Waking Up in Vegas

Chapter 9

“Stormie??” Carly called as she stepped through the front door. “In here.” Ross called from the living room. She turned back to nervously look at Rocky. He had only stopped long enough on the way back to drop Julia off at Kristen and Riker’s house; she was just going to stay the night there with them, since it was fairly urgent that Carly get back to the Lynch’s house. Rocky pointed towards the staircase. “I’m just gonna…be upstairs.” He said quietly. Carly nodded silently as she turned to walk towards the living room. She stepped nervously inside, praying that by some miracle the floor would open up and swallow her. Ross was sitting on the couch, both of his hands tangled into his blond hair in frustration. It was a habit that she’d noticed all of the Lynch boys had, the hair-tugging. She stopped just inside the room. Stormie looked up immediately; she was seated next to Ross on the couch. Mark was standing in front of them. “Carly, thank God you’re back.” She breathed, sounding relieved. Carly took a few hesitant steps towards them. “What happened?” she asked quietly. Mark reached for the remote and flipped on the TV. “Just look.” He replied. Carly turned her attention towards the large flat-screen mounted on the far wall. “Could this be another case of a Disney star gone wild? Pictures have been released of Austin & Ally star, Ross Lynch, partying it up in Vegas with his fellow band members Riker and Rocky Lynch, and Ellington Ratliff. Two unidentified brunette women were also spotted with the boys. Ross is, as many viewers know, still under the legal drinking age. He just recently turned eighteen back in December. Is he another Miley Cyrus in the making? We’ll be releasing more information on the story as it develop-” Carly quickly reached for the remote and flipped off the TV. She turned back to face the three Lynches on the couch. “How many chann-” “Channels is it on? All of them.” Ross interjected. Carly shook her head and came to sit down on the couch next to him. “Do they know about-” “The wedding? Yes.” He snapped again as he leapt to his feet. “They know everything about the trip. Every tiny detail. They have pictures, dozens of pictures. From the wedding, from every part of the trip.” He ran his fingers through his hair again. He turned slowly to look at Carly. “You didn’t….did you?” he asked hesitantly. Carly scoffed and slapped his arm. “Are you seriously asking me that right now?! You know I have just as much riding on this staying a secret as you do. Besides, I deleted all of the pictures off of my phone. And I don’t even have the wedding picture with me. It’s back at….” She trailed off slowly. “My dorm.” She finished quietly. She looked back over at Ross. “Oh my God.”

**

“NICHOLE.” Carly roared as she threw open the door to her shared dorm room. Nichole was lounging across her bed reading a magazine. “Oh, hey, roomie!” she said cheerfully as she got to her feet. Carly stayed close to the door, arms crossed. Nichole gave her a puzzled look. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Carly shook her head. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Not tears of sadness; tears of anger. Rage. Frustration. “How could you?” she asked quietly. Nichole continued staring at her with the same puzzled expression. “Carly, what are you-” “Cut the crap, Nik! You released those pictures didn’t you? Didn’t you?! There’s nobody else who would have done it. You had the pictures from the trip on your phone and I left that wedding photo in my nightstand drawer. Just admit it!” she cried. Nichole’s expression instantly hardened. “Why don’t you ask your new little boyfriend if he did it?” she snapped. Carly stared at her incredulously. “Nichole, what is wrong with you? You know what kind of situation we’re in! You know how hard we’re trying to get everything fixed! Why would you go and do something like that?! Why?! What’s in it for you??” she demanded. Nichole stepped closer to her, now former, roommate. “It doesn’t feel good, does it? When life doesn’t go your way.” She said quietly. Carly threw both of her hands up in confusion. “What are you talk-” “You know exactly what I’m talking about!” Nichole cried. “You have everything. You have a full ride scholarship. You haven’t had to pay a single penny out of pocket to go to school here. I have! I’ve paid for EVERYTHING and yet I still end up on the bottom. You’ve had everything handed to you while I’ve had to fight for every small inch of success that I’ve gotten. And now you just want to run off and live a new life with your husband and his rich little musical family. Maybe I just got tired of it!” Carly raised her hand silently to interject. “First of all, nothing was handed to me. I had to work four long, hard years in high school to keep my grades impossibly high so I had a SHOT at getting a scholarship. I never ASKED for this! It was given to me. But I’ve never treated you like a lesser person!” Her jaw dropped slightly as the realization dawned. The realization of why Nichole was all of a sudden talking about money and her scholarship. “You didn’t just release them. You sold the pictures.” She said quietly. Nichole took a small step backwards and crossed her arms. “Two hundred thousand dollars.” She said smugly. “Enough to finish paying for school and then get out of this crap hole of a dorm room.” Carly simply shook her head. “Nichole, I feel sorry for you. I really do.” She said quietly. She turned around and stepped out into the hallway. She hesitated before whirling back around. “You know what…” she muttered. She drew her arm back and felt her fist fly forward and connect with Nichole’s nose with a loud ‘thud’. She turned back around and wordlessly stormed out of the room, leaving her former roommate and best friend clutching her bloodied nose behind her.

**

Carly slammed the front door behind her as she stormed back into the Lynch house. “Carly?” Stormie called from the kitchen. She threw her car keys down on the table as she stomped into the room. “It was Nichole.” She said flatly. Rocky was sitting on the countertop next to where his mother stood. His jaw dropped. “Nichole? Your friend that was with us?” Carly nodded and turned her attention to Stormie. “And I think I may need to go to the ER.” She said hesitantly. Stormie immediately crossed the room to stand next to her. “Why? What happened?” she asked quickly. Carly extended her right hand. “I think I broke it.” Rocky hopped down from the countertop and came to stand beside her as well. “What did you do?” he asked. Carly looked down at the floor ashamedly. “I punched her in the face.” She mumbled. A huge grin broke out across his face. “Alright! Girl fight! Did you pull her hair? Rip off her shirt?” “Alright!” Stormie called. She pushed Rocky towards the living room. “Get out. Let me take care of Carly.” He obediently trotted towards the living room, still snickering under his breath as he went. Stormie held Carly’s hand up to the light to get a better look. “Well I don’t think it’s broken, sweetheart. You wouldn’t have been able to drive back.” She gently pressed her fingers against Carly’s bluish knuckles. She winced slightly. Stormie nodded and gestured for Carly to sit at the table. “Yep. Just bruised. Let me get you some ice.” She turned around and pulled an icepack out of the freezer. She laid the pack against the top of Carly’s hand and sat down across from her, gently holding it to her bruised knuckles. They were silent for several minutes. “Are you okay?” Stormie spoke up finally. Carly nodded. “I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt that bad anymore.” Stormie shook her head. “You know I’m not talking about your hand.” She said quietly. Carly sighed and allowed a few of the tears she’d been holding back to slip down her cheeks. “I don’t know.” She whispered. “These past two months have just been a nightmare. From everything that happened in Vegas to this. She was supposed to be my best friend. I can’t believe she’d-” Her tears began to flow uncontrollably, cutting her off midsentence. Stormie came around the table to sit beside her. “Shh, it’s ok.” She said quietly. She pulled Carly over to rest her head against her chest. Carly sniffled as her tears soaked through the front of Stormie’s shirt. As crappy as the whole situation had been in general, she couldn’t help but feel grateful that she’d been, accidentally, tied down to a family as kind as the Lynches. It could have been a lot worse. They could have kicked her to the curb and let her figure everything out for herself. But they hadn’t. They’d taken her in, given her a place to stay. She shook her head slowly. “I’m just…what if Harvard finds out about this? What if they rescind their offer?” she asked quietly. Stormie shook her head as well. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about, dear. Your name wasn’t released along with the pictures. And most of the photos are pretty blurry.” Carly nodded as she kept her head rested on Stormie’s shoulder. For some reason, she had the sinking feeling that this was only the beginning.