Alex Karev woke up slowly with a groan. He pried his eyes open a slit, only to snap them back closed tightly again. The bright sunlight streaming through the open curtains causing a pain like that of a thousand knives stabbing his skull. Or at least that's what he equated it to. What the heck happened last night? he wondered as he burrowed deeper into the unfamiliar mattress. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. He forced his thoughts back to the night before trying to grab at memories as they marched through his mind in a blurry haze. The last clear memory he had, he had been sitting at the table in a bar being ribbed endlessly by Jackson and the other groomsmen.
With eyes still shut, Alex reached a hand up to try and scrub the sleep from his face. He stopped dead at the feeling of a smooth, cold, metal band sliding across his forehead. He jolted upright in bed, eyes flying open, involuntarily wincing at the sudden movement and intrusion of light. He brought his left hand up to eye level, and panic set in as the sun glinted off a golden band on his ring finger. His head snapped toward the empty sheets next to him, and then to the table beside the bed on his right. Looking past the plastic cup filled with an amber liquid and the two pills next to it, he spotted a sheet of paper haphazardly mounted in a tacky, red, plastic frame with hearts at each corner. He gaped down at the paper in his hands. Sure enough, it was a marriage license and there was no question that was his signature scrawled along the bottom. Tucked into the bottom right hand corner of the frame was a smiling picture of himself with the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on… well at least he had that going for him. He shook that thought from his head. Nothing about this situation was good. "Josephine," he tried the name out as he smoothed his thumb over her image.
"It's Jo," the woman from the photo stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a fluffy white robe towel drying her long brown hair, startling Alex.
"Jo," he murmured, and then, "I like it," with a smirk. "And, I, umm, I'm Alex," how wrong it felt to have to introduce himself to his apparent wife. The stranger just nodded as an uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Alex cleared his throat, "What hap… I mean how… How did we end up here... together… like this?"
Jo bit back a laugh at the way he stumbled over his words. "You mean waking up in Vegas, hungover and married to a complete stranger?"
"Yeah," he puffed out on a breath almost grateful for the woman's bluntness.
She reached for a bottle of expensive hotel provided lotion, shrugging, "I don't know what brought you to Las Vegas, but I'm third-wheeling with my best friend and her husband on their 'babymoon', whatever the hell that is," she rolled her eyes. "How we specifically ended up here, I have no idea; last night is fuzzy."
Alex watched mesmerized as she massaged the luxurious cream into her toned legs. His already dry mouth became cotton. He reached for the drink on his bedside table taking a big swig. No sooner had the bitter liquid touched his tongue, then it was sprayed back out, "That's awful! What is it?" he sputtered wiping his mouth.
Jo couldn't hold back this time and laughed out loud, "Just a little hair of the dog. It will help combat that raging hangover I'm guessing you have." Well she was right about that. "Drink it," she pointed to the cup, "take the aspirin, and take a long hot shower. You'll feel better. I feel like a new woman." He studied her skeptically and sniffed the liquid making a face. "Just do it."
"You're not trying to poison me are you?" he cocked an eyebrow at her only half joking. He didn't know this woman; he didn't know what she was capable of.
"I promise," she giggled crossing her heart playfully.
Her lightness easing some of the tension, he shrugged with a 'what have I got to lose' attitude and threw the pills into his mouth chasing them with the bitter liquid. Jo giggled again at the face he made as the alcohol burned its way down his throat.
Alex decided to take her advice on the shower too. He got up out of bed, quickly scrambling for the blanket and blushing furiously when he realized he was buck naked. He wrapped the blanket around his bottom half, but not before Jo cast an appreciative glance up and down his muscular body causing his blush to deepen.
"I'm gonna go," he thrust his thumb toward the bathroom snatching up his duffle bag. He closed the door behind himself and leaned back against it. Just as quickly, he pulled it open a crack and peeked out, "Don't g… umm, I umm, we need to talk…" he stuttered.
"I'll be here when you get out," Jo assured him. Satisfied, he nodded and closed the door again not sure if he should be relieved or not that the mystery woman would still be there when he got done.
Jo watched him close the bathroom door and listened as he turned on the water. She moved around the room picking up her clothes discarded from the night before. It looked like she would be taking the walk of shame today, she thought as she buttoned her ripped skinny jeans around her thin frame, stuffing her panties deep into her purse. What the hell happened last night? "April, where were you; how could you let this happen?" she mused quietly typing out a text message to her best friend.
I know I was supposed to let you know when I woke up so we could meet for brunch, but I'm not going to be able to make it. It's a long story. I'll tell you all about it later. Sorry to flake out on you. Have a fun day with Matthew instead. Make him pamper you. You deserve it, and hey, he did that to you ;) xoxo
Jo sank down on the plush couch in the adjoining room. Wow, this guy really went all out. She looked around the lavish suite. Her room was nice, but this was so much better.
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She was no closer to being able to piece together the events of the previous night then she had been when she first woke up that morning. Her first thought upon waking was one of confusion. Before she was fully awake, quiet snores penetrated her consciousness and she felt a weight across her waist. Her divorce had only been final for a week, but she had moved out months before, so who was sharing her bed. She eased the arm off of her and sat up peering into the darkened room trying to make out the face of the man next to her. She slipped out of bed grimacing slightly. There was no doubt what had transpired. She was sore in all the right.. or well, in this case, wrong places. She pulled the curtains open to get a better view of her one night lover. He was handsome, very handsome to say the least, but she had no clue who he was. She raked her hand through her hair and gasped when a ring got caught. "Wha… no, no, no," she whispered quietly shaking her head. The ring was simple but pretty she'd give him that... but no, this can't be happening. The marriage license lying on top of the mini bar was all the confirmation she needed. She made herself a drink and popped some painkillers. As an afterthought, she prepared her new husband one as well. She almost choked on the thought. She was sure he had to have been as drunk as she obviously was, or at least she hoped so. She prayed he wasn't some creep taking advantage of her. By the looks of the photo next to the marriage license they had been happy last night anyway.
She was pulled from her thoughts when Alex hesitantly cleared his throat. "Uh, you were uh, right," he said shyly, "I feel a lot better." He awkwardly sat on the edge of the couch furthest away from Jo.
She gave him a small kind smile; he was so timid. "I ordered room service; it should be here any minute, and some guy named Jackson has been blowing up your phone."
Alex grabbed up his phone scrolling through until he found Jackson's number. "Hey man, I'm not feelin' very good... Yeah, sorry about that, I uh, came back to my room early," he gave Jo a wide eyed look and shrugged his shoulders. "You're right it probably was a mistake, I mean me in Vegas after all, who'da thought it," he rolled his eyes. "No, it's fine; it's your bachelor party… Nah you guys go ahead; I'll try to catch up with you later… Don't worry about me. I'm fine." He hung up the phone muttering under his breath, "So far from 'fine'."
Silence once again settled over the room. Jo picked at her fingernail polish while Alex removed imaginary lint from his pants. The strangers cast secret sidelong glances at each other quickly looking away if their eyes should meet. The room service waiter came and went and the two still sat in silence.
Finally, when he couldn't take it anymore Alex spoke up, "What happens now? I don't know the next step. I've never done anything like this before."
"Good, so you're not already married; that's a plus," Jo snorted sipping her juice.
He rolled his eyes, "I mean getting drunk, bringing random chicks home.. or back to my room…"
"Marrying them," she supplied. He blew out a breath and nodded twisting the band on his finger. "This is Vegas, I'm sure they make it just as easy to get out of something like this as they do to get into it."
"You mean get a divorce."
"Well yeah," she shrugged buttering a slice of toast.
"No," Alex said firmly. Jo looked up in surprise. "No divorce. I was raised to fight for a marriage. When you get married you stay, and you fight, and you make it work."
She shook her head miffed, "We don't even know each other. You know nothing about me. And I hardly think we can consider this," she waved her hand between them, "a marriage." Now was not the time to tell him she was actually in Las Vegas to celebrate her divorce; that she didn't stay and fight, no, she ran.
"We can get to know each other.."
"Look, Alex, no one knows we got married, so no one will have to know about the divorce. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and all that."
"No. It's not about what other people think. It's about my convictions. And I'd like to at least give it a try. There was obviously something last night that drew us together.."
"Yeah, it's called alcohol," she interrupted.
He shook his head frustrated, "I think it was more than that. Look at this picture," he held up their 'wedding photo', "we were happy. Maybe our intoxicated selves knew something."
"That's a long shot," she looked at him like he was crazy. Was he really suggesting that they stay together.. or get together.. or whatever it would be.
"I'd just like a chance to get to know you, and you get to know me, and then we'll see. Who knows, maybe we're meant to be," he said. "If it doesn't work out, then at least we tried."
"Okay, fine," she agreed against her better judgement, but his sincerity pulled at a place in her heart that hadn't been stirred in a long time. "So, umm, this is my last night here. We fly back to Seattle tomorrow morning. And I'm assuming you have a life to get back to.. so?" she didn't see how they were going to give this a run.
"Seattle," he pondered under his breath. "I'm from Iowa, but am currently in grad school in Houston. We can do the whole long distance thing; phone calls, text messages, weekend visits. It's better this way," he decided, almost talking to himself, "We'll have to tell my parents something... take it slow they can't know yet... we have to make them think we are dating first, and then get married..." he grew suddenly pale and looked up at Jo, "Are you pregnant?"
Her head snapped up eyes bugging out, "What? From last night? No!"
"Did we use.. I mean.. I didn't have.. anything," he stuttered out face flaming.
"I'm on birth control," she stated, "and you do know you don't get pregnant every time, right?" she couldn't help but tease him. It had become obvious to her he was naive when it came to certain things. Like women, partying, and alcohol if she guessed correctly.
"Yeah, I know," he snapped.
"And don't worry, I'm clean," she waited a beat for him to assure her he was as well. When he stayed quiet, "And you..?"
"What? Oh yeah, I'm clean too," he replied cheeks still red. He was not about to tell her right now that he was a virgin.. or had been until last night.
"For the record," she softened, "I don't do this kind of thing either." He met her eyes and they shared their first genuine smile. Jo's phone chimed breaking the moment. "I should really get going," she said reading the message, "April's gonna think someone kidnapped me." She grabbed Alex's phone to add her info, "By the way, what are you studying?"
"Theology. My dad's a preacher, and I'm planning on taking over when he retires."
Jo shook her head a playful glint in her eyes, "You're too hot to be a preacher.. and pretty damn good in bed too," she said cheekily. He was cute when he blushed, she chuckled.
She stopped at the door and turned back to him, and in that instant he had a flashback to the night before, seeing her at the bar, watching her. Spellbound by her every move.
She crossed the floor, cupped his cheek, and placed a soft lingering kiss to his lips. They pulled back both in shock by the electricity that sparked between them. "If we're gonna make a marriage work, we gotta start somewhere." And with that she breezed out the door.
