Happy Birthday to Me

MARISSA

I went up to my apartment and put the duffel bag in the downstairs closet across from the kitchen.

I flopped down on the dish chair and I realized now was the beginning of a new chapter in my life and it was up to me and me alone to make something of it.

I knew until I found a job I would need to shop at the 99 Cents Store, The Dollar Tree, and the Good Will or else I would be broke in no time. I decided I'll use the skateboard Conner gave me to get around the city instead of wasting my money on bus and taxi rides. Sure, this place was big, but if drunk people can walk from the Treasure Island to the Luxor in twelve hours then I could surely make it just about anywhere on my skateboard.

I made a checklist in my head of all the things I needed to do...
1. Find a job as soon as possible.
2. Return Conner's cell phone to him.
3. Find out how much basic cable costs and if I can afford to get it.

Seemed simple enough. That's all I needed to do for now. Eventually the list would grow, but I'd get to that later. Now was not the time to worry about it.

I decided to call Conner first as it was kind of late in the night, but not late enough to disturb anyone on the West Coast. I took his cell phone out of my pocket and dialed his brother's number just as I had done before.

Conner picked up his side of the phone after the third ring. Before I could even greet him he loudly said, "Justin, I told you not to call me unless it's an emergency!"

"Uhhh excuse me?" I questioned.

Conner chuckled, "Oh, sorry Marissa, I forgot I gave you my cell phone. So did you figure out where you were going four days ago?"

I smiled, "Oh yeah, I forgot to call you back... We went to Las Vegas."

"Awesome. So where are you now?" he asked.

"Still in Las Vegas." I replied.

"Really? If you're still in Las Vegas why aren't you out there partying?"

"I've been exploring the city for the past four days. I finally got some downtime and decided to call you." I said.

"Sounds like you've been busy. What have you been up to?"

"Do you want to hear the cool stuff, the drama, or both?" I asked back.

"No drama please." Conner said as I laughed.

"Alright,...Where to start?... Ohkay, I know!" I mumbled more to myself than to him.

"Okay, so after we arrived in Las Vegas and checked into the MGM Grand, the band decided to gamble and I decided to explore a bit."

"Where'd you go?" Conner asked.

"Well first I saw the MGM lions and then I went to the M&M's store." I said.

"Wait, there is an entire store devoted to M&M's?" Conner questioned.

"Yeah, and it's totally awesome. It's four stories tall and it has totally cool wall-to-wall merchandise."

"Quick, who is your favorite M&M's character?" Conner questioned.

"The orange one, hands down." I replied.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because he's nervous all the time and I think he's just so cute... In fact, he's so cute I wanted to get an orange M&M's plushie.. But I didn't." I said quickly, then slow at the end.

"Why didn't you?" Conner questioned.

"He was...too expensive." I replied quietly.

"Oh." Conner said just as quiet.

"Yeah... So on the second day we went on the roller coaster at the New York, New York."

"Sounds like fun."

"It really was... Oh, and then I went to this shopping center called the Miracle Mile with a couple of the band guys and I got this super yummy milkshake while a couple of the guys decided to share this alcoholic drink."

"Share?" Conner inturrupted.

"They were like four feet tall and fifty bucks a pop." I clarified.

"Oh." Conner said quietly.

"Yup. Now where was I?..... Oh yeah! So they were arguing about what flavor they wanted and were showing no signs of stopping and they were starting to cause a scene. So I convinced the chick behind the counter to blend the two flavors together even though it was totally against the rules. So the guys got the drink they wanted and after we walked away they commended each other on their acting skills... They pretended to argue so they could get what they wanted." I said before I took a deep breath.

"They sound like a couple of evil geniuses." Conner said.

I smiled, "Yeah, sometimes they really are. After that, the band went to play their show and I decided to explore on my own some more."

"Why didn't you go to the show with them?" Conner asked.

"Remember what happened when we first met?" I asked back.

"You were soaked to the bone in alcohol and very pissed off. You had just walked out of a concert or- ....Oh."

"Exactly. And I didn't want a repeat of last time."

"...Right."

"So they went to their show and I went to the Belagio.... On the third day we went to Ceaser's Palace and browsed the Forum Shops, then the Circus Circus Big Top, and the top of the Stratosphere."

"Sounds like a busy day."

"It really was."

"So what'd you do on the fourth day?" Conner asked.

"On the fourth day I decided I wanted to live here."

"Live in Las Vegas?!" Conner questioned.

"Yup. Live in Las Vegas." I repeated.

"Awesome." Conner whispered.

"So what's your address?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Why?" he asked.

"Id' like to send your phone back."

"O-Oh. A-Are you tired of talking to me?" Conner asked quietly.

"What? No, of course not! One of the guys in the band got me my own phone and I thought you'd like to have your phone back."

"Well it is getting harder to dodge my family's questioned about where my cell is..." Conner said.

"So is that a yes?" I asked.

"That's a yes please!" Conner said quickly.

"So, let's try this again. What's your address?" I questioned.

"Oh it's-..." Conner started.