Mind Control

Names

All twelve of us are sitting in my living room, watching Doctor Who. I don't particularly like the show, but some of the guys seem to be huge fans of it.

"Pass the hot sauce, will you?" Sam asks through a mouthful of noodles. I hand him the sauce and he pours about a gallon of it on his plate.

"You really like it hot, don't you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah babe, I like it hot," he winks. I laugh off his attempts at flirting. One conversation with this man and I know he's a player. According to his friends, he hasn't been in a serious relationship in five years, and he's twenty four. But that doesn't stop him from sleeping with some girl almost every night, when he's not on a job.

"So there's another day's worth of traveling to get to Las Vegas. As Drew probably mentioned, we can hit the casinos, as long as you're with us. We have more people from our group there, so your kidnappers wouldn't dare try anything," says Riley.

I look at the time; eleven thirty. "Alright guys, I'm going to bed. Clean up your mess, I'd really rather not wake up to flies and insects in the living room. Good night,"

"Hey, hold up. I wanted to ask this earlier, but I forgot. Should I have gotten one suite for you and Drew, instead of two?" Chad asks, looking completely serious.

I stare at him with my mouth open. "What the hell? Wha- No! We are not together. When you guys so rudely barged into my room, I was trying to get Drew back for spilling water on me,"

The guys burst out laughing. Drew actually has tears coming down his flawless face.

"Alright, alright. It's not funny. Childish, maybe, but not funny," I say angrily.

"Um it's childish and funny babe. Sorry to break it to ya," Riley responds, doubling over. I smack him on the side of the head and leave the room before anyone else can comment.

I'm tired and fall asleep relatively quickly. I wake up a few times in the night, because of some noises, but I figure it's just the air conditioning.

I'm awoken the next morning with water being poured all over me.

"What the f-"

"Language! You're a heavy sleeper," Drew chuckles.

"That doesn't mean you have to pour ice cold water on me to wake me up!" I screech.

"Well, I'm not that mean. Riley and Chad were all for literally putting ice in there, but I convinced them to just use warm water," he replies. I groan and give him the finger. 

"See? I told you they're together," Riley walks in.

"Huh?" Sam asks, looking confused.

"He made her all warm and wet, and now she's moaning. Tell me that doesn't sound like they're together," 

All three boys start laughing and doubling over. I punch Riley and knee him in the balls, then make my way into the bathroom before he can get me back. 

I look into the mirror and sigh. I look like a hot mess. My normally straight brown hair is slightly wavy, and all over the place. The clothes I'm wearing are soaked, so I run out to grab another pair, and run back in before the boys notice. I change into bright red shorts and and a flowery yellow sleeveless top, and dump the wet clothes under the sink. I really don't care about the clothes. Wet clothes are a pain to carry and I can always buy more.

When I walk in the living room, I see the guys huddled around a map. "What are you guys looking at?"

"Just planning today's route. We should be in Vegas by the end of the day," replies Drew.

"Vegas? It should take us another fourteen hours to get here," I say, scrunching my eyebrows.

"If we stick to the speed limit, yes. But who said we were?" Riley smirks.

"Okay, but if we get caught-"

"If we get caught, we show our IDs. They will scan it, and we'll have someone hack the machine so it shows no suspicious activity, and we'll be let off with a warning."

"I-" I start to argue, but can't think of a rebuttal. "Alright, alright. When do we leave?"

"Now. Harley and the guys are loading everything and informing headquarters that we're leaving," Riley replies.

Headquarters? Who are these people? And who the hell is Harley?

He must have seen the confused look on my face, because he said, "You don't know half our names, Lydia. And our cars are rigged so our people know where we are at all times. Hell, we even have these contraptions in our teeth that let off a signal, telling them where we are. They're safety measures, so if there's an emergency, they know exactly what is happening,"

"That is..." I struggle to find something to say. "Intelligent at best, creepy at worst,"

"But effective either way," Riley argues.

Another man comes into the room. I really should learn all of their names, but there are so many, and truth be told, I'm kind of lazy.

"Alright guys, the cars are ready. Let's hit the road," he says.

Drew hugs me from behind. "Aw yeah! Vegas baby, here we come!"