Excerpt: What Happened in Vegas

Flashback ~ January 3rd

“Lex, wait up!”

Lex turned around and saw Kate hurrying up to her. They were both in the hallway outside Anthony’s room, dressed and ready to go back down to the casino. Fred had left earlier to go and get Daniel, but still hadn’t returned, so Lex was on her way to see what they were up to. It wasn’t like Fred to just disappear without letting her know where he was. Of course, it wasn’t like either of them to be fighting nonstop for hours, either. He was probably just screwing around and getting drunk with Daniel.

Kate ran over looking excited. Lex hadn’t seen her since the disastrous lunch earlier in the day that had ended with Matt and Sammie having another screaming match over the last piece of bread. Lex thought it was funny how everyone was acting so different this vacation. She and Fred were fighting, which they rarely did, and never like this. Daniel and Anna seemed almost unaware of each other’s existence, and not in an ignorant way, more like they were too busy to be fighting and playing games. Kate went around looking thoughtful and wasn’t nearly as exuberant as she usually was. Matt and Sammie weren’t even rey in the mood to be making up with each other, even though they had excessive amounts of alcohol at their disposal and a big hotel suite to spend time in. Come to think of it, Lex hadn’t spent much time in her own suite since the New Year’s Eve party either.

What was going?

Kate was wearing high heels and couldn’t quite keep her balance when she stopped abruptly and nearly fell into Lex. “Whoops. Hey, where have you been? I went by your room.”

Lex smiled. “I was there a minute ago. Are you looking for the guys?”

“I‘m looking for everyone!” Kate exclaimed and swiped a strand of hair out of her face. “No one is in their room.”

They both leaned closer to the door to listen. There was voices and music on the other side. “I think we‘ve found them,” Lex said, shaking her head. “What‘s with the bottle?”

Kate looked surprised for a moment, until she looked down and saw that she was carrying a bottle of Jack Daniels in her arms. She had wrapped it in her jacket like a baby. “Oh! I brought it for Jeff, like a gift. He likes it.”

“Okay… But Jeff isn‘t a big drinker, you know.”

“I just thought I‘d bring a gift,” Kate shrugged and swayed a little in her shoes. “It was all I could find.”

Lex surveyed her with amusement. Kate wasn’t the most subtle person, not even when she was sober. “And who have you been spending all afternoon drinking with?” she asked.

Kate leaned against the wall and swiped more hair out of her face. “Sammie and I shared a few drinks in the bar. But my hair is seriously driving me crazy! Sammie tried to help me straighten it, but then I had to take a shower and it got all frizzy! Disaster.”

Lex tried to hide a smile. Kate and her hair had been in war ever since she had decided that people would take her more seriously if her hair was straight. That was five years ago, and only Kate seemed to think there was a huge difference. They all preferred her natural look. She was less hysteric and stressed out when she hadn’t spent all afternoon nearly burning her ears off.

Lex had noticed another change in Kate over the past months, but she wasn’t quite sure what was causing it. Maybe she was just growing up. Or not. After all, it was still Kate they were talking about.

“Let‘s go inside,” Kate suggested happily and knocked on the door.

Someone who sounded like Matt called to them from inside. “Come in, it‘s open!”

Lex stuck her head inside and Kate shoved at her so she could do the same. “What are you doing? We‘ve been waiting for you to come down,” Lex said.

No one paid much attention to her. They were all gathered around the table in front of the window. Fred, Chris, Daniel and Anthony were sitting down, while Anna, Sammie, Matt and Jeff surveyed them from standing behind their chairs.

Kate skipped over to see what they were doing, almost bumping into the coffee table on the way. Chris was the only one who looked up to see what she was doing. “Are you guys playing? Cool, can I play too?” Kate babbled as she stood on her tiptoes to look over Jeff’s shoulder.

“Girls can‘t play,” Daniel said shortly.

“We can play better than you,” Sammie laughed. “Everyone here can. That‘s why we brought you with us.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Daniel muttered and threw down his cards.

“Aren‘t we leaving?” Lex asked Anna, who seemed most likely to answer her questions.

Anna snorted. “You really think so? We‘ve been waiting for two hours for them to finish the game. Like we haven‘t gambled enough already, you know.”

“Stop complaining, we offered you to join us,” Chris said distractedly. “We were waiting for you to show up, and since it seemed to take you an hour we decided to pass the time with a card game.”

“How does that explain your inability to end the game?” Anna asked tiredly, leaning against Anthony’s chair. “You‘re playing for matches!”

“You‘re welcome to put your money on stake if you‘d like,” Daniel told her. “It would be a pleasure taking your money.”

“Like you don‘t do that enough already,” Anthony muttered under his breath.

Daniel glared angrily at him but smothered an urge to start a fight. “Fine, don‘t let them play. They don‘t know the rules anyway. This is not a game for girls.”

“You don‘t think we know how to play a game of poker?” Sammie asked wrongfully, putting her hands on her hips. “We‘d take all your money in one session.”

“Someone already took all his money, why do you think he‘s trying to win them back?” Anthony laughed.

“Shut up,” Daniel growled. “You‘re just pissed because-”

“Guys, don‘t fight,” Lex sighed. “We‘ll play.”

“Oh, whoopee,” Daniel snorted sarcastically. “Quick, Fred, run down to the lobby and get some more matchboxes.”

“Cut it out,” Anna said, slapping him around the head. “We all know how to play, so just deal us in.”

“Are you sure?” Daniel asked, actually sounding a little concerned. “Red?”

Kate, who hadn’t been following the conversation at all, seemed to snap out of a daze and said randomly, “No, but it must be really hard if all you guys play.”

Sammie started laughing as Daniel, Anthony and Chris looked up at Kate. “Aww, Kate, you hurt their feelings.”

“That‘s the magic of television for you,” Kate giggled.

“I‘ll help you play,” Chris offered. “Despite your dig.”

“Come on! How are you gonna play with her next to you?” Daniel objected sourly.

“What, she‘s just gonna have to sit somewhere else and watch the rest of us play?” Chris asked. “No, we‘re all gonna play.”

Daniel rolled his eyes and Kate made a face at him. “Oh, that‘s mature. I guess I don‘t have much to worry about, really. You‘re all gonna lose anyway.”

“Don‘t be silly, Danny,” Kate said with a nod. “If you need some money you can just ask me, you know.”

Daniel lost his patience. “Look, I‘m not as broke as you‘re all implying I am, so just shut up!”

Anna laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “That‘s all right, Daniel. We can bet some money, you know, to make things more interesting.”

“This is a stupid idea,” Daniel complained while the rest got up from their chairs to make room around the table so they could all sit down. Kate nudged him with her bottle of whiskey. “Thanks.”