Vegas Wedding

She was desperate.
Desperate for a drink.

There was a slight sigh that escaped her lips as she opened the heavy door to a run down bar. The air was smokey and had a musky smell to it that had her crinkling her nose.

She was tired.
Sick and tired to be exact.

"Shot of vodka, please, no ice." Her voice was laced with pain and need, but what else is new in a broken down bar in Vegas?

"Make that two please." Dread washed over her at the male's voice. The last thing she needed right now was to be hit on. She was ready to throw a few insults and show off the pretty ring on her finger, but she was just really hoping that he wouldn't be persistent.

"Listen," she said softly as she turned to see the man that had sat next to her, only he hadn't sat next to her. He was two seats down with his head on the bar and the rest of his body limp. She calmed down as she realized he had not intentions of hitting on her, but her face flushed as he sat up a little to look over at her. "Sorry." She muttered and turned back to stare at the shot glass between her hands.

"Don't be. I know what it sounded like." The man's voice sounded familiar and she tilted her head just a fraction as she tried to remember where she'd heard something similar to it. "I apologize." She turned her head slowly up and over and stared at the man's kind smile.

"Oh, fuck me." She groaned and threw her head into her palm with a loud slap. The man chuckled and she squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn't mean it in the literal way, but in the fuck-my-life way." He laughed harder and she felt the little bit of hope in her die out. “I mean, this is just fucking perfect, as if today wasn’t hard enough and as if my life wasn’t hard enough right now, fate has to put me in a bar, sitting next to Brendon fucking Urie three days before my wedding. How irony must really hate me.” She shook her head and then threw it back with the cool glass at her lips.

“Ah, so you know my name.” He nodded and ran his finger around the rim of his small glass.

“Know your name,” she scoffed and signaled for the bartender to pour another shot. “I know more than your name, Mr. Urie. I was a big fan of Panic At The Disco, still am in fact. You were the love of my life all throughout high school, and to think, here I am, sitting next to you, drinking vodka.” She laughed, but it was a bitter, cold laugh that even he winced at.

“You’re not going to attack me or anything, right?” He asked cautiously.

“No, I don’t have the energy to attack you.” She stated glumly. His eyebrows knitted together as he watched her knock back another shot and ask for more. There was something about her that intrigued him so greatly, and confused him so greatly.

“Want to talk about it?” He suggested as he scooted over one seat, to get a little closer to her. He didn’t even think about the drink he’d ordered as he left it where the bartender had placed it. He watched her raise one eyebrow at him with her hand around the refilled glass.

“Is that supposed to be like a pick up line? Cause it sounded really lame, and in case you missed it, I’m getting married in three days.” She held up her left hand and her own eyes darted to the silver band around her ring finger before she turned back to the vodka.

“It wasn’t a pick up line, but that’s a pretty ring on your little finger.” He grinned and saw her smile a little as she rolled her eyes. “I just figured maybe I could help you get out of your ‘fuck me’ mood.” He shrugged and kept his face as serious as he could while she giggled harder.

“Alright, fine. You want to hear about my awful day, scratch that, my awful life? Come on, you’re going to have to come closer.” She giggled as she patted the last seat between them and drank her last shot of vodka.

“I would love to hear about your awful life, and since I’ve got nothing to do, let’s start.” He scooted over again and rested his elbows on the bar. “Can I get just a coke please.” The bartender nodded and slid over the soda.

“Well, everything has gone to shit because of this.” She held up her left hand again and sighed this time as she flattened it out and stared at the ring while he stared at her softened expression. “But then this started a long time ago.” She smiled and he noticed the sad twist it had. Then she shrugged it off. “So, I’m not so sure where to start.” He chuckled and watched as she asked the bartender for a coke like his.

“Let’s start with a name to this wonderful mystery man that is so lucky to call you his fiancé.” He watched again as she quirked an eyebrow at him and sipped a bit of the pop through her straw.

“You’re flirtier than I thought you’d be Mr. Urie.” She giggled as she sat the coke down and let her fingers fiddle with the ring, like she was so used to.

“It’s Brendon, and I swear I’m not trying to hit on you, these cheesy lines just keep falling out of my mouth.” He shook his head and wiped at his face. He was flirting with an almost married women, he wouldn’t admit that to her, but to himself, he was just captivated by her for some strange reason he didn’t even know yet.

“Okay Brendon, just remember I’ve got three days.” She arched both eyebrows and pointed at him for more emphasis. He smiled and held up his hands in defense, shaking his head slowly.

“I promise, no more cheesy pickup lines.” He laughed along with her before he licked his lips and stared at her staring at him. “So, his name is?” He started for her again and she rolled her eyes as she rested her chin in her hand.

“Neil, his name is Neil.” Her voice came out soft as her gaze glazed over just a bit. He picked up on how her whole expression softened when he came up in conversation. “And before this goes further,” she smirked at him with an odd twinkle in her eyes, “mine’s Manda.”

“Manda.” He repeated just to hear how it sounded in his own voice. He liked it.

“Well, Amanda technically, but I shortened it to Manda years ago. It just sounds better.” She shrugged and took another sip of her soda.

“And how exactly did you meet Mr. Perfect?” He prompted, trying to keep her on the path, but more just hoping to keep her talking to him. He was taken aback a bit when she started to laugh, hard.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized after she’d calmed down a bit and wiped away a few tears before taking a deep breath and smiling sadly again. “Neil is not Mr. Perfect, in fact, he’s pretty far away from Mr. Perfect.” She told him and watched as he stared at her confused, waiting for her to continue. She just shrugged in response to the long pause.

“If he’s not Mr. Perfect, then why are you marrying him?” He finally put his confusion into a question that she could answer and clear things up a bit, but she just shrugged again.

“Because he asked me, and because I love him.” She wouldn’t look at him anymore, to scared of catching his eye and seeing the disappointment she’d become so accustomed to.

“Huh,” was his answer. It unnerved her that that was all he said, but she kept it under her control and calmly ran her hand through her hair. “Well, I guess we’d better start at the very beginning.” His comment surprised her and she glanced over at him to see him giving her an encouraging smile that made her warm on the inside. “So how exactly did you meet him?”

“I was actually set up with him, like a blind date kind of thing.” She giggled and covered her mouth as she remembered the scene so clearly. It was a memory that she liked to replay. “I was eighteen and freshly out of high school. That was the summer that I got really close to a cousin of mine, sharing stories of how messed up our families were and how life just generally tended to suck when you didn’t want it to, you know, the whole teenage bonding thing. So, this one time I had him staying the weekend with me and it was like ten at night, and I remember him coming into my room when I was on my laptop and he told me he was going to be spending the night with a good friend of his tomorrow. I was so bummed that he’d be leaving me, and I didn’t even know he had friends in town since he lived outside of town, so I asked him who it was.” She giggled and he just smiled wider at the sound. “He said I didn’t know him, but he was an old friend of Steph’s and that he’d already called his mom and she’d said it was okay so he was going and I was like ‘fine’ with an attitude and everything. And, I don’t remember exactly how it came up, but for some reason Steph started to describe his friend to me, said he had tattoos, and his ears were gaged, and his lip was pierced, and how he skateboarded, he just went on and on. I do remember however, saying that he sounded hot, and I remember Steph just stopped talking and stared at me with this blank expression before his eyes snapped open and he asked me if I wanted to meet him.” She giggled again, a little harder while she remembered the scene. Brendon just sat quietly, listening to her and watching her expressions change. “I didn’t even answer him before he had the phone in his hand and was calling Neil, asking him if he wanted to meet his cousin cause she thought he was hot. A few minutes later I was in my mother’s car with Steph in shot gun on my way to pick Neil up and then go to WalMart for practically no reason but to set the two of us up.”

“You went to Wally World on your first date?” He chuckled as she took a sip of soda.

“If you would call it a date, I mean Steph did keep leaving so it would be just the two of us, but it was a bit awkward since Neil mostly talked to Steph the whole night.” She shrugged and looked off toward the bottles of alcohol lined against the back wall. “And so, three days later, he asked me to be his girlfriend.” She grinned like a little girl as she stirred her straw around mindlessly.

“Very charming.” He commented and she giggled as she shook her head.

“It was the opposite. I wasn’t even sure if he actually liked me until he asked me out.” She shrugged without much more to say and looked up from the glass to see him staring at her.

“So how long have you two been together then?” He wasn’t completely happy talking about her fiancé, but it kept her talking so he figured it was worth it.

“Three and a half years.” She answered quickly without much thought. She’d had to repeat it to her parents so often when she’d told them he’d proposed. They had insisted that it was too soon and she was too young.

“And how long have you been engaged?” He had picked up on her brisk answer and slight frustration as she had said it, but decided to let it go.

“A week?” She guessed and gave a small smile while cautiously waiting his reaction.

“A week?” He repeated, almost in total shock as she shrugged a bit and looked back down at her soda with what he thought was shame. “So he proposes and then drags you to Vegas to get married within a week. Hmm, I hate to break it to you doll, but it kind of sounds like he’s just trying to get into your pants, but on the bright side he did ask you to marry him so he’s got dedication in this instead of just trying to convince you that it’s ‘the right time’.” He air quoted and then grinned as she giggled again.

“Okay, for starters, I dragged him to Vegas, he actually wanted a nice, clean wedding back home with our friends and family and the whole white wedding shindig. And for second starters, he’s not doing this to get in my pants cause he’s already in them.” She couldn’t help but giggle harder as his mouth dropped open at both of her statements.

“I did not need to hear that.” He shook his head but grinned at her. “Why’d you drag him here then?” She shrugged again and bit her bottom lip.

“I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but I’ve always imagined my wedding with the whole get plastered drunk, a cheap wedding chapel, the high school ring, and the waking up in Vegas hung over as hell thing.” She laughed with him as he shook his head again.

“You are one unique gal.” She bit her bottom lip again at his words. “I never thought it possible to have a girl who was crazy for the waking up in Vegas kind of wedding.”

“Oh come on!” She lightly pushed his arm and he felt the electricity that she ignored. “Like you don’t find something about the whole waking up from a hangover with a ring on your finger attractive.”

“Difference being, I’m a guy.” He laughed and she rolled her eyes.

“Whatever, so I’m an odd ball, what else is new?” She hardly noticed her hand go up to her neck and play with her necklace, the simple music note that always laid around her lovely neck.

“You play an instrument?” He asked, what she thought was quite a random question before he pointed towards her necklace.

“Oh, no.” She shook her head as she looked down at the music note between her fingers. The necklace meant so much to her, and not another soul knew why. “It’s just a trinket of sorts.” She shrugged and lied like she usually did when someone asked about it. He noticed how she became more fidgety with the necklace after he had brought it up. “So, anyway, I dragged him, his best man, his dad and his dad’s girlfriend, plus Steph, who’s the maid of honor, and my folks out here to beautiful Las Vegas to get married in a chapel open at two in the morning.”

“And you’re not having a ball with any of them right now because?” He wondered out loud and watched as the depressive mood she’d entered the bar with returned.

“Because the only one that I’m talking to and that’s talking to me is Bryan, Neil’s dad, and not that I can’t party with Bryan because I have, but he would really not help the situation at all.” She sighed and shook her head a little as she started to bite her nails a bit too.

“What’s the situation?” He didn’t like how anxious she was becoming. She gave another cold and bitter laugh.

“Which situation?” She rolled her eyes and looked at the empty shot glass with a longing look in her eyes.

“Which was most recent?” He asked, hoping to distract her from the need for alcohol that he clearly saw in her. He was sure she’d had plenty of that for today.

“That would be my folks. They’ve never liked Neil, not even in the beginning when everybody thinks it’s just a simple crush that won’t go anywhere, but they almost died when I told them he proposed. My dad hates him and my mom thinks I deserve better so about every ten minutes one of them pulls me aside from everyone else and gives me the it’s-not-to-late speech and how I can still cancel the wedding if I really want to and all that bullshit.” Her hand reached for the empty shot glass, but he grabbed her hand before she reached it. Her eyes went to his with a questionable look while he felt his cheeks flush. “They just never really let go of me after I turned eighteen and moved out. I’m still their girl that they can tell what to do and then expect her to listen.” She shrugged. “It’s just hard to do this with them so against it.”

“I’ve been there with the parents, not the whole wedding part, but with religion. My parents are faithful Mormons till they die, and my lifestyle doesn’t exactly go with those beliefs, so they disowned me for a while.” He pushed the icy memories from his current thoughts as he looked up at her sympathetic expression. “Till I got famous, that is.” He added to lighten up things a bit, but it didn’t really help as she only smiled sadly at him.

“That’s awful.” She stated, unable to think of anything else to say with meaning. He shrugged.

“So, why isn’t Steph talking to you?” He gave a crooked grin as he swiftly changed the subject and she looked down at his hand still holding hers. He quickly pulled away once he saw what she was staring at.

“Technically, I’m not talking to him and that’s because he’s being a dick and trying to run my wedding.” She sighed and shook her head as her hands went back to playing with her ring. “He’s got the chapel picked out and everything. It’s just wrong, I mean, a Vegas wedding is something that should never be planned. And the thing is, I know if I just don’t talk to him for a day, tomorrow he’ll be begging me to forgive him and back off from trying to run the show.”

“So who else are you not talking to?” He couldn’t help but let a small grin appear as the words made her sound like a six year old in school.

“That would be Jess, Bryan’s girlfriend, and that would be because she’s a whore and I more or less found her cheating on Bryan in their hotel room. I haven’t got the courage to tell him just yet, but I’m avoiding her at all costs until I figure out what to do.” She shook her head again. “Bryan’s such a good guy, I mean, he’s got a reputation just like his son, but he hasn’t cheated on her since they got serious and she moved in with him.”

“Like his son?” He picked up on those words that made her close her eyes longer than needed for just a blink.

“Yeah, well, Neil and his dad have both had a reputation for sleeping around, often.” She watched as his expression shifted to stone cold in seconds.

“Don’t tell me you’re not talking to him because he’s cheated on you.” He spoke through gritted teeth. Even with just having met her, he was already protective of her.

“Actually, he’s not talking to me.” She pushed both the soda and empty shot glass away from her so that she could rest her forehead on the cool bar top. “He thinks I was giving Shawn the ‘eyes’ this morning when we went swimming at the pool so he’s decided that I’m having an affair with Shawn behind his back, as if I had the time or secrecy for that.” She rolled her eyes.

“Shawn?” He was trying desperately to keep up.

“His best man, and best friend because even though he thinks we’re having an affair and won’t talk to me, he’s talking to him, oh, and he’s our roommate.” She shrugged. “And then Shawn’s not talking to me to help with the Neil situation, but that’s actually hurting since it makes him look guilty and suck-upish to Neil.”

“Wow,” was all Brendon could offer.

“Yep.” She agreed and raised her head to look over at him. “So I may not even have a fiancé to marry in three days.”

“I’ll marry you if he ditches.” The words came out so smoothly before he could even think twice. They both erupted into laughter.

“I thought you said no more cheesy pick up lines.” She gently and playfully pushed him again.

“I know, I know.” He laughed and raised one hand in defense as he shook his head. “That was a really cheesy one too.”

“I’d say so.” She nodded and then grabbed her soda for a sip. “So, what genius advice do you have for me?”

“Hmm,” he pretended to think hard as he put his fingertips at his temples and rubbed lightly, “I think you should relax, first off, and let things fall where they go.”

“Fall where they go?” She wasn’t even sure if that made sense literally.

“Yes. If Neil loves you, he’ll believe you when you say there is no affair, and that’ll bring Shawn around too. You’ve already figured out Steph, I guess you guys are really close. And telling Bryan isn’t really your business, but if it continues and it bothers you, then you’ll find a way to tell him Jess just isn’t right for him. As for your parents, the only advice I can give for that one is get famous and then they’ll accept you.” She laughed first and then he joined her. “Seriously though, don’t worry about them. They’re family and they should accept the things you do, and if not, don’t let it bother you cause then you’ll end up living for them instead of for yourself.”

“That all sounds much easier than anything I’d come up with.” She gave him an honest smile and he melted from it. “I’d better be going though, it’s been almost three hours since I left the hotel and I know my folks are freaking if no one else is.” She sighed as she stood up from the bar stool and left some cash for the bartender. “I do want to thank you, Brendon, it felt good to talk to you.” She smiled shyly as he shrugged.

“It was nothing, just a common courtesy, but,” he grabbed the napkin her shot glass had been on for two seconds before she’d downed it the first time and retrieved a pen from the bartender, “I want you to keep this, in case you need more advice while you’re here in Vegas.” He grinned up at her after he scrawled his number on the napkin and extended it to her. He was so nervous, hoping she would take it, that his hand shook as he held it out.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She smirked as she took it from him and folded it neatly before it went in her back pocket.

“Or if you need someone to stand in for that wedding.” It must have been a confidence rush from her accepting his number that made him think of the cheesy line that made him shut his eyes briefly after he said it.

“Will do.” He was surprised when she winked at him and then started for the door. “Good bye Brendon.” She called when she leaned against the door, ready to push it open with her back and getting one last glance at the pretty boy at the bar.

“Good luck Manda.” He yelled back to her and she nodded before she disappeared out the door. He sat back down at the bar, stunned beyond anything he’d ever felt before. He’d just fallen heels over head for a girl he’d known for maybe an hour, how crazy was that?

She on the other hand, was walking down the street with a better outlook on life, ready to see her fiancé and tell him all about her strange bar visit.