Waking Up in Vegas

Haley sat at the table, sipping on orange juice as Michelle rambled on and on about the night before and how awesome the party had been. Haley's head still hurt, even after her long shower in her own room. Surprisingly, for as bad as she felt, she looked pretty put together.

"Haley." Michelle said as she waved her arms and hands in front of her friend's face. "Earth to Haley." She said.

Haley snapped out of her thoughts as she tried to remember the night before. "What?"

Michelle looked sideways at her friend, worried and concerned, "You're too quiet. You sure looked like you were having a lot of fun with what's-his-face at Ghost Bar last night." Her friend wiggled her eyebrows.

Haley nodded absently, eager to hear more, "Yeah, I did."

"Yeah you were—"

Kevin cleared his throat as he approached the table with Haley and Michelle, "Is this seat taken?" Kevin's smile was toothy and the sunglasses covering his eyes were not out of the norm. Kevin looked put together but Haley was sure that if he was as drunk as she had been, he was feeling pretty rough too.

"No, No, please sit." Haley said with a small smile at Kevin and the other man that was with him; A short brunette named Mark.

Mark looked at Michelle and smiled a little behind his own sunglasses. Mark was newer to the Burton team— He had been a snowboarding sensation that seemingly had popped up overnight from Canada. Burton had been quick to snatch him up for their team and it was a wise choice.

Haley sighed as they all sat in an awkward silence for several minutes, "Look, about last night, whatever happened..." Her voice trailed off.

Kevin laughed a little, "Look, I think, we should get reacquainted with each other."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Haley said with a small smile, "This didn't exactly work out last time and I think it would be in everyone's best interests if we just filed for an annulment and got this quickly taken care of."

Mark laughed, "Come on, it's not the end of the world you know. So you married some dude in Vegas.. You could have picked a lot worse."

Michelle chimed in, "Oh like you Sparky with your fake ID and big sponsor who gets you in to any and every bar we went to last night."

Mark shrugged. "I can't help that." He said, pushing his glasses up on his face with a wide smile. Mark may have been young but he wasn't dumb. It was a well-known fact that a lot of the snowboarders and sponsor parties were often filled with alcohol in copious amounts and that most companies turned a blind eye at the events when their riders were drinking underage.

Haley shot both Michelle and Mark dirty looks, "Look, I don't want to fight about this. I just want to move on. I mean, come on, how do we know that Kevin and I are really married. It's not like there was a certificate or anything in my room." Haley laughed nervously, "I mean, I just woke up with this ring on my finger."

Kevin raised an eyebrow and took a folded up piece of paper from his pocket, "I found this on the kitchen counter next to a bottle of champagne." He unfolded the paper and slid it across the table towards Haley.

Haley picked up the creased piece of paper and let her eyes scan over it. It was the real deal. Her signature and Kevin's were there along with two witnesses (Michelle and Mark; Note to self: Kill Michelle later), plain as day. She couldn't dispute that this was now real. It was as real as real could get. It felt like a bad movie and this time, there was no escape. Things weren't going to be as simple as media had made Britney Spears' annulment to that guy she married in Vegas.

Kevin, on the other hand, didn't mind so much that it had happened. He could have honestly done far worse in life than marrying the girl that taunted his dreams, even if they had been blackout-drunk and they don't remember a single bit of it. He just felt guilty that he'd done it without his parents and his family being there. That was the only thing, he wasn't prepared to explain to his family, how the platinum band came to be around his ring finger.

Kevin sat there absentmindedly twirling the platinum band around his finger as he basically tuned Haley out. "Why don't we give this marriage thing a try." Kevin finally spoke.

"Excuse me?" Haley asked, shocked and startled that Kevin would say such a thing.

"Why don't we give this a real try?" Kevin said, sitting up and sitting forward, "Look, we give it six months and if it doesn't work out, we get the divorce and we leave with whatever we came here with."

"That's a bad idea." Mark and Michelle said at the same time, both looking between Kevin and Haley.

Haley looked at Kevin, "Did you fall on your head last night? What in your right mind would ever let you think that this could be a good idea Kevin? I mean, really, we're from two different worlds..." Haley was now standing and ready to dart from the table.

Kevin stood, chasing after her as she began briskly walking from the table, "Really? We were a part of the same world once."

Haley stopped walking and turned to face Kevin, "Well, I'm not a part of that world anymore Kevin. It's a choice I made a long time ago. I told myself I'd never go back to where I was and this—"

"—This is different Hayley." The older said, stopping just in front of her and staring down at her, "This is giving us a real shot. What's yours is mine and mine is yours and if things don't work out we each walk away with whatever brought to the table." Kevin pushed a hand through his hair.

Haley stared up at Kevin looking in to his blue eyes, "How do you propose this works then because I'm living in Denver. You're in California..."

"Move." Kevin pleaded.

"Are you crazy?!" Haley asked, "Of course you're crazy.. you're proposing that we actually try this marriage thing out. Are you even crazier?"

Kevin shook his head, "What do you have in Denver that's keeping you there?"

For once, Haley didn't have a response for Kevin. She literally had nothing but her job keeping her in Denver. She just looked up at Kevin, not sure. This could be a huge adventure or a huge mistake. Hayley closed her eyes. Other than her family she had nothing there for her. School was over, no boyfriend, no job prospects besides working at a bar, and no real roots to speak of.