Warning: Drama! Crack! Drama! Crack! Drama! Crack! OOOHH and a special A/N at the bottom!
Chapter 10
Flashback
8 YEARS BEFORE THE CALL
Though they probably should have been bragging and whatnot, having a friend who's a legitimate recording artist for a major label, the guys still saw him as just Damon doing his Emo Show just at bigger venues with actual audiences instead of street corners or coffee houses. Kaylie still has to practically twist their arms to get them to come out to support Damon at his local shows and because they're boys always at the mercy of pretty girls and their brothers, they usually agree to go.
"I don't want to be here," Nicky grumbles. He's standing at the foot of the stage at a local club with a dozen other people, waiting for the show to start.
"Boo!" Faith shakes her thumbs-down in his face. "I knew we should have left him home!"
"Nooo," Razor disagrees, hanging his heavy arm around Faith's shoulders. "If we left him home he would have spend the entire night studying or something equally as laaame…though I can't think of anything lamer than willingly studying. No way José! Nicky, there's nothing more depressing than watching you use productivity to fill your Kelly-shaped void."
"Better than filling his Kelly-shaped void with slutty women, am I right?" Max tries to joke. When no one laughs, Max gets distracted by a group of girls across the venue. "Speaking of slutty women…I'll be right back!"
Watching Max cut through the crowd with his trusty camera (that he bribed the bouncer with cash to let him bring into the concert) Faith looks particularly disgusted. "I thought he was dating that Maeve chick again?"
"Nah, they hooked up, but then the sun came up, alcohol absorbed and she's back to acting like he doesn't exist," Razor explains. "Don't worry. It's more chuckles than cringes because we got a killer Walk of Shame picture of her leaving the house. She's been trying to buy it back from us for weeks now."
"Well, duh, after what Austin did with that picture of her with the Jager bottle frozen to her head," Faith giggles at the memory. She gives Austin's arm a pinch and he looks so proud. "I honestly don't see what he sees in her. She's a total canwego."
Razor furrows his brows questioningly. "A what? You mean a wendigo?"
"No. A canwego," Faith says again despite the boys' confusion. "Come on. You know. She's that girl at the kegger who gets wasted and does stupid things too often—i.e. hooking up with Max—so she says she isn't going to drink anymore because of her 'fragile figure' and 'the calories in cheap beer' so while everyone is having fun she's always like, 'Can we go? Can we go?' and yeah."
The guys, even Nicky, share a laugh. Totally Maeve.
"That is so great!" Razor shouts. "I'm so putting that in Urban Dictionary."
"Credit me, bitch," Faith smiles.
"Plus, Maeve has always had something against me, which I don't get. Who doesn't love me?" Austin asks. No one says anything, looking around innocently and sipping the drinks in their hands. "Plus, she collects teapots."
"And STIs," Nicky adds with a little smile.
Austin sniggers and slaps Nicky's back. "What do you know? Russo made a funny."
"That's a good one, Nick-a-roo," Razor nods to him, "you fill that Kelly-shaped void with laughter and love!"
And Nicky is right back to sulking.
"Nice one, Ray. Aren't you supposed to be our Mr. Sensitive?" Austin sighs and squeezes Nicky's shoulder. "Okay! No more talking about Kelly-shaped voids tonight. Faith is out with us for once. Damon is performing. We're going to support him no matter how whiney his music is. This is Bro Plus Faith time and it's going to be a great one!"
Looking at their faces, they don't seem to agree.
"So are you pissed he went solo, broke up the band, got an awesome record deal and is now playing in a pretty up-and-coming venue?" Faith asks Razor. Traces of hurt show on his face and Faith looks super apologetic a moment later. "Crap…too soon, huh?"
"On second thought, I agree with Nicky," Razor tells Austin. "I don't want to be here either."
"Just drink up, Ray-Ray." Austin takes hold of Razor's wrist and lights his glass to his lips, prompting him to follow orders. "You two never gelled well together musically anyways. You're all electro-awesome, jumping around and crowd surfing and Damon's all acoustic-emo, single spotlight, quite possibly could cry."
Faith's phone starts buzzing and she makes Austin hold her beer as she digs through her purse. "Hey Kel! Hold up! It's pretty noisy in here!"
Nicky's face lights up and Austin gives him a disapproving look. One of the conditions of Faith hanging out with them for the first time in a long time is that Nicky doesn't get to ask her questions about Kelly. Austin is just trying to help honor the terms of their deal. Honestly, it still pisses him off that they have to draw up terms and make deals just to hang out.
Turning away and plugging one ear, holding up the phone to the other, Faith shouts, "What? You're at a party with Conrad? ...No. He's just really friendly and really touchy so it's kind of hard to tell if he's really into you or just being Conrad…for real? I'm so there! Give me ten minutes!"
Nicky frowns. "Who the hell is Conrad?"
"Faith, you can't go!" Austin yells. "No!"
"Aww, Aus, you know I love you, but Damon's little emo show? Not so much. I'll text you and we'll go get burgers or something some other time, okay?" Faith asks and Austin looks like he's trying really hard not to give in. "Austin, Kelly needs me. It's not like she has anyone else right now and, um, it's a foam party!"
Nicky narrows his eyes. "What's Kelly doing at a foam party with a guy named Conrad? What kind of name is that anyways?"
"Conrad Cooper? As in Kappa Delta Conrad?" Razor asks. "He's with Kelly?"
"Yeah, that's him and not with, like, not dating or anything…but not for a lack of trying on his part," Faith bites the inside of her cheek and can't even bring herself to look at Nicky, "he's the barista at Starbucks who's always giving us free drinks, just a really sweet guy who invited her and me by extension to a party at his fraternity. It's no big, really."
"Yeah, I know Connie. He's good people. Tell that polo-shirt wearing preppy Razor said 'what it do' and that he's a bold, bold man," Razor says. He cringes when he hears himself talk and quickly looks to Austin and Nicky who don't look happy. "Don't worry, guys. The girls will be fine. Conrad isn't one of those sleazy DTF dudes. He's such a hopeless romantics and relationship-y…and I'm not helping am I…?"
"If Razor thinks he's cool then it's cool," Faith says quickly. "Plus, it's not like you can stop me from leaving or anything so wipe those overprotective looks off your faces. I'm a black belt, remember?"
Austin scowls. "So you moved on to Kappa Delta, huh?"
"Oh God. Don't call out my loyalty, Austin. You aren't the one who's had to live with Kelly post-break up and put up with her Nicky-shaped void," Faith says venomously. "And seriously, I'm sick of it so if she needs some foam and some Conrad to pull it back together then I'm not going to cockblock her. Yeah, I said it and not sorry about it either. Nicky has a whole freaking house backing him. Kelly has me so back it off!"
"Guys," Razor whines. "Let's not fight. Let's just…group cuddle…?"
Faith sighs and looks at Nicky for what might be the first time the entire night. "Nix, you know you and me together, bros forever, but I have to side with Kel on this one. You get where I'm coming from, right? Because Austin is all jumping ships and being thick about it."
"I get it and it's the right thing to do," Nicky says. "I'm glad she has you looking out for her. And I'm going with you to this foam party."
Austin shakes his head. "Russo, that's a bad idea and you know it."
"Okay," Faith says, ignoring Austin, "but you need to wait at least an hour after I go in and you can't say I told you she was there and we split the cab fair."
Nicky nods. "Okay."
"Alright," Razor throws his hands up, "I'm going too."
"Ray!" Austin shouts scolding.
"What? Austin, it's a foam party."
Before Austin can make his case about why they should stay instead of going to some nasty ass Kappa Delta party, Kaylie suddenly comes up to them and looks really worried. "Guys, you better come quick! It's Max. It looks like we have a problem."
After more grumbling and warning them that they aren't done talking about this, Austin leads the group through the crowd after Kaylie. There by the bar they find some giant biker of a man, tattoos, leather vest and all, pushing around Max who looks extra frightened, holding up his hands as if it would surely prove his innocence.
"I'm sorry, man!" Max shouts. "The camera just accidentally went off!"
The biker grunts. "Like hell it did."
Austin just has to jump in. "Whoa, whoa, what's the problem here?"
"The problem here is that this little punk has been taking pictures of my girl's ass all night," the biker sneers. "You think you're cool, pretty boy? That you can do whatever you like with your fancy camera and your pretty face? Yeah, well, let's see how you like it when I'm shoving that camera up your ass."
"Alright, sir, calm down. I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding," Austin steps in between Max and the biker and spares a second to look over at the girl's ass, "Meh. Not very impressive. He would've probably ended up deleting it anyways so there shouldn't be a problem—"
The girlfriend gasps. "Excuse you!"
"No, miss, no offense to you…okay maybe, but just a little," Austin says. "See, Girls Gone Awesome has standards and your girl…yeah."
An angry Kaylie is standing to the side and yells, "Austin, you're supposed to help, not make things worse!"
"Settle down, Kaylie, I'm just—"
BAM!
The biker slams his fists right into Austin's jaw and a furious Austin punches him right back and just as hard. Suddenly it's an all out fight between the frat boys and a biker gang. Austin is throwing punches left and right and Nicky is trying to break it up while Razor is trying to preach peace and Max is trying to simultaneously protect his face and his camera. Even Faith is mixed up in it, screaming at the biker's girlfriend for being the cause of all this and some good ol' fashion hair pulling. Kaylie goes to get the bar security and it finally ends with the whole lot of them getting kicked out of the venue and told never to come back.
"Huh. Is it my imagination or does this happen to us a lot?" Max snaps a picture of himself and then looks at the screen to see if he has any significant cuts or bruises.
"I wish I could say it didn't." Austin flexes his hands, looking at his reddened knuckles.
"So foam party, anyone? Foam party?" Faith suggests. She's missing an earring, but got out pretty much unscathed. The boys look at her like 'really Faith?' "What…? There's no way we're getting back in there and Kaylie's there to support Damon and, guys, it's a foam party!"
"And it's at the Kappa Delta house," Razor sings, looking to Max.
The photographer nods in agreement. "It's always fun crashing a DT function."
"Fine," Austin turns to Nicky, "but you no interaction with KP. I don't even want her knowing you're there. If I run into her and she asks me about you Ima tell her last time I saw you was two weeks ago where you were hibernating beneath a pile of books. I swear, Nicky, you stay the hell away from her. I don't care if this Concord kid starts serenading her and showering her with rose pedals and she starts eating chocolate-covered strawberries off his abs—"
"Whoa. Have you seen his abs? They are perfect abs." Faith giggles.
"No lie," Razor agrees, nodding his head.
"—I still don't care about his abs, iight? Russo. Stay. Away. From. Her."
Nicky nods. "Okay."
Razor laughs. "Just have fun creepily staring at her from across the room. Oh, but dude let's go get curly fries first and I want to buy one of those scuba diving masks and floaties!"
Faith looks extremely excited as they walk back to Nicky's car. "Floaties!"
And when his show ends and after he spends some time with the small fanbase just starting to form, Damon isn't surprised that his friends bailed, but he sure as hell is disappointed. Kaylie being there definitely makes him feel better, but doesn't entirely fix things. While Damon gravitates away from the college life and towards the real world, his brothers are lost in an inflatable dance pit, filled with foam, water and partially clothed-coeds.
-XX-
THE DAY BEFORE THE CALL
Saturday 9:18 PM
Back at the cantina, the guys reluctantly get up from their table and head for the door.
"Okay. It's time to get serious," Nicky says. He appears ready to put all the drama aside and focus on finding Damon so they can finally get the hell out of Nevada. "I just told Kaylie we'd get her fiancé home in time to marry her. That gives us…give or take…13 hours and, God, we still have no idea where to go to from here."
As they're walking out, they pass a tall and bulky doorman who's standing with a stamp and UV light reader. "Handstamp for re-entry?"
Continuing to try and formulate some gameplan, the guys continue on, not even paying the doorman a lick of attention. All, except Max, that is. Still a little hungry and damn in love with those cantina tacos, he considers running back in to grab some to go. Playing with the idea, Max shrugs his shoulders. Why not? And holds his hand out to be stamped.
"Maybe it'd be best to hit up the hotel one more time and see if he turned up—"
"Whoa…guys! Wait!" Max shouts at their retreating backs.
When the others turn back they spot Max with his hand beneath the UV Light and it reveals a number of different stamps presumably from all the different clubs they hit up last night. Exchanging looks, the rest of the guys and LoTan race over. Austin yanks up Max's sleeve and it turns out his entire forearm glows, covered in different stamps.
The doorman whistles. "Someone knows how to party…"
"Hot diggity dog!" Razor exclaims, excitedly jumping up and down. "It's like an invisible treasure map!"
Nicky grins with renewed moral. "Looks like we know where to go next!"
As they use Razor's trusty pen to trace the stamps and make them visible on Max's arm, Austin's pocket starts to buzz. He fishes it out and cringes when he sees Payson's name and a picture of her sticking her tongue out flash across the screen. He smiles fondly, imagining what her voice sounds like over the phone. As much as he wants to hear her, how comforting it'd probably be, he isn't ready for the words that are undoubtedly going to come with that voice, the worry and the hunt for answers he doesn't have.
Though it kills him to, Austin ignores the call and shoves his phone back into his pocket.
The SUV speeds down the Strip like a bullet through the night, weaving in and out of traffic. All the stamps on Razor's arms are inked. Music is blaring. The mood is high.
"Where should we start?" Razor asks eagerly.
"The top," Nicky says, taking command. "We'll visit every club we went to last night and search the every room, every corner and every bathroom stall until we can find a bartender or a cocktail waitress or an exotic dancer that remembers what we did with Damon!"
"Nice going, Maxi," Razor says, rubbing the back of Max's mullet. "I think we can pull this off!"
Austin takes a sharp turn and nearly slams into a pedestrian. He hits the breaks, tires loudly squealing and the person, an old man with a cane, stops in the walkway, staring back at them, looking like he might wet his pants. They all stare at the old who's wearing a distinctive fedora-style hat with a feather stuck in it.
"Hey…" Razor squints his eyes. "Isn't that Damon's hat?"
They all stare for a long moment. Huh. What are the odds?
"Nah," Austin shakes his head, "This is Vegas. There must be tones of them wannabe gangsters." Slamming his palm against the horn, Austin honks at the old man and shouts, "Any day now, grandpa! We're running out of time!"
After nearly having a heart attack twice, the old man continues on his way, crossing the street.
"Okay," Max says, reading his arm. "First stop is Ghostbar. To the Palms."
And so that's how their intensive search begins. They search five different bars and nightclubs, all with pictures of Damon (ones from the wedding where he's wearing the storm trooper gear) and ask every waiter, bartender and busboy if they've seen him. They even question the maitre d's, thugs, bachelorettes, bridesmaids, fetishists, bikers, swingers and everyone in the vicinity with the pair of eyes. Mostly, everyone is like 'hey! That's Damon Young! The musician! I've seen him on TV!' Needless to say, it's a very frustration task.
Every time they turn up empty, they cross that place off the list and move on to the next one.
At some of the clubs, the boys have people approaching them like they're heroes, know them by name and insist they have drinks on the house. Then there are the others where they're welcomes with tense silences and get chased out by the bartender with a baseball bat, raving like a lunatic, apparently upset with whatever the boys did last night.
"Alright. One left," Max eyes his marked up forearm, "Studs in Suds."
Nicky looks it up on his iPhone. Studs in Suds turns out to a newer, all male revue, hailed as the ultimate upscale ladies entertainment. When they walk up to the front door, the Sigmas plus LoTan are welcomed with a cheeky smile from the bouncer and skip the line that stretches down the street. It turns out to be a male strip joint-slash massive foam party.
"Were we seriously here last night?" Max says. He tries to walk right back out the door, but Austin grabs him by the shoulder and they push further into the club. There are women everywhere, screaming their heads off at the greased up male strippers with chiseled abs, in thongs and scuba gear while foam spurts out of giant foam machines, pouring everywhere.
"How much does this remind you of college?" Austin's eyes shine with nostalgia. "Damn! All we're missing is Faith to get us to take our clothes off and do backflips into the foam pit!"
"You can say what you want about the KD boys, but they knew how to throw a damn fine foam party," Razor says. He looks around at the flashing lights chasing all around the room and the wet, soapy gyrating bodies.
"Hey Aus," Nicky nudges him, "I think I found your underwear."
They all look up to the numerous pairs of men's underwear nailed to the wall behind the bar. Above the collection of underwear, written in glowing pain is "Studs in Suds Wall of Fame." Indeed there is a pair of CU boxers. They're black with "Colorado" and the buffalo mascot in gold scattered print. Austin used to walk around the house in just those boxers. Having slept his way through the CU bookstore staff, Austin was known for coming home with free school apparel.
"Nah," Austin shakes his head in denial, "tons of dudes went to CU. Tons of dudes wear boxers. Even some chicks do too. Those could be anyone's."
"Aus, check again," Razor points to the side where there's a line drawn in glowing paint, pointing to Austin's boxers. Yelling over the pulsing music in the club, Razor reads, "Tuck the Great hearts Studs in Suds! Complete with a winking face."
"Well, what'd you know," Austin mutters to himself. "This trip just got a little less awesome…"
A bald, giant of a man, bulging muscles and in bedazzled wetsuit walks up to them with a flirty smiles. "Hey Sigmas! Dave is in the back! He said to send y'all back there if you showed up."
The man motions to where a huge bouncer is guarding the backstage area. Careful not to disrupt the predominantly female audience, lusting after the male dancers, the gang moves through the crowd of foam and suds and Razor protectively takes LoTan's hand tight in his. He's a little worried the blonde might get swallowed up by the sea of liquored up women in bubbles or maybe sidetracked by the sweaty men working it and earning those dollar bills.
Leaning down towards her, Razor says, "Stay close."
LoTan just smiles, laces her fingers with Razor's and dances through the crowd.
When the bouncer sees them, he lifts his sunglasses for a better look. A grin stretches across his face and he unclips the velvet rope, letting them pass. He even gets a little cheeky and smacks Max's ass as he walks by, making the photographer jump and yelp like a scared puppy.
With Austin leading the way and Max sticking close to Razor and LoTan towards the back, five walk up a flight of stairs and past even more unnaturally muscular and unnaturally tan men moving in and out of a dressing room, rubbing baby oil on each other and wearing different swimming apparel.
"S'cuse me," Nicky says to one of them. "Could you tell us where we could find Dave?"
"Oh, hey Nicky," says the lifeguard-slash-dancer. "Diver Dave is in his office. End of the hall."
Used to strangers knowing them by name, Nicky doesn't do more than thank him and keep moving. They go to the end of the hall as instructed and find a David Hasselhoff with a mullet sitting at a desk in an impressive suit and a gaudy gold chain around his neck. They all shuffle inside just as the man, presumably Diver Dave, ends his phone call and smiles at them.
"Hey boys!" he shouts. "Wow. You all look terrible. I'm surprise you're even conscious especially after what went on last night. Austin, I'm surprised you're even walking."
Austin inhales sharply. "What the fuck did you say to me, partner?"
"Listen, Dave, right?" Max steps in front of his childhood friend before Austin does something or says something stupid and unnecessary. "We don't really remember last night. You think you could fill us in?"
"Really? No memory? And no British accent either?" Tapping his phone against his class desk, Dave frowns, disappointed. "Aww, but Maxi…I can't say I'm not a little hurt."
Max looks a little pale and Austin grins. Well, if something weird went down last night at least he isn't the only one. Apparently Max too.
Gulping nervously, Max asks, "Did we…do…anything?"
"Well, duh?" Dave laughs. "Yeah?"
All the guys freeze for a long moment. Austin shakes his head sympathetically and pats Max on the back.
When no one says anything, Razor decides to break the silence. "Was Max the boy or the girl?" Everyone shoots him a 'Razor, shut up' look and Nicky goes as far as to smack him upside the head. "Ouch! What? Maeve would probably want to know."
"That British Beefcake?" Dave bites on the tip of his finger. "Honey, he was everything."
Max whimpers. He actually whimpers.
Dave' smile grows and he adds, "But Maxi was nothing like Austin."
"Well, see now—WHAT?" Austin shouts, caught off-guard. His cool exterior deteriorates fast.
"I know. I know. Group stuff with an audience is a little out of my area of expertise, but Damon insisted we put on a show for him and it was his bachelor party," Dave goes on. "I must say we definitely put on a show. You boys know how to perform your asses off! After the initial awkwardness of so many people in one bed it was really quite beautiful."
They would probably be exchanging befuddled expressions if they weren't so stunned they can't even more. This might be the last trip they ever take to Vegas and no one is ever repeating what happened here ever. It's silent for a long time, the Sigmas trying their damnedest to remember even the most insignificant details about last night when LoTan starts laughing. Dave can't hold it in any longer and laughs along with her.
"Boys, he's totally fucking with you," LoTan says with a 'duh' in her husky tone. "Wow did he fool you guys."
"Not cool, bro. Not cool. You don't play with amnesiacs like that." Austin shakes his head. Aside from fighting with Nicky in front of the police station, this is probably the most serious Austin has been all weekend. "So what did happen?"
Leaning back in his leather chair behind his desk, Dave explains, "Well, you guys came in here around last call, which was maybe 2ish. You were all pretty wasted, beyond wasted actually, but somehow Faith dragged you all in here. Girl loves that foam."
Yeah, that sounds about right.
"You guys said you just came from some birthday party or something at the Rio?"
Nicky nods. "Steve Tanner's."
Looking terrified all of a sudden, LoTan frowns. "Wait, did you just say Steve Tanner? He's that big shot business guy, right? You guys know him?"
"Older, questionable taste in suits, his face all over America's Most Wanted? Yeah. Just a little drunken hijacks and misunderstandings," Razor nervously explains. He puts his arm around her. "Don't worry, Babe, I'll protect you."
LoTan gives him a laugh that's all 'sweetie, that's cute but unlikely' but slings her arms around his narrow hips in a hug anyways.
"Anyways, so you guys were drinking and talking about all your old college days and gymnastics," Dave continues. "And then, for the big finale of our stage show—Studs in Suds Present the Diver Dave Show—we always ask for a volunteer and Max, you volunteered pretty readily."
"That's our boy!" Austin pats him hard on the back.
"I think we have the video…"
"NO!" Max shouts, going as far as to reach out and grab Dave' arm to stop him. "I mean, it's a, uh, it's cool. I don't think we need to see it. We're on a tight schedule—"
"I insist we see this here video," Razor says. "I'm pretty sure Damon would want us to."
Austin and Nicky nod in agreement while Max stands back, pouting.
With the press of a button, the cabinet doors slide back to reveal a flat screen TV. Dave pushes play and it's like a cross between Chippendale's and the Little Mermaid Musical. After fast-forwarding a bit, Dave presses play when Max in onscreen with a bunch of dudes dressed like sexy mermaids dancing around him as he snaps pictures. Standing with the guys, Max isn't nearly as buff or tan, but he doesn't seem to care, grinning and having a blast.
"Shoot. Me. Now," Max murmurs. "I think we had enough. We can—"
"Wait. Austin hasn't come on yet," Dave says. "That's the best part."
Just as Dave says that, Austin comes onto the stage, oiled up like the rest of the dancers and wearing the snorkel mask and fins he woke up in this morning. Austin forcefully shoves Max aside, probably telling him that he was doing it wrong and falls into perfect synchronization with the other male dancer. LoTan giggles and catcalls while everyone else is dead silent.
Dave fast-forwards more and this time some of the other dancers are bringing out props. Austin starts doing an improvised routine on these bars dressed up like sparkly kelp while the dancers are strutting around. He fasts forwards and suddenly Austin is riding a mechanical bull dressed up like a killer whale. The crowd goes insane, louder than the sultry music playing.
"The mystery of the ass pain revealed," Nicky says.
Austin scoffs. "Thanks for the diagnosis, Dr. Ass Face Obvious."
Finally, Dave stops the tape. "After the show, we had a few rounds on the house and you guys stayed a bit longer because Max wanted hair like mine and so we got the stylist to hook you up. I don't know what happened but when you came back from the backstage it wasn't quite like mine…"
"We're calling it a MoMul," Razor informs him.
"And what time did we actually leave?" Nicky asks, trying to keep them on task here.
"4:30 in the morning?" Dave estimates. "Maybe a bit later, but definitely before 5."
"And Damon was with us?"
"Yep," he answers. "Poor baby was passed out by that time. Razor had to carry him out to the car and you kept stumbling, but wouldn't let anyone else help you, kept saying something about your Best Man duties."
"So we let with Damon, got back to our hotel at 5. Damon was gone by 5:30 when we met up with LoTan back at the suite," Nicky maps out all the puzzle pieces they've managed to gather throughout this long, grueling day.
His animosity returning, Razor asks, "Did we lose him along the way?"
"He was passed out." Austin bends his arms and laces his fingers at the back of his neck, swaying from side to side. "How far could he have gone?"
"Well, we are missing a car door," Nicky reminds them. Looking worried, he says what everyone is currently thinking. "He could have…fallen out? Wow. That is not good if he did."
Razor is about to have another meltdown when Max jumps again, his pocket vibrating.
"If that's Maeve again—"
"It's the hotel," Max says, quickly scrambling to answer the call. "Hello!"
"Hello. Mr. Spencer?"
"Front Desk Guy!" Max tries to not get his hopes up. "What's up?"
"I thought you'd want to know that one of our maids found your friend passed out in the supply closet three floors down from you guys." Max joyously jumps up and down and everyone gets excited over his reaction. "Wait, are you sure it's him?"
"Roger that. I swear to you, I saw him with my own eyes. He's unconscious, but I'm pretty sure he's breathing," Ike assures him. "For one, he has 'Damon' written across his forehead in permanent marker and smells like hay and vodka."
"That's our guy! Thank you! Thank you so much, Front Desk Guy!" Max fails to contain his excitement, grinning like a maniac. "I would so be paying you in weed if I had any on me! Just make sure he doesn't go anywhere. We're headed back right now."
Max snaps his phone shut, overjoyed. "Damon is back at the suite! They found him!"
He tells the guys the good news and it's like a huge weight has finally been lifted off them. They thank Dave for everything, race down the stairs and out through the club.
Maybe they will make it to the wedding after all.
A/N: LATE! I know! And I'm missing Friday's update because my daddy's taking me on this camping/fishing/father-daughter roadtrip THING. Seriously, B in the Fucking Wild! Sounds horrendous. I bet my dad wish I was a boy. He would have named me Benjamin, I'm sure. Anyways, to make up for the ways I've wronged you, I'm going to give you a...
SUPER SECRET SNEAK PEEK OF LL&D2:
[Prologue] Once upon a time in a far away land known as Boulder, Colorado, there lived four girls who shared a single pair of pants. The girls were all very different from shapes and sizes to taste in boys and clothes, and yet that single pair of shared pants fit each of them perfectly.
Ugh. What a lame opening. Who do I look like? Kaylie? Never.
Seriously, I probably would have been better off quoting Gossip Girl in my hotter-than-Kristen-Bell narrator voice. Hello Denim Freaks, Lauren Tanner here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Boulder's teenage elite. If you're one, all that matters is money, beauty and hook-ups from body action to the who, what and when of how to score paraphernalia. Some "teenage elite." Everyone is so empty. They just drink and party.
There. That's much better. Much more me.
…
Payson and Austin Tucker have this strange setup where they aren't dating, but they're definitely together, but they don't do more than kiss. I don't think she even lets him get to second base. Every time I see the way they are together I say, "Pay, three words: Lock. Him. Down," and Payson will just laugh and turn a little red and change the subject.
The only reason I even really say anything is because I don't want to see him hurt her. Hello! He's the Austin Tucker. He's hot and older and experienced. Payson is young and naïve and inexperienced. She gives him the power to hurt her, which is, like, the number one no-no when it comes to boys. Austin Tucker doesn't seem like the kind of iron resolve against temptation a la Nicky Russo.
While on the topic, Kaylie practically has that boy's balls in her handbag, which is funny considering they've been dating since, like, summer—six months or something—and still haven't done the dirty. Kaylie is the definition of sexually frustrated. I admit I was amused at first, but now it's tipping more towards annoyed. Why won't the boy do her so she'll stop whining? Seriously, Kay needs to take her little bitch to the vet for a check-up because there has to be something wrong with a boy who isn't down to fuck his girlfriend.
But I get carried away sometimes or maybe all the time. Whatever. Like I was saying, Kaylie has her boyfriend locked down despite their…intimacy issues. Payson, on the other hand, worries me. The last thing I want to see is her turn out like Emily after what that douche musician did to her…
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A/N (cont.): MUAHAHAHA! LOL! It's not officially a piece of our prologue, but it's definitely a frontrunner. LCTD is going to kill me for sharing that without discussing it. You should make the verbal beating worth it and review. ;)
xoxo
