Picking Up the Pieces

I was just finishing my hair when a knock on the door made me jump.

“What?!” I yelled, pulling the iron away from me, leaving a perfect curl in its place. I turned it off and unplugged it, then turned around to open the bathroom door.

Vic stood before me, wearing black skinny jeans and a flowered button up shirt. “Come on, we’re leaving,” he told me. “You look nice,” he added, winking.

I curtsied at him the best I could in the small space. “Why thank you, kind sir!” I linked arms with him and we made our way off the bus.

The whole rest of the crew was outside, dressed in their choice of nightwear. They all ooooooooh’d and wolf-whistled at me, to which I stuck my tongue out childishly.

I took my place beside Tony, who looked pretty fucking adorable, if I do say so myself. He too wore black skinny jeans, but he had a gray key street tee on instead, with worn out black vans. His curly hair was messy, just how I liked it.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight, boys?” I asked.

“Luke, Casey, Mike, Jake and I are going to MGM Grand to play some poker,” Joe, the muscley guitar tech said.

“Jaime, Vic, Evan and I are going to ride the rollercoaster,” Shane added.

Something told me they planned this out.

Tony looked down at me and bumped my shoulder. “Guess it’s just us for tonight!”

I nodded and laughed nervously. “Remember guys, bus call is three am sharp. We will leave without you,” I warned. They responded with a chorus of ‘yeah’ and ‘sure you will’s and went in their separate directions. Expected. But I was serious. Last summer, I had left Alan from Of Mice & Men in the snow because he was five minutes late. We came back for him though.

Tony turned to me. “Just us now, eh?”

I shrugged, unsure if this was the right thing.

He put a hand on my bare shoulder. “Look, Zoe,” he began. “I’m sorry. I wanna make it up to you.” His big brown eyes stared into my blue ones.

I bit my lip but shook off my uncertainty. It couldn’t be too bad. He seemed like he had changed. Besides, we weren’t kids anymore, right?

“What did you have planned?” I asked quietly.

He took my hand and we started walking. “I’ve got a few things in mind,” he answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tony, I swear to god,” I said for the hundredth time. “If this is a prank I’m going to fucking murder you.”

“It’s not, calm down,” he reassured me. I was standing flush in front of him, with one of his hands guiding me by my hips, and the other covering my eyes.

From what I could tell, we were outside, and near water. I prayed to any god up there that he wasn’t going to throw me in it.

“Okay, we’re here.” His hands left me and I opened my eyes.

In front of me was Tony, grinning hugely, and behind him were the bellagio fountains, jumping and dancing and lighting up all kinds of different colors. He lifted up a bouquet of roses and held it out towards me.

Carefully, I took it, not believing what was happening. I smiled down at them, sniffing them delicately. Then I looked up and smiled at Tony, throwing my arms around him. “Thanks,” I whispered into his tattooed neck.

After I (begrudgingly) detached myself from him, he took my hand and guided to over to the edge of the fountain, where we laid on top of the borderwall that separated the water from the sidewalk.

I closed my eyes, taking in the peace. Who knew Tony was such a gentleman?

We layed there in a peaceful silence for a bit, until some random cop ruined the moment and told us to leave. We did so without protest, continuing along the Vegas strip hand in hand.

“So, catch me up,” Tony said. “What’d you do after high school?”

“Well, I went to UCLA majoring in music management,” I answered, swinging our hands. “But I dropped out my sophomore year when my friend at Fearless Records called me asking me to tour with him, and I haven’t stopped since. What about you?”

He chuckled a bit. “You already know most of the story. Vic and Mike invited me to play for their band during junior year. We released a record when I graduated, and we’ve been touring ever since.” He smiled as he told me the story.

“Did you ever think you guys would get this big?” I asked.

He shook his head and smiled. “Not in a million years.”

Our conversation stopped as we both got hypnotized by the lights and sounds of the Las Vegas strip. Huge, bright signs marking hotels and attractions, tall buildings, each one different from the next, and all kinds of eccentric people took the place of words as we walked.

We stopped all of the sudden and Tony pointed up with the hand that wasn’t holding mine. “Wanna go to the Stratosphere?” I looked up, following the direction of his pointer finger, at an amazingly tall building, that looked like someone had put a big light-up ball on top of a cell tower.
I turned my gaze back to him and nodded excitedly. He pulled me along behind him, looking like a little kid. I had to almost run to keep up with him, which was hard in a dress and wedges.

Once we got to the front of the line, Tony paid for our tickets and we entered the building in search of the elevator. Once we found it, we got in, along with about thirty other people. It was cramped, to say the least.

Tony wrapped an arm around my waist as the doors close, and the elevator started to rise. I felt my ears pop as we went higher and higher. Once we finally reached the 108th floor, the doors opened and everyone poured out.

“Ladies first,” Tony said, bowing and extending a tattooed arm out.

I curtsied and exited the elevator with him close behind. We walked together onto the outdoor observation deck, which was almost empty considering it’s close to two in the morning. We stood side by side, flush up against the railing, taking in the full Las Vegas skyline.

From all the way up there, you could really see how small the city was. It was quite fascinating actually, a few miles in either direction then BAM! nothing but desert. Normally, if I was up this high, I’d probably be looking at the stars, but the bright city lights compensated for that. A million different colors, shapes and sizes.

Tony put a hand in the small of my back and pointed off into the distance. “There’s the roller coaster! Say hi to Vic, Shane, Evan and Jaime!”

“Hi Vic, hi Shane, hi Evan, hi Jaime!” I yelled, waving at nothing in particular.

Tony laughed. It sounded cute and confident, just like his personality. When his laughter stopped, he looked at me. I tried to act like I didn’t notice it and just kept looking at the buildings, but eventually I gave up and turned to face him.

“What are you staring at?” I asked quietly.

“Your pretty face,” he replied, smiling.

I blushed and looked down at my feet....and the entire city of Las Vegas....

“Is it alright if I kiss you?” He whispered.

I looked up at him once again and smirked. “A kiss on the first date? You’re movin right along, Perry. You sure?”

“Absolutely,” he replied breathlessly. His grin was the last thing I saw and was frozen in my mind as I closed my eyes and our lips collided. He put a hand on my hip, as if preventing me from running away (like I would) and I put a hand on his neck, keeping him in place. The kiss was soft and gentle, but it had so much emotion in it, like he was making up for all the shit that happened in high school, and I was willingly forgiving him.

For now, at least.