as it was getting ridiculously long, i decided to split the vegas chapters in two. sorry, but i think it should work better this way.
so part one of their vegas excursion goes out to ixdookiie, Ariana, torrialoveszashley, someone who left no name for me to credit them with (i think you did that on purpose.. :D), Jane Doe (no worries!), Mo, Brocklyn16, Skye, and Sophie (who is in yellowstone and will not see this for another week. ps- hp in two [well, one when you see this] weeks!).
anyway, enjoy (;
DAY O8.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the flimsy curtains, illuminating the inside of Massie's eyelids and coaxing her back into a state of consciousness. She inhaled deeply, taking in the detergent drenched scent of the semi-scratchy sheets she laid upon, and opened her eyes.
The first thing she took in was that she was still dressed from last night. The second was her surroundings.
The motel room the pair had stumbled into at midnight, exhausted, was very bland. White walls matched the ceiling and its accompanying ceiling fan, while dark, short carpet covered the floor. There were no pictures or paintings on the walls, nothing to add some color into the room. Even the comforter, Massie sleepily noted, was a dull beige color.
Lying on the bed space next to her, Derrick's mass of dirty blonde hair lay half-hazardly across his head. He slept on his stomach, facing inward to where Massie had been laying. He too was still dressed in his shorts and t-shirt from last night, and Massie took comfort in knowing she wasn't the only one who had collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
Groggily, she raised her arm and checked the inside of her wrist for her watch face. It was late. Well, later than they normally had woken up every morning on this excursion. No doubt that Derrick would be freaking out if he were conscious. But Massie, looking over at him, figured that she should just let him sleep. They both really needed it, as they hadn't gotten a proper night's sleep in days.
Carefully as to not disturb him, she pulled herself out of the mess of sheets. Her first task this morning would be to shower. She padded around the bed to her duffle bag and winced at the noise of the zipper as she pulled on it. But Derrick merely shifted.
After managing to make it to the bathroom without creating any more noises, Massie started the shower's flow of hot water. From the depths of her toiletry bag she heard the chirp of her phone letting her know she had a voicemail. Oh shit, she though almost immediately. Though she had called her mother the day before at lunch, she was almost certain the message was from her.
But she was surprised to hear Claire's voice instead.
"You have one new message. Message recorded on, July 3rd at 9:48, PM.
BEEP
"Hey Massie, its Claire. It's like 10 at night, and I was just calling to check in, because I haven't heard from you in a couple days. I'm sure you're just having so much fun hanging out with Derrick, but I miss you. And your mom hasn't called me freaking out asking what the hell happened to you, meaning you're checking in with her so I assume everything's fine. But uh, you should call me back, 'kay? Alright, bye."
Massie stared at her phone after setting it on the counter. She could be honest enough with herself to admit that she wasn't talking to Claire because of the Columbia thing. Maybe it was her way of punishing her, or something. Either way she didn't have a clue what to say to her oldest friend. Should she admit that she doesn't want her to go, or suck it up and let her be happy? The answer was harder to come up with then it should have been.
She peeled off her clothes, her mind full of busy thoughts.
—
When opened the bathroom door, the bed was empty.
"Derrick?" She called lightly, stepping slowly into the room.
The door of their room stood ajar, and Massie shivered. She should've really looked into bringing a blow drier with her. Tossing yesterday's clothes on the bed, she crossed the room to the door.
The trunk of the Jeep was slammed shut, revealing Derrick. He looked up and gave a small smile at the sight of Massie in the doorway. "Morning. You should start packing up your stuff so we can get going."
"Did I wake you?" She asked as Derrick passed by her back into the room.
"Kind of," He admitted. "But I'm glad that you did. I managed to pack up some stuff, but I left yours because I didn't know what you still needed. So if you could get that together, that would be great. I have to shower."
"Alright," Massie smiled at his nearly jumbled sentences as he closed the bathroom door behind him. Derrick seemed to be fairly anxious to see his friends.
Freezing midway through stuffing her shirt back in her bag, she inwardly groaned. She was going to be meeting Derrick's friends today.
And all of a sudden it was like the first day of middle school.
[ ]
It was a stressful three hour, one hundred and seventy-five mile drive for Massie. With the knowledge that she'll be hanging out with people she hadn't met before, her stomach was all nerves. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. These were just Derrick's friends, afterall. Massie had never met them before; therefore she didn't owe them anything. But still she found herself determined to make a good impression on them.
The Vegas strip was exactly like it appeared in the movies. Though it was daytime, Massie could tell this four-mile-long street was surely a vibrant one even in the black of night. The wide sidewalks that lined the boulevard were filled with short clad and sunglasses bearing tourists, each clutching onto the straps of various shopping bags.
"So where are we meeting your friends at?" She asks as casually as possible.
"The Venetian hotel lobby," Derrick says. "I just texted them."
"While you were driving? Derrick, I am disappointed."
He smirked, but said nothing more.
The Venetian hotel was a long and towering building complete with its own bridge. Massie could see that it was more than likely top notch when it came to Vegas luxury, and mentally added 'super rich' to her list of reasons to be nervous while meeting Derrick's friends.
Pulling the Jeep up into the parking lot, Derrick exhaled a whistle. "This place looks pretty fancy."
"I think it has a moat," Massie craned her neck to see as he maneuvered the car into a parking spot.
"I wonder if it has alligators in it."
Massie went to shoot him a look, but saw his playful expression. She narrowed her brows and smirked back. "I don't know- let's throw you in and find out."
—
If the lobby of the Venetian was any indicator about what the rest of the hotel looked like, Massie could confidently admit she was blown away. It was a vast hallway, decked out in gold tones and was even complete with pillars. As Massie aimlessly followed Derrick (who seemed to know where they were going), she craned her neck upwards and fought back a gasp. The ceilings were adorned with elaborate paintings that mimicked those of Michelangelo's in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. Italy had always been on Massie's 'to travel' list, and to find a hotel that embodied much of an Italian essence as possible was almost the next best thing.
The hallway opened up into a circular room with a fountain as its center feature. Four mermaids held up the spherical structure while lions stood faithfully at their sides. It was so captivating that Massie was too transfixed to notice Derrick's destination before a voice caught her attention.
"Derrick!"
Tearing her gaze away from the layer of pennies and dimes that was the bottom of the fountain, Massie looked up to see a small group of people turn to face them welcomingly. But one stood out more than the others; the owner of the voice was a lively girl with red hair that cascaded past her armpits. Her smile was so bright it was nearly blinding, and she embraced Derrick with much enthusiasm.
"Hey," He sounded strangely peppy, more so than Massie had ever heard him be. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you," The girl pulled away, playfully poking Derrick's chest. Her emerald eyes fluttered past him at Massie. "Oh, who's this?"
"Oh, um," Derrick seemed to remember that she was there. Massie resisted the urge to send him a roll of her eyes. "This is my friend Massie. Massie, this is Dylan, and that is Cam, Josh, Alicia, and Chris."
Trying to ignore that awkward pause Derrick took before labeling her as a friend, Massie turned to send a smile to his friends. "Hey."
She got the usual smile and standard greeting back from all, but she could help but shake the feeling that the taller raven haired girl had her eyes trained on her.
"So we were just talking about getting some lunch at the restaurant out in the shopping center," The boy closest to Massie piped up. His dark bangs feel into his off colored eyes with the movement of his head. "Interested in joining?"
Massie looked toward Derrick for his confirmation, and he clapped his hands together. "Yeah! That sounds great."
Duitfully following behind, Massie briefly considered diving headfirst into the fountain.
—
They were brought into another part of the hotel. It was about three or four stories high, made to looked like the outdoor St. Mark's square. It had a man-made river (complete with gondola rides) and the vast ceiling was even painted to look like the sky.
After sitting down with this new group of people for only a few minutes, Massie came to a realization. Meeting Derrick's friends was like peeling back that curtain behind the Wizard of Oz. It gave her insight on everything that Derrick was or ever has been outside of the past week with her. And apparently, there was a lot of stuff go gain insight into.
Cam, the boy with the strange eyes (that Massie noted were in fact different colors), reminisced about a time when Derrick had convinced their soccer coach that their starting goalie had a bad stomach flu behind his back which resulted in that goalie being benched and Derrick getting to play. The best part, Cam had said, was watching the dumbstruck expression on the other boy's face.
"What about that time we all went down to the beach and had that bonfire?" Chris (or Plovert, as he had sometimes been referred to) added from Massie's left. He seemed to be the more tamed male in the group, with a pair of intelligent hazel eyes framed by thick, horn rimmed glasses. What would've looked dorky on most looked positively good set against his summer tanned skin and dark hair. "The park rangers were called on us because apparently fires were illegal."
"Hey," Derrick grabbed a French fry from off his plate. "I didn't see any sign indicating so."
"Well you were never the brightest bulb in school," Dylan added cheekily.
"Oh please Dylan," The one named Josh scoffed. His darker features hinted at his exotic background, but Massie never picked up on any accent whatsoever. He had been silent for most of the rehashing, but his dark eyes kept flicking over in Massie's way from time to time. "I faintly recall you failing so many classes you were on the verge of being in high school for a fifth year."
Dylan grumbled, the smile disappearing from her face. On her left, the raven haired girl Massie warily noticed earlier laughed at her friend's dispense.
Her name was Alicia, and from what Massie had gathered it was because of her they were all able to go on this getaway. She was the newest member of this here group, and apparently the wealthiest. Her father was a business mogul, and they moved to the sunshine state from Texas during Derrick's junior year. Massie had been secretly waiting to hear her drop a 'y'all' into her speech, but was thus far disappointed.
"Did you done anything ridiculously wild in high school, Massie?" Cam looked across the table at her, apparently now making a point in including her. Next to him, Derrick eyes flicked upwards at her, a curious smile spreading across his face.
"Uh, nothing that I can recall," Massie put her salad fork down as she talked. "I think I was too busy with AP homework to properly bask in all the stupid. I guessed I really missed out, huh?"
Cam gave a short laugh. "Apparently so. How many AP classes did you take?"
"AP European History, AP US History, AP Psychology, and AP English junior and senior year."
"Shit," Josh cursed. "You didn't even take that many APs, Plovert."
Chris shook his head. "No, I was kind of freaked out by AP Euro when I heard of the homework load the teacher at our school dumped on us. How was it on your end?"
"I think it was mainly notes, but it was still a lot," Massie recalled.
"Ew, notes," Dylan's button nose wrinkled.
"Bet you got into a good school, huh?" Asked Cam, taking a bite out of his burger.
"I'm attending UCLA in the fall."
"What major were you thinking of?" Chris asked. He seemed to have the most interest in this topic than the rest of them.
"I haven't," Massie admitted casually, earning shocked glances from everyone- Derrick included.
"What?" Chris sat up higher in his chair. "You don't go to UCLA to have an undeclared major."
Massie shrugged. "I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually."
Josh nodded slowly. "Wow. Now that's ballsy."
Alicia's brow creased, her gaze focused on her plate in front of her. "I'm so glad I don't have to deal with all that college shit."
"Well sorry our conversation bores you, Leesh," Chris took a sip from his coke. "Not all of us have trust funds the size of Rhode Island."
The hairs on the back of Massie's neck stood on an end. She tore her attention away from the conversation to see the familiar dark, enigmatic eyes boring into hers. But Derrick seemed far away, like he was too consumed in his thoughts to process that Massie was staring back. And with a small flick of his gaze upwards he was back again. With one last gaze, he turned back to the conversation. Massie was left confounded and with arms covered in goose bumps.
She hated it when he did that.