Happy Birthday to Me

MARISSA

I got off the phone with Conner about half an hour ago. He gave me his address so he can get his cell back. As a little added bonus, I put my new phone number into Conner's phone and vise versa so when he gets his phone back we can still stay in contact.

Now I was in the elevator with Conner's phone in hand and I was headed down to the lobby.

When I entered the lobby I found the sharp dressed man standing behind the main desk and I walked up to him.

"New Resident Marissa, may I help you?" he questioned.

I smiled, "Just Marissa is fine, and yes you can help me. Does this building have a mailing room?"

"Actually, yes we do. It's down that hall, last door on the right." Fancy Pants said as he pointed down a dimly lit hallway to the left of the front desk.

I smiled again and said, "Thanks lobby man!" before I started to walk down the hallway.

"My name is Timothy by the way!" Fancy Pants called after me.

X-----X-----X-----X-----X

After I got the package off to Conner I went back up to my apartment.

Right before I was about to go back into my apartment I stopped short and muttered, "Oh crap, ice." I didn't really want to go all the way back down to the front desk so I decided to see if my neighbor was nice.

I knocked on the apartment door closest to mine. A male voice inside called, "Give me a minute!"

There was a bunch of bumping and clunking from inside the apartment before the door was yanked open.

A very tall and very handsome blonde guy was on the other side of the doer and before the door was even fully open he started to say, "I'm so sorry I'm late on my rent! I do have the money! I'm good for it! I just haven't gotten my paycheck yet and- ...You're not the building collecter."

I giggled, "No, I'm not. I'm your new neighbor Marissa."

The guy smiled, "Nice to meet you Marissa, I'm Harley... So, what can I do for you on this fine night?"

"I was wondering if the building had any ice machines...?" I asked.

"There are... But they've all been shut off for matnience." he said.

"Oh." I said quietly.

"Can you freeze your own ice?" Harly asked.

I shook my head, "No."

"Why not?" Harly asked.

"Well, I just moved in today and all I have is the bare minerals. I don't have any luxuries like ice cube trays." I replied.

Harley opened the door wider and said, "Come on in and sit down while I look for those trays."

"Thank you." I said quietly. I entered his apartment and sat down on his black leather couch.

While Harley was looking through cabinets for the cube trays he asked, "So why did you decide to move to Vegas?"

"To start over." I answered.

"Do you have a job lined up?" he asked again.

"No. But I'll go job hunting tomorrow afternoon." I said.

"Why not tomorrow morning?" Harley asked.

"I've got to find a Dollar Tree or a 99 Cent Store so I can pick up a few things." I answered again.

"Why not go now?" he asked me as he brought me two ice cube trays.

I stood up, took the trays, and said, "Uhh... Because they're closed now?"

Harley smiled, " I know it takes time, but you'll learn... Nothing ever closes in Vegas."

X-----X-----X-----X-----X

Harley was kind enough to drive me to the nearest Dollar Tree as soon as he found out I didn't have a car of my own. He also mentioned he was bored and there was nothing good on television at the moment so he decided to tag along.

We had already been in the store for about twenty minutes and my shopping cart was filled with many items including: kitchen soap, liquid soap, paper cups, paper bowls, paper plates, paper napkins, trashbags, shampoo, conditioner, nail polish, a nail care kit, body spray, facial scrub, and enough food to last for seven days.

"So what do you do for a living?" I asked Harley as I browsed the hair brushes and hair ties.

"I'm a ChipnDales dancer." he replied.

"W-What?" I questioned. The hair brush I was holding slipped out of my hand and clunked onto the floor before I asked, "You're a stripper?"

Harley picked up the dropped hair brush and handed it back to me, "Not a stripper, a dancer." he said.

I smiled a little embarassed smile and said, "Sorry, I've just never had a friend in that line of work before."

Harley smiled back, "Don't worry, in a couple of weeks you'll be lousy with dancer friends."

My smile brightened from an embarassed one to a more normal one, "Vegas really is the place to have friends that have the oddest jobs." I said as I chose a pack of hair ties and a hair brush and dropped them into the cart before moving on down the aisle to the dental care.

Harley chuckled and followed after me, "You don't know how right you are. I practically have a friend in every casino. They give me tons of casino freebies all the time including meals. Sometime I'll introduce you to them so you can start gettin' in on the freebies too."

"I'd like that." I said as I browsed the toothbrushes and toothpastes.

"So what kind of job are you interested in?" Harley asked.

"As a start, bartending." I said as I picked out a green toothbrush and an orange toothpaste and tossed them into the cart.

"Y'know, a word of advise, bartenders have to audition for their jobs here in Vegas. It's best to be prepared for whatever they may throw at you." Harley said.

I paused for a moment before I said, "Then I need to pick up a few more things." I then made quick business about getting Jolly Ranchers, small Dixie paper cups, gummy bears, dried cranberries, a plastic sandcastle pail with an attached plastic shovel, a glass fish bow, rainbow nerds, swedish fish, and a hand-held blacklight.

As we got into a register line to pay for everything, Harley asked, "But why do you need a fish bowl?"

I smiled, "I already told you."

"Yeah, but-"

The cashier inturrupted saying, "Your total comes to $85.76."

Harley's jaw dropped, "That's it for all this stuff?!" he questioned.

I smiled brighter, "Yeah, and just imagine how much more expensive it would have been if we went to Wal Mart or something."

"Damn." Harley muttered.

X-----X-----X-----X-----X

UNKOWN PERSON

I can't believe I didn't get a chance to put this stupid letter back into Marissa's bag.

I didn't have a good time to do it. Ray, Frank, or Bob were always somewhere nearby and they would have seen me for sure.

I stood in the back of the bus with the letter in my hand. Everyone else was up in front having lunch while we drove to our next gig. But if one of them were to come back here I'd be a sitting duck. They'd snatch the letter up and find out the truth about Marissa. They'd want to drive back and see here asap. The tour would probably end up cancelled.

I can't let that happen. I have to avoid that at all costs.

I took the letter and stuffed it into my bunk, down where no one would find it, before I walked out to the front of the bus and joined the other guys.

"Hey Mikey, where ya been man?" Gerard asked me as soon as I passed by the drawn curtain.

"Uhhh... Just put on some clean socks." I replied, coming up with the lamest excuse ever.