Waking up in Vegas

I woke up with a splitting headache and I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. That’s why I didn’t like to drink that much because I hated hangovers so much. I opened my eyes and regretted it immediately because of the bright sun that was shining in through the hotel curtains. I rubbed my eyes and felt something on my finger that definitely should not have been there. Not at all. I opened my eyes again and held my left hand right in front of my face and I would have screamed if I had been able to. There was a fucking ring on my left hand ring finger.

I threw the covers off of me and then I really did scream. The tall one with the tattoos was in my fucking bed and he was in just his underwear. Well, at least he was wearing those. But I didn’t even remember his fucking name! God, I definitely had way too much to drink last night.

“What time is it?” he asked as he rolled over and rubbed his eyes.

“Why the fuck are you in my bed?!”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know where I am.”

“Oh my god! What happened last night? I just remember making out with you and then getting more drinks! What the fuck else did we do? Did we have sex?” I was majorly freaking out.

“I don’t think so. You have clothes on. And I’m pretty sure you would have remembered if you had sex with me,” he said with a smirk on his face and I just wanted to punch him.

“I don’t even remember your name!”

“John,” he said simply and reached his hand out.

“I think we’re past shaking hands John. Way past it!” And I shoved my left hand in his face, showing him the ring that was sitting there, a big fat reminder of what had apparently happened the night before even though I had no recollection whatsoever.

“Is that…? Did we…? Holy shit!”

“You can say that again.”

“Holy fucking shit Kendall.” Oh, at least he remembered my name. And if I wasn’t so hungover and so angry at myself for letting this happen I would have noticed how amazing my name sounded rolling off his lips. But I definitely didn’t notice that. Not at all.

“Cassie!” I shouted, leaving John sitting in my bed alone as I went to look for my friend. I couldn’t help but to find her somehow responsible for this.

“Holy shit Kendall, why are you shouting so much?” she asked groggily as she sat up in her bed.

“What the fuck happened last night?”

“We had fun!” she giggled and then grimaced and put a hand up against her head.

“You call this fun?” I shoved the ring into her face and all traces of amusement in her face were gone.

“What the fuck did you do Kendall?”

“What do you mean what did I do? I thought you had something to do with this!” I was starting to freak out even more.

“No, you were with John at the bar and we told you we were going back to the room to try out the hot tub but you didn’t want to leave with us! Why the fuck would you get married?!”

“I didn’t mean to! I didn’t even remember John’s name this morning. Why did you make me drink so much? This is all your fault.” I was on the verge of tears at this point. I couldn’t believe I had fucking gotten married in Vegas while I was blackout drunk. What a fucking cliché. I didn’t do things like this. I was a good girl. I didn’t get drunk in Vegas and marry perfect strangers.

“Calm down Kendall, I’m sure you can get it annulled or something, right?”

“How could this have even happened Cassie? I don’t even know my last name right now!”

“O’Callaghan,” John answered from behind me. Apparently he had followed me.

I honestly didn’t even know what to say. I was utterly speechless.

“Can I talk to you for a minute Kendall? Alone?”

I rolled my eyes and I wanted to say no but instead I just nodded and followed him back into my room.

“What?” I asked him harshly.

“I found this,” he said, holding up a marriage license with both of our signatures on it. “And this. I thought you’d maybe like to see it.” He held Mallory’s digital camera in his other hand and moved it in my direction. “Maybe we can find out what happened last night. Because trust me I’m just as confused as you are. I never black out and I have no idea what the hell happened last night after we left the bar.”

“I never drink. And I guess this is why. Because apparently I marry hot strangers in Vegas.”

“Wait, did you just say I was hot?” John asked with a smirk on his face.

“No!” I said immediately but my cheeks were turning bright red because I hadn’t even realized that I had let that slip out. “Let’s just look at the pictures.”

I grabbed the camera from him, sat down on the edge of the bed, and hit the power button, wanting to figure out what went on that night and what possessed me to get married.

The first pictures were of the group of us girls, getting ready and eating dinner, and there were some pictures from the casino. You could tell we were progressively getting drunker and by the time we got to the bars the pictures were starting to get worse. Then there were some of us with the guys after we had met them at the bar. There was one of John and I kissing and I started blushing when I saw it. Dammit.

Ok, now we were getting somewhere, because the pictures started becoming unfamiliar. There were some of all of us outside and at a couple places I didn’t recognize. Then there were a few more of John and I kissing that one of us had taken ourselves and I blushed even more. Why would we want to document that when we didn’t even know each other? I would never know.

Then it all took a turn for the worse because there was a picture of a stupid Vegas wedding chapel and I was standing in front of it with a big cheesy grin on my face and a thumbs-up. Then there was one of John in the same position. And a couple of us inside the chapel, pictures of John kissing the bride, and a picture of us with an Elvis impersonator who had apparently married us, just icing on the fucking cake.

“Well, at least we have wedding pictures,” John said.

“Oh my God!”

“What? I’m just trying to lighten the mood a little.”

“Well don’t! Where the hell did you even get this ring? Do you just carry a wedding ring around with you?”

“I definitely do not. I have no idea where that came from.”

The next picture gave us our answer, because we were at a jewelry store and John was down on his knee putting the ring on my finger.

“Oh,” was all that John could say this time.

“Well. Now what?” I asked quietly after a few minutes where we just sat there silently. “How does this annulment thing work?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never been married before.”

“Well no shit Sherlock,” I said sarcastically.

He was about to reply when his phone started going off. He found it on the floor and answered it. I sat there silently, listening to the one-sided conversation.

When he hung up he looked at me and I knew by the look on his face that he was going to say something I didn’t want to hear.

“Um, I kind of have to leave,” he said guiltily.

“What do you mean you have to leave!? We have to get this taken care of! You can’t just leave!”

“No, I really have to. I’m in a band and we have to leave so we can make it to the next venue on time. We had an off day but now we have to go.”

“Yeah right, like you’re really in a band. You’re just trying to make excuses to get out of here and leave me to deal with everything.”

He didn’t say anything; he just got on his phone and started typing things. After about a minute he turned his phone towards me and showed me a picture of him and the other guys from last night up on stage, then another one with the name The Maine at the top of it.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So, do you want to like give me your number or something and we can hopefully get together soon to figure everything out. Our tour is almost over and we’ll be back in Arizona.”

“Wait, you live in Arizona? I live in Arizona.”

“No shit! Where do you live?”

“Phoenix.”

“Holy shit. I’m in Tempe.”

“Ok, this is just weird now.”

“Yeah. A little. But I really do have to leave or Larry is going to kick my ass.”

“Um… ok. Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in and you put yours in mine.” We exchanged phone numbers and said awkward goodbyes before he left. Really how were you supposed to handle that with someone that you didn’t know the day before but were now married to?

As soon as he was out the door I was back in Cassie’s room.

“Have you heard of The Maine?” I asked her, wanting to know more information about the guy I had just married.

“Like the state?” she asked.

“No, not the state. A band called The Maine.”

“Nope. What kind of music do they play?”

“I don’t know. But apparently John and the rest of the guys we met last night are in that band. John just left because they have to go to their next show. But get this, they’re from Arizona.”

“That’s so weird! What is the likelihood that you would marry a stranger in Vegas who lives in the same state as you? Where in Arizona though?”

“In fucking Tempe!”

“Ok, now that is creepy.”

“I know! But at least he’ll be close when he’s done with his tour so we can get this whole thing taken care of and be done with it. I don’t want to be married. I can’t believe I’m married!”

“I can’t either. Out of all of us you’re the last one I would think would ever do anything like this.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. I know exactly what you mean. And I kind of blame you to be honest. This was all your idea. We’re here for your birthday. And you’re the one who made me go make out with him.”

“Yeah but I sure as hell didn’t tell you to get married.”