Almost Easy

Liz’s POV

Our flight landed in the desert, it looked so empty and dry, something I hadn’t seen in years, almost a decade. I grabbed my carry-on bag and followed the group of other moms out of the terminal toward baggage claim, Martha giving me an exited hand squeeze as we stood beside the round carousel.

“We’re here!” She squeaked, jumping a little in the air, “I love Vegas, it’s honestly the best.”

“It is.” I smiled a little, checking to make sure I took my phone off of airplane mode so I could check in with Danny as soon as we got to the hotel. As he feared, that night, our conversation had been swept under the rug once again due to the fact I pretended to have fallen asleep before he came to bed after checking on Colton.

With a brick in my stomach I grabbed my luggage from the belt and hoisted it along with me towards the limo Martha had rented for us, something inside of me told me to just enjoy myself. I couldn’t tell if that was the three glasses of champagne I had downed on the plain, or the two nips of vodka I had snuck in the bathroom before we even boarded.

“Ladies,” The gentleman driving us opened the door to a fully stocked limo, I couldn’t help but feel slightly excited, “Enjoy the ride we’ll be there soon.”

“Holy mother.” Drea, one of the other moms, shrieked as Martha began pouring drinks for us, “This is going to be wild!”

“Here’s to moms weekend!” We all raised our glasses and clinked them together, “And here’s to Liz loosening up finally.” Drea smirked and gently nudged my hip, I smirked and downed the drink.

“Fuck it.” I threw my hands up, “Let’s rage bitches!”

“Hell yeah! Liz Heely finally letting the party animal loose!” Martha high fived me, “Ladies one rule: NO KID TALK!”

“Amen!” We all shouted in unison, “Let’s try not to be sober enough this whole trip, to even remember we have kids!”

I laughed at Martha’s words, “Yes! Let’s rage.”

The ride to the hotel was full of champagne, mixed drinks, and loud music. A few of us had taken our turns standing out the sun roof of the limo while driving down the strip, I restrained myself and decided to save the antics for later. Part of me wanted to break out the numbers memorized in the back of my head and hook us up with some VIP spots at clubs but I refrained from mentioning it.

We settled our luggage in the extremely large suite, I had managed to get in to the building without a minor panic attack seeing the hallway leading to the chapel area.

“So where to first?” Bethany asked, the fourth mom with us, “Do we have a night plan?”

“Yeah, we have dinner reservations for six then I figured we would go hit some clubs?” Martha looked at us, we all nodded, “Sweet. Let’s pregame while we get ready.”

I glanced at the clock, it was already five, that was leaving minimal time to get ready while drinking. I decided to skip the drinking and get right to dressing. I had in my bag a tight black dress, one I had managed to hang on to and even find to pack from before I had Colton. I hid out in one of the two bathrooms in the suite and pulled it on over my head, smiling at how well it fit, even looser in places. Chasing a child around really did a number on the extra curves I used to have. I plugged in my curling iron and added my old school signature beach waves to my now dark brown hair, having it bleached was way too much upkeep for me. I used some hair spray to keep it in place and add a little texture before moving on to my makeup. A full face, accentuating my eyes, adding a bright red lip with some large hooped earrings. I walked out of the bathroom within fifteen minutes and was completely ready bar my shoes. Everyone else was working on makeup still.

“Shit.” Martha turned and looked at me, “How do you and Danny not have more kids?” She laughed.

“Are you secretly a model?” Drea applied her lipstick as she stared, “That ass girl.” She giggled a little, “Tell me you’re not wearing heels too, you’ll literally be scouted and whisked away to Hollywood.”

I rolled my eyes a little bit at her comment, “Stop, I’ve had this dress for like ten years. I just have good genes...”

“I’d say.” Martha finished her makeup and grabbed her shoes, “You honestly you look famous, you’re going to get us all the attention tonight.”

“Oh god.” I laughed under my breath and scrolled through an event page for tonight in Vegas, noticing a pretty good DJ was at a club not too far from our hotel, “Hey, after dinner want to go hit up a club I just found? There’s a pretty famous DJ there tonight..”

“I bet miss hot legs could get us in to VIP.” Bethany smirked, “Why not lets do it.”

“Im in.” Martha smiled and grabbed her purse as I slipped in to my stilettos, “There are the heels.”

“I lived in these back in the day.” I laughed, “It’s like riding a bike.”

“Where the hell did you say you were from again?” Bethany asked, “I’ve neve known someone who’s that good at walking in heels”

“Not Indy that’s for sure.” I dismissed the comment as we left for the restaurant.

:.:.:.:

Dinner was over and I called us a car to take us to the club, we had all drank enough to be tipsy on the ride, all making jokes about the date that had been happing at the table behind us and it was a major flop.

“Alright ladies, we’re here.” Our driver smiled as I handed him my credit card, “Thanks Ms. Baker.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and took my card back, I hadn’t legally changed my name yet and I had seen no problem with it until now. This very moment when three grown women were staring at me after getting out of a car service in Vegas.

“Baker?” Marth stared at me, “You haven’t changed your name yet?”

“Haven’t had time,” I shrugged, thanking God internally that was her only qualm, “We agreed once we moved though I would be getting right on it.”

“Well, at least for the night one of us can be a Miss not a Mrs.” Drea smirked at me and tugged at her ring, “Girls weekend.”

“Oh.” My eyes widened, “No, I can’t do that to Danny.”

“You don’t fuck anyone, you just get free drinks.” Martha smiled and tucked her ring away, I shook my head, ”That’s fine, pay for your drinks.”

I smirked a little, “No, I won’t. And I’ll keep my ring on.”

“Good luck.” Bethany watched me as we walked up to the bouncer at the club.

“Excuse me, you can’t just cut the entire line little miss.” He stared at me, I smiled and grabbed my ID from my bag, the wine we had at dinner beginning to speak for me.

“I hate doing this,” I lowered my voice a little, “But I got dragged on a girls weekend, and I didn’t have time to reserve a VIP, can I please talk to George?” I handed him my ID, “He’s done a lot of promo stuff for my brother.”

“Shit,” He nodded, “Zack was actually just out here a few weeks ago with the guys. Yeah, hey Ben!” He gestured to another bouncer inside, “Take them up, have fun Lizzy.”

“Thanks Dean.” I read off his nametag quickly and gestured for the girls to follow me, ignoring the shocked expressions on their faces, following Ben up to a VIP booth, “Thanks so much! Tell George I owe him my soul.”

“Come on Liz,” He laughed as a girl in next to nothing brought over our bottles, “We all know Baker’s don’t have souls.”

“Touche.” I laughed as he left us alone, ”Alright, bitches-”

“What the fuck just happened Liz?” Martha looked at me, shocked, slightly confused and drunk, “How do you know that guy?”

“She doesn’t, she knows me.” George walked over, the owner of the club, the owner of a few clubs on the strip. I smiled as he hugged me, I gave him a look and pulled him aside “This isn’t your normal group Elizabeth.”

“I know.” I whispered, “Uhm... You know right?”

“Of course I know.” George rolled his eyes at me, “Everyone knows. Vegas is a very brazen place to go when you're hiding.”

“Thanks for letting us up here.” I kissed his cheek and let him walk away quietly.

“I’m done asking questions,” Bethany raised her hands as the bottle girls made drinks, “Let’s drink and party!”

I laughed a little under my breath, taking the drink being handed to me, washing away the thought of what labyrinth I had just entered.