#vegasbaby

"Guys, really. We're just a couple of girls that gave you a ride." I was still persisting against the nice car that they had gotten just for dinner, but I wasn't complaining. I was pretty comfortable in the front (eep!) seat. Berk, Aaron, and Nick sat in the backseat; I had worried they wouldn't fit, but this car was pretty roomy. Zak sat next to me and drove, and I would get chills every time he turned and looked at me. Once, he even smiled (of course I smiled back!).

"Well, we needed a car anyway, so why not make it a nice one for these two lovely ladies." I heard Aaron say that from the back and then he gave the funniest laugh I have ever heard. I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from laughing. I wondered if Berk was doing okay in the back between two boys. She had only had one boyfriend before, and it was long distance (with the governor of Texas's son--what?). It didn't last very long because they had both been forced into it, so now Berkely had even less of a clue of what to do with boys. Maybe she would warm up to Nick; her father could get his ass over it.

"Well, thank you all very much," Berkely said in a formal way. Oh God, it's the "governor's daughter" voice, I thought as she continued. "Where are y'all from?"

"I was born in Washington, D.C.," Zak replied while looking through the mirror and smiling.

"Oregon," Aaron replied nonchalantly.

"I was born in California, but I grew up in New England," Nick told her. Oh, Berk was going to love that; right before Las Vegas on her list of "Places I Love" was California--yes, all of it.

"Really? How is it there? I would love to go; it's one of my favorite places!" Berk sounded really excited, and I smiled at how happy they sounded talking about California and surfing and beaches. It was nice to see Berkely in an animated conversation that wasn't about the weather or something else that her father had trained her to talk about.

We finally pulled up to a nice restaurant called Delmonico. It looked like it was going to be expensive, so I was glad I had grabbed my purse with some money in it. I didn't want the boys to pay for a dinner that was going to end up costing $300! Zak gave the valet his key, and we all piled out like it was a clown car or something. The boys had made reservations, we discovered, and the waitress seemed excited when Aaron asked about a table for "Zak Bagans" while we stayed behind. What was that all about? Aaron came back to tell us that they were cleaning our table and I noticed a ring on his left hand. That's why he's being this way! Aaron's married! I thought that was really sweet and I couldn't wait to hear about his wife.

When the waitress told us our table was ready, Zak held out his arm for me to grab again, and so did Nick for Berkely. I grabbed Zak's arm and smiled, proud to be walking around with a guy this handsome on my arm. The waitress sat us down at a nice table for six, and Zak and I sat next to each other while Nick, Berkely, and Aaron sat on the other side. I settled in and looked around for a menu. Guess they weren't here yet.

"So, how old are you two?" Nick asked in a little voice. Gosh, was he a cute little thing!

"We're both nineteen," Berkely replied to him, "but Brielle's four months older than I am." He nodded and continued to ask her questions while I sipped my water and watched them (not creepily, though). I looked toward Zak and saw him staring off into space. I saw Aaron roll his eyes out of the corner of my eye and then saw Zak jump up like he had been kicked. Thank God for Aaron, I thought, unless Zak just isn't interested in me. I sighed as Zak looked to Aaron angrily, but Aaron mouthed something and pointed his head toward me. I played along and twirled my straw in my cup while staring at it and moving my head from side to side. I kind of heard an "oh" from Zak and wanted to kill myself. If it was that big of a problem to remember to talk to me, then I must be crap to him. Whatever, I thought, and just sighed a little because i knew this would happen.

"So, where ya from?" Zak asked me, and I looked up at him with raised eyebrows. His blue eyes looked back at me sincerely, and I really wanted to take back what I had been thinking. Maybe he didn't know how to talk to girls or something, I don't know.

"Um, Louisiana. It's uh...humid and stuff." Why did I just say that?! I dug my nails into my leg to punish myself for that stupid sentence. Humid?! Really?! Oh gosh, I might as well just leave now.

"Oh, uh, that's cool. Why are you two in Vegas if there's nothing to do for minors?"

"Well, no matter what, Vegas will always be pretty to us. The bright lights and colors just drew me in from day one. I've been dreaming about Vegas since I was a kid, and it just seemed like a good idea--" I got cut off by the waitress walking up to our table and asking us how we were doing. She gave us all menus and kept looking at Zak like he was a piece of meat and she was a lion or something. Creepy. She asked us what we wanted to drink (Zak first, I couldn't help but notice) and then left as quickly as she had showed up. I just looked down at my menu and tried to think of something to say after that incident, because Zak hadn't seemed to notice the way that she looked at him.

"So, have you been here before?" I asked Zak as I flipped through the menu. All of this stuff was extremely fancy, and I was waiting for fried shrimp or sirloin steak to pop up, but it never did.

"We come here every once in a while," Zak replied. He hadn't even bothered to look at his menu, and when I closed my menu so that I could turn it over to look through it again, he leaned over so that his head was hovering right over my shoulder. I felt shivers go down my spine and hastily bit my lip. I hadn't had a boy this close to me in ages, not that I minded. "Don't worry about it," he said lowly and I turned slightly to see him nod his head toward the menu, "I gotcha covered." I smiled at that and tried to get out a "thanks," but it only came out as a whisper. Gosh, was I a loser.

Zak and I talked about Louisiana and Las Vegas until the waitress came back. Zak ordered filets for both of us, and I sighed in relief when I realized that he had known exactly what I wanted. Thank heavens for Zak...Zak...

"What's your last name, Zak?" I turned to him and watched him take a drink of his Coke. Well, of course I had heard his last name when we got our table, but who knows what I really heard? I hadn't really been paying attention and had forgotten.

"Bagans." I smiled because it reminded me of Bilbo Baggins from Lord of the Rings (yes, I am a nerd about those things). I took a sip of my Sprite and tried to keep the conversation going.

"So you've lived in Vegas your whole life." He nodded to agree. "Wow, that's got to be insane." He nodded again and chuckled.

"Granted, it's extremely fun, but I couldn't do it anymore. Now I live in Denver, Colorado." Oh my gosh, I loved Colorado. It was like California was to Berkely, but better. There wasn't much to do, but I still absolutely adored going to Colorado. But why were they back here if he couldn't stand it?

"Why are you here, then?" I asked, but before I could get an answer, our food was brought to the table. We all ate silently, mostly because I knew Berk and I hadn't eaten since breakfast, but also because Berkely was extremely table etiquette obsessed, and I knew she wouldn't let me talk while there was food in my mouth. Once we were finished, we all agreed we should "bust the joint" and head back to the hotel.

"So, how long are you girls here?" Zak asked on the ride home. To be honest, I didn't know how long we would be there, but I thought I'd give a long enough time for them to know about how extended our stay was.

"Probably around two weeks. We want to go see the sights, maybe go a few places." Berkely was talking to Nick in the back seat, and I'm pretty sure she didn't even hear Zak's question. He just turned his head to look at me while I asked my next question. "How long are y'all here?"

"Uh, probably around a week. We might stay a little longer because we're on our off-season..." Wait, what did he mean by that?

"What do you mean, off-season?" I asked, and he sighed as if I didn't have a clue what I was talking about (and I didn't), and that was offensive to him or something.

"You haven't seen us before, have you?"

"Um, no."

"We have a TV show on Travel Channel. Ghost Adventures?"

"Never heard of it."

"Damn girl!" I heard Aaron laugh from the back, and scrunched my eyebrows. Ghost Adventures? WTF? Is that what they do for a living?

"Ghost Adventures...Um, I don't know how to explain it. We go to paranormally active sights and investigate them for twelve hours straight. It's a pretty cool show, and we get a lot of stuff." I raised my eyebrows and nodded my head. That was pretty cool, I guess. They're TV famous (even though I had never heard of them).

"Twelve hours?! Doesn't that get scary?" I mentally slapped myself when I heard that come out of Berkely's mouth. Of course it's scary to you, Berk, but their grown men. Oh good Lord.

"Well, it would for weenies." Aaron said, and Nick and Zak almost laughed their asses off at that. I didn't understand, but it was nice to hear all of them laughing. Zak had the second funniest laugh ever (after Aaron's), and I had to keep from giggling because they would call me out.

"But seriously, it's scary for most, but we just deal with it. It interests us, and we're out there to prove to skeptics that activity after death is real." Oh, Zak sounded so dreamy when he said that. I almost sighed like he was the most amazing thing in the world, but that's when we pulled up to the hotel again. "Do you guys want to come up to our room and hang out?" Zak asked as we were walking through the front door. I looked toward Berkely, who nodded slightly as if she were my mother and was giving me permission to say yes. I smiled like a little girl, of course, but I was excited, okay?

"Sure! We could watch a movie or something? It's only seven, as if we have a bedtime anyway, right Berk?" She looked so upset when I called her that, as if I had called her "leper." Berkely usually didn't mind me calling her that, but I had forgotten that she didn't like me calling her that in public. I mouthed a quick "sorry" and turned to smile at Zak.

"Or we could watch our new season of G.A. that we just got on DVD! Only $19.99!" He smiled like he was in a commercial and did a strange pose like he was modeling a DVD. Berkely and I laughed at the look on his face until we couldn't breathe, and he wouldn't stop doing it all the way to the stairs of the lobby. I realized that Berkely and I were still in dresses, and the boys were in their nice clothes. I was getting uncomfortable, and I'm sure they were as well; I wasn't too sure about Berkely, though, because she enjoyed being dressed nicely (eesh). As soon as I was about to ask if we could go upstairs and change, loud music started playing out of a room on the first floor. We all looked at each other like something crazy was going on, and we went to find out what was happening.

It was a wedding reception. Zak had peeked into the door and turned toward us with the most wicked smile on his face. I had to bite my lip to remind myself I couldn't attack him for looking so hot when he did that. He raised his eyebrows at all of us, and Aaron started waving his arms in front of himself and saying "no," though it just looked like he was mouthing it because the music was so loud. Nick and Berkely were shrugging their shoulders together in an "as if" manner. I looked down and saw their hands joined. Score! I thought. It was a good thing Berkely had found someone to occupy her thoughts while we were here; maybe Nick's being there could teach her that her father wasn't in charge of her life completely.

"Let's crash this thing, guys. Or at least join in the dancing. We can't be rude, Aaron!" Zak said loudly so that we could hear and Aaron sighed before walking toward the door. Before he walked in, he turned around and motioned for us to follow him. Zak grabbed my hand and led us all onto the dance floor. I looked back toward Berkely, who winked at me and raised her eyebrows. This was one of the craziest things that we had ever done, and I was super excited to be breaking the rules for once.

We walked into a room filled with bright lights flashing around the floor and at least 200 people dancing and pushed together into a rather tight space. "Cheers" by Rihanna was playing, and I couldn't help but put my arms up in the air once Zak and I had gotten into the crowd of people. Glad that we actually fit in, I started to move my body from side to side along to the beat. I kept a pretty good eye on Berkely and Nick mostly because she was my best friend and I wouldn't know what to do without her, but also because she was my younger cousin and I had to protect her. Eventually I forgot my stresses about that and just enjoyed dancing with she, Nick, Zak, and Aaron.

Zak kept both hands on my waist while we danced, and I didn't mind pressing my body against his. It was nice that we could get close like this without having a teacher break us up like in high school, and we didn't have drunk college freshman dancing around us, either. We had fun and laughed as we danced. Zak left for a few minutes to go and get us drinks, and I danced with Berk and Nick, who weren't getting too provocative, but they were cute. Zak came back with something that smelled like alcohol, but I didn't mind much; Berkely and I had drunk before, and we were okay with it as long as it wasn't too much. I grabbed it and took a sip, then went to sit down so that I could take a break. We had danced for around an hour now, and I was about ready to go back to a room--any room--to lie down. "Someone Like You" by Adele came on slowly, and I saw Zak walking toward me with a hand extended. Everyone had grabbed a partner and were going in circles with their arms lovingly around each other. I hadn't done this in so long, and the last guy I had danced with had just grabbed me so he wouldn't be alone.

Zak knelt down until he was almost touching the floor with his hand out for me to take. "May I have this dance?" Oh dear heavens, that was the first time anyone had said that to me, and though it was cheesy and cliche, it didn't matter. I smiled before grabbing his hand confidently and standing up. He pulled me onto the dance floor, and when we got back into the crowd, he pulled me close and I put my arms around his shoulders. Gosh, he was so close to me, and I could smell him every time I took a breath; he smelled so good! It was like chocolate and boys. My cheek was pressed against his shoulder and his arms were around me tightly. I could feel his cheek on the top of my head, and I could feel his chest moving as he breathed. It was a nice feeling, having him so close to me, and I wouldn't mind doing this forever.

We swayed slowly and in circles until the song was over, and when it finished, he kept his arms around me and pulled back to look me in the eye. I looked away nervously, but went back to stare at those friendly blue eyes I thought I knew so well already. It was strange that I felt this way toward Zak; I actually liked him, and I hadn't liked a guy for so long. I wanted him right then and there, and I hadn't even looked at a guy with interest since the beginning of my freshman college year. Before he could say anything, "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5 started to play, and I pulled away from Zak and grabbed his hand. I looked to Berkely, who had started dancing with Nick, and wondered if being with Zak would make me happy like I thought it would.

"I like you," I said a little louder than normal, and looked him in the eye. I did like him, and it wasn't normal for me to move on guys like this, but there was something about this boy that made me feel fuzzy and happy and good inside. Plus, he was super hot and I hadn't lusted over someone in...eternity, but I wanted him in my arms and in my bed like no other. He was just so fucking hot! Geez, his arms were like, the best I had ever seen, and I could just see them holding me while we...um...yeah. Anyway. He didn't answer for a few seconds, and I thought maybe he hadn't heard me or didn't feel the same way, so I opened my mouth to say something, but he stopped me by putting a finger over my mouth and pulling me out of the reception hall. On the way out, I tried to get Berkely to look at me so that she would know where I was going just in case I was going to get killed or something crazy. Come on, I still didn't know Zak all that well, okay? He was a good guy, but who knows guys' intentions these days.

Zak stopped right outside the door in the hall of the hotel. Not many people were in the lobby, and the only sounds were coming from inside the room we had just come out of. I didn't know what we were doing out here, and I opened my mouth to talk again. I closed my mouth when he took a step toward me and was standing so that our chests were slightly touching. I was a bit scared to breathe for a moment, because those light blue eyes seemed to be staring at my soul with a little bit of...was that desire? Nah, it couldn't be, right? My thoughts stopped dead in their tracks when he leaned down and kissed me in a soft, but sorta demanding way. I didn't know what to do, and my eyes stayed open for a moment looking at his closed ones before I realized I was supposed to be kissing him back. What the hell? I thought, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I closed my eyes and kissed him back full force, loving those few seconds that I spent in heaven.