It was two in the morning when my cell phone rang. I groaned and managed to shove several papers from the bedside table, including my BieLIEve card I had gotten from Criss Angel's show, before finding my phone. My mind was still foggy from sleep and the screen blurred in a mash of white and black as it continued ringing loudly through the room. Through the frustration of not being able to press the talk button I angrily flipped it open. "WHAT." I snapped.
"Terra?" a drunken male's voice slurred.
"No, it's mother f*cking Britney Spears." I grumbled still not realizing whose drunken voice it actually was.
"Hey! Don't be gettin' no attitude with me you stuck up-"
"Barry? What the hell do you want?" I sat up in bed as my stomach knotted into an unimaginable tangle of anxiety. There was a long pause before dull, maniacal laughter scratched through.
"Just calling to let you know I'm in town babe…" there was a short sipping sound. "Hope to see you around." The line went dead as warm tears bubbled up, but I didn't let them spill. Instead I rolled my eyes and threw my phone against the floor with a mighty force.
I attempted to fall back into sleep, but every time I closed my eyes Barry's cocky grin flashed through the darkness. At one point I rolled over to stare out the window, nothing good came out of that either; a strike of lightning caused Barry's silhouette to haunt the window/door's frame. I jumped up in shock and quickly scrambled to turn the lights on. That's when I realized that I was on the twenty-ninth floor and there was no way Barry would be on my balcony. Maybe the balcony of my mind…
"Brandy?" as I spoke into the hotel room's phone I fumbled with my silk robe.
"Hey kiddo, what are you doing awake?"
"Is the bar still open?"
"Um…yeah, yeah it is get down here, now." She could tell immediately that something was wrong. There always was when I wanted to drink.
With nothing on but my p.j's and my red and black silk robe I ran out into the hall and to the closest elevator. Even in a dire situation I refused to take elevators, yet when you have to go down twenty-nine flights of stairs, elevators came in handy. Stairs though, did come in a close fifth in my top ten on my List o' Fears.
I curled up in the corner of the elevator and prayed that no one was using it this late and that it wouldn't stop on any floor but the bottom. Luckily it didn't and as soon as it opened I dashed out into the dead lobby where my cousin was waiting in her shiny Luxor hotel employee vest. She whipped around at the sound of the elevator dinging my arrival and I ran into her arms and she hugged me tightly.
"I need a drink…" I whispered trying with all of my might not to cry.
"Straight whiskey coming up." With that we headed over to the bar where she sat beside me. "Alex," the bartender turned. "Whiskey on the rocks please,"
"Straight? You sure?" he asked while pulling out the glass and bottle.
"Definitely," I answered grabbing the cold glass and taking a swig. It was silent between the three of us for a few minutes until Alex set his rag down and looked at me dead in the eyes over my glass.
"What's going on, Terra?" he asked.
"None of your business. What are you my psychiatrist? Get back to scrubbing." I rolled my eyes as he pursed his lips and began wiping the counter again. "Brandy babe," I turned to my cousin. "Get back to work. I'm ok…thank you for being here for me, really." I smiled at her softly as she put a hand on my shoulder.
"You sure?"
"Yes, thanks again."
"Well alright Bubble Butt…" she laughed when she said my nickname she made up. "We'll talk later, ok?"
"Yeah, ok. Night Brandy," Brandy got up and walked back into her work station and I laid my head on the bar, mulling over all of the things I had been trying to escape from when I moved here and how some of them were just trying to find me again. "Maybe I was meant to be followed by misery…" I muttered quietly.
"Oh come now," a somehow familiar voice rang through my ears. "No one is meant to be followed by misery, not if something good doesn't follow behind it."
For the second time that night I jumped about eight feet off the bar stool. "Oh! Oh, hello," I laughed lightly as the dark haired man beside me smiled widely.
"I'm sorry," he stated. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"That's ok, sorry you caught me talking to myself." We laughed and shook hands.
"Criss A-"
"Angel, yeah I know." I giggled and shrugged. "I love you! Your show was incredible by the way, magic has always fascinated me."
Criss' brows lifted and he shifted his body towards me. "How so?"
I shrugged. "You know…just like it mystifies everybody else. But you see…" I smiled slowly. "I know all the tricks."
That earned me a hardy laugh from him and he stared me in the eyes. "Oh really? Well ok then," he reached behind the bar for a bottle of water. "Alex my friend, please hand me two paper towels." Without question Alex emerged from the kitchen with two towels. "Ok now, hold the bottle in one hand with the towel under and place the other towel over it with your other hand." I did as was instructed and he said a few things while waving the towel covered bottle around. "Ok if I can make this bottle disappear I'll give you twenty bucks, got it?"
"Yup," I chuckled. Criss then pulled the towel back to my hand, but before he could crush it to show there was no bottle anymore, I reached behind my back with incredible reflexes and snatched the bottle before it fell into Alex's open hand. Criss stared at me in amazement, his eyes wide with question and shock.
"Thanks, I was thirsty." I cracked open the lid to the bottle before tilting his way and taking a long drink. "Now," I wiped my mouth with the spare towel. "Give Alex his wallet and twenty back so he doesn't have a meltdown."
Criss' face broke into a smile as amusement danced in his eyes. "I am thoroughly impressed Whiskey Girl!"
"Me too!" I laughed. "My sarcasm and badass-ness came out better than I expected!"
After a few more minutes of laughing and talking I decided that, it being three-thirty am, it was time for bed again. "Well Criss, it was nice to meet you, but I think we both better be getting to bed."
"Already?" he mocked. "I haven't even had the pleasure of taking you out first. You never came across to me as that kind of girl." He winked as I blushed and waved him off.
"Shut up you big ball of lies."
"Only if you believe," I smiled and we both stood to sadly go our separate ways.
He smiled that charming smile and watched me as I got into the elevator. I smiled sadly at him as the doors slowly closed and I clicked the twenty ninth button. "It would be horrible of me to say that I met this absolutely lovely girl in the lobby and I don't even know her name." I nearly screamed as Criss suddenly appeared closer to me and my face than ever. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Ok so maybe not every single trick you do, Magic Man." I laughed. "My name is Terra, Terra Willis."
"It was very nice to meet you, Terra." The elevator dinged sharply and the doors slid open again.
"You too Criss!" I exited the small room and waved once again. "See you next show, Magic Man." I said as I turned towards my room.
"Next show, Whiskey Girl." He answered as the doors closed shut behind me.