Lost in Las Vegas (6 page)

“Why am I not surprised?” asked DJ as she watched them refilling their glasses and toasting each other.

“So predictable,” said Conner.

“Hopefully they’ll still want to go to the dance.” Rhiannon pointed to the oversized clock in the kitchen. “It’s nearly eight now.”

“Don’t worry,” said Bradford. “They’ve still got their suites to look forward to . . . I’m sure we’ll get to the hotel . . . eventually.”

“And the Hummer is waiting,” pointed out Conner.

“I guess we could always eat and get the Hummer to take us back to town,” added DJ.

“Why don’t we sit down,” suggested Conner. And so the four sat down, and Conner actually said a blessing.

“This food looks great,” Bradford announced loudly, obviously for the sake of the others. “I guess we’ll go ahead and get started.”

DJ shook out her napkin. “Wow, lobster!” she said just as loudly.

“And don’t blame us if there’s nothing left,” called out Conner. “Because I’m starving!”

Well, that seemed to get everyone’s attention. They trickled over, carrying their drinks and finding seats at the table.

DJ had already decided not to make a scene. There really seemed no point. Like she’d said, why should this have surprised her? Still, it had caught her off guard. And it was disappointing. There seemed to be a silent agreement between the four nondrinkers to simply get through this. Before long, DJ assured herself, they would be at the dance.

But when they were finished with their meal, the others returned for another round of drinks, and Harry turned up the music so they could dance.

“Conner?” asked DJ from where they were sitting on the sidelines. “Can we go to the real dance before it’s over?”

He nodded, then stood. “Okay, DJ and I are heading over to the Winter Ball now. And since I paid my share of the Hummer, we’ll be taking the limo to get there.” He kind of laughed. “But we’ll be sure to send it back. Anyone want to join us?”

Naturally, Rhiannon and Bradford were ready to go. Then, to DJ’s pleased surprise, Casey and Garrison said they were coming too. Although it sort of looked like Casey was dragging Garrison along.

“No one else?” called Conner.

“We’ll be along later,” said Harry lightly. “You kiddies have fun now.” Then he scowled. “And don’t forget to send the Hummer back.”

“I don’t see what the hurry is,” said Garrison after the six of them were seated in the Hummer.

“We want to go to the dance,” pointed out DJ. “Wasn’t that the point?”

He shrugged, then slumped down into the seat.

DJ tossed Casey a look, but Casey looked the other way.

“Gee, this is fun,” DJ said loudly to no one.

Conner frowned as if he was taking her comment personally. So DJ grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Sorry, it actually
is
fun. But some people sort of take the thrill away. You know?”

He smiled now. “Yeah.”

Across from them, Rhiannon and Bradford nodded. Then Rhiannon smiled. “But let’s not let them, okay? We’re still having fun despite the juvenile delinquents we left behind.”

This made them all laugh. Well, except for Garrison. He looked rather glum and slightly sleepy. Or maybe he was just drunk. DJ wondered how much he’d had to drink. She also wondered,
What was the point?

When they reached the hotel, Garrison looked a little unsteady as he attempted to get up from the seat.

“Hey, Garrison, you feeling all right?” asked Conner as he helped DJ get out of the limo.

“You look a little green around the gills, buddy,” called Bradford as he and Rhiannon stood on the sidewalk.

Now Conner leaned back into the Hummer. “Need a hand?”

The four of them stood by the open doors to the Hummer, waiting for Casey and Garrison to join them.

“Come on,” called Casey. “Let’s get moving, Garrison.”

“I don’t . . .”

Casey turned and looked into his face with a puzzled frown. “Are you feeling — ”

Just then he hurled — blasting fragments of seafood and who knew what else all over Casey, himself, and the limo.

“Ugh!” DJ put her hand over her mouth and stepped back.

“Oh, that is so disgusting,” said Bradford.

Just then the limo driver came running around, holding his hands in the air. “What is going on here?” he demanded. Then he looked in the back of the limo and let loose with a few foul words.

“Our friend is sick,” said Conner. “Sorry about the mess.” Then to DJ’s amazement, Conner stepped back into the foul-smelling limo and helped Garrison out. And once outside, Garrison hurled again on the drive-around in front of the hotel. Not a pretty sight, as latecomers arrived for the Winter Ball, quickly sidestepping the nasty mess.

“You guys go on inside,” said Conner. “I’ll take care of Garrison.”

“What about me?” Casey held her vomit-soaked layers of petticoat out and looked like she was about to cry.

“You kids are going to be charged for this mess!” yelled the angry limo driver. “No one’s getting their deposit back!”

“Sorry about that,” called Bradford. “Guess he was carsick.”

“Carsick, my foot!”

“Don’t forget that the people at the beach house still need you to pick them up,” said Conner. “We paid for your service for the entire evening.”

The man laughed now. “Oh, you’ll get my service, all right. But you’ll have to live with the smell.”

Despite everything, DJ laughed as she imagined Harry and Eliza and the others’ faces when they stepped into the limo. Still, Harry had brought it on himself — he was the one who “opened up the bar.”

“What am I going to do?” howled Casey.

“Let’s get her to the bathroom,” said Rhiannon.

“See you inside,” called DJ to Conner.

“Let the good times roll,” called Conner.

Getting chunks of barf out of layers of netting, laces on the corset, and not to mention the fishnet hosiery was no small challenge. Finally, Rhiannon and DJ just stepped back and shook their heads.

“There’s no saving this outfit tonight,” said Rhiannon.

“Why don’t you take a cab home and change?”

Casey was crying now. “Yeah . . . I’ll take a cab home, but I think I’ll just stay there.”

DJ didn’t know what to say. “My guess is that Garrison might want to call it a night too.”

“What a waste,” said Casey as she threw the last of the soggy, smelly paper towels into the trash.

“Don’t you mean
wasted
?” said Madison Dormont as she and Tina Clark emerged from where they’d obviously been listening in the lounge section of the ladies restroom. They both laughed, then stepping carefully, made their way to the mirrors where they checked their makeup.

“I hate to say I agree,” said DJ. “But Madison is right.”

“Thanks a lot,” snapped Casey. She turned on the heel of her Doc Martin boot and stormed out with Rhiannon trailing behind her.

Then DJ went to the vanity to wash her hands and to touch up her own lip gloss. Remembering Taylor’s lecture, she stood straighter. “But just for the record, Madison,” she spoke slowly as she carefully coated her lips. “Casey wasn’t the one who got wasted tonight. It was her boyfriend.”

“If you sleep with swine,” said Madison, “you wake up smelling like a pig.” They both laughed as if they thought that was very clever.

DJ forced a smile as she mustered enough self-control not to say, “takes one to know one.” Really, that would’ve been childish.

“Nice dress,” said Tina as she snapped her evening bag closed.

DJ was surprised. “Were you talking to me?”

Tina shrugged, then nodded.

DJ smiled more genuinely this time. “Thanks. Yours is nice too.”

“Thanks,” said Tina with a cautious smile.

“Good grief,” said Madison. “Aren’t we having quite the little love fest in here. The guys are waiting, Tina.”

DJ watched as Madison and Tina strolled out. Those two usually kept the enemy lines tightly drawn, but Tina had just let her guard down. Maybe if DJ made a little more effort, things could change. But for now, DJ had enough to deal with. She hurried out to see what had become of Casey and Garrison.

“There you are,” said Conner as they met in the lobby.

“Where’s Garrison?”

“He went up to the suite.”

“Oh, that’s right.” DJ had almost forgotten the overnighter plan.

“Is he going to sleep it off?” asked Rhiannon.

“Actually, he sort of rallied after hurling all over the place,” said Bradford. “He said he’s going to change and hang around.”

“But I put Casey in a cab to go home,” said Rhiannon.

“Do you think she’ll come back?” asked DJ.

“I don’t know.”

Bradford shook his head. “I’m sure Garrison will be giving her a call before too long.”

“Hopefully she won’t be answering,” said DJ.

“Ladies,” said Conner in a formal voice, “Are you ready to go to the ball?”

“Beyond ready,” said DJ.

And so the four of them finally made it to the dance. Once inside, they danced and laughed and danced and visited with friends. DJ was reminded of how many good friends she had and how much fun it was to be with a big crowd like this. The band was actually pretty good. And the refreshments weren’t bad either. All in all, she was having a great time.

6

“YOU’RE LIKE THE BELLE OF THE BALL,”
said Conner as he and DJ took a break near the punch table. It was nearly eleven, and DJ was finally feeling slightly tired. Still, it had been a great time . . . once they had made it into the ballroom.

“Yeah, right. But thanks anyway.”

“Seriously, DJ. Everyone is looking at you.”

She laughed. “That’s crazy! They’re probably just wondering where Eliza and Taylor are hiding.” That’s when she noticed the other half of their dinner party finally entering the ballroom. “Hey, look who just walked in.”

Conner turned, and they both watched as Eliza, with Harry in tow, moved through the room. The couple looked slightly bedraggled, but Eliza’s eyes were fixed on DJ as the two made their way to them. And if looks could kill, those icy blue daggers would’ve done the deed in seconds.

“Uh-oh,” Conner said quietly. “Danger this way comes.”

DJ forced a smile for Eliza. “Hello — ”

“Save the greeting,” hissed Eliza. She clutched DJ by the elbow and pulled her slightly away. But Conner came right along with her.

“Easy does it, Eliza.” He smiled as he peeled Eliza’s ice-cold fingers from DJ’s arm.

“What did you guys do to the limo?” demanded Eliza.

“Huh?” DJ was confused. “Didn’t it come back to get you?”

“Oh, yeah, it came back.” Eliza glared at her.

By now the others had joined them. Kriti seemed almost as irate as Eliza, and Josh looked like he wondered what he’d gotten himself into. DJ could only imagine the newspaper story he might extract from this by next week. Harry looked only mildly irritated, probably because he’d had too much to drink. Seth looked ticked, but like he was trying not to show it. And Taylor actually looked somewhat amused — not to mention perfect with every hair in place. How did she do that?

“Who puked in the limo?” Eliza eyes were still fixed on DJ like she was personally responsible for the mess. “It smelled like — ”

“It was Garrison,” Conner said quickly.

“Yeah,” added DJ. “He lost his cookies.”

“And you couldn’t have prevented that?” demanded Eliza. “You couldn’t have asked the driver to pull over or stopped Garrison from throwing up all over the limo?” She pointed at DJ now. “You probably
made
him throw up!”

“We did not
make
him throw up!” DJ glared at Eliza with indignation.

“Garrison threw up because he’d had too much to drink.” Conner directed this to Harry. “And if anyone’s to blame, that would be you, Harry, my boy.”

“Even so. You couldn’t clean out the limo before you sent it back smelling like a cesspool?” Eliza once again directed this to DJ.

“Seriously, Eliza. You’re acting like I’m the one to blame. What’s up with that?”

“You guys are the only ones here. Who else do we blame?”

Just then Rhiannon and Bradford emerged from the dance floor and joined them. “What’s going on?” asked Rhiannon brightly.

“What’s going on?”
Eliza aimed her venom at Rhiannon now. “You guys send us a freaking limo that reeks with the smell of — ”

“Look, Eliza.” Conner calmly stepped up to her. “If you have a beef, you should really take it up with dear old Garrison. He’s the dude who hurled in the Hummer.”

“And Casey,” said DJ. “I mean he hurled on Casey too. She had to go home she was such a mess.”

“Where is
dear old
Garrison anyway?” asked Harry.

“Upstairs in the suite.”

Harry nodded. “I think I’ll join him there.”