Thanks again my lovely reviewers especially KiwiSWfan, you'll have to be quick on the button if you want to race her...You could give it a try.


Chapter Twenty Four

Tuesday 18th June

I'm gonna give it everything I've got

Lady luck please let the dice stay hot

Let me shoot a seven with every shot

"Harry! You're back early," Jorge commented as Harry entered his building that night.

"Well there's only a couple of weeks left of term," he stuttered, "It's all winding down a bit."

"You must come over later. We've got something to tell you," Jorge said excitedly.

"Hmm, I might have some news too," Harry muttered but not really loud enough to be heard.

"So will you come over?"

He wasn't really in the mood, he had a lot of thinking to do, but his time with his friends was quickly running out. Having set certain wheels in motion it was like setting off a landslide of actions and consequences. He would be gone in a matter of weeks; he didn't have time to waste. All of Leo's affairs that he was supposed to be sorting out and processing would have to wait until he got back to England. He'd still not managed to tell Nikki that Leo had left the two of them the proceeds from his house sale, or more exactly he had left them his house, its contents and his car. They were joint home owners and they weren't even talking to each other. It sounded similar to a number of other couples he knew.

"Sure," Harry replied. "See you about eight?"

"It's the best news ever," Jorge said with a massive grin.

Harry trudged around to the lift, he didn't bother checking his mail box; there was only ever the discount sheet from the grocery store. He'd have to give notice on his apartment, cancel the rental of his furniture and arrange pick up.

The lift opened.

'Viva Las Vegas!'

Sang Elvis. There were some things he would miss more than others when he moved, he thought.

###

Beto had a big smile on his face and a bottle of champagne in his hand, when Harry knocked at their door later.

"So what's the big news?" Harry asked with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

"Jorge got the call!"

"What call?" asked Harry, thinking it wasn't going to be like his summons before the Board.

"VEGAS!" Beto squealed.

"What?"

"Jorge's been offered a slot in Vegas for the summer, Trent Carlini has asked for a summer off."

"Trent who?" Harry asked.

"¿Por qué somos amigos con este burro?" asked Beto glancing across to Jorge.

"Trent Carlini is THE number one Elvis impersonator," Jorge gabbled on ignoring Beto. "He won a competition in 2007, $100,000 dollars and a contract at Las Vegas Hotel and Casino."

"This is the first summer he's asked for off in seven years? Are you sure you want the gig?" Harry asked.

"It's going to be BRILLIANT!" they smiled and put their arms around each other.

"If it works out they'll take him on permanently," Beto grinned. "Carlini is showing his age and no one really likes the fat Elvis stage…"

"I'm going to Vegas, I'm going to Vegas," sang Jorge.

"Viva Las Vegas!" Jorge and Beto sang together and high fived each other, raised their arms and danced round each other Cumbia style. Harry hadn't seen them so exuberant since they had won the competition in Niagara.

"Congratulations!" said Harry, clinking his now full glass with their half empty ones as they danced around him too.

"You're both going?" Harry asked looking from one to the other. "What about your job?"

"Oh there are enough illegal immigrants needing representation to keep me busy in Vegas for the rest of my life," smiled Beto. "It's not even settled that we'll stay. I'll just take a sabbatical for the summer. That's the good thing about working for peanuts, you can leave when you like and it's only a three hour flight if I had to come back anyway."

"You're leaving me!" Harry exclaimed.

"We didn't say you couldn't come, don't you get a massive break before the semester starts again?"

Harry nodded.

"WELL?" they looked expectantly at him. "Come with us?"

Harry blinked and looked at them both. They had never made him feel like the third wheel, he loved their company. He'd handed his notice in today, he was free to do as he liked. He could spend the summer in Vegas if he wanted.

"I can't come," Harry insisted.

"Aguafiestas!" muttered Beto. Harry looked to Jorge for a translation…that one hadn't been about donkeys for once.

"Spoilsport," translated Jorge. "Why not?"

"Because I quit my job today…"

"You did what?" his friends chorused.

"I asked them not to renew my contract. Told them I was going to England. I told them I had business to sort out there."

"You could still come with us!"

"I can't go to Vegas,"

"Why not?" Jorge asked seriously. "There's nothing keeping you in New York."

"I'd sort you out with a work permit," Beto said encouragingly.

Harry smiled ruefully and shook his head.

"Does the business you have to deal with in England, include sorting things out with Nikki?" Jorge asked after a long silence.

"And if it does?"

"I'll drive you to the airport myself," Beto said. "Are you ready to leave?"

Harry gave a wry chuckle. "You know it's complicated between us."

"It'll be a lot less complicated if you're living in the same country…the same city…"

"That's what I'm hoping," admitted Harry.

His friends smiled. "Good for you Harry." There was a slight pause then Beto added, "So when were you going to tell us that YOU were leaving US?"

"You beat me to it," Harry laughed. "I'm not going back," Harry insisted. "I'm going to do something new; I've an idea for a business I'm going to start. I'll be my own boss."

"Brilliant news,"

"And you are going to sort things out with Nikki?"

"I'm going to try. Why is it so important to you?" Harry asked.

"Strange as it is Burro, we rather like you," Beto said scuffing Harry's hair with his hand. "We like seeing you happy."

"And?"

"She makes you happy," Jorge concluded.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations all round!"

They clinked glasses after Jorge had refilled the empty ones.

"Viva Las Vegas!" Jorge toasted.

"Viva Las Vegas," Beto and Harry toasted back.

"You could come for the first couple of weeks?" Beto suggested.

"I'm not going to Vegas with you," laughed Harry. "You'll not even miss me."

"No, he's right we won't, he'll be back in England in the rain…" Beto began.

"And you'll be in the desert in the middle of the summer!" spluttered Harry. "I'd probably die."

"That's true, have you ever heard him whine about the weather here?" Jorge asked Beto.

"Pero, ¿dónde vamos a encontrar otro burro? Nadie es tan bueno en llevar todas las cosas como él."

"I am not a donkey!" Harry insisted.

Beto punched Harry on the arm. "We're going to miss you Burro."

"I'll miss you too," Harry agreed.

"Hey, this is my night for celebrations, no sadness; none, none, none!" Jorge exclaimed. "So no long face from you," he pointed at Harry.

"Don't you start!" Harry insisted.

"Eh?"

"Long face… Harry thinks you've stared to call him donkey now." Beto half whispered to Jorge.

"Burro!"

"It suits him,"

"What? His new name?"

"No, that look on his face."

"I am here you know!" Harry spluttered. "What look on my face?"

"The decisive one."

"You think it's decisive?" Beto quipped back.

"How would you describe it?"

Harry made a show of staring at the ceiling, whilst his friends finished their 'private' conversation and drank his champagne ostentatiously.

"I think he looks like a man with a mission. Very James Bond."

"At least I'm not a donkey," Harry muttered under his breath but his eyes twinkled when he met his friends gaze.

"I always liked James Bond," Jorge admitted taking a step towards Harry.

"Easy!" Harry laughed.

"Good luck my friend, may all your dreams and plans come true too." Jorge said and clinked his glass with him.

"To new beginnings!" Harry toasted.

"New beginnings!" Jorge agreed.

"Comenzar de Nuevo," Beto added.


Viva Las Vegas: Pomus and Shuman (Elvis)

* Why are we friends with this donkey?

Where are we going to find another donkey? No one's as good at shifting all the stuff as he is.