Never Say Die- Chapter 11

 

Chapter 11

 

 

            The rest of the trip was uneventful as far as Veronica was concerned, we actually didn't even see her except in passing and she looked pretty bad. There were dark bruises under her eyes and she had a brace on her nose, she even had the good grace to look defeated, it almost made me feel bad for her but not quite. I saw her gazing sadly at Rhys once when we passed her in the hall but as soon as she saw me looking she averted her eyes.

            The second day we stayed close to the hotel, checking out exhibits they had going on and exploring the two adjoining hotels. The one to the left of us was Mandalay Bay and they had a shark reef aquarium that was predator-based so there were a lot of sharks and other dangerous sea creatures. It was fascinating to watch them as we walked through a giant tunnel made of some kind of clear plastic or maybe glass that allowed us to see the creatures from all angles.

            The hotel also had a man made beach surrounding a wave pool that people could actually surf in which we all thought was impressive and wanted to check out but we quickly found that it was only accessible if you were staying at the hotel. Disappointed, we headed back to our hotel via the hotel we were already at. As a stroke of luck would have it we ended up in a many-windowed hallway that allowed us to at least catch a glimpse of the beach and we were all very impressed.

            “We're definitely staying here next time.” I said and Flan and Rhys both nodded silently, mouths slightly open as they took in the beach before us.

That night we headed across the street to a neighboring hotel that advertised an infamous two lobster tail dinner for only nineteen ninety five at their steak and seafood restaurant. The wait was about twenty minutes when we arrived so we sat down in their comfortable waiting area and Rhys got himself a scotch on the rocks.

            When our table was finally ready we followed the host to a booth by the windows, looking out over the Hooters hotel.

            “Some view huh?” I joked and only Flan laughed.

            “Maybe if you could see the Hooters girls along with the rest of the hotel.” she replied and I laughed with her. Rhys looked at her quizzically but remained silent as he continued to sip on his scotch.

            We talked about the places we wanted to go while we were there, The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, Fashion Show Mall, Fremont Street, The Palazzo, The Wynn, Bellagio and any other hotel with shopping for starters, then there were things like M&M's world, Coca Cola World, Harley Davidson Cafe, Margaritaville and pretty much every other hotel or store in town.

            When our server arrived we already knew what we wanted, three lobster meals including salad and dessert. As he finished taking our orders and walked away another gentleman came to fill up our water glasses.

            “Ice cold water, that's just what you need in this heat even if it tastes a little funny.” I said, picking up my glass. I looked down into it just before I took a sip and saw that there was a fruit fly in it. Frowning, I put my glass back down.

            “What's wrong babe?” Rhys asked looking at me curiously. I pointed to my glass and pushed my lip out in a pout.

            “There's a bug in my water.” I said sadly, he smiled at me and checked his own glass before sliding it in front of me.

            “Just drink mine, I'm still working on the scotch anyway.” I smiled back at him and kissed his cheek, “Thank you.” I said sipping happily on his water.

            When the waiter returned, he seemed to be as disgusted as I was when I handed him the glass and he hurried away to get me another one. The rest of the meal went smoothly, the lobster was sweet, cooked perfectly and tasted amazing. Just as we were finishing up, Flan looked down to find another fruit fly on her fork.

Once again we called the waiter over and pointed it out to him.

            “I don't know where they're coming from I apologize!” He seemed very upset, probably worried about his tip, I thought but I wasn't concerned, it happens sometimes. This restaurant wasn't as popular as it was because of a bug problem.

            It quite literally took the cake though when he brought us our dessert of strawberry cheesecake and yet another fly had given its life to die happily on one of my strawberries. Once again I called him over and this time he looked absolutely horrified, he apologized profusely and I couldn't help laughing at the odd coincidence we had on our hands.

            When he returned it was with a very large and very decadent looking piece of cheesecake, with actual cake as the crust instead of graham cracker crust and almonds coating the outer side. He also brought 3 bowls of ice cream as part of the apology and offered to reduce the price of my meal for the hassle. I accepted his offer and the three of us shared my giant piece of cheesecake and chatted over our ice cream.

            When we were finally finished and so full we could barely move, we paid the bill, leaving a very handsome tip for our waiter who was very kind about the whole fruit fly ordeal, hopefully it would help pay the bill for some of the heart attack that he seemed ready to have.

            “Why don't we go check out a club?” Flan suggested as we walked toward the elevators.

            “God I'm so full I couldn't dance right now.” I groaned and then smiled.

            “Well how about we walk down to Planet Hollywood instead of taking a taxi or the bus, then by the time we get there we shouldn't be so full?” she suggested, I turned to Rhys.

            “What do you think?” he'd been awfully quiet during dinner and I wondered if he was still upset about Veronica.

            “That's fine with me, as long as I'm there with you it doesn't matter where we go.” he said lovingly and bent to press his lips against mine.

            So we walked for about thirty minutes before finally reaching the Planet Hollywood Hotel, twenty bucks each and one step into the club later, I had stopped short to take in our surroundings. The place was packed, there were people dancing under strobe lights and disco balls everywhere. It seemed like the perfect place to party, then I realized that most of the people dancing together were either both girls or both guys. It didn't bother me but I wasn't sure how Rhys would feel about it.

            “Um Flan I think this is a gay club.” I said sounding a bit unsure.

            “Of course it is! Come on let's have some fun!” She called back to me, already on her way to the bar and beckoning us to follow.

            “Flan is gay?” I heard Rhys ask very close to my ear.

            I nodded, “I guess so, she just told me about it yesterday. Is this okay with you? If not we can go somewhere else.” I added quickly.

            “No this is fine, I'm cool with gay people.” he said confidently just as a man dressed as a very convincing woman brushed past us and pinched his behind. Rhys blushed a little but shrugged, smiled and took my hand before leading me over to where Flan was standing.

            “Well we know the men like Rhys already.” I said loudly to her so she could hear me over the music and she laughed. As I looked around I noticed that several men were giving Rhys an appreciative once-over but it didn't seem to bother him. He actually seemed like he was more himself now, talking and making jokes with people who stopped to chat or try to hit on him.

            He accepted the compliments graciously and very kindly turned down quite a few requests to be taken home or back to a hotel. By the time Flan and I had gotten our drinks there was quite a crowd surrounding him and we had to push our way through to get to him before we ended up spilling them all over ourselves as we were jostled by hundreds of gyrating bodies.

            I handed him a flaming Dr. Pepper, consisting of half a glass of beer and a shot of amaretto almond liquor with some 141 rum on top which had been set on fire. I had gotten myself a Jager Bomb which was a half filled glass of Red bull and a shot of Jagermeister. Flan had a cosmopolitan and we clinked our glasses together saying, “Cheers!” before Rhys and I dropped the shots into the glasses and drank as quickly as we could while Flan sipped on her drink.

            I felt a little bit guilty about getting Flan her drinks knowing that she was under aged but we were on vacation and she was trying to have some fun her way so I pushed the thought aside. She had been lucky that nobody had checked our ID's at the door and once you were in you were scot free but I made myself a mental reminder to get her some falsified identification before we did something like this again.

            I kept a close eye on how much she had to drink but she was pretty good about it, sipping at least one glass of water between each drink. She had found herself a cute little blond girl to dance with and seemed to be having the time of her life.

            Who would have ever guessed that being with a girl would make Flan so happy? I thought just as someone touched my arm, I turned and looked into the eyes of another beautiful blond girl who now had her hand on mine. She was about my height and dressed in Ralph Lauren jeans with a Calvin Klein tank top, her makeup was flawless and made her eyes stand out like sapphires, her hair hung in perfect curls that reminded me of Rhys's cousin Emily. If I was into girls, I'd definitely hit on her. I thought as I looked her over appreciatively.

            “Would you like to dance?” she asked shyly and I looked over at Rhys, he was engrossed in a conversation with a drag queen and I smiled.

            “Is that your boyfriend?” she asked suddenly.

            “Yeah.”

            “He's really cute.” she said stating the obvious and I laughed, “Would he mind if you danced with me?”

            “I don't think so but let me check just in case okay?” she nodded and I pulled her with me over to where he was sitting. He looked up in surprise to see me holding hands with another girl.

            “Rhys, this is...” I trailed off and turned to her realizing that I hadn't gotten her name.

            “Hadley.” she filled in for me.

            “Hadley” I repeated, “And she was wondering if you'd mind if I danced with her?” I asked him and he shook his head, “Go ahead and have fun.” he said with a smile before Hadley pulled me out to the dance floor.

            It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be dancing with a girl, I was actually pretty comfortable after a few minutes and Hadley was a really good dancer. I spotted Flan dancing a few feet away from us, when she saw us she blew me a kiss, winking at me and I happily blew a kiss back.

            “Is that your girlfriend?” Hadley asked close to my ear.

            “No, I'm actually a straight girl.” I laughed, “That's Flannigan my roommate, she's a lesbian, would you like to meet her?” Hadley's eyes lit up at my suggestion and she nodded enthusiastically.

            “Yes I would.”

            I pulled her over to where Flan was dancing and had to yell over the music to introduce the two of them, they seemed to immediately hit it off though and ended up dancing together. Flan's original partner wandered off and I danced by myself for a while before feeling a pair of strong hands on my hips.

            Not wanting to give anyone else the wrong idea, I whipped around to see that Rhys was behind me with a big smile on his face, “It's kind of hot seeing you dance with another girl.” he teased.

            “Don't get any ideas buddy it's not going to happen.” I said as he wrapped his arms around me and laughed.

            The rest of the night men and women seemed to constantly surround us, wanting to dance with us both and wanting to talk about any number of things, I had a lot of guys come up and tell me how fierce I was, whatever that meant and for some reason I got a lot of compliments on my hair.

            “I love chestnut hair, it's just beautiful.” One drag queen had told me, I hadn't even been sure it was a man until he'd spoken. He made a very convincing and very lovely woman.

            “Well thank you.” I said smiling, “Nobody has ever complimented me on my hair before.” he smiled back and leaned in to kiss both of my cheeks.

            “Don't you ever change it either, you are gorgeous just the way you are.” His eyes twinkled as he looked at me as though he'd found his new best friend. I couldn't help smiling back and that was how the night went on as we danced until our feet hurt, making new friends, kissing cheeks, exchanging e-mails and collecting phone numbers.

            I wasn't sure I'd been kissed so many times in my life by the time we stumbled out of the club around three in the morning. I felt like we'd met every person in there and they all wanted to be our friends. The collection of napkins with phone numbers on them that I had in my purse was pretty impressive and every single person I'd met that night made me promise to call them or shoot them an email.

            It was the most fun I'd ever had in my life in a crowd of people. It had felt good to just let go and get to know people and what impressed me the most was that I hadn't gotten a feel for a single rotten person in the bunch.

            “Who would have ever guessed that gay people were so friendly?” Rhys murmured as we walked out to the taxi waiting area after exchanging last kisses and waves with one of our new friends.

            “Aren't you guys glad I took you now?” Flan asked, her cheeks flushed with excitement and a huge smile on her face, I'd never seen her so vibrant.

            “I know I am, despite all the men who wanted to dance with me I had a really good time.” Rhys said and I could tell that he really meant it.

            “They really thought you were cute.” I teased him and he blushed a little, “You were like the belle of the ball.” I giggled and he gave me a little shove.

            “I wouldn't talk if I were you miss queen of the lesbians.” he replied and I laughed. I'd definitely had my fair share of women hitting on me but it had all been in good fun and for once I was happy to be around women who didn't seem to care if I was prettier than they were, they were here to just have a good time and that's exactly what we did.

            “I owe you big for introducing me to Hadley, Say. She was absolutely amazing and would you believe she only lives a couple hours outside of town in Port Harbor?”

            “You mean outside of Wharton?” I asked in disbelief and she nodded.

            “Crazy coincidence huh?” I nodded back just as another thought came to me.

            “Hey Flan what does it mean when someone tells you that you're fierce?” I asked, dying to finally know.

            She laughed, “It means you're beautiful or stylish, you have it all going for you, like a complete package.” she replied and I nodded again. Can't complain about that. I thought, smiling to myself as we climbed into a taxi.

            The trip back to our hotel seemed to take forever and I couldn't keep my eyes open. When we finally arrived, Flan threw the driver a few bills and helped Rhys get me out of the car, before he swept me up into his arms and my head came to rest on his shoulder. I looked over sleepily at the man directing traffic as he asked if we needed any help, nodding at me with a concerned look on his face.

            “We're good she's just tired, it's past her bedtime.” he said teasingly smiling down at me as I stuck my tongue out at him sleepily. The man smiled back and encouraged us to get some sleep before turning back to the line of taxi's waiting to whisk people off to wherever they wanted to go.

            I vaguely remembered Flan turning down the sheets and removing my shoes before Rhys set me down in the bed and covered me with a blanket. Once Flan had left the room he turned off the bedside lamp before crawling into the bed with me and cuddling up close.

“I love you sleepy head.” he said softly kissing my cheek.

Before I could answer I had drifted off to sleep.