"We have a reservation for ten." Greg told the lady at the front desk.
"Name." she said, sounding bored.
"Sanders." He told her, resisting the urge to wink even though his girlfriend had not yet arrived.
"How come we always have to book things under your name?" Archie asked as they keft thye front desk.
"Because it's the best name. And I am the leader." Greg explained.
"Who made you leader?" Hodges asked.
"Me." Greg shrugged.
"That's not official." Hodges argued.
"Fine then, when the girls get here, we can vote." Greg offered.
"Look, here they come now." Nick said, pointing.
"Quick, act like we've been here ages." Archie yelled.
"Look bored." Greg added.
"Finally." Nick moaned, when the girls came within earshot.
"What took you so long?" Greg asked.
"Haha very funny." Wendy said.
"What?" Archie asked, in mock confusion.
"We saw you guys arriving less than a minute ago." Abby explained.
"Damnit." Greg sighed.
"The usual?" a waitress asked them, arriving at their table. She smiled at Greg, and leant down in front of him, wiping some invisible dirt off the table and 'accidentally' giving him a view of her breasts. Same as she did every week. And, same as every week, Kelly placed a hand on Greg's chest and leaned in closer to her boyfriend, claiming him as hers.
"Yes thank you." Nick told her. And just as every week, she sashayed away, turning around to give Greg one last look.
The same thing every time. And they came here a lot. Every Thursday at eleven in fact. It was their favourite bar in Vegas. And today, Thursday the twelth, was no different.
"Hey, can we have that vote now?" Archie asked.
"Vote?" Kelly rrepeated.
"What are we voting for?" Mandy asked.
"Greg thinks he's the leader of our group." Hodges explained.
"He kinda is." Lexi shrugged.
"Yeah well what if somebody else wanted to be the leader?" Hodges argued.
"So we're voting on it." Henry explained.
"Write down on a napkin who you think would be the best leader." Nick told everyone.
"This is so childish." Hodges sighed.
"You're just worried you'll lose." Archie told him.
"Alright, write down the name then pass them all to me." Greg said.
"How come you get to count the votes?"Hodges protested.
"Because until we reach a verdict, I'm still the leader. It's just not official yet." Greg explained.
"Whatever." Hodges sighed.
"Let's see. Archie…..Greg…..Abby…Greg…..Greg…David…" Greg began reading.
"David?" Lexi asked.
"It is my first name you know." Hodges told her.
"You can't vote for yourself!" Kelly exclaimed.
"How do you know it was me?" Hodges asked.
"David? Even your girlfriend calls you Hodges." Greg reminded him.
"Fine, so it was me." Hodges shrugged.
"Guys, chill, you can vote for yourself if you want. How else do you think Archie got one vote?" Greg told them.
"Hey!" Archie protested.
"You know it's true." Greg told him with a smile. Archie laughed.
"Anybody want to change their vote?" Nick asked everybody.
"Nope." Kelly shook her head.
"Nuh-uh." Wendy agreed.
"I'm good." Abby told them.
"Same." Lexi nodded.
"Alright then, let's keep counting. Greg….Greg….Greg…." Greg read.
"Damnit." Archie sighed.
"Well, we have a winner." Nick announced, recounting the votes.
"You voted for Greg?" Archie asked his wife.
"Kinda." Lexi giggled apologetically.
"Did everybody vote for Greg?" Hodges asked them.
"I voted for Abby." Nick put his hand up.
"Thanks Nick. But I voted for Greg." Abby told him, smiling.
"That's cool. I don't want to be lab rat leader anyway." Nick assured her.
"Besides you are our boss, so you kinda are anyway." Greg reminded him.
"True." Nick agreed.
"Henry! Why did you vote for him?" Hodges asked his friend.
"I dunno I just…." Henry stuttered.
"And all of the girls voted for Greg?" Hodges interrupted him.
"I…." Kelly begun.
Suddenly, all their protests and arguments were interrupted by an ear piercing scream. It was Mandy. She was slumped down on her chair, her face screwed up in agony. She suddenly began squeezing on Henry's hand, which she had been holding onto under the table.
"Mandy?" Henry whispered, his face going pale.
"Mandy what's wrong?" Wendy asked, turning to her friend beside her.
"It's….I… the…." Mandy began.
"The babies?" Henry guessed.
She nodded, and everybody gasped.
"The babies?" Wendy repeated.
"But it's only been seven months…." Abby gasped, getting up from Nick's lap and coming to see Mandy.
"Mandy, are you going to be alright?" Greg asked her.
"What should we do?" Kelly asked.
"Okay guys, we need to stay calm." Henry told them all, suddenly breaking out of his frozen form.
"Easier said than done when our friend is like…dying!" Lexi squealed.
"Nobody is going to die." Henry assured her, standing up at the top of the table, still holding Mandy's hand in his.
"But…" Kelly begun.
"No buts. Now everybody just listen to me." Henry yelled, silencing the worried babbling and paniced screaming.
Mandy screamed again.
"Nick, call an ambulance right now. We need to get her to hospital." Henry told Nick, his voice steady despite the tears already in his eyes.
"Alright then." Nick nodded, getting up and pulling out his phone.
"Lexi, Kelly, go to our apartment. There's a key under the plant pot, and when you get in, I need you to pack Mandy a bag." Henry told the two girls.
"What does she need?" Lexi asked, her voice high-pitched.
"There's a list taped to the fridge." Henry told them.
"Okay then. Let's go." Kelly nodded, taking deep breaths.
"Good. Archie call Dr. Quigley, Mandy's doctor. Tell her to meet us at the hospital ASAP and explain what's happening." Henry ordered.
"Gottit." Archie nodded, taking his own phone out of his pocket.
"Wendy, call Mandy's parents, tell them that we think the baby is coming and ask them to get down to Desert Palms hospital as quickly as they can." Henry turned to Wendy, who was at the other side of Mandy with Abby, trying to talk reassuringly despite the panic in her voice.
"I don't know the phone num…." she began, but Henry cut her off.
"081 929 6734. Ask for her dad, her mom gets really worked up about these things." He recited.
"Alright. I hope you're all right soon Mandy." Wendy told her friend, getting up to find a payphone that would let her make the long distance call to Mandy's parents.
"Hodges, I need you to call a cab to take the rest of us to hospital." Henry told him.
"A cab?" Hodges repeated.
"Lexi and Kelly have taken one car." Henry reminded him.
"Okay then. Anybody have a number for a cab service?" Hodges asked the others.
"In my jacket pocket." Henry told him.
"Which pocket?" Hodges asked, picking Henry's jacket up off the seat.
"Left." Henry said simply.
"Gottit." Hodges nodded, taking the card out of his friends jacket pocket.
"Abby, Greg, get Mandy's phone out of her purse. Under contacts there's a sub-chategory Close Friends. On that is her siblings and some other good friends. Send a text to everyone on that list except the ten of us. And call Ecklie, tell him she won't be in for a while." Henry instructed.
"Okay then." Greg nodded.
"Henry, the ambulance is here." Nick yelled.
"Okay then. Archie, help me lift her, then call the health insurance." Henry told his friend, seeing he had finished his first job.
"What…." Archie began.
"024 726 3980" Henry parroted.
"Alright." Archie nodded, helping Henry lift a now unconscious Mandy to meet the paramedics with the stretcher.
"Wendy, come with us in the ambulance." Henry called to her.
"Hre parents are on their way, her mom is pretty shaken up…." Wendy filled him in as she ran to catch up.
"For all we know it could be nothing." Henry tried to calm her.
At that moment Mandy regained conciousness, screaming again.
"Or it could be everything." Wendy reminded him.
"See you all at the hospital. Try and stay calm." Henry yelled to the others.
And then the ambulance doors were shut and the siren was on. The ambulance disappeared into the thick Las Vegas traffic, although they could hear the alarm blazing for several seconds after. Then it was well and truly gone and the only things left to remind them was the cloud of dust that had blown up after the vehicle's speedy exit. That, and the fact that they were all standing there, open mouthed.
"What just happened?" Abby asked Greg.
"I really don't know." Greg shook his head.
"Let's keep texting people." Abby told him.
"Do you want a hand?" Nick asked them.
"Sure, thank you." Greg nodded, showing him the list of phone numbers.
"The cab will be here in five minutes." Hodges announced, hanging up the phone.
"We don't know what's going on yet! All we know is that our friend started screaming and clutching her stomach and now she's on the way to hospital! No I don't know that. Why can't you just…." Archie argued, obviously talking to their health insurance.
"It's Kelly. They're nearly at the house now. She wants to know if there's any changes since they left." Greg told them all, covering the phone receiver with his hand for a minute.
"Just say they're in the ambulance now." Abby suggested.
"And we're going to meet them at Desert Palms." Nick added.
"Great. Yep. Okay. See you then." Greg said into the phone, hanging up.
"They there yet?" Hodges asked.
"Yeah, they just arrived at Henry and Mandy's house. They're gonna come to the hospital too when they're done." Greg told them all.
"Here comes our taxi." Nick told them all.
"Let's go then." Archie suggested, finally finished his phone call with the health insurance.
They were all thinking the same thing as they got into the taxi and went to the hospital. If the baby was coming, it was very, very early. And none of them new much about babies. It had been Henry, the father, and Wendy, her best friend, who'd read all the baby books with her, who'd bought diapers and changing mats and toys. It had been the two of them who had watched shows about pregnancy and what to do when the baby came with her, who'd gone through dozens of baby name books. And the five people in the taxi had no idea what to expect. No idea what this meant. All they knew was that it was bad. Because really, how could it be good?
Greg was thinking about something else too. He was thinking about the way Henry had completely taken charge. The way he had told everyone what to do and managed to keep calm even though it must have been one of the most frightening times of his life. He knew the phone numbers for everyone they needed to contact, had keys and lists already made out. He was pretty organised. And clearly, good under pressure. So Greg made a decision. As soon as the whole Mandy thing was over, he was going to make Henry leader. Because he clearly deserved it. And Greg didn't say if the Mandy thing was over. He said when. Because Greg was a positive person. Always had been. He was a glass half full guy, an every cloud has a silver lining, a when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And he was positive that what had happened with Mandy would just be a small problem. Just something to give them a scare. That she and her twins would be fine. That everything would be alright.
As they drove into the hospital driveway, a clock was chiming. It chimed several times, although the friends couldn't hear it, announcing m,idnight. Announcing the end of Thursday the twelth, and the start of Friday the thirteenth. Reminding the friends that Friday the thirteenth brought bad things, and bad things came in threes. But they couldn't hear it. And they didn't know.
They didn't know that within twenty four hours, the life they knew would be over.
Didn't know that by the end of the next day, everything wouldn't be different.
Didn't know that Friday the thirteenth killed the optimist.
And everyone else around it.