Cupcakes and Tattoos

Chapter 42

"Is that a limo?" Meredith asked when she deplaned and saw the large blacked out vehicle waiting for them.

"No, it's a bus." Cristina slowly and carefully descended the stairs. She didn't want to spill the rest of the shots. That would be a tragedy of epic proportions in her book.

"It's a blimo is what it is." Bailey said impatiently. "Come on Yang, speed it up. We're not getting any younger here."

"I'm protecting the goods." Cristina took the last step and made a beeline for the waiting bus. She was done being responsible for the shots and wanted to put them down. She stepped onto the dimly lit bus and looked around in disdain. It had purple and black interior with zebra print highlights. The walls were lined with couch like seats instead of normal bus seats. The lights were blinking to the beat of some rap song Cristina couldn't understand. There was even a stripper pole mounted in the middle. It was tacky and she didn't think this was Callie's style at all. She took a bottle of water out of the mini fridge and waited for the rest of the party to load.

"Okay, now that I know what city we're in, are you going to tell me what we're doing?" Callie asked Mark pointlessly. Mark shook his head and smiled in amusement. At least nobody can say Callie lacked perseverance. She knew he wasn't going to tell her. They all had miraculously made it off the plane and onto the bus without any mishaps and were now stuck in a line of traffic. "I'm hungry."

"There will be food." Mark said as he pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket. "Teddy said to let you know they've landed and that they are safe."

"Tell her thanks. I was wondering." Callie glanced around at her surroundings. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask. What possessed you to rent this thing? It doesn't exactly scream Callie Torres to me."

"I needed something to hold all of us and this was roomier than a limo. It was this or casino themed."

"Ah." Callie sipped on the water bottle Mark forced upon her. He insisted she needed to be coherent for their first stop. She didn't understand why. It was her party and she could be drunk if she wanted to. She sat up and looked out the window when she felt the bus come to a stop. They seemed to be in a sketchy mostly residential part of town. She saw a liquor shop, two adult sex stores, an adult video store, a couple of corner markets, a tattoo shop, a laundromat, some restaurants, and an oddly placed Walgreens. She didn't see any place to dance or drink. She really hoped her best friend didn't expect her to to sex toy shopping with him or something equally as inappropriate. "Um, Mark? Where are we?"

"You'll see. Yang, you're probably going to want to come, but the rest of you have to wait here. The place we're going is too small for all of us. Go ahead and raid the mini bar."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Bailey said as she got up to see what the bus had in stock. She pulled out a bunch of random bottles and glasses. "Driver, turn up that music! I thought this was supposed to be a party bus? Okay, who wants a drink? I want to test out my bar tending skills."

"Sloan I thought you said our first stop was some stupid art museum?" Cristina said as they climbed off the bus.

"I only told you that so you wouldn't make jello shots."

"Well, that planned backfired on you. It just wanted me to make double the amount to get through the boring museum easier. This doesn't look like the other places you told me about either"

"This one was a last minute one my buddy set up for me." Mark led the two women to the tattoo shop and stopped outside of it.

"You brought me to a dingy old tattoo shop?" Callie asked incredulously. There were bars on the doors and the windows and it appeared to be deserted on the inside. The large crooked OPEN sigh in the window only had the E and N lit up and it was covered in cobwebs.