Waking Up in Vegas

Chapter 4

“Carly please hurry. It’s almost 2:00.” Nichole complained. She sat on the couch anxiously fidgeting with the zipper on their large black suitcase. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Carly called from the bathroom. She pulled her burgundy shirt over her head and quickly threw her hair up into a ponytail. She slung the bathroom door open and ran out. “It’s 1:55! Do you really want to give Ross one more thing to complain about?” Nichole asked snippily. Carly shook her head as she hopped on one foot, attempting to lace up one of her white Vans. “I’m trying! I had to shower. I smelled like Vodka and chlorine.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Nichole shrugged. “Well that could be a clue as to what we did last night. Besides attending yours and Ross’s wedding that is.” She joked. Carly stood up straight and gave her a look. “Don’t start.” She muttered. Nichole grinned and stood up. “So are we ready to go?” she asked. Carly nodded as she glanced around the suite one last time. “I think so. I hope we aren’t forgetting anything.” “Ughh what time is it?” Ellington came walking into the living room from one of the bedrooms. Carly jumped and dropped her other shoe. “Oh my God! You scared the crap out of me Ell!” she cried. Ellington stopped and looked down. He was wearing Rocky’s clothes from the night before. “How the-” he started. Carly and Nichole stifled their laughter. “We’ll explain in the car.” Carly said, still giggling.

**

“It’s about time.” Ross muttered as Nichole, Carly, and Ellington walked into the lobby. “We packed your stuff man.” Rocky said, pushing Ellington’s suitcase towards him. He groggily accepted the bag. “What happened last night?” he asked. The others exchanged glances. “It’s a long story.” Riker said hestitantly. “And by ‘long story’ we mean we don’t even know.” Rocky corrected. He paused and studied Ellington’s clothing. “Dude I was wondering where that shirt went!” he exclaimed. Suddenly Carly reached over and grabbed Nichole’s arm. “Our phones!! Why didn’t I think of that before?? I bet we took pictures last night!” she cried. Riker laughed. “How did we not think of that before now?” he asked incredulously. Ross shook his head. “I don’t think the human brain fully functions during a hangover. Speaking of which, as soon as we get outside of the city we need to stop somewhere that has coffee. I feel like I’m dying.” He groaned. Riker nodded and held his keys up for the others to see. “I found these still packed in my suitcase. Clearly we didn’t drive anywhere last night. We’ll look through all of our phones on the drive. Ready to get going?” he asked. The other five nodded. They all headed out to the parking garage located next to the hotel. Riker showed the concierge his ID and he brought their black SUV to them. “Nice ride.” Carly commented. They loaded their luggage into the trunk and piled into the car. Riker & Carly rode in the front, Rocky & Nichole in the middle, and Ross & Ellington climbed into the back. They all rode in silence for a few minutes. “So Carly, do you have your own apartment or something?” Riker asked, finally breaking the silence. Carly shook her head. “No, I still live in the dorms.” She replied. Rocky scoffed. “Why?” he asked bluntly. “Twenty-one and still living in the crappy old dorms?” Riker looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Dude!” he scolded. Carly laughed. “No I don’t care, they are pretty crappy. I’m on a full scholarship so staying the campus housing is kind of part of the deal.” She explained. “And being her best friend, I got looped into staying in the crappy dorms with her every year.” Nichole complained. Riker looked impressed. “Full scholarship? You must be pretty smart. What are you studying?” he asked. “Law.” Carly replied. She pulled out her phone and turned it over in her hands a few times. “I’m almost afraid to look.” She said quietly. Nichole pulled out her own. “We’ll take turns.” She said helpfully. Carly took a deep breath and unlocked her phone. She clicked on her photo album and quickly began scrolling through the photos from last night. “We took a few at the casino.” She said absentmindedly. She continued flipping through. “Here are some of us at another bar in town. Oh Nichole, here’s how you got that dress.” She held up her phone for Nichole to see; it was a photo of her with a Vegas showgirl. The girl had on Nichole’s clothing while Nichole was wearing the sequined dress that she’d woken up in. “Well it could have been a lot worse.” She commented. Carly laughed and went back to scrolling. “Some pictures of us at yet another bar. Some pictures of us on…a rooftop? God knows where.” She muttered. She stopped when she reached a picture of Ross and herself. Ross was down on one knee, holding out the gold band she was currently wearing. “Ross proposing?” she questioned. She held her phone out for Nichole and Rocky to see the picture. “Where were we??” Rocky asked. Carly shrugged as she studied the photo. “I can’t tell.” She resumed flipping through the pictures. She grimaced once she reached the pictures from the ‘wedding’. She quickened her pace, flipping through them as fast as she could. “We already know about the wedding.” She said quietly. “I still want to know how Rocky and I ended up exchanging clothes.” Ellington piped up from the backseat. “You and me both!” Rocky replied. Carly frowned; the pictures ended with the wedding. “That’s all I have.” She said, relocking her phone. She turned to face Nichole. “Your turn.” She gestured towards her phone. Nichole groaned and unlocked her phone. “Let’s get this over with.” She said quietly. She quickly scrolled through her own pictures. “Casino, bar, bar, limo, bar…I pretty much have everything you do. Wedding. Wait…” she trailed off. Everyone leaned towards her eagerly. “What??” Rocky asked expectantly. “I figured out the chlorine smell.” She handed her phone to Carly. She grimaced. There were dozens of photos of her and Ross, plus the others, in a hot tub. No telling where. She was wearing a plastic tiara that read ‘bride’ in pink rhinestones across the front. “Belated bachelorette party?” Nichole offered. Carly’s grimace deepened when she came across photos of her and Ross making out. She scrolled through them quickly. Nichole’s photos ended with her and Ross standing in front of the boys’ suite door. “We really aren’t any closer to figuring out what happened last night.” Carly frowned and handed Nichole her phone back. “Maybe it’s better left at that. Not knowing. We’ll just move forward and never talk about this weekend ever again.” Riker suggested. Carly shook her head. “I hate not knowing.” She grumbled. Nichole shrugged. “Well we’re all alive. Clearly we didn’t do anything too terrible last night.” Carly turned around to face the four in the backseats. “Anyone else want to look through their phones?” she asked hopefully. Rocky and Ellington smiled sheepishly. “We can’t find ours.” Rocky admitted. Carly groaned and turned around. “Riker?” she asked. He shook his head. “Mine was in my suitcase all night.” He replied. She turned back around to look at Ross. “What about you?” she questioned. He wordlessly handed his phone to Rocky. Rocky quickly unlocked it and began scrolling through. “Nothing we haven’t already seen.” He murmured absentmindedly. “Wait.” He said suddenly. “There’s a video.” He quickly hit play and turned the screen so the others could see. “Heyyy guys this is Ross. Ross Lynch. Ross Shor Lynch. From R5. You know.” Ross’s giggly drunk voice filled the car. Rocky stifled a laugh. “Dude you were WASTED!” he exclaimed. They turned their attention back to the phone. “I just wanted to introduce everyone to my new WIFE. Yeah that’s right…WIFE. This is Carly.” Ross turned the camera to face Carly. She was sitting on the couch in the boys’ suite, still wearing her black bikini from the hot tub. Her rhinestone-encrusted tiara was sitting slightly skewed on top of her head. She waved drunkenly at the camera. Ross turned the camera back to himself. “Well that’s all for now. Byeeeeeeeee.” He drawled. The video ended abruptly. “Well that got us nowhere.” Nichole grumbled. Carly turned around and faced forward again. A few seconds later she felt her phone buzz. She glanced down and saw a text from Nichole displayed across the screen. ‘You’re still worried that you might have slept with Ross, aren’t you?’ Carly smiled slightly. She could never hide anything from Nichole. ‘Yeah, I am. Like I said in the elevator, I don’t know this guy. We really don’t know any of them. I don’t know who else he’s been with. The whole idea of sleeping with some guy I barely know freaks me out. I’m almost happy that I can’t remember last night. I don’t want to know.’ She sent the message and looked back up, focusing on the road ahead. Her phone buzzed again moments later. ‘Well we don’t have anything to make us think that you guys actually DID anything. You’re clothed in every picture. You woke up clothed. We were all so wasted last night that we probably passed out as soon as we got back to our rooms’ Carly turned around and gave Nichole a grateful smile. Riker was right. This weekend was better left forgotten.