Unbound

“Charlotte, come on you lazy ass wake up.” Lisa said, shaking her awake.

“Mmm…what?” Charlie asked sleepily.

“Come on, everyone’s already off the plane.” Lisa said as she pulled the strap of her purse around her shoulder.

Charlie opened her eyes and sure enough, the plane was grounded. The cabin was completely empty say for a lone flight attendant holding the door for Charlie and Lisa. She looked out the window and could see the faint glow of the city casting beautiful rays of light across the night sky. Charlie unbuckled and stood up quickly from her seat. Maybe a little too quickly. She immediately felt light-headed and almost fell back down but Lisa put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

“Thank you for flying American Airlines and have a nice night.” The cheerful flight attendant said as they exited the plane.

“Gee, what hotel are we in?” Mikey asked as he and the rest of the guys were picking their luggage up from the carousel.

“Brian said he booked a two room suite in the MGM Grand for us.” Gerard said, grabbing the strap of his bag and pulled it over his shoulder.

“Guys! Check this out!” Frank said excitedly as he leaped onto the carousel and sat on top of his luggage.

“Sir, please.” An airport security guard said to Frank. “There is no riding the luggage carousel.”

“Fine.” Frank said glumly as he hopped off, pulling his bag with him.

“C’mon guys, let’s go.” Ray said, leading the way out the doors of the airport where Bob had already hailed two cabs for them.

“Alright, split half and half.” Bob said as he heaved his suitcase in the trunk of one of the cabs. “We’ll meet back up at the hotel.”

“Where to ladies?” The taxi cab driver asked after Charlie and Lisa had put their luggage in the trunk of the cab and climbed in the back seat.

“The Aladdin.” Lisa said, fastening her seatbelt.

“Mom can we get some food first?” Charlie asked, remembering that she hadn’t eaten anything since the half of grapefruit she was permitted to eat for dinner the previous night.

“No time.” Lisa said impatiently. “We still have to check in then get you to the hotel’s gym. You’re still looking a little soft around the edges.”

“But mom I-”

“Charlotte no.” Lisa said firmly. “You,” She said pointing at the driver. “Drive.”

“Yes ma’am.” The driver nodded, pulling away from the curb quickly.

Charlie sighed and stared out the window at the looming city lights, rapidly growing nearer as the taxi sped off down the road. She looked down at her perfectly manicured fingernails and began picking at the pale pink varnish, hoping this would distract her from the increasing pain in her stomach.

“Stop that.” Lisa ordered, pulling Charlie’s hand away from her left.

Charlie ignored her and started scratching the varnish off her thumb with her index finger.

“Charlotte I said stop!” Lisa said forcibly.

“Fine.” Charlie spat and went back to looking out the window.

“Here we are.” The driver announced, pulling the taxi over to the curb.
“Thank you.” Lisa said curtly as she tossed him some money for the cab fare. “Bellhop!” She called to a young man standing near the door of the hotel with a luggage cart.

“You ladies in town for the pageant?” The man, who’s shiny golden nametag read ‘Tommy,’ asked as he heaved one of Charlie’s heavy bags from the trunk of the cab onto the cart.

“Young man, you are looking at the nineteen eighty three winner of the Miss United States pageant.” Lisa replied with an air of arrogance.

“Mom stop it.” Charlie said as she helped Tommy with the luggage.

“This is my daughter Charlotte.” Lisa said ignoring her comment. “soon to be this year’s winner.”

“Well…good luck with that.” Tommy said tipping his hat to Charlie as he wheeled the heavily laden cart through the enormous doors of the hotel.

“Thanks, I can take it from here.” Charlie said, handing Tommy a tip as Lisa went ahead to the front desk to check in.

“Hey, thanks.” He said tucking it in his pocket. “Is she always like that?”

“Who my mom?” Charlie asked as she took the cart from him. “Yeah.”

“Charlotte!” Lisa called to her in a shrill voice as she motioned to the elevators.

“I’m sorry.” Tommy said.

“Thanks.” Charlie said before following Lisa reluctantly to the elevators.

“Hi, um we’re My Chemical Romance.” Ray said awkwardly to the woman behind the front desk of the MGM. “We’ve got a reservation for two rooms I think.”

“My Chemical Romance?” The woman asked, sounding confused as she looked through the reservation records on her computer.

“It might be under the name Schechter, Brian Schechter.” Ray said. “Our band manager.”

“I’m sorry but my records show that the two room suite reservation under that name isn’t until next week.” She said.
“What?” Gerard asked, stepping up to the desk beside Ray. “That’s impossible, we’re doing a show here Saturday night.”

“Sir are you sure?” The woman asked. “This Saturday is the Miss USA pageant.”

“What’s going on?” Frank asked, walking up to the front desk in between Ray and Gerard.

“Schechter gave us the wrong date.” Gerard said. “We’re not playing here until next week.”

“You’re kidding me.” Frank said, his jaw dropping.

“We’ll, we’re just going to have to get a different room and stay here.” Ray sighed.

“Um sir?” The woman asked uneasily. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“What?” Frank, Gerard and Ray all asked in unison.

“I’m very sorry but with the pageant and everything, we’re completely booked. There isn’t a single room left in this entire hotel.” She answered. “I…I could check with another hotel… maybe there’s some rooms open at-”

“Do it.” Gerard snapped angrily.

The woman looked rather frightened at his sudden harsh tone and she glanced back down to her computer screen.

“Oh.” She said sighing with relief after a few minutes. “The Aladdin still has a few rooms available.”

“Thanks.” Ray said as the three of them walked back across the lobby and outside where Mikey and Bob were getting their luggage out of the trunks of the taxis.

“Guys what’s going on?” Bob asked.

“Get that stuff back into the cabs, we can’t stay here.” Gerard said pointing at their bags.

“What? Why not?” Mikey asked.

“We’ll explain on the way.” Ray said through gritted teeth as he helped Bob heave one of their trunks back into the taxi. “C’mon we gotta get to the Aladdin.”