A.N. -- 63 hits as of ten minutes ago and no reviews. I want to knowwhat you guys thinkof the story. Does it suck? Okay! Tell me!
Anyway, I was originally going to post a new chapter every week, but realizing that would take 20 weeks (Ahh!), I decided against it. New timeline: New chapter each day sometime before midnight.
Chapter Two:
Getting Out of Here
"Natalee, seriously," Luca begged her not to come to Las Vegas after her.
Natalee never listened to anyone. She banged on the door like it was a police bust and she was someone special.
"Damn, Nat," Luca said, opening the door. "You're going to wake up the whole hotel."
It was six in the morning and neither had slept in what seemed like forever. They laid on separate sides of the bed, too exhausted to fight anymore.
"Why did you leave?"
"I'm sick of sucking my parents dry," Luca explained.
"Really? I would never get tired of that."
Luca laughed softly. "They're pretty tired of it, too."
"Your agent's in California," Natalee reminded her.
"I'm kind of sick of trying to do the whole singer thing, too."
Nat sat up quickly. "Lu, no. You can't give up!"
"I've already made up my mind."
"So that's not why you came to Vegas? To sing?"
Luca laughed. "No, my piece of shit car broke down a half mile from here."
They both woke up when Luca's phone went off around two in the afternoon.
"Where is it?" They ran around the room trying to follow the sound until Natalee found it and answered.
"Nat!" Luca objected.
"No, this is Natalee, Luca's roommate…. Greg?" She covered the phone. "Who is Greg?"
"A guy, Nat."
"No shit?" She rolled her eyes. "No…she's--we're in Vegas still. Uh huh, hold on a second." She covered the phone again. "He wants to see you this afternoon."
"No," Luca said.
"Who is this guy? And…how did you meet him so quickly?"
"I'll explain later. Tell him I'll call him back," Luca ordered.
Nat shrugged and kept chatting it up with Greg. "Where are you?" "Where were you planning to take her?"
"Natalee, seriously," Luca whined. "Off. The. Phone."
"Yeah, she's bitching me out. Bye." Natalee hung up. "Yes, dear?"
"Okay, you want to know the story, I'll tell you the story."
"Great--but let's order some room service first," she suggested.
"What else do you want?"
"Chocolate ice cream," Luca said. "With whipped cream."
"Okay, so that's two hamburgers, three orders of French fries, a pepperoni pizza, and two orders of chocolate ice cream with whipped cream?" the man on the phone asked over the speakerphone.
"Yeah," Natalee said.
Luca laughed. "Shit."
"How are you paying for this?" Natalee asked after hanging up the phone.
"My parents' MasterCard," she said with a laugh.
"So much for sucking your parents dry!"
Luca shrugged. They waited for the food to come until Luca started the story.
"Greg's this kid from high school I know. He graduated two years before me with Morgan. And, oh my God, he had the biggest crush on her."
"Your sister?"
"Yeah!"
"Well, duh," Natalee said after swallowing a bite of cheeseburger. "Who doesn't have a crush on your sister? She's fucking hot!"
Luca rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he was in science club with me."
"Fucking losers." Natalee laughed.
"How do you teach pre-K with a mouth like yours, please tell me."
Natalee shrugged. "It's not that damn bad."
"Can I continue?"
"Please do."
"I've always kind of liked him, too. But, I was the awkward little sister…."
"And you had no boobs," Natalee reminded her.
"How would you?"
"Oh, I've seen pictures," she said, nodding.
Luca rolled her eyes. "Stop interrupting. The crush is irrelevant anyway; he was so caught up with Morgan."
Luca went through the events of the night before exactly as they had played out in her head a million times since Greg dropped her off.
"What, no kiss?"
"I'm ignoring you," Luca announced. "It was the most awkward thing ever. He kept telling me how good I look. Just…awkward."
"You do look good. Now--with boobs."
"I don't know," Luca said. "I just feel like he called today because of Morgan."
"How did he get your number?"
"He asked for it, I gave it to him," she said.
Natalee looked at her with French fries in hand. "You don't want to see him again, but you gave him your number?"
Luca shrugged. "I don't know what I was thinking. But right now, I think I need more ice cream."
"What are you going to do? You can't just sit in this room forever. He'll find you again," Natalee said, laughing.
"It's not that funny; he's a stalker!"
"Well, what are you going to do?"
Luca shrugged.
"Your parents are going to cut you off for good if they find out you ran away."
"I didn't run away. I'm a grown woman, not a teenager."
"A grown woman without any of her own money. Come back to California," Natalee urged.
Luca thought for a second. "I can't leave my car."
"This is bullshit. I need to get back. Some of us have jobs," Natalee said. "You have two choices: stay here and live in a box or come back to California with me. I'm going to take a shower when I'm done, you had better have made up your mind."
"Ohh, an ultimatum. I'm so scared."
Natalee rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom.
When she heard the water running, Luca grabbed her purse and keys and left the room. Not sure where she was going.
Half way down the street Greg called her again.
"Hello?"
"Are you busy right now?"
She looked around. "Kind of, why?"
"Well, I kind of wanted to do something, but that's okay."
She couldn't figure out why she still had feelings for him, but she did. "Actually, I'm almost done. Can you give me a half hour?"
"Yeah--yeah, sure."
"Where are we going?" Luca asked, making sure her phone was off in case Natalee called. If she didn't answer, she knew Nat wouldn't leave Vegas.
"It's a surprise."
She smiled as he lead her into Caesars Palace and to the aquarium.
"This is incredible," she said of the exotic fish.
"Isn't it?" He smiled at the fish. "I remember you had a thing for fish; you took care of the fish in the science lab."
"You remember that?" She blushed.
Greg nodded. He looked at her. "You have some hair…." He pulled some brown hair out of her earring.
"Thanks," she said, not looking at the fish anymore.
"Do you want to maybe get out of here?"