Episode #10: What Happens in Vegas…
Setting: New Years' weekend
Synopsis: The gang goes to Las Vegas to celebrate New Years', which causes relationships to change.
-GREEK-
"Ugh, people are such idiots!" Rebecca exclaimed as she approached her friends that were standing outside their hotel in Las Vegas, waiting for her to check in. "My mom booked rooms and told the hotel that it was two people to a room, but the idiot manager only has us down for two rooms total."
"We can't just get more rooms?" Evan asked.
"It's New Years' weekend; every hotel in Vegas is booked," Rebecca said. "I can't sleep with seven other people in a room."
"Bunking together won't be that bad," Calvin said.
"Yeah, besides, how much sleeping are we going to be doing, anyway?" Ashleigh asked.
"Unless Rebecca and I take one of the rooms, and the thirteen of you share the other one," Evan joked.
"Oh, no way in hell is that happening," Laura said.
"We can split the rooms, eight and seven," Rusty said. "I'm sure we can get some extra pillows and blankets."
"If we're lucky," Rebecca said, and they all walked inside the hotel with their bags.
"By any chance did you bring your rain machine?" Casey asked Rebecca.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Rebecca responded. "I sleep with it every night."
"Let's not bunk with her," Casey whispered to Cappie but Rebecca heard her.
"I guess we kinda established that we can't live in the same room," Rebecca said. "Besides as I recall, you snore."
"Hey, that was only because of the rain machine!" Casey protested. Everyone soon arrived at the rooms and Casey walked in one of them first. "Wow, these would be great rooms, for two people."
"I think the eight of us can manage," Katherine said. "As for sharing the bathroom, we can make up a schedule of who's using it when."
"I don't think my bladder runs on a schedule," Cappie said with a laugh.
"I mean for taking showers," Katherine said.
"There's only one bed and it's only big enough for two people," Ashleigh said.
"So how are we gonna decide who's in the bed and who's on the floor?" Kelsey asked.
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Spidey asked.
"Or, we could play a game," Beaver said. "A drinking game! As in we go out on the town and whoever gets drunk first gets control of the bed."
"Sounds fair to me," Cappie said. "Let's go out and do what we came here for!"
"I'm so excited to be a 21-year old!" Kelsey said.
"You think you guys got this down?" Rusty asked Spidey and Kelsey.
"Yeah I do," Spidey said, pulling out a fake ID. "My name is William Miller. I live at 78 Hobart Drive in Cyprus, Ohio."
"And I'm Marissa Delafino," Kelsey said with a weird look at her ID. "Really, what kind of name is that? Anyway, I live at 601 Olive Street in Cyprus, Ohio."
"Who's ready to go out?" Calvin asked as he and the occupants of the other room came over.
"We're ready," Rusty said. "Whoever gets drunk first gets control of the bed in our room."
"We should do that for our room, too," Wade said.
"But since Rebecca invited us here, we let her and Evan have it," Calvin said.
"It pays to be the hostess," Rebecca said.
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"Ahhh!" two screams woke everyone in one room up the next morning.
"Now where the hell is the bathroom?" a hungover Beaver asked.
"What's going on?" Casey asked, turning on the lights from her spot in the bed. Everyone was now awake and saw Beaver had fallen on top of Rusty and Ashleigh on the floor.
"Can you get up now?" Rusty asked. "The bathroom's that way."
"Oh yeah, sorry," Beaver mumbled and stumbled his way to the bathroom.
"What time is it?" Cappie groaned, sounding hungover as well.
"8:00, or maybe 9 or 10, I don't know," Ashleigh mumbled, burying her face back in her pillow.
"It's 8:48," Katherine said, more awake than some of the others. "I don't know about you but I'm just going to get up. We don't want to miss a second of this weekend."
"We might as well get up," Kelsey said, and some of the group started getting off the floor.
"You guys get up, and wake me when the shower's free," Ashleigh said.
"Yeah me too," Cappie said, rolling back over in the bed.
"Come on, we'll go get some coffee," Casey said. "It's New Years' Eve; we've got a lot to do today."
"Before we party again tonight," Beaver said, returning from the bathroom.
"Oh that's right, today is New Years' Eve," Cappie said, finally sitting up. "I do need to get up then."
"That's the spirit," Casey said happily as they got up. She then threw a pillow at Ashleigh, who was still on the floor.
"Hey, what was that for?" Ashleigh asked, turning over to face her.
"You too," Casey said. "Up!"
"Why the heck not; I was the one who said we wouldn't be sleeping much anyway," Ashleigh gave in and got up, and then there was a knock at the door.
"Got it," Spidey said, who was closest to the door.
"Room service!" a hotel employee, who had a cart of food with him, said when the door was opened.
"Did someone order room service?" Spidey asked.
"It couldn't be any of us; we just got up," Rusty said.
"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong room," the employee said.
"No, wait it was me," Beaver spoke up. "I ordered it."
"Okay, well in that case, enjoy," the employee said, then gave them the cart and left.
"Did you really order all this?" Cappie asked, noticing there was a lot of food.
"No," Beaver laughed. "But it's free food for us!"
"We shouldn't just take someone else's food," Katherine said. "What if the hotel finds out and makes us pay?" There was a knock on the door that divided the group's two rooms, and Casey opened it up to reveal Rebecca and the others.
"I thought I heard someone say room service," Rebecca said. "I ordered it."
"I knew she ordered it," Beaver told Katherine. "Like I was really going to take someone else's food. Pssh!"
"Well it's ours so I say let's eat," Heath spoke up.
"Coffee!" Laura exclaimed, rushing for the coffeepot on the cart. "One good thing about this hotel; the coffee is like the best I've ever had!"
"I think you might want to lay off the coffee," Dale said. "You already had three cups downstairs. Plus, you're still drunk from last night."
"I can't help myself; it's so good!" Laura said.
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"Three generations of KTs exploring another city together," Cappie said as he, Rusty, and Spidey walked down the streets of Vegas. "Only this time we don't have any KT business to attend to."
"No, you've just got what's the biggest business of your life so far," Rusty said. "I'm so excited for you and Case!"
"Nothing's official yet until she says yes," Cappie said.
"I haven't heard the big plan yet," Spidey said. "When are you going to do it?"
"I'm sure you've seen New Years' proposals caught on TV before," Cappie said. "Well last year when we were all in Chicago watching a New Years' Eve show, we saw one, and Casey made this comment about how romantic it was, and how if the guy was willing to pop the question in front of millions of people, he must really love the girl. So that's what I want to do, tonight at midnight."
"Casey always wanted to be on TV when we were younger," Rusty said. "Once, Mom and I were on the 6:00 news and Casey got mad that she wasn't with us."
"I didn't realize you and your mom were partners in crime," Cappie laughed.
"No, we didn't get on the news like that," Rusty said. "We were Christmas shopping and the news crew was interviewing shoppers. That was the same day Mom had to fight for the coffeemaker."
"Maybe if we're lucky and a camera sees us, I'll make her childhood dream come true," Cappie said. "Right now the girls are shopping and we've got the whole city in front of us; what should we do? Besides go to the casinos."
"I'm surprised you didn't want to go with Beaver, Heath, and Wade to the casinos," Spidey said.
"I'm not going to the casinos until Casey's with me to restrain me," Cappie laughed. "Or else I'd probably spend all of our hard earnings and then she'd never marry me."
-GREEK-
"You know, sooner or later you're gonna have to tell me why you dragged me across the city and where we're going," Calvin said to Evan as they stepped off of a city bus.
"I should probably tell you now, or else I might never go through with it," Evan said. "But maybe going through with it is really a bad idea; I don't know."
"Tell me what 'it' is and maybe I can help you out," Calvin said. "Let me guess, does it involve Rebecca?"
"Yeah, it does," Evan said. "I never thought I'd say this, but Cappie inspired me. You know how he's proposing to Casey tonight?"
"No, I didn't," Calvin said surprised. "Rusty said it'd probably be happening soon, but he didn't say for sure when. Wait, you're not proposing to Rebecca, are you? Cause I really don't think she's ready for that. Knowing her, it'll probably be a long time before she is."
"No, I'm not proposing," Evan laughed. "I know it's way too soon for that; she's still in college besides and I'm in law school. But I want to show her that I want to make a real commitment to her. When we were at my parents' for Christmas, they made this comment that really pissed me off, and Rebecca overheard it. Things have been a little weird between us ever since."
"I thought things were going better with your parents," Calvin said. "What did they say?"
"They just don't think before they talk, and that's half the problem," Evan said. "They were talking to each other and Rebecca and I both overheard. They said they didn't believe I'd ever make a long-term commitment to Rebecca because after her father's scandals, she's got a bad name for herself. They think that if I marry her someday, it would hurt my professional reputation in a legal career. All in all, they said we're not built to last."
"Really, that's a bunch of bologna," Calvin said. "Rebecca didn't do anything wrong; it was all her father. Seriously, why are people so judgmental? No offense to your parents or anything."
"I could care less if you offend them right now," Evan said. "Just when I think I might be able to make things right again, they pull the whole 'professional relationships are more important than personal ones' thing, and that's not the way I want to be anymore."
"So what did Rebecca say when she heard them?" Calvin asked.
"Well I wanted to confront them, but Rebecca stopped me," Evan said. "She said not to worry about what they said, but I can tell she's been thinking about it all week, but she won't talk to me about it. I never thought she was big on making commitments, but I could tell what my parents said didn't make her happy, which got me thinking that maybe she does want some kind of commitment from me."
"So what are you going to do, lavaliere her or something?" Calvin asked.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Evan said. "Or should I?"
"Rebecca's my friend, but she's your girlfriend and you know her better than I do," Calvin said. "If you think it's something she wants, then I say go for it. So want to explain now why we came over here?"
"I looked online and the only place in Vegas that's open this weekend that sells lavalieres is on this street," Evan said, and stopped in front of a store. "Since I sold mine some time after my relationship with Casey ended, I need to buy a new one. Here's the place." Before they could go inside, Calvin's phone rang.
"You go inside and get it; I've got to take this call but I'll wait here," Calvin said. "It's the project manager at the volunteer organization Heath and I have been waiting to hear back from all week."
"Okay, good luck," Evan said and went inside.
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"We may be losing some money but this is so much fun!" Wade exclaimed as he, Beaver, and Heath were at a casino playing various games, and currently were in the middle of roulette.
"Tell me about it," Heath said. "How much money have we spent, by the way?"
"Not that much I don't think," Beaver said.
"Oh look, it's those college kids again," an older man said to his wife nearby, and then turned to Beaver, Wade, and Heath. "I hope you're rich, cause I've seen you here all afternoon and you haven't won anything yet."
"We're not college kids; we're all college graduates," Heath said.
"Oh, well you sure seem to drink like college kids and blow money like kids," the man said.
"Hey, it's New Years' and we're in Las Vegas," Wade said. "We're just having fun."
"I'd just be careful if I were you," the man said. "I've seen people your age get into a lot of trouble at places like this."
"What does that guy know; he was just bitter and old," Beaver said once the man and his wife walked away.
"We can restrain ourselves," Heath said. "To prove it, let's play a few more games then be done here. I'm getting a little hungry for dinner myself, anyway."
"Yeah, we have self-control," Beaver said. "Just a few more games. Gotta get a few more bucks from the ATM though." He put his debit card in the nearby ATM but nothing would come out. "I think this machine's broken."
"It says your card's declined," Wade said.
"Insufficient funds," Heath read the screen.
"I can't have insufficient funds," Beaver said. "I only need twenty dollars."
"Let me try mine," Wade said and stuck his card in the machine. "Geez, mine won't work either."
"Neither will mine," Heath said after trying his. "This is bad, really bad!"
"Maybe that old guy did know something," Beaver said. "Katherine is going to kill me! That was practically all my money on that card, and she can't pay the bills herself."
"I took out extra salary from Gentleman's Choice this month just for this trip," Wade said.
"Well if we can't pay our rent next month, we might end up sleeping there," Heath said.
"We'll just use my credit card to eat off of for the rest of the trip, then figure out what to do when we get home," Wade said.
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"I still can't believe you gave up shopping with the other girls just to bring me here," Dale said to Laura as they were at a Vegas casino, as well. "You know the chances of actually winning big at these places are like more than one in a million. It's just a waste of money."
"You won a little bit at roulette," Laura said.
"But then you lost it all on the poker game," Dale said.
"We're in Vegas, which means we need to live a little!" Laura said. "I can go shopping anywhere, but this is fun we can only get here." Just then the slot machine they were using started beeping loudly.
"Oh, I hope that doesn't mean we lost again," Dale said.
"No, it means we won!" Laura exclaimed, pointing to the word, 'Jackpot!' lit up on the machine. "Look, I just got the jackpot!"
"Wow, I wonder how much we won," Dale said.
"Today's your lucky day!" an employee said, coming over and pushing some buttons on the machine. "You won fifty."
"Fifty dollars, that's it?" Dale asked.
"No, fifty thousand dollars," the employee said.
"Fifty thousand dollars!" Laura exclaimed.
"Yes, congratulations," the employee said, handing Laura a piece of paper. "You can claim your prize at the front desk."
"Can you believe this!" Laura shouted. "And you said this all was a waste of money!"
"I guess I was wrong," Dale said. "Some of this is going right into my research fund."
"And I can pay some of those damn student loans before I graduate," Laura said. "You know winning something at a casino was one of two things I wanted to happen when I was here."
"So what's the second thing?" Dale asked.
"I want to have sex!" Laura admitted. "I'm a 22 year old virgin; there, I said it! And I do not want to graduate college as one."
"You know what I think about that; after what happened with Sheila, I swore to myself I wouldn't do that again until I'm married," Dale said.
"So then let's get married!" Laura said. "We're now fifty thousand dollars richer, and we're on the Vegas strip of all places. If we pay a preacher a couple thousand dollars, they'd probably marry us tonight."
"I think this is the caffeine and alcohol combination in you talking," Dale said. "You can't seriously want to get married right now."
"I am serious, and it can be a secret wedding," Laura said. "No one else has to know yet, and nothing has to change; it's not like we have to move in together when we're still in college. All that would be different is we'd be recorded in some courthouse as legally married."
"I still don't know," Dale said. "I really want to get married someday, but my plan was waiting until I was out of college. Even out of grad school."
"Well do you want to have sex?" Laura asked.
"Well, yeah," Dale said. "I've wanted to since we got together, but I knew I couldn't."
"So then are you with me?" Laura asked. "Like I said, nothing else has to change with us. Then afterwards we can get ourselves our own room somewhere tonight."
"Every hotel around is booked," Dale pointed out.
"Again, we have fifty thousand dollars," Laura said. "If you pay someone enough, you get what you want. If we spend some on this weekend, we'll still have plenty to take back to Cyprus."
"Okay, in the spirit of Vegas, I say let's go find a preacher man who looks like Elvis and do this," Dale said.
"It's like we're living our own country song," Laura said.
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"Guess who called just a little while ago?" Calvin asked Heath as they met back at the hotel. "It was the project manager, and he wants us to be team leaders for the project in India starting this summer."
"That's great," Heath said unexcitedly.
"You don't sound too excited about it," Calvin said. "This is what we wanted."
"Oh yeah it is," Heath said. "It's not that. It's just well, Beaver, Wade, and I sort of got ourselves in a little too deep at the casino today."
"Like you lost money?" Calvin asked. "How deep is too deep?"
"Pretty much my entire bank account, which was only like a thousand dollars to begin with but still," Heath sighed. "I have some in savings, but not much to live off of. I know it was stupid, but we just got caught up in it all and we were drinking and didn't know how much we were spending."
"That's bad," Calvin said. "The most I can offer is to let you stay with me when we get back to Cyprus; I'm not exactly rolling in money, being in college and all."
"Yeah, that's the thing too," Heath said. "I'm not even sure I can afford another semester of grad school. I use loans for tuition but as far as books and other stuff, I don't know what to do. I may have to drop out and just get a full-time job. Man, I can't believe we let this happen. I'm really sorry to bring this on you."
"You don't need to apologize," Calvin said. "I'm not mad at you, but I am worried for you. I'll help you figure something out."
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"Hey, where have you been all day?" Katherine asked Beaver back at the hotel. "Did you spend all day at the casinos?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Beaver said. "There's no use in trying to hide it; something very bad happened to us today at the casinos…"
"Is someone hurt?" Katherine interrupted, concerned.
"Not physically," Beaver said. "You see, my bank account is kind of, well, depleted."
"I know when you use words like 'depleted' you're talking serious," Katherine said. "You're saying you lost all of your money gambling?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Beaver said again. "I'm really sorry; I know it's gonna be hard now to pay the bills this month. My parents keep my emergency savings account so I have some in that, but it's not much."
"I can't believe this," Katherine said. "You had two months' pay in your account and now it's just gone! I have our finances calculated down to the last dollar between yours and my incomes, and the little money I make isn't enough to cover this month's expenses. My mother was right in telling me I shouldn't depend on a man for anything, and I should have listened to her."
"Whoa, what's that supposed to mean?" Beaver asked. "It was a mistake, and I'm sorry. I get paid again in a few weeks besides, and this won't happen again. We just got a little too caught up in the spirit of Vegas and New Years' and went way too far."
"And how do I know something like this won't happen again?" Katherine asked. "I've noticed that whenever you get together with these guys without me or any of our other friends around, you lose all sense and just turn into, well…" She trailed off.
"The fraternity guy I once was?" Beaver suggested.
"Yes, exactly," Katherine said. "I know they're your friends and you should spend time with them, but you have responsibilities now. A job, money, us having our own place."
"And those are all very important to me," Beaver said.
"Sometimes it doesn't seem that way," Katherine said. "When you get out of school and go straight to the KT house or Gentleman's Choice or somewhere else that's not our apartment, you spend our food money on beer, or you order pay-per-view movies for you and the guys without even asking me. Look, I really want this to work between you and me, but I'm beginning to think that we rushed into the whole moving in together thing."
"But it's been almost six months," Beaver said.
"I know, but if continuing to live together and having to fight over finances is going to make us fall apart, then maybe we should get separate apartments until we're older," Katherine said. "We'll talk about it later; now I think I'm going to go take a walk."
"What about New Years'?" Beaver asked. "There are parties all down the street. Where are you going to walk to?"
"The exercise room," Katherine said. "I'll try to catch up with you before midnight."
-GREEK-
"So I guess this is where all the crazies come for New Years'," Evan laughed as he and Rebecca observed the Vegas strip about two hours before midnight.
"I guess so," Rebecca said.
"So did you have fun shopping today?" Evan asked.
"Of course I did, it was shopping in Vegas," Rebecca said. "Spent a little more than I intended, but at least I didn't end up in as bad shape as Beaver, Wade, and Heath."
"Yeah, I heard about that," Evan said. "I tried to call you earlier thinking you'd be back by then; have you really been shopping all this time?"
"No, we got back before dinner," Rebecca said. "I decided to check out the hotel's hot tub so that's where I was."
"Is everything okay?" Evan asked. "Things have just seemed a little weird between us ever since Christmas at my parents'. What my parents said about us, just don't believe them. I don't believe them; it's just them opening their mouths and not knowing what they're saying."
"I haven't even thought about what your parents said," Rebecca said unconvincingly. "But if I had, I'd say I wish I could tell myself that it's all not true. But what if they're right; what if we're not meant to last once we're both in the professional world?"
"I want us to last," Evan said. "I learned from my past mistakes and I don't want to make them again. My parents don't know who I am now; I'm trying to let them get to know me, but it's things like this that just make me want to give up on them again. We're starting a new year in about two hours, and I want us to go into it happy. I want to give you something to show you that I truly want to make this work long-term. I don't want you to worry."
"Oh, please don't propose," Rebecca said. "That's Cappie's area of expertise tonight. But really, you don't have to do anything. I've been thinking way too much about the future for my own good over semester break. I guess that came from filling out all my grad school applications. Just don't worry about it, I'm sorry and we're fine. Let's just celebrate New Years'."
"I know we're both not ready for engagement," Evan said. "But I do want to give you this." He handed her a small black box.
"It's a lavaliere," Rebecca said when she opened the box. "I don't know what to say; I really wasn't expecting this."
"It's my way of proving to you that I'm committed," Evan said. "Isn't that what you want to hear?"
"I do, but at the same time I don't," Rebecca said. "I've always been able to take things one step at a time with a guy and not worry about the future, but it seems like I can't do that anymore with you and I kinda wish I still could. That's what really bothers me."
"So you'd rather just live day to day as opposed to feeling stable in our relationship?" Evan asked. "I thought you were past that when we got back together."
"I thought I was too," Rebecca said. "Don't get me wrong; of course I want to be with you. I just need to keep telling myself not to worry about making a lifelong commitment right now. Besides, I've seen that lavalieres don't always mean commitment. Look at you and Casey, Casey and Max, or Rusty and Jordan, to name a few; they didn't last. People take the lavaliering thing too lightly anymore; it's like it's almost meaningless."
"Well, my 'meaningless' gift cost me a month's pay," Evan said, getting irritated. "I thought this was what you wanted, but I guess I was wrong. When you do figure out what you want from me, let me know." With that, he walked off.
-GREEK-
"I'm sorry it took us over three hours to get dinner," Cappie said to Casey as they stood among the crowd on the Vegas strip. "I made a reservation, but this would be the night the restaurant would overbook."
"It was worth it; it was one of the nicest restaurants in Vegas and we did have a private table," Casey smiled.
"Five minutes to midnight!" came an announcement over the loudspeaker, and the noise of the crowd got even louder.
"Here we are, starting yet another year together," Casey said after a moment. "I wonder what this one's going to bring."
"It's going to bring a lot of good things, let me tell you," Cappie said. "Starting right now."
"I know; this is so amazing being here," Casey said.
"I don't just mean that," Cappie said, taking her hands. "Case, you mean so much to me and spending this past year with you has been absolutely incredible. Actually, it's more than that; knowing you for the past five years has made me such a better person and I couldn't be happier for that. There are so many reasons why I love you, but we'd be here until dawn if I named them all."
"Cap…," Casey tried to get a word in but couldn't.
"Three minutes to midnight!" the loudspeaker said.
"I've got more to say," Cappie smiled. "I love you because you're the first and only person who's made me want more for myself in life, and you've made me feel so much better about leaving Cyprus. Whenever I miss my friends, you're the person who's there beside me and makes me realize what a great life I have here; in D.C. I mean. I love you because you truly believe in me and support me, and I hope I'm doing the same for you."
"Two minutes to midnight!" the loudspeaker said.
"I told you on Valentines' Day our senior year that I first fell in love with you at that Quickie Mart and I loved you every day since, and that's a true statement," Cappie continued. "Even when we weren't together, I was still in love with you and it took me until we did get back together for me to realize that. You truly are the love of my life and you are my future. I know what a mess my life became when we weren't together, and I can't imagine the rest of my life without you in it."
"One minute to midnight!" the loudspeaker said.
"You've been such an amazing girlfriend and a friend to me, and I can't say thank you enough," Cappie continued. "I can't imagine anyone but you becoming my wife. Casey Cartwright…" Cappie got down on one knee and presented her with the ring. People in the crowd nearby started looking at them with curiosity. "Will you make me the luckiest guy on Earth and marry me?"
"Oh my gosh, Cap!" Casey was smiling widely and was practically in tears of joy. "Yes! A million times yes!" Cappie stood up quickly, put the ring on her finger, then took her in his arms and kissed her. The people who had witnessed started clapping and cheering for them.
"Hey look, you're on the camera!" a man shouted, pointing to a screen that was on one of the buildings, but Cappie and Casey didn't break away to notice.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!" the crowd chanted, and then it was midnight and there were fireworks everywhere. Confetti filled the air and a large '2012' was now displayed on the video screen.
"Happy New Year, fiancée," Cappie smiled brightly at her.
"And Happy New Year to you, fiancé," Casey smiled back and kissed him again.
-GREEK-
"Hey guys!" Casey greeted Rusty and Ashleigh happily as they found them in the crowd after the midnight celebration died down a little bit.
"Case, got anything you want to tell us?" Ashleigh asked with a huge smile.
"We're engaged!" Casey screamed, throwing her arms around Ashleigh.
"Ahh, oh my gosh I'm so happy for you!" Ashleigh shouted.
"Congratulations, guys!" Rusty said happily, hugging them both. "We saw you on camera. You did always want to be on TV, Case."
"I'll go online sometime and download the video of the New Years' show," Cappie said to Casey. "I'm sure it'll be on there."
"When I imagined what my proposal would be like, I never imagined something like this," Casey said excitedly. "This is better than I ever could have imagined!" She turned to Rusty and Ashleigh, "I know the four of us were supposed to go out after midnight, but of course I had no idea about this and…"
"Go," Ashleigh interrupted. "We knew about this all along. You need to, you know, celebrate together tonight. We'll all get brunch in the morning or something."
"Sounds great," Casey said.
"Bye, Happy New Year!" Cappie said before he and Casey maneuvered off through the crowd.
"Well, Ash, looks like it's just you and me and Vegas," Rusty smiled and put an arm around her. "Let's go enjoy the best New Years' ever!"
"Yeah, I haven't had a drink since last year, you know!" Ashleigh said with a laugh. "Well, more like an hour ago, but the last year thing always sounds more dramatic."
"Like we can say we haven't taken showers since last year," Rusty said.
"And this is the only day of the year when that isn't totally gross," Ashleigh said. "I realized I forgot my cell phone when we left earlier; since we're going by the hotel I'm just going to run up to the room and grab it." After some time making their way through the mass of people, they made it back to the hotel.
"I'll wait right here for you," Rusty said and stood inside the hotel lobby as Ashleigh started toward their room.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Ashleigh heard Cappie say as she was about to go into the room. She turned to see Cappie and Casey sitting on the floor outside Rebecca and the others' room.
"Why, did someone stink up the bathroom?" Ashleigh asked jokingly. "I just forgot my cell phone; it'll take two seconds to get it."
"No, it's not the bathroom…," Casey tried to say, but Ashleigh had already opened the door.
"Oh my God!" Ashleigh screamed loudly after turning the light on and looking inside the room. She quickly turned the light out and shut the door, her cell phone forgotten again.
"Is there a dead body in there or something?" a lady walking down the hallway asked. "That's the second time I've heard someone scream after going in that room."
"No, it's just my friends; you don't want to know," Ashleigh said, and the lady walked away. Ashleigh turned to Cappie and Casey. "I'm going to get some drinks and hopefully forget I ever walked in there just now. What are you guys doing here, by the way? I thought you'd be long gone somewhere by now."
"We were going to lock ourselves in the room to, well, use it," Casey said.
"But we were kinda too late, so since everyone else is out we're using Rebecca and the others' room," Cappie said. "A hotel guy is coming to let us in; we said it was our room and we got locked out."
"You kids have fun then," Ashleigh said and then went back downstairs to meet Rusty.
"What's up; you look like you just saw a ghost," Rusty said as they walked out of the hotel.
"Have you ever walked in on your friends, like, doing it?" Ashleigh asked.
"Unfortunately, I have had that experience," Rusty said.
"And unfortunately so have I, just now," Ashleigh said. "Cappie and Casey were outside and tried to tell me not to go in, but I just thought it was because the bathroom stunk or something."
"Wait, so if Cappie and Casey weren't the ones in the room, who was?" Rusty asked. "Beaver and Katherine?"
"No, they're kind of in an argument right now," Ashleigh said.
"The only other two people who share our room then are Spidey and Kelsey," Rusty said, and Ashleigh nodded. "Oh my God, are you serious? It was them?"
"I'm serious," Ashleigh said. "But something tells me this is more of a drunk New Years' thing with them and not a they're finally getting together for real thing."
"I think you might be right about that," Rusty sighed. "All we can do right now though is stay out of there. I'm sure we'll be hearing about this soon enough."
"Yeah, let's go get our party on," Ashleigh said. Rusty took her hand and they started walking until someone stopped them.
"Spitter, Ashleigh, care to make a generous donation to start the new year off right?" they heard someone say.
"Wade?" Rusty asked, seeing who the person was. "Why do you look like a homeless man?"
"I'm pulling the homeless man act to try to get some money," Wade said. "So far, it's working a little."
"Good luck; I resolved to help others in the new year so here you go," a woman approached, putting some money in his cup.
"Thanks, and a Happy New Year to you!" Wade said to the woman.
"Well I guess this is one way to come out of casino bankruptcy," Ashleigh said.
-GREEK-
"What are you doing in here?" Spidey asked Kelsey later on New Years' morning, walking into the hotel's fitness room and seeing she was the only one there.
"Just thought I'd start the new year off right with some exercise," Kelsey responded, as she was walking on one of the treadmills. "You look like a zombie; you can't possibly be here to work out."
"I've never been so drunk in my life," Spidey said. "I really need to know what the hell happened last night. All I remember was we were both drinking, then we were back in the hotel room, and there were people screaming and I think I heard fireworks. But I have this weird feeling that something happened with us when everyone else was still out."
"Something did happen," Kelsey said. "Geez, I can't tell you; you're going to hate me. But I have to, since unfortunately there were witnesses, AKA three of our roommates." She trailed off.
"Did we, like, actually hook up?' Spidey asked. "Tell me the truth."
"Yeah, that is what happened between us," Kelsey said. "And I don't regret it one bit."
"Wow, so does that mean you broke up with Robert?" Spidey asked.
"That's the next thing I was going to say; I actually didn't," Kelsey said. "I couldn't do it; I lost my nerve. Again."
"I can't believe this happened and you still have a boyfriend," Spidey said. "And why do you seem okay and I feel like I've been run over by a tractor-trailer? Weren't we both drinking?"
"I didn't drink nearly as much as you," Kelsey said.
"Oh my gosh, if I was too drunk and forced you into anything, them I'm really sorry," Spidey said.
"Oh no, you didn't, I wanted this to happen," Kelsey said. "Remember what I told you; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
"What, so you got me really drunk and let this happen when you're still in a relationship, just to mess with me?" Spidey asked.
"No, I didn't mean it like that," Kelsey said.
"Well that's the way it sounds," Spidey said. "Thanks to you, I'll never remember my first time. We keep saying we're just friends; well friends don't pull crap like this on each other. Are you going to tell your boyfriend this happened?"
"No of course not, I can't do that," Kelsey said.
"And if that's the attitude you have about honesty, then you and I would never work in a relationship anyway," Spidey said.
"Are you two done with your little spat here?" an older woman spoke up from the entrance to the fitness room. "I'd like to get my morning exercise in peace."
"I think we're done here," Spidey said. "Sorry, ma'am; I was just leaving."
-GREEK-
"Okay, I'll call you in a few days then," Heath was saying into his phone where he was standing on the balcony of the hotel room, as Calvin opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside.
"You're up early for the morning after a big night," Calvin said.
"Couldn't sleep," Heath said.
"Who was on the phone?" Calvin asked.
"That was the project manager," Heath said. "I called him, hoping he might have something for me to do until we leave for India again this summer."
"So you're not going back to school this semester?" Calvin asked.
"For one thing I really can't afford it now," Heath said. "And honestly, I really don't need to be in school right now. I should tell you the main reason I decided to go was because I knew you'd be at CRU another year, and I didn't want to go on some big project without you. It would give me something to do that would help us out in the future, but we can deal with that when it comes."
"So what did the project manager say?" Calvin asked.
"Remember how we told him about Ashleigh's and my class project on campus recruitment," Heath said. "He wants me to do that for real; visit different college campuses and get more people involved in the organization and on the project in India."
"That's great," Calvin said. "So you'd be leaving CRU?"
"It's only temporary," Heath said. "I'll be back in time for spring break. I could just stay in Cyprus and get a job at McDonald's or something, but getting more people on the project could really help us, and the project manager said there'd be some compensation for me."
"As much as I'm going to miss having you around for a few months," Calvin began. "I'd rather see you doing something like this than flipping burgers."
-GREEK-
"Aside from the drama some of our friends are currently having, this has been an awesome trip I have to say," Ashleigh said as she, Rusty, Cappie, and Casey were at a restaurant for brunch.
"I'd say!" Casey said excitedly. "It's going to be a New Years' I'll never forget."
"So when's the wedding?" Rusty asked.
"We haven't gotten that far yet; we've only been engaged for about eleven hours," Cappie laughed. "I know absolutely zilch about wedding planning, but I'm sure it'll take some time."
"We've both got a lot going on, so the wedding might not even be until next year," Casey said. "We don't know yet. But there is something Cappie and I really want, that we want to ask you guys now."
"Is it about being in the wedding?" Ashleigh asked excitedly. "Not that I expected it or anything, you know!"
"You should expect it," Casey smiled. "Ash, you're my best friend and the sister I never had, and there's no one else I want as my maid of honor more than you."
"I'd love to be your maid of honor!" Ashleigh said happily. "You can count on me to help make your wedding amazing!"
"And Spitter, you've gone from not only being my KT little brother, but now you're my future brother-in-law. I was hoping you'd be my best man."
"Of course I will, Cap," Rusty said with a smile. "This really means a lot."
"We love you guys," Casey said. "And there's no one else we could see being such important parts of our wedding."
"I feel like we're all family already," Cappie said. "We've spent Thanksgiving together, and Christmas. When we're older, we'll be the family who fights over who's cooking Christmas dinner or whose house your parents have to stay at."
"They're staying at your house," Casey said to Rusty. "If they stayed with me, I know they'd be onto me about the littlest things."
"I think we've got some time before we even have our own houses for Mom and Dad to come to," Rusty said. "But now, I'm ready to help give you guys a great wedding, whenever you decide to have it, because you deserve it."
"Your wedding will be the second best wedding I'll ever go to," Ashleigh said.
"What's the first best?" Cappie asked.
"You'll see someday," Rusty said. "Maybe in a few years."
A/N: And there you have it; this is my longest chapter yet of both my Greek stories! I really hope you liked it; some events may have been surprising. Next chapter will be the aftermath once everyone returns from the trip, when they have to deal with the decisions they made in Vegas. Let me know-what was your favorite thing that happened in this chapter? What was the most surprising?
It's my first week back at college, so I may end up taking a week or so break from this; not completely sure, I'll just see how classes go. But I'll be back with the second half of the story as soon as possible! Find out what happens as graduation approaches for the seniors, and what will become of Cappie and Casey's wedding plans.
If you haven't yet, follow/like my Greek fan pages on Twitter and Facebook (posted on my profile). I always tweet periodically my progress on the story, and post whenever I update. :)