Thanks so much for all the support!
Piper
"Wake up, wake up!"
"Bleurg."
I open my eyes. Brown hair and blue eyes greet me.
"Finally. Jeez, you sleep a long time."
"Travis? Where are the others?"
He shakes his head. "As far as I can tell, it's only you and me and Lily."
"Lily? But..."
She must have heard her name, because a little brown head pops up at the end of the bed.
"Ah?"
I reach down and pick her up.
"Hi, baby. Where's your mama?"
She looks around, then wriggles in my grasp so I set her down.
"I think we're in Vegas. Actually," He adds, picking up a casino chip sitting on the end table. "i'm almost positive."
"Where are the others."
He sets the chip down, his face somber. "I don't know. I've looked around and asked a bit, but I haven't seen or heard anything. We don't have any bags, or phones, or money, except I found twenty bucks in my pocket."
I draw my legs to me and feel my pockets. "Yeah, I've got a twenty."
He sighs. "I can always get more money if we need some."
"You can get some if we need some?"
He reddens. "I mean, if I'm bored, I'll grab some."
"I thought so."
"Do you want to go somewhere, or stay here, or what?"
"We should try to get to the house. Or at least New York."
I swing myself out of bed. He decides to look around, pointing me towards the bathroom.
Lily grins at me from inside. The toliet paper roll is all over the floor.
"No, no Lily. Don't do that."
Her lip wobbles. I quickly bend down and start rolling up while making buzzing noises. Pretty soon, she's giggling.
"Do you see any soap?"
I straighten and find several bottles. Some shampoo, some face wash, some conditioner, and others.
There's a sign sitting by them saying to contact the desk if you forgot anything important.
I take Lily's hand and lead her into the main room. Travis is rummaging through all the drawers still. I help Lily climb onto the bed and then pick up the receiver sitting by the casino chips.
"This is the front desk, how may I help you?"
"Hi, my friend and I are in room..."
"55B," Travis whispers.
"55B and we've forgotten a bunch of stuff. We're both absent-minded and we got this trip from a friend only today."
"Okay, well we have a variety of things. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, handy purses and bookbags that have a special strap to keep them from getting stolen, some chip sorters, and some bottles if you want to have a portable bar."
"Okay. Can I have three toothbrushes, two things of toothpaste, a purse and two bookbags, please?"
"Of course. Shall I put it on the tab?"
"Um, yes please."
"Will that be all?"
Something behind me falls.
"Yes, thank you!"
I turn around. Lily's standing at the edge of the bed, her mouth in an O. Travis is pulling at the painting's frame.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to get this out..."
"I was on the phone with the front desk! They could've-"
"Yeah, yeah. We'll be out of here soon."
He apparently finds the painting impenetrable and carefully hangs it back up. There's a knock on the door, and he goes to answer it.
Voices sound down the hallway and Lily sits down on the comforter and bounces.
"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy," I say absently as Travis comes back. He's holding the stuff.
"These bags are great," He grumbles, sorting the stuff into two piles. The purse has a 'safety' strap that's supposed to be drawn across your chest, so I take my stuff and sort it into the purse. With my bookbag, I yank out all of the different layers so it's one big pocket.
"Come here, Lily."
She toddles over and I slot her carefully into the bag. It's a bit cramped but it should do for now.
"This is a high-society place," Travis points out. "And you're taking a baby out on your back."
I shush him and we get ready to go. I do take Lily out of the bag and carry her on my hip, and he shoves the folded and empty bag into his.
Before we go, he grabs the chips off of the table and stuffs them into his pockets haphazardly.
"Those are going to fall out," I point out as we leave.
"That's the idea.
We take the elevator silently down to the lobby, which is packed. Several people stare at us and our bags, but then Travis bumps into a support pole and chips spill.
"Thanks. Thank you," He mutters as people start handing them to him.
"Oh look," He mumbles. "No more stares. Just two people and a baby, going out to the casinos."
"The baby kind of sets it off. Did you get any money?"
He shakes his head as a bellboy comes out and watches us out of the corner of his eye.
"Do you see her?" Travis asks me randomly.
"No...wait...over there?" I point across the street at a random lady.
"Yeah, I think so. You ready to see your mommy, little chubsters?" Travis asks Lily. She ignores him.
We set off the street toward the random lady.
"Do you think that'll throw him off?"
I shrug. "Maybe. Don't know why we bother, though. We'll be out of here in a little while."
We keep walking until we're out of sight of the hotel and then quickly find a bus stand. Travis checks the destinations while I find the prices.
"Okay, we can be in Arizona in hours for a little cash."
I peer over his shoulder while Lily rubs her slobbery fingers on him.
"Okay. We'll have to get more money soon, though. This much isn't going to get us very far."
The bus comes within minutes and we climb aboard. Travis takes the window seat and Lily and I hold the bags.
"Excuse me," A little old lady asks. "I'm a photographer. May I take a picture of your lovely little family?"
We decline politely and she bumbles off. The bus starts to move and Travis stares out the window.
"I wish you were Katie," He sighs.
"I wish you were Jason," I whisper.
There we go! Review, please, and all the other stuff!