by Ali Olson
Even if he never met her again, maybe he’d find that feeling somewhere else, though he wasn’t sure about that. He’d never seen eyes like hers before. Or legs.
He needed help.
He heard his phone buzz, bringing him back to reality. Vegas was not the place to start rethinking your outlook on life. Aaron picked it up and glanced at the screen.
Jeremiah had texted Hey. Come over whenever you’re ready to go.
Aaron felt a little uncertain about going over to his friend’s suite. Would he be pissed about him disappearing the night before?
He tapped out a quick I’ll be right over, put on his boots and walked down the hall to the next suite.
As soon as he knocked, his friend opened the door, smiling the widest smile Aaron had ever seen. Jeremiah had barely waved him in before he began telling the story of his night. “Man, last night was awesome! Sorry you weren’t feeling great. You really missed out. Those two hanging all over you were pretty disappointed. I bet you could’ve gotten both of them. You hear what I’m saying? Both of them.
“Anyway, I dropped them off at the Bellagio on the way back here. You know Vanessa, right? The brunette with really short hair. She came back here with me. Just left a few minutes ago. You wouldn’t believe what happened if I told you. Are you feeling better? You must be hungover like crazy.”
Aaron barely had time to register what his friend was saying as Jeremiah wandered around the room, picking up his scattered clothing and gesturing wildly. Aaron was relieved his behavior hadn’t bothered Jeremiah. In fact, Jeremiah hadn’t seemed to register anything odd about his conversation with Jessica or any of the events of last night.
Aaron said, “Yeah, I felt pretty awful this morning, but I’m better now.”
It was somewhat true—he no longer felt like throwing up, at least.
Jeremiah snatched up his phone and room key card and walked back to Aaron, who was still standing near the door. Aaron considered trying to say something to Jeremiah about the night before, but decided against it. No point bringing him down.
As they exited the room, Jeremiah started talking again, giving Aaron even more reason to keep his mouth shut. “Tonight we’re having dinner with a bachelorette party, by the way. I met this sexy chick at the strip club who was there with a big group of them, but I managed to pull her aside and get her number. Her name was Marlene. No, that wasn’t it. Marilyn. Anyway, there are, like, seven of them besides the bride, and the ones I saw were all crazy hot. They’re from back East and in town for a long weekend, so I’m thinking we can get one of them to break away from the pack for you. Marilyn was all over me, so I think I won’t have a problem there—”
Jeremiah seemed so proud of himself and excited at the prospect that Aaron nodded, even though the last thing he felt like doing was trying to seduce a strange woman who was probably depressed because her friend was getting married and she was still single. He’d done it before, but it had left him feeling guilty, though the women hadn’t seemed to mind. It wasn’t as if he told them he was looking for a long-term relationship or anything; it just felt as though he was taking advantage.
Even if he had no qualms about the situation normally, it certainly would not be top of his list this weekend. He still felt terrible about Jessica, and he hadn’t forgotten how his heart pounded when he looked at her. He doubted any random woman from a bachelorette party could top that.
Still, there was nothing to be done except go along with his friend, be a good wingman and try to get out of it without hurting anyone’s feelings.
He was sure he’d be spending another evening in his hotel bed alone.
4
JESSICA SAT DOWN to lunch at their large reserved table. She was there before the rest of the party and had to force herself not to lean on her hand and fall asleep while she waited. She had assumed she would feel pretty crappy by the end of the wild bachelorette party weekend, but here it was, only Friday. They had been in town a little over twelve hours and she was well on her way to being wiped out.
She couldn’t get the sight of Aaron out of her mind and kept replaying the scene from the night before. Sometimes her imaginary self pressed against Aaron and let her hormones take over, letting her hands slide along his muscular arms and across his imagined abs. Those fantasies were the worst because they made every inch of her come alive and set firecrackers off along her spine, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.
She needed to distract herself somehow, or she would go crazy waiting for the rest of the women. Even though she knew she would get flack for it, Jessica pulled out her phone and called her mom despite the explicit instructions not to do that while she was in Vegas. After the third ring, her mother answered. The first thing Jessica heard was a sigh. “Why are you calling? You should be having fun.”
Jessica could hear the love even in her mother’s rebuff, and it soothed her soul a little. “I missed my family. Is that so terrible?”
Another sigh. “We saw you less than a day ago. I should’ve just let it go to voice mail.”
Jessica smiled to herself. “You’d never do that to your favorite daughter.”
“I’ll be telling your sister you said that.”
“She knows it’s true. Can I talk to Dad?”
There was a brief silence, a quick clearing of a throat, and then her father’s voice drifted into her ear. Just hearing him quieted her mind. “What’s going on, Jess?”
She shrugged, even though he couldn’t see her. “I just wanted to check on the family. See how things are going.”
“Not much has changed since yesterday, Jess. I’m fine. Go do something Vegas-y.”
“I don’t know what that means. Like date a stripper? Gamble away my life savings on craps?”
His laugh, soft but still his own, came pouring out of the phone pressed to her ear. He said, “I was thinking more along the lines of walking around on the Strip or going to see a show, but those are good ideas, too. Stop bothering us and go have a good time.”
It was amazing how just a few words from him made her feel so much better. As the rest of her lunch group appeared outside the window, Jessica took a deep breath, ready to face them. “You know you miss me, Dad. Fine, I’ll go be Vegas-y. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Have fun with your stripper.”
Anna, the black-haired one whose name she had finally memorized, walked into the restaurant with the pack of sorority sisters trailing behind her. Each woman looked immaculate, with a wide lipsticked smile. Anna sat next to her, and Jessica slid her phone into her purse. “Hi, Jessica. Wasn’t last night so much fun?” Anna asked, full of enthusiasm.
It wasn’t exactly the phrase Jessica would use, but Anna seemed sincere, so she just smiled back and answered, “It was definitely a night I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
She wasn’t sure if she had managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, but the other women surrounding her all seemed satisfied, nodding in agreement, so she must have done a decent job. They all started reminiscing about the night before as if it were something that had happened years ago instead of a few hours ago.
“That food was so good. If I ate like that every day, I would end up weighing two hundred pounds,” said a size-zero pixie. Jessica was pretty sure her name was Destiny.
“What about those guys we danced with at XS?” asked...Mandy? Mindy?...as she nudged Alana?—yeah, definitely Alana.
Definitely-Alana covered her face with her hands, laughing. “You almost got us kicked out of the club, Amanda. I didn’t even know that was possible.”
Anna, Alana, Amanda. There was an Alexis in here somewhere, too. Why did Cindy need to have so many friends whose names started with A? It was as if she was trying to make it confusing. Jessica’s head spun as she tried to keep the names straight. Their perkiness and perf
ection didn’t help her mood any.
The only person who looked even remotely as bad as Jessica felt was Cindy, whose face was still slightly green. Even from across the table, Jessica could see the circles under her friend’s eyes. She made a mental note to mother her a little whenever they were free of the sea of sorority sisters.
Not that she looked much better despite her more sober and less vomit-worthy morning. She had cringed when she saw herself in the bathroom mirror that morning.
At lunch, she allowed herself to drift in and out of the conversations around her, imagining Aaron in a variety of scenarios, each one as unrealistic as the one before. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but it had been far too long since she was with a man. And since she was picturing no ordinary man, it should have come as no surprise that her body was unrelenting in its yearning.
“So, tonight’s plan,” began Marilyn, quieting the others. “Jeremiah and his friend will be meeting us for dinner at eight-thirty. The limo should be here around eleven, which means plenty of time to eat and drink and gamble. The driver has the details for the clubs we’ll hit tonight. Is everyone good with that? Cindy, are you going to survive another night?”
Cindy nodded and attempted a smile. “I should be over my hangover enough by then. If not, I’ll just drown it in more alcohol.”
This tactic was met with approval by the other women at the table.
Jessica couldn’t say she was looking forward to another evening of all this—she was still reeling from the previous night—but she smiled at Cindy and pretended she was excited. She was going to try to have fun with the girls regardless of her natural inclinations. She’d promised herself, for Cindy’s sake, to give it a shot.
If nothing else, she could at least sit back and picture Aaron, sweaty from his run, standing close to her and pulling off the T-shirt to expose the muscled stomach and sculpted chest she knew were beneath his clothing. She could smell him again, that heavy scent of his skin. She was happy with her decision to stop fighting the inevitable and let herself enjoy the fantasy, as long as she reminded herself that it wasn’t real and never would be.
As the group finished eating and Jessica paid her portion of the astronomical bill—how could a Caesar salad be so expensive?—she squeezed around and between the rest of the group until she was walking next to Cindy. Her friend seemed a little better after the meal, but still had an unhealthy tint to her cheeks. Jessica wrapped her arm around Cindy’s shoulders.
“You doing okay?” she asked.
Cindy shrugged and rubbed her face with her hands as they stepped into the elevator to take them to their floor. “I haven’t thrown up my soup yet, so that’s a good sign. Why did I drink so much?”
Jessica squeezed Cindy’s shoulders. “Because you’re getting married in two weeks and you’re in Vegas. You’ll rally tonight. And if you don’t want to go out, you don’t have to. It’s your party, you know.”
“Don’t try to get out of having fun, Jess.”
Jessica looked at her friend with wide, innocent eyes as they left the elevator and began walking toward Cindy’s room. “I’m not trying to get out of anything. I’m just looking out for your health.”
Cindy raised one eyebrow and stared at Jessica. It was clear she didn’t buy it. Jessica chuckled. “Okay, okay. We’ll have fun tonight. I’ll rally, too. I’m just not used to staying up so late.”
Cindy stopped in the middle of the hallway and grasped Jessica to her so hard, it almost made Jessica want to cry, though she was unsure why. Her friend said, “I’m glad you came. I know it’s not your thing, but thanks for doing it anyways.”
Jessica hugged her back. “I’m happy for you, Cindy. Really.”
She meant it, too. Sure, it felt a little crappy to watch her roommate’s blissful fairy tale when her own romantic track record fell far short of stellar—and trying to find another apartment in New York City had so far been a complete and utter failure—but Cindy was a good person and deserved to be with a guy who loved her.
They broke apart, and Jessica felt better than she had the entire trip. Cindy fumbled through her bag for the key card to her room. “I’m going to take a nap. You should do the same. See you back here in a few hours?”
Jessica nodded. She suddenly felt completely wiped. Perhaps she’d actually be able to sleep a little before she was due back for dinner preparations.
She went back to her room and managed to crash for a couple of hours before getting some work done. Now that she wasn’t fighting her mind’s insistence on imagining Aaron, it seemed to free up enough mental space to let her behave like a normal human being, which was definitely an improvement. If she could keep pace with her editing workload, she might just be able to turn her temporary job into something serious, and with how expensive it was going to be to rent her own place, if she ever found one, she’d definitely need the money.
At six, Jessica closed her laptop and made her way across the hall to Cindy’s room. Although their dinner reservations were still two hours away and at a restaurant just downstairs, she’d been told to come over early to “get ready.” She tried not to dread whatever that meant. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to survive another of Cindy’s chosen outfits.
The moment Jessica walked through the door, it became clear that the night before was only a small example of what these women wanted to do to her. Everyone turned as she came in, smiling in anticipation. A chair had been moved into the bathroom hallway, and every available surface was spread with more beauty products than she could count. Lip and eye pencils were lined up like surgeon’s tools.
Cindy, looking much better than she had before, pointed to the chair. “Sit. We’ve got a plan.”
There was nothing to do but sit.
As Alana and Destiny pounced on her, starting with her fingernails and her hair, the other women examined her like artists studying a blank canvas.
Marilyn said, “We have two hours. Hair will take a half hour, easy. An hour if we try to put it up.”
Alexis broke in. “We can try it up, but I really think it’s prettier down.”
“Well, let’s curl first and see how a couple of things look. We can always take it back down.”
The others agreed. Jessica stayed quiet in her seat, letting the experts talk. She assumed they didn’t mean a ponytail when they talking about putting it “up,” so they were already beyond her skills.
Amanda tilted Jessica’s chin so she was staring into the overhead light. Two thoughts went through Jessica’s head. First, she was impressed that she had learned most of their names. Second, she wondered at what point she had started to feel comfortable around these women. She wasn’t ecstatic about being a dress-up doll, but she liked the people surrounding her and was happy they were enjoying the weekend.
Amanda said, “We should get foundation and mascara done now, but wait for the rest until a half hour before we go so it won’t smudge.”
Now that they had a plan, the group broke into teams, some fussing with her hair, others working on their own preparations and still others having conversations while they waited for their turn at the mirror. It was a cacophony of noise and movement, and though Jessica didn’t feel like a part of it, she knew she wasn’t exactly an outsider any longer, either.
“Who wants drinks?” Alexis called from the makeshift bar that had originally been a desk.
“All three of us,” Alana called back, and Amanda began pouring some concoction.
Jessica was now a part of “us” in their minds. She settled back in the chair, the knots in her back loosening.
When Alexis brought their drinks, Destiny handed Jessica hers. “Be careful with your nails. They’re still wet.”
As Jessica sipped her rum and Coke—which would better be described as rum with a splash of soda on top—Destiny started on her right hand. �
��Thanks for letting us do this, Jessica. It’s like going to sleepovers in high school again.”
Jessica set her barely touched drink on the floor and laughed. “I should be the one thanking you guys for making me look presentable.”
Destiny snorted. “You know you don’t need any of this to look gorgeous. You’re one of the lucky ones.”
Jessica had nothing to say to that. Gorgeous? Acceptable, sure. Maybe pretty. Not gorgeous.
After an hour, the beautification kicked up a notch, from leisurely drink sipping and nail polishing into full-on transformation mode. Jessica felt as if she were on some makeover TV show.
Alana had put Jessica’s hair up multiple ways before declaring, “Jessica, your hair is just too beautiful to hide. We have to keep it down,” and undoing all her work.
While Alana fussed with her hair, adding more curl here and there, Anna and Lindsey gave her smoky eyes, Amanda put dark lipstick on her full lips and who knew what else was added to her face.
Finally they had her squeeze into a black dress so low-cut that she knew exactly what would happen if she moved too quickly at any point during the evening, and God help her if she fell. It certainly would offer little resistance if she was doing any bouncing around at all. At least it was a full two inches longer than the one the previous night. She counted her blessings there.
A few minutes before eight, the women declared themselves finished. “You look fantastic!” Cindy said, and Jessica thought her friend might cry with happiness.
The other ladies nodded in agreement.
Jessica looked in the full-length mirror and studied her reflection, impressed with what she saw. Shocked, really.
This wasn’t the regular Jessica she normally saw in the mirror at home. This was a super version of Jessica: Jessica 2.0. She was tall and beautiful and sexy. That had never been a word to describe her, but it certainly described this new version staring back at her.
She took a calming breath and turned away from the mirror, feeling a mix of discomfort and pride with the image she was projecting to the world.
