All or Nothing

Almost a weed had past and Eliza realized her face had frozen in a smile. She’d never thought she could possibly smile as much as she had been, but every time she thought about it, her cheeks were hurting and her teeth were showing. She couldn’t help it; being engaged to Brian was one of the best things she’d ever encountered. If she thought he’d been sweet while they were just dating, he was extra amazing while they were engaged.

Currently, they were all in the airport waiting to leave for Vegas for Val’s bachelorette party. She’d told Eliza the reasoning behind having it months away from the wedding was because she didn’t know how busy Eliza was going to be or if she’d be able to take time off. They had a group of girls to go with them. They were staying at the Palms’ hotel that Matt had insisted on paying for, and they had planned to go all out when it came to their clubbing.

Matt’s sister, Amy, and her friend Kaicey had come along with them. Amy was one of Val’s bridesmaids, too, and she brought Kaicey. Eliza had taken one look at Kaicey, and sharing a look with Katie, knew they weren’t going to get along. Kaicey had that bleached-blonde look about her, and something reminded Eliza of Amber, which instantly made her spine stiffen. She wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about this girl yet, but Kaicey’s laugh rubbed Eliza the wrong way, and she couldn’t keep her eyes off of Brian. Brian was a few feet away talking to Zacky and Katie, and Eliza’s eyes kept going back and forth between Kaicey and Brian. He never once looked at the smaller girl, but his eyes would every once in a while drift to Eliza, winking. She decided not to say anything yet; she wanted to sit back and see if the girl did or said something to Brian, and then she would step in.

“For real, don’t get fucking arrested,” Jimmy was saying, and Eliza turned back to him.

“Jimmy, we’re not going to get arrested.”

“No, you may not think you’re going to get arrested, but you can. Hell, I got arrested in fucking Amsterdam. I never thought it was possible, but shit, I did. I was so fucked up that night,” he said, smiling as if remembering it.

“You were on shrooms, weren’t you?” Eliza asked with a smile.

“When am I not on shrooms?”

“If you want to live in Wonderland all day, that’s fine,” Eliza said, and held her hands up at him.

“It was fucking bad, dude. I got pepper-sprayed; those assholes fucking pepper-sprayed my ass. Then, like three nights later, we played in Germany and I had to stop playing because I hadn’t showered and all the mace was fucking running down my face into my eyes and shit because I was sweating so bad.”

Eliza laughed harder as their flight was announced over the intercom. The girls picked up their bags, and Eliza watched Kaicey make eyes and Brian until she walked away. Eliza rolled her eyes and smiled at Brian as he approached her.

“Promise not to do anything I wouldn’t do?”

“That’s not saying a lot, Brian,” Eliza said with a smile.

“You know what I meant,” he said and smiled back at her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

“I know what you meant. I promise I’m not going to fuck anyone else, make out with anyone else, although I’m not promising I won’t do anything with girls.”

“That’s alright with me,” Brian said because he knew she was kidding.

“I love you,” Eliza said, and stood up on her tip-toes to kiss him.

He kissed her back and ran his thumb across her cheek before she turned to follow the girls onto the plane.



The whole ride, she, Katie, and Val talked excitedly. Kaicey and Amy sat beside them across the aisle and every once in a while would join in on their conversation, but all five girls got even more excited as they descended into the airport in Las Vegas. A car was waiting for them there to take them to the Palms Hotel, and they were shown to their room.

Their suite was huge; it contained five rooms, so all of them were excited about having their own room. They all separated to go unpack their things. It wasn’t quite dinner time, yet and they all needed to shower and get ready.

After an hour of almost constant water running, they were gathered into two of the rooms, deciding what to wear. Amy and Kaicey sat on the bed in Katie’s room, watching the other three girls move around. They were entertained by the way Eliza, Katie, and Val got ready. Each of them was doing something to help the other.

Eventually, Amy and Kaicey were shocked to see all the girls dressed, and neither of them were near being ready. They immediately stood up and went off to their own rooms. Katie, Eliza, and Val heard them leave, turned to the room to find it empty, and shrugged. They went back to putting the finishing touches on their makeup or hair.

Eliza posed in the mirror and snapped a picture with her phone. She immediately sent it to Brian, and applied her lipstick as she waited for his reply. She didn’t have to wait long.

“You fuckin tease”

She smiled and turned in the mirror, so she could see the back of her dress, made a kissy face, and snapped another picture to send him. She turned and twisted, making sure she looked okay. Her hair was straight down her back. The white dress was showing way too much skin, but since she was in Vegas, she didn’t care. She wore a white cowl neck dress that stopped about three inches from her crotch. Her hair was straightened and she knew the shoes were going to kill her before the end of the night. She decided to take off all of her bracelets except the one Brian gave her and she laughed at te difference in skin tone colors where they had been sitting. She made sure she had on both of her necklaces, all three rings, and that her makeup was in place before her phone beeped again.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, babe.”

She laughed again and moved out of the bathroom. She looked around the room to see everyone ready. Katie was pulling on silver shoes to match her purple dress. She had argued a lot, but finally Val and Eliza were able to talk her into wearing a short dress. Her eyes were played up with purple eye shadow and her hair was in spiral curls all over her head.

Val’s dress made Eliza a bit jealous. It was a red number with long sleeves that stopped about mid thigh, but half of her stomach and back was showing on her left side. It showed off how little she was, and Eliza was almost envious. Val’s short pixie-cut white-blond hair was styled almost in spikes. Her makeup was minimal and frankly, she looked stunning.

A few minutes later, Amy and Kaicey came out of one of their rooms and announced they were ready to go. As Val explained to the girls about the club they were going to, Eliza looked over Kaicey and noticed that the dress she was wearing looked awful familiar. It hit her that it was the same dress she had worn to the club in L.A. when she had met the guys, except it had a giraffe pattern on it instead of being flat black. Eliza raised an eyebrow, but she kept quiet. This little girl was not going to ruin her mood; especially not on her best friend’s bachelorette party.

They made their way down the elevator and into the lobby where a guy came up to them, announcing a car was ready and waiting on them. They made their way out to the sleek black limo, and all of them thanked Matt loudly, even though he was no where around.

It only took a few minutes before they were outside of the club. Loud rock music was blaring from speakers as the entire building shook with bass. Eliza remembered Val had mentioned they were having a Rock-N-Roll night at the club, and Eliza smiled. They passed the line that was waiting and went right in. Immediately, all five of them went to the bar. They ordered drinks and as soon as Eliza got hers, she turned around and noticed Kaicey not drinking.

“You don’t drink?” she asked.

“I’m not twenty-one,” Kaicey replied.

Eliza almost choked on the sip of vodka and Red Bull she’d taken. “You’re not twenty-one yet?!”

“No, I’m only twenty,” the younger girl replied.

“Wow,” Eliza said and turned to the dance floor.

Katie appeared at her side and they shared a look before smiles broke out on their faces and they made their way to the dance floor. “Something in Your Mouth” was playing and Katie moved behind Eliza to dance. They ground their hips together and laughed, raising their right hands and linking them together as they moved. Eliza made a catcall as Val moved her way towards them and stood in front of Eliza.

They spent over an hour on the dance floor before finally leaving. Since they’d stepped onto the floor, guys had been coming up to them. Now that they were off, more and more guys kept coming up to try and talk to them, but mostly Eliza. Val and Katie shared a smile every time a new guy came up to her. They brought drinks, their best pick-up lines, and left with frowns.

It was only a quarter to midnight and she’d finished sending number twenty packing when they moved back to the bar while Val and Amy ordered more drinks. Eliza was exhausted and regretting wearing the shoes on her feet.

“I’m sick of this,” Eliza said as Val placed a drink in her hand.

“Honestly, I think it’s funny,” Val replied, taking a sip of her own drink.

“I think it’s ridiculous. This is supposed to be for you, not ‘hit on Eliza’ night. I feel like the worst maid of honor ever. You planned your own bachelorette party, and now I’m getting unwanted attention when it should be you getting the attention.”

“Really, Eliza, I promise it is fine. I think—”

A drink appeared in front of Eliza’s face, cutting Val’s sentence off. Eliza followed the drink to the arm that was attached to a guy holding the drink over Eliza’s shoulder.

Katie leaned into Val, “Now that’s just rude.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Val replied.

Eliza was beyond pissed off now. She whirled around and held up her completely full drink. “I’ve already got one so you can do me a favor and fuck off.”

“But, baby you know you would have a great time with me,” the guy said.

Eliza was about to flash her ring and cuss him out, when music from the stage suddenly started. She didn’t know a band was even supposed to play tonight, nor did she see anyone setting up any equipment. All five of the girls’ heads whipped around, though, at the sounds they heard. The song was instantly recognized as a voice moved from a growl to a scream and the familiar beat and guitar rhythms started playing.

Johnny, Jimmy, Brian, Matt, and Zacky were on staged playing “Beast and the Harlot.” Matt’s voice sounded a bit raspy, yet a lot better than it had been. All the girls immediately started yelling and smiling, cheering their boys on.

“I didn’t know they were going to be here,” the guy beside Eliza said. She had forgotten all about him being there.

“He’s so gorgeous,” she said out loud, looking at Brian.

She took in his dark ripped jeans, his Nike shoes, up to his simple black V-neck t-shirt, and his tanned skin. His hair was spiked up in different directions and he was wearing the matching set of sunglasses they’d gotten. Eliza smiled and put hers down over her eyes. Even through the two pairs of sunglasses, she could feel his eyes on hers and she smiled. Her thoughts were confirmed when he smiled back at her.

“I wouldn’t even bother,” the guy said again.

She glanced beside her to see he was still there talking to her.

“You don’t think I’m hot enough to get with Synyster Gates?” she asked, suddenly wanting to toy with this guy.

“Yeah, you’re hot enough,” the guy said, looking down her body. “He’s just dating someone, though.”

“Oh, you’re that big of a fan, are you?”

“Yeah, I am,” the guy replied.

Eliza just smiled and listened to the music. When the chorus came around, Brian, Matt and Zacky all pointed at their respective girls as they all sang “beast and the harlot”. The girls laughed and sang along, or in Eliza’s case, played along. They watched with smiles as the guys finished their song and Eliza moved to pick up her drink. At the same time, the guy beside her grabbed her arm. Just as he touched her, Brian started playing a song Eliza knew wasn’t one of theirs.

“I judge by what she’s wearing just how many heads I’m tearing off of assholes coming on to her. Each night seems like it’s getting worse. I wish she she’d take the night off so I don’t have to fight off every asshole coming on to her; It happens every night she works. They'll go and ask the DJ, find out just what would she say if they all tried coming on to her. Don't they know it's never going to work? They think they'll get inside her with every drink they buy her, as they all try coming on to her. This time somebody's getting hurt; here comes the next contestant,”

Eliza laughed as she looked around at her friends. They were all smiling, too. She felt the guy’s grip on her arm tighten up, and wished he would get the hint.

Finally, there was a break in the lyrics to the song and Brian’s voice rang out through the microphone.

“Hey, asshole, get your hands off of my fiancée!”

Eliza realized the guy didn’t know Brian was talking to him so she turned to the guy with a sweet smile. He thought she was smiling at him, until she lifted her hand.

“He’s talking to you, jackass,” she said, the smile still on her face.

The smile faded from the guy’s face as he focused on the ring on Eliza’s hand. His eyes moved to Brian who had pushed his sunglasses to the tip of his nose and was staring at the guy. He looked back to Eliza and immediately backed away.

“He really will beat the shit out of you, I promise,” Eliza said and when the guy walked away, she turned and blew a kiss to Brian. He smiled in return.

They finished the song while everyone in the club cheered. The girls were the loudest over everyone.

“Alright, now we need someone to come up here and help us sing this fucking song,” Matt said and some people cheered.

He acted like he was looking around as girls rushed to the stage.

“Go up there, stupid,” Val said as she stepped to Eliza’s side.

“You go up there. This is your bachelorette party,” Eliza replied back.

“You’re right, it is, but your voice is better than mine,” Val said and pushed Eliza forward.
She almost stumbled but caught herself and realized Matt was looking at her. She shook her head warningly, but he just smiled.

“What about you?”

Eliza mouthed the word ‘no’, but Matt laughed.

“You look like a little piece of heaven. Why don’t you get up here and sing with us?” He said as he held out his hand to her.

She rolled her eyes and knew she wasn’t going to get out of it so she moved to the stage and took his hand. She put her hand to her butt to make sure nothing flashed as she stood up on the stage. As she put the earpiece in, she leaned into Matt.

“I hate you so much,” she said.

“If you’re going to be a huge singer, you’re going to have to get used to being on stage,” Matt said only.

She took the microphone from Jason Berry and stood in between Matt and Brian. Brian moved closer to her, kissed her cheek and even sneaked a pinch at her butt. She turned to him as the music started and punched his shoulder, making people laugh. Jimmy yelled to her and she moved back so she could hear him and nodded at his words.

She’d never really liked what this song talked about, but she did love the song and couldn’t help but sing along with it whenever she heard it. She hummed as Matt started singing and smiled when Brian stepped up to the microphone saying “come here you fucking bitch,” and he crooked a finger at her. She knew Zacky was supposed to say that part, but they were changing it up for Eliza. She even screamed when Jimmy talked about the stabbing. She raised the microphone to her mouth and joined Matt in singing the chorus.

“’Cause I really always knew that my little crime would be cold, that’s why I got a heater for your thighs. And I know, I know it’s not your time, but bye bye. And a word to the wise when the fire dies, you think it’s over but it’s just begun. Baby, don’t cry. You had my heart, at least for the most part. ‘Cause everybody’s gotta die sometime. We fell apart, let’s make a new start, cause everybody’s gotta die sometime, yeah, yeah. But baby don’t cry,”

She smiled moving around the stage, watching them interact with each other, and act like a zombie coming back from the dead. She smiled and laughed in time with the song and acted like she was going to stab Brian. She fist pumped with Matt as they all chanted “eat it, eat it, eat it!” and raised the microphone to join in with Matt again during the chorus. She couldn’t help but laugh when Brian patted his thighs and made a thrusting motion, like he’d done when they were in Long Beach the year before.

She played the female part perfectly as she and Matt went back and forth.

“I will suffer for so long,” Matt sang as he faced Eliza.

“What will you do, not long enough,” Eliza harmonized.

“To make it up to you,” Matt sang back.

“I pray to God that you do,” Eliza sang, looking at him through her sunglasses.

“I'll do whatever you want me to do”

“Well then I'll grant you one chance,” Eliza said, holding up a finger.

“And if it's not enough”

“If it's not enough; If it's not enough.”

“If it's not enough,” Matt said as he faced the crowd again.

“Not enough,” Eliza sang to him.

“Try again.”

“Try again,” Eliza repeated.

“And again.”

“And again,” Eliza sang and they finished together. “Over and over again.”

Eliza moved along with the music as they got to the speaking part. She moved closer to Brian as Zacky’s voice rang out.

“Do you take this man in death for the rest of your unnatural life?”

“Yes, I do,” Eliza said, looking at Brian.

“Do you take this woman in death for the rest of your unnatural life?”

“I do,” Brian growled.

They all started singing the chorus, and Eliza smiled as she heard Jimmy screaming behind them. She smiled and laughed as they finished out the song. Val and Katie came up to the stage as everyone started cheering. The boys put away their instruments and came down to the dance floor. Jimmy and Johnny moved about to mill around with other girls and Eliza pulled Brian to the dance floor just as Theory of a Deadman’s “Bad Girlfriend” started playing.

Amy moved closer to Kaicey. “What were you saying about trying to get with Brian?”

“I’m going to sleep with him, I guarantee that.”

“You know they’re engaged, right? He loves her more than anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Just because there’s a goalie,” Kaicey said, tearing her gaze away from Amy to look at the couple dancing. “Doesn’t mean you can’t score.”