric!" I said louder until he finally woke up. "Look at your left hand." Sleepily he did so, saw his hand and turned to me. Clearly, it hadn't fully registered. I covered my mouth, trying hard not to cry. My plan was ruined for my future. In covering my mouth, Eric was able to see the matching ring on my own finger. "Did we get married?" I said in almost a whisper. He didn't have to answer. I already knew it.

Out of habit of stress, I began pacing back and forth. The blanket clutched tightly around my body. Eric was still covered with the other blanket. This was all too much. Not only was I in another suite that wasn't booked in the first place but there was a bag full of money, my clothes were everywhere, and I was MARRIED TO MY FIANCE'S BROTHER!!!!
 

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

I looked frightfully at Melinda as she paced the floor. I took a deep breath and lifted the sheets from my body. I wasn't exactly as "covered" as I usually was when I went to bed. My eyes widened and I ran my hand through my hair. The ring on my finger got tangled in my hair and I nearly had to yank it out because my hair had gotten wrapped up into it.

"What in the world did we do? I mean, what happened to the room?! Who's room is this anyway?" All of these questions swirled continually in my mind and I didn't have an answer to any of them. I wasn't exactly sure where to even start. This was just as shocking to me as it was to her, too, and I knew that. Hell, she was my brother's fiancee and yet here she was pacing the floor in front of me with a blanket wrapped around her body because her clothes were missing.

"What did we do?" I repeated. I didn't know the answer still but I guess I thought that if I asked then I would somehow be able to come up with an answer myself so I could remember exactly what had happened between us. "I can't remember anything!"

And I was good at holding my drinks and I knew when enough was enough. I never got so drunk til the point where I couldn't decipher what I was doing anymore. This had never happened to me before and I never thought of it happening; never. I had been out drinking before with friends and this had never happened. I'd been out with pretty girls and I never wound up in their beds at their houses and they never ended up in mine.

"Melinda, we've got to find out what happened. This isn't what we came here to do," I sighed. And pulling the covers around my waist I climbed out of bed. But the instant my feet hit the floor and I tried to stand, I fell down. My legs seemed to go completely numb and I couldn't feel them the moment I decided to use them. That within itself was very unusual to me.

I crawled on my hands and scooted towards the bottom of the bed and around it all while holding the sheet around me. I wasn't intending for that sheet to come off of me and I didn't intend to sit on the floor like an idiot either. All I needed was a few minutes to regain control of my body. And once I figured that I had after a few minutes, I stood. I didn't fall this time.

"Melinda, stop it with the pacing, okay. Just calm down and come have a seat. I'll find you some clothes, but can you please just quit the pacing because it's making me nervous," I huffed, motioning to the couch. I found some clothes for her and placed them in her lap then I found myself some then got dressed. And sitting on the couch next to her, I took her hand in mine and looked at the rings on our fingers. I was nearly brought to tears and I didn't exactly know what to say to her at the moment. I just couldn't find anything right to say. I was lost for words and I didn't want to be. I just wanted her to release her fears. But I knew that wasn't exactly as easy as it sounded to do.

"Don't be so worried Mel, okay? We'll figure this out, alright? It'll all be fine. Just as long as my brother doesn't find this out before we do. I don't even know where to start with any of this!" I screamed. Frustrated I covered my hands with my face and kicked the coffee table, sending it flying over along with the things on it. I screamed a muffled scream and flopped down sideways on the couch. What were we going to do? We were really in for it now. What happens in Vegas sure as hell had better stay in Vegas now, that was for sure. Because if not we were both dead...  

[elphy_and_fiyero]

I was on the verge of hyperventilating. From what I could hear, Eric was rambling on about what was happening. What did he think was happening? We had gotten married! Something I was supposed to be doing with his brother in a few months! Finally, I was forced to the couch and clothes were placed on my lap. They weren't originally mine but they were better than the bed sheet cover that I had. "You know, I don't even want to know what we did in this room. All I know is that, somehow, we got married." I said after we both had gotten dressed.

"I blame you for this." I pointed out. Eric looked at me as if I was crazy. "You were the one who convinced me to drink. You'll like it, I know you will. Just...break outta that goody two-shoe shell of yours and do something wild for a change. We're in VEGAS for crying out loud. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...right?" I mimicked. "Wrong! What happens in Vegas you pay for when you get back!" What was I going to tell James? There was no way we could keep this from him.

"What do you mean you don't know where to start?" I knocked on his brain as if knocking on a door. "HELLO!!! WE'RE MARRIED!?!?!?! What's to think about it? We have a crap load of money, the room's a mess, our clothes are scattered everywhere, and we both have rings on our fingers. IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO FIGURE OUT!!" I screamed but soon regretted it. My head was throbbing. Stupid hang over.

"Why did I listen to you?" I asked aloud as I clutched my head. "Why? I spent four years at the best college working my butt off to become an editor, graduated the top of my class and got to work with the magazine company that I've always wanted. How is it that I could do something this stupid?" I grabbed a pillow and buried my face in it. Maybe if I stopped breathing all my troubles would go away. Then again, they would make James' worse. Not to mention after he found out that I had gotten married to his brother.

My phone violently buzzed on the table next to the bed. I got up to answer her and was a little relieved when I saw it was Kacie. "Thank the heavens! Why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been worried sick!!!" Kacie screamed into the phone after I had answered it.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. It's been a crazy morning. Look, we'll meet you down for breakfast in 30 minutes." I told her.

"Mel, it's 12 o'clock." She sighed. I looked at my own clock and noticed she was right.

"Fine, lunch. We'll meet you there in 30 minutes." I hung up and looked at Eric who still had that look that I was insane. "Oh please, they're going to find out sooner or later. This is kind of hard to hide from my sister AND my best friend at the same time." I sat back down next to Eric and buried my face in my hands. This was all too much for anyone to handle. Even when I thought I could handle everything, I was easily proven wrong.
 

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

I took Melinda close to me and held her in my arms. I didn't know what else to do and i had nothing to say to her. She was right about everything and although I didn't have a hangover my head was killing me. Besides, I knew what a hangover felt like and what I had wasn't a result from that. Plus, my body just felt too weird. I licked my lips and stroked Melinda's head softly.
All the wile, my eyes were still fixated on the band on my finger. We had to find out what had happened. I sat Melinda back.

"I'm going to find out what happened last night. So let's go," I told her. "And before you go off on that 'we got married' thing just hear me out, alright?"

I stood to my feet and eyed the room. I was looking for my camera and video camera. Finally, I found it. It was all the way on the other side of the room. I jogged over, snatched them up, and then gave them to Melinda.

"Go on, look at them. I know I didn't get drunk last night. I must have been drugged or something, but I don't know by who because after we left the bar I don't remember anything."

But I knew she was right. Mel was exactly right. We would have never been in this situation if I had never have told her to drink. She should have just stuck with the sprite and cranberry juice mix. If I hadn't have tempted her...

"Look, Mel, I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen..."  

[elphy_and_fiyero]

His arm around me wasn't helping at all. I didn't want him. I wanted James. The one I was who was supposed to be my husband in the first place. I took the camera and searched through the pictures. The most recent ones were of me and him, smiling, laughing, kissing. Me in a wedding veil. Us drinking from a giant bottle of who knows what. I turned each picture towards him as if to emphasize my point that we were, indeed, married. "Well, if you doubted we got married this should surely confirm it."

I handed him back the camera and leaned against the couch. "Don't blame yourself." I sighed, feeling guilty that I was really putting the blame on him. Sure it was partially his fault but it was mine too. I gave in to the pressure. Usually, I was a strong independent woman. Who always did the smart thing. Finally, I got off the couch. "I'm going to take a shower. Maybe the hot water will help clear my head."

The shower did clear my head some. It even helped with my stressing a little. It felt good against my skin. If it were up to me, I would have stayed in there all day long. But I ended up getting out anyway. We would have to explain ourselves to my friends and my sister. When I got out of the bathroom, I was wearing the same outfit as before. I figured I would change once I got my clothes from the other room. That is, if I still had my room key.

I sat back down on the couch and continued to scrub my head with the towel. As I was about to say something to Eric, my phone rang again. "Hello?" I sighed into the phone, not really caring who it was. "James!" I gasped and turned to Eric. My heart was beating profusely. "No, I'm having fun. The best time. I just woke up a few minutes ago. No, you didn't wake me. Yeah, I miss you too. I know. Baby, can I call you back? The girls and I are going to some show. I'm not sure it's Rachel's choice today. Yeah, I have to get ready. Ok, I love you too. Bye." I placed the phone down and rubbed my temples.

"I hate lying." I groaned. This was ridiculous. It was insane. My life was over. Wait. That was it. "We have to fix this. Maybe we could go down to the priest from last night and ask him if he can give us a divorce. Badda-bing badda boom, no one knows. It's that simple."
 

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

I looked to Melinda and smiled. "Tell him I said hi next time you talk to him. My phone started to ring. I looked to the incoming call and groaned. I wasn't in the mood to talk to Tracy. She was starting to get on my nerves...

"Could you give me a moment please?" I said politely to Melinda as if not to be rude when I turned my back to her. Hunching over in my seat i hissed into my phone all before I realized it.

"What the crap do you want now? Can't I get a few minutes of peace and quite without you ringing my phone every second to see if I went to pee or if I've eaten yet? I'm not your child okay, I'm a flippin' grown man so it's high time you started treating me like one, got that?!"

"Well gosh you--"

I hung up. Turning back to Mel with a smile on my face, I leaned on the bar and brushed my hand over my face. "Sorry about that. I was just a little carried away was all." I ordered two drinks. One for me and one for Mel. I wasn't even sure if she drank, but I just thought I'd be polite.

"What would you like Mel? Anything special?"  

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

"Sure, it's totally that simple. And my brother is gonna kill me. I've never lied to him about anything in my entire life!" I screamed. "He's trusted me this whole time, and no matter how good lying may seem, I just can't do it. I know I may have thought about it but not telling is the same thing as lying."

Grumbling under my breath, I shook my head and grabbed my jacket from the foot of the bed. Digging into my pocket I pulled out the room key and grabbed Melinda by the arm.

"Let's go, now."

I drug her out of the room and back to our own, opened the door, and quickly grabbed my brother's shirt he had given me for my birthday and a pair of my favorite jeans. I locked myself in the bathroom and yanked at the shower curtains. I was so pissed until I ripped them off the rod. Turning on the water, I took a shower. As I sank down into the tub, I covered my face. Kicking the air, I began to scream. I was so pissed at myself for doing this! How could I even imagine doing such a thing? She was my brother's girl for crying out loud and here I was married to her. I didn't even like her like that in the first place so there would have been any reason for me to marry her anyway!

But then again I was lying to myself, because I did have feelings for her before James even laid a hand on her. And I was actually wondering if that was a good thing to say. But since this whole marriage thing, I might as well just go on and put it all out there because it wasn't like it was going to matter anyway after today. I was [u[done with her...

So, I finished up my shower, dressed, and stepped out of the bathroom. I walked over to the bed and sat down slowly. A bed wasn't my exact comfort at the moment, for it made me cringe from head to toe. And usually I was a big fan of them. Sleep, me, and bed. Perfect.

"I may as well just say this now and get it off me. I've had a slight crush on you for years now. You never knew me because I didn't want you to. I saw the way my bro looked at you and I knew you two were meant to be together, so I just left it at that and I backed off, I explained.

"And sure it hurt me, but it was best that you were with my brother simply because he's better for you than I am. I'm not even around very much, and I can't do the commitment thing, either. It gives me the creeps...which is why this ring has got to go."

"And you were so beautiful! You still are, don't get me wrong. But when I first say you I felt like I'd never felt before. It was just so amazing! It was that thrill that I'd been looking for, but James just seemed so much more into you than me. It was funny how he would go goo-goo over you after coming home," I laughed. "It was amazing. Cheesy, but amazing."

Sighing, I shook my head and took off the ring. "But THIS...just can't happen. You're cute and all, but I just don't do marriage. Drunken or not."  

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

For some reason my posts keep going all out of order and crap so I don't know what is going on with this stupid thing! AHHH!  

[elphy_and_fiyero]

(Well, I've heard it's a glitch and then I've heard that Gaia is trying this new system and it failed. Obviously. I don't even know what they were thinking. Hopefully, this will be fixed soon.)

I was dragged back to the old room where my things were. As Eric took his own shower, I found my actual clothes and changed into something more me. It felt good to be back in my own clothes but the fake plastic ring still seemed heavy on myself. I took it off and placed it in my bag. My headache was getting better but my stress was still the same. My sister and all my friends would soon find out about this. Then again, I prayed we could undo it all.

The bag of money stared at me from the chair I had placed it on. Where did we get it? How much was even in that bag? Hopefully, someone downstairs would know. Eric finally came out of the bathroom all cleaned up. He sat on the bed, lost in thought until he opened his mouth to finally tell me something. I was speechless. So he had seen my picture before. When I saw his picture, I knew he was cute but then again a lot of guys were cute to me still so I thought nothing of it. But this was a new one for me.

The words of my best friend echoed through my mind as if she had said it only yesterday. Drunken actions are sober thoughts. Slowly, I sat down in a chair as the words rang over and over again.

Eric was right about one thing. He didn't do marriages. At least, that's what I got from him. He didn't seem like the marriage type or the serious commitment type. He just seemed like a fun guy who liked to party and maybe get a few chicks. But not this. "Come on." I finally said. "Let's see if we can get this taken care of."

The two of us headed downstairs. As we hit the lobby, people were patting our backs, giving us high fives and cheering us on. Clearly, we had done something really exciting last night. I reached the front desk and stopped in front of a man who wasn't helping anyone. The man looked up at smiled. "Well, good morning Mr. and Mrs. Holland. How are you this afternoon?"

"Um, fine thank you." Now I was really curious as to why everyone knew us. "Look, we don't really remember what happened last night. Can you-" The man put a hand up and placed a video tape on the counter.

"No worries. We taped everything for you as a gift." The man smiled but that wasn't was I was going to ask, though the tape would help explain a few things.

"That's great. Listen. We need help. We didn't really mean to get married. Is there anyway you can contact the priest or whoever married us? We'd like to....undo it if we could." I smiled but the man didn't. This wasn't good. At first, the man didn't say anything. He typed a few things in his computer and then nodded as if to confirm something.

"I'm sorry but you can't get a divorce for at least six months." He reached into the drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. It stated the new law of Vegas. No divorce until after six months, court order. "But if you really want a divorce you must go through somethings." I looked on the paper.

"Marriage counseling?!" This was almost too much. I rubbed my temples and handed the paper to Eric so that he could look at it and that I could wish for it to disappear.
 

[ii_kupkakez_ii]

I sighed and shook my head. Flipping through them carelessly and effortlessly, I threw them back at the man. I nearly climbed over the desk and snatched him up by his collar. I wanted to so bad, but I knew it would be wrong to do such a thing to a person. But he really was askin' for it...honestly.

"Look man, this isn't gonna help us any. I know you might just be doing you job or whatever, but this is a matter of our life here we speak of. I don't want to be married to this chick!" I exploded. Pounding my fists on the desktop I flung my hand out, slapping everything to the floor. I was pissed! Heck, who wouldn't be?

"You just don't seem to understand what we've been through. This all happened by mistake. We don't even know what happened to us. And plus, I never would have done any of this on my own free will. It just doesn't happen like that.

"Plus, I don't do marriage counseling. I'm not into that stuff, so you had best find a way to get us UNmarried so we can be on our way...if that's not too much trouble, SIR."

I wanted to punch him in his ugly-looking little face. If I wouldn't get arrested for harassment I sure would do it right now. Because quite frankly he was annoying me. Everything about him just seemed to annoy me. Even his FACE annoyed me. His way of dress; those tight suits that even the thinnest model wouldn't even dare to look at once and consider putting it on. I've even seen better dressed manikins.

"You know what Mel, let's ditch this crap pile of mess. It's not worth our time. Plus, we don't have to do what he says. He's a nothing and a no body who I'm sure doesn't know what he's talking about. I mean for real man who's ever heard of such a stupid law anyways!"  

[elphy_and_fiyero]

The man at the counter didn't seem pleased at all with Eric's little outburst. That was obvious. Eric and I walked away from the man at the desk, leaving him to clean up Eric's mess. Law or not there was no way we could get out of this one. I pulled Eric to stop him. "Listen! Cool your jets, ok? I understand this is frustrating but there is no reason to blow up like a balloon. We just have to think about this rationally." I waited for him to calm down a little more before continuing.

"If we want to get a divorce, we have to go through the court. That includes counseling. There's no other way out of this. Even if we want to do it illegally." People walked all around us. A few were even watching us because of Eric's little scene at the counter.

"Eric," I sighed. "It's the only way I'm ever going to marry James. They won't let me now with this marriage. So if I have to deal with this then you have to." I walked off and headed to the food area where we were supposed to meet the girls. I placed the tape in my bag and entered the food area. My sister embraced me in a tight hug as I approached her table with the other girls around the table. Kacie looked worried but Rachel was smiling, almost proudly.

She knew everything.

"I'm fine, Kac." I told her. She allowed met to sit down but it wasn't two seconds before Rachel had to bring it up.

"So how are you this morning, Mr. and Mrs. Holland?" Rachel smiled and sipped her orange juice. She looked over at Eric and then back at me.

"You knew about this didn't you?" I asked shocked. This was insane! My best friend knew that I had gotten married and she didn't even stop me!

"Of course I did. You said you didn't want to get married without your bridesmaids and your maid of honor by your side. We were all there." I was ready to tare her hair out. How could she let me do this? She knew I was getting married to Eric and she knew it was wrong of me to do so! Kacie held my hand and I, soon, realized that I was grabbing onto the butter knife. I had never wanted to kill anyone so badly in my life up until then.