Caught Like A Fly

I stood in that gift shop doorway until someone rudely announced that I needed to move my fat ass, and I stumbled back into the hotel lobby. My friends were up in their room planning a bachelorette party, and Viv shouldn't have to do that. I would show Jacky in the best way I could that I cared, but it was going to have to wait until this wedding was over. I could talk Ronnie into getting rid of that plane ticket and getting his money back. It was time to steal Rachel and plan Viv's party.

I met Darren in the elevator, and he smiled. He was Viv's new mafia friend, and his dad was paying for their entire wedding, parties and shopping included.

"Nice to see you smile again," he said, observing the new grin on my face. "Any ideas for Viv's party tonight?"

"Kind of," I said, tapping my lips. "Can I have your credit card?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging and pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, flipping it open and handing me the plastic. "See if you can max it. I haven't done it yet."

"Yes sir," I said, my grin widening. "We're going to the Luxor. There's someone I want to find. Also, if you can call that new place in the Cosmopolitan and reserve it for us, that would be awesome."

"Consider it done," he said, and the elevator dinged to let us know it had reached the top floor. "Good to have you back. I have a feeling I know who you want to meet. I'll make sure he's available."

I nodded to him appreciatively, and strode with meaningful steps to Viv's room and used my key card to get in. Her and Rachel were drinking their coffees, mine sitting on the table untouched.

"Okay, I'm sorry," I said loudly, and they both stopped talking to look at me. "Rachel, you're coming with me. We need to fine-tune our plans for Viv's bachelorette party tomorrow. Viv, I know you're supposed to be in charge and all, but can I ask you to have Ronnie get rid of that plane ticket?" I was greeted with silence, but a smile crawled onto Viv's face slowly. I snatched my coffee from the table and took a long sip. It was still hot.

"Sure will," she said, and left the room without another word.

"Plans? We don't have any plans for Viv's party!" Rachel exclaimed as soon as she was sure Viv wouldn't hear us.

"Oh, yes we do," I said, and sat down next to her. "I have Darren's credit card." I took the card from my back pocket and flashed it at her. She gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"You didn't have to pickpocket him!"

"Stop it, he gave it to me."

"Oh."

"Anyway..." I said, blinking a few times in thought. "We can distract her with shopping and a movie until it gets dark. After that, I have that new club in the Cosmo booked, but that's only a backup in case we don't run into a special somebody at the Luxor."

"Special somebody? You don't mean Criss Angel, do you? I know Darren's dad is rich and all, but--"

"Don't underestimate the mob, Rachel," I said, grinning from ear to ear. "Darren knows him, and he's setting something up. All we have to do is let Viv think it was all her idea."

"That's easy; she loves Criss Angel," Rachel said. "All we would have to do is drive by the Luxor and if one of us mentions something while shopping, she's sure to suggest something."

This was going to be the best bachelorette party ever.

* * *

I needed a drink. Andy hadn't even attempted to speak to me after I gave her my ultimatum, and the other guys didn't really want to hear about it. I ended up calling Mitch, our merch guy, to see if he wanted to go and drink himself into oblivion with me.

"Hey Jacky," he said cheerily from the other end of the phone. "How's the wedding stuff going?"

"Pretty good," I said. "It sucks that you can't be here the day of."

"I know, man," he said, sighing. "If it was possible to change my flights I would, but I tried at least four times with different airline cashiers and they weren't going for it. What's up?"

"You're still in Vegas, right?"

"Yeah, bro. You need to hang out?"

"Definitely," I said, breathing out a sigh of relief. "Head on over to the hotel. Ronnie will be happy to see you and I get free drinks at the bar here."

"Dude, I'm there," Mitch said with assurance, and we said our goodbyes. Mitch showed up within a half hour, and we started drinking. Now, when I say drinking, I mean shots, Jack and Coke, more shots, some bitch drink, more shots and even more shots until we slowed down to beer. It was barely seven in the evening and we were so drunk we could hardly talk.

"Mit, I neeeeeeeed a bloody loo to puke in," I slurred, my accent so thick that I could hear it. The entire world was spinning, and my head was spinning in the opposite direction. You can imagine the nauseous feeling in my stomach, on top of all the alcohol we just drank.

"Bloody? Wha? Oh! The porshlin god!" Mitch exclaimed loudly, and pointing his finger valiantly in the direction of the bathrooms. We stumbled and giggled like girls all the way to the men's room and I was so thankful to have a clean toilet to barf my guts into.

"Oh my fucking God," I groaned, the room still going topsy-turvy on me even though my thoughts and words were clearing up.

"You just read my mind," Mitch whined from the stall next to mine. "You have a room here?"

"Yeah, let's go," I said, straightening my back and bending right back over to throw up again. "Ugh..."

* * *

Since Viv was going to talk to Ronnie about that plane ticket, I was going to find Jacky and see if I could get him to talk to me. I wanted a hint from him so that I would know where to begin. It was around dinner time when I went down to the hotel restaurant to see if he was there, but the place was empty of any British guitarists. However, according to the hotel employees, there was one that had stumbled into the bathroom with his buddy and was "experiencing the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption". True to their word, I saw Jacky and some man I didn't recognize hanging onto each other and making their way across the lobby.

"Jacky?" I asked, and I saw his eyes get really wide as he stood up on his toes to find out who said his name, and fell flat on his face. The other man fell with him and they burst into uncontrollable, bellowing laughter. I couldn't stop the snort and the smile that appeared on my face.

"Ugh, Andy..." he moaned into the carpet, not even bothering to get up. "This is Mitch. He's our merch guy. We love him."

"Yes they do," Mitch said, managing to get to his feet and help Jacky up.

"Well, I was going to talk to you, but I don't think you're fit to do anything but go to bed," I said, extremely amused by this. "Come here." He obeyed, and I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed as tightly as I dared, setting my head on his chest. He took a hint and clumsily set his head on top of mine and put his arms around my shoulders. We stood there for a minute, just holding one another in the middle of the busy hotel lobby. I felt my pocket vibrate and Viv's text tone went off.

"I have to go lay down," Jacky murmured into my hair, sounding very sober despite the fact that he was so drunk he couldn't walk unassisted. "I guess I'll see you at the wedding." He stepped back, a small smile on his face. I checked my message from Viv.

Ronnie isn't changing his mind. He won't return the ticket. I felt my heart hit the floor and stared back up at Jacky like I was looking at him for the last time. I was out of time. With the bachelorette party and the wedding, there was no way I was going to have time to do anything else. He seemed confused by my stare, but blew me a kiss and walked drunkenly with Mitch to the elevators. I swallowed nervously, and took three deep breaths. After everything we went through, and when I finally knew what I wanted...just like that, I lost Jacky Vincent.