Ace of Hearts

The room stunk. It was a revolting mixture of sweaty feet, men's cologne, stale pizza, beer, cigarette smoke and weed. The smell was one thing, the sight was even worse. The floor was covered in discarded clothes and shoes, empty beer bottles, and open pizza boxes, the crusts and crumbs decorating dirty underwear.

Madison coughed and spluttered as she fought her way across the tiny room to throw open the door that led to a small balcony. She stuck her head outside, inhaling the fresher scents of the great outdoors, taking in the picturesque scene outside the motel. She spotted a casino, a strip club and one of those tacky white chapels. She wondered if it was the one in which her best friend had tied the knot in.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Greg took a drag on his cigarette, attempting to blow smoke circles, and failing miserably.

Madison pulled her head back inside, leaving the door wide open. "Not that bad? Greg do you have a cork stuck up your nose or something? It's disgusting! I know this is only a motel, but how long have you stayed here? A couple of nights and it's already a pig sty! I dread to think what you're freaking homes look like."

Mike glanced at Slade, "she's a keeper if she cleans."

Slade narrowed his eyes at Mike and shook his head.

"I don't plan on cleaning up after you, Mike, so you can get that idea right out of your head." Madison stepped out onto the balcony, pulling her phone from her pocket. She looked at the screen, voicemails from her dad were still waiting to be heard. She wasn't looking forward to hearing his angry tone as he worried about where she was and what she was doing.

"Maddy," She jumped at the sound of Slade's voice and turned around, "come on, we're leaving."

She inhaled deeply, pushing her phone back into her pocket as she stepped through the wreckage, following Slade towards the door, but not before Mike threw a pair of pants in her direction, missing her head by an inch. She shrieked and glared at Mike, before leaving the room as quickly as possible.

"Ugh, I feel dirty now, like I need a shower," she shuddered, her skin crawling at the thought of the dirt that would infest in that room, soon followed by cockroaches and other creepy crawlies.

Slade chuckled. "It's our filth, so it's not that bad. Now, if it were someone else's, I'd probably be complaining."

She shuddered again, letting him lead her out of the motel and into the sunshine of a bright Vegas afternoon.

The pair of them walked side by side, their hands knocking together on occasions, but neither of them dared grab the others and hold it tightly. They walked in a comfortable silence, something neither of them had felt for a while, allowing the surroundings to speak for them, as cars whizzed past and people dodged them.

"When are you going home?" He broke the silence first, being bold enough to do so.

"Tomorrow. I'm going home anyway, Blair is off to New York I guess. I suppose thats if her mom decides to let her go off alone again, or if she hasn't killed her."

"And where is 'home'?"

"Tucson. Home of myself and my drag queen dad."

Slade couldn't help but smile at this statement, as a huge grin broke out across his face, which only earned him a glare from Madison. "I'm sorry, it's the way you say things."

"Yeah, right. Enough about me anyway, where are you going next?"

He shrugged. "That's a good question. I know where I want to go, but I don't know where we're headed next."

"More masquerade parties to crash?"

"Unfortunately not, we don't actually do that at all. I mean, we are a band, but the stuffy middle aged audience isn't our thing."

"I didn't think it was, what with your lyrics and the sound. I guess Rosalie only got you as a last resort."

"Hey!"

She grinned, "it's just the way you say things."

He narrowed his eyes at her as she giggled. "But really, I don't know where we're going next. I don't know if we're headed to Phoenix or if we're off doing another show somewhere."

"So come to Tucson. Or is this just a holiday weekend fling?"

He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "I don't know, is it?"

"I hope not."

He grinned and pulled her closer to him, kissing her lips sweetly as he did so. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, until after a minute he pulled away with a smile on his face.

"Tucson here we come."