Meeting An Old Friend

Chapter 8

I hate Las Vegas.

I've never understood why people love it so much. I mean you come here to party and gamble and you leave with nothing in your wallet and bad tattoos on your body. Sam on the other hand, loves this town. So much so, her parents have a villa here which is where we'll be staying.

I phoned Tom yesterday informing him we won't be staying in the hotel but insists that I will. Whatever that means.

"Lighten up, Chels. Vegas isn't just about losing money. Look at it, there's amusement parks and lots of shopping. Speaking of which, I need to find a sexy black dress for te club tonight."

Tom's flight was landing in an hour and I promised we'd meet for lunch. "I can't. Tom flies in and we have a date." She looks at me stone cold. "A date, eh? Fine, I'll shop alone, possibly get raped, no biggie. Go ahead, be with your fancy English boytoy."

I begin to walk away but she pleads, "Chels, please help me pick out a dress? Tom can come if he wants, I just don't like being alone in Vegas and I really need your opinion." She gives me the puppy dog face and her hands in  the prayer position resting on her top lip.

"I'll clear it with him, first. And for the record, he's not my boytoy."

We head to a couple of stores where Sam tries on EVERY black dress she spots in her size. Sitting on this awesome purple couch shaped as lips, my phone starts ringing.

"Hey!" I say squealing like a total fangirl.

"Someone's exited today. Are we meeting for lunch today, dear?" Tom's voice is quiet, as if he's whispering. "I was hoping we could change things up?"

"How so? Wanna skip to the desert?" I can hear his cheekiness through the phone. "Ummm no. See Sam, well, she wanted me to go dress shopping with her and she's a very persistent woman..." my voice trails off as Sam emerges in a mid-thigh length dress with the longest v-neck I've ever seen. Seriously, it looked like that dress J.Lo once wore to that award show.

"No, Sam. Are you trying to be easy?" I say serious. She just sighs and returns back into the dressing room.

"How long will this dress shopping take? I have 4 hours free before I need to get to the expo. We have a panel tonight." 

"Tom, you don't have to see me right away. I mean, I want too, but we can wait till your day is finished. I still have to let Sam know we're going to the panel tonight anyway and she might be a tad bitchy after that so it'll probably be best if I give all my attention to her so she won't be as pissed."

I could hear Tom grunt in frustration. "I want to see you but I can wait. I'm a patient man, that is, until we're finally alone. Then I'm not so patient."

My cheeks feel warm and my heart starts beating fast. "You're very cheeky today." He laughs. "I'll see you after panel; have fun shopping." I hang up the phone just as Sam reveals yet another whorish dress.

"Sam, let's go to another store, yeah? This is where strippers shop." She nods her head in agreement, "This store is too expensive for slutty clothes anyway."

Three hours and 6 stores later, Sam finally finds the perfect club dress. It hugs her figure in just the right places and is short enough for her but long enough to send the message that she's not a hoe. Totally not my taste but I approve. 

As we head back to the villa I tell Sam our plans for tonight. "So we're going to Tom's panel tonight. Maybe dinner and drinks after, you can wear your dress." I knew if I mentioned that she could wear it, she'd be more than willing to go.

"Panel? Panel for what?" She asks distractingly as she messes through her purse. "The Q&A panel for Thor." I mention casually. She stops momentarily before agreeing. "Okay. Black dress it is. Will Hemmy be there?" 

"I'm pretty sure since he plays Thor and all....and I don't think he likes that nickname." She giggles before glossing her lips with her chanel lipstick. "It's cute, just like him. He can learn to deal with it."

"We only have an hour to get ready, the panel is in two hours and I still have to pick up the tickets Tom left us and we need a seat in the front. So you must get dressed quick!" I emphasize the word as much as I can. Sam can take forever to get ready.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What are you going to wear?" I shrug my shoulders, "Clothes. I'll find something." She shakes her disapprovingly. An hour and 15 minutes later, we finally leave the house.

"We're so late. Fuck." The car pulls up to the front of the expo building. People were everywhere, dressing in all sorts of costumes. "Where the hell are we, Chels? Why are there nerds everywhere." We both step out of the car and head to the ticket window. 

"We're at Comic Con."