FicWad

“Are you going to do that whole red carpet, flashing lights and television cameras everywhere sort of thing with him?” Janelle was pulling back the curtains of the eleventh floor suite, gazing down at the hustle and bustle of the world’s most famous strip.

Dragging her suitcase across the suite and dropping it haphazardly at the foot of their dresser, Ana shrugged her shoulders lightly, twisting her lips to the side. “I don’t know, I mean, it would be nice to experience it with him, but he’s going to be busy, he’ll be pushed and pulled in 100 different directions and I’ll be useless down there anyway.”

Janelle nodded knowingly, taking a seat on the edge of the plush king size bed in the center of the room as Ana added, “Plus, there are four of them, it’s not like he’s going to be lonely. And the less time I’m with him, the more time I have to play girly dress up with you.”

After nodding in understanding, but still staying silent, Janelle sighed heavily, falling back against the sheets as her hair fell on the bed around her. Ana plopped down heavily on the bed next to her best friend, lazily falling back against the sheets prompting sternly, “Spill!” They had been friends long enough for Ana to know when Janelle was ready to talk.

Fiddling with the bracelet around her wrist, Janelle sighed heavily against, staring up blankly at the ceiling, “What if this set up is a bad idea?”

Ana sighed in understanding, but there was a tiny smile playing on her lips; Janelle was nervous, which meant that she was into him, proving that this was such a good idea. “Correct me if I’m wrong but … did we or did we not have to run out on an emergency shopping spree nearly the moment that our flight landed so you could buy something cuter for your date? And did you or did you not have a good time with him on the plane to Chicago?”

“I know, I know!” Janelle defended anxiously, “I’m just nervous I mean, he’s really great; don’t get me wrong but what, what if I’m not really great?”

Ana sat up quickly, shaking her head in disapproval, the locks of her hair thrashing around her shoulders as she sternly eyed up her very best friend, “Listen Nelle, he’s not like Nick, trust me. Gabe is different and I wouldn’t have set this up if I wasn’t positive that it was the best idea I’ve ever had. Nick was a mistake, it was something I shouldn’t have let Pete do, but I did and you’ve learned from it.”

Janelle sat up now, shaking her long curls away from her face and sighing dramatically, “Fiiiiine, I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right; I’m your best friend, that’s my job.” Ana smiled proudly, “But seriously, if you don’t quit moping, a day at the spa is going to be only half as fun as it rightfully should be, so let’s go!” And with that, Ana grabbed Janelle’s hand and they were gone in a hurry, the door slamming shut behind them.

Endless hours later, Patrick lazily strolled into their suite, to find clothing and shopping bags covering much of the dresser and floor and Ana standing, nearly naked in the bathroom with a hair dryer in her hand. Smirking wilding once the sight of his reflection in the mirror caught her eye, she ran the brush through her hair a few more times before shutting off the high power styling tool and placing it lazily down on the counter.

“Quit blushing like you’ve never seen me in my underwear before.”

“Trust me; blushing doesn’t even come close to what’s happening right now.” Patrick wiggled his eyebrows before turning on his heels and exiting the bathroom.

Kicking off his shoes, he was turning on the television and emptying his pockets onto the dresser before crawling into bed when Ana padded across the room, inquiring on the events of his day.

Patrick shrugged nonchalantly before dramatically falling back against the pillows, “It was busy.”

Ana nodded in general understanding and she scoured the floor for her jeans, snatching them quickly and pulling them up over her hips. Patrick frowned deeply, whining like a child in a toy store, “Aw, but why did you have to get dressed? I like you much better the other way.”

“Of course you do” Ana teased, rustling her hair and taking a final glance in the mirror. “I have to make Nelle pretty for her date.” And with a kiss on his cheek, she was gone and the door was once again slamming shut behind her, each time with a different purpose.

Patrick was still lying in bed, lazily flipping through the television channels when Ana returned over an hour later. Wiggling his eyebrows in an attempt to be seductive again the moment the door shut behind her, he was hopeful; “Is it underwear time again?”

“I’m eventually going to change again, does that count?”

Patrick groaned in disapproval, shutting off the television and tossing the remote to the side before hopping out of bed and following Ana as she bound towards the bathroom. Changing her outfit did not count on Patrick’s scale of sexy time, so maybe if he followed her, he could talk her into something more exciting.

“Prettying up for your other boyfriend?”

Ana yelped loudly when the sound of his voice was right behind her, instead of floating in from somewhere in the bedroom; his body was soon in the reflection of the mirror, leaning casually against the bathroom door frame.

“Um, if Kanye West is my other boyfriend, then yes.” Ana smirked, eyeing up his outfit in the mirror, her lips twisting to the side in disapproval, “Are you going dressed like that?”’

Patrick raised an eyebrow in confusion and Ana sighed in frustration, “That Kanye West party, that Pete has only been talking about for basically ever now; is that what you’re wearing?”

Patrick ground in disapproval once again, the expression of his face dropping. “Don’t be like that” Ana sternly warned, “It’s just a party; everyone is going and it’s going to be fun.”

“I don’t care if everyone is going, I’m tired and parties are stupid; I don’t want to go out tonight.”

“Parties are fun, it’s going to be fun I mean honestly Patrick, its Vegas, what do you think that you do here?” Ana was on his trail as he stormed from the bathroom, obviously annoyed by the mention of a socially active night.

“I didn’t know that is what this weekend is about.”

“It’s Vegas, Patrick” Ana laughed sarcastically, “its VMA weekend, what do you think there is to do?”

“I don’t know” Patrick rebutted; the tone of his voice was low and aggravated, “Maybe I just want to spend time with you.”

Ana laughed dryly, it was hard not to burst out hysterically, “Spend time with me? Patrick, this is the first time in the last three weeks that I’ve seen you without headphones in your ears.”

“Well then why don’t’ you take advantage of that!”
“Why can’t we just do something I want to do for a change? I’m sorry that I don’t live a rock star life and this is an exciting weekend for me.”

Patrick scoffed loudly, crossing his arms angrily over his chest, “Fine, what is it that you want to do Miss wannabe- rock star?”

“Fuck you Patrick” Ana was furious now, the tips of her ears flushing red “Sit alone and be miserable all weekend for all I care, you deserve it. I’m going out with Ryan and Travis; I’m going to have fun.”

Turning on her heels she was nearly three steps away from him when his words cut through her life a knife, “Why don’t’ you just marry them?”

Before his mind could register what he was saying, the harsh words were rolling violently off of his tongue and there was no way to take them back now. Word vomit was a problem Patrick suffered from when it came to the arguments of his relationships and this time, the regret happened long before her ears had even picked up the sound of his words.

When the verbal slap in the face had finally registered, she turned back to face him and the hurt that had taken home in her beautiful eyes will haunt Patrick forever and the fixation on the heartbreaking image was what had held him in his place, registering his body unable to move as she stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind her for the third time today, this time in anger, this time more violently than before.

Shuffling closer to the bench where she sat sometime later, Patrick would never remember that it was the sound of his feet on the pavement that always gives him away. As he neared the spot she had taken in fear of getting lost in the city, the sound of her voice rose above the noises of the street, of the passing traffic and above the shuffling of life passing them by. “Do you think that people think I’m a prostitute?”

There was hesitation in his voice as he took a seat at the opposite end of the bend where she sat, her hair was half curled, half a mess, now brushed away from her damp, tear stained cheeks. “You’re in front of a chapel, so if so, they would probably assume that you’re classy, to say the least.”

Patrick eyed up the church in front of them in silence, contemplating his future, the nearly broken girl seated beside him and the irony of a chapel sitting across the strip from their hotel. “Want to do it now?”

Ana smiled, a light laughter was almost present in her voice, which was a very big step away from crying, “You know that we would severely regret it in the morning.”

Patrick was smiling at her momentary contemplation of actually doing it, but his smile soon faded; an apology was due and there was no way to dance around it, “I’m sorry about what I said.”

“I know” Ana smiled simply, reaching her hand across the bench, intertwining her fingers with Patrick’s as he scooted closer on the bench, his lips curling involuntarily into a smile.

Ana broke the momentarily silence, her eyes were still glued on the sky above them, on the cathedral of the chapel and the glow of the city lights, “Why did you spend $18,000 on a ring?”

Patrick’s body tensed nervously for a moment in time, until he realized that he hadn’t done anything wrong; it was a simple question that he in fact had the answer to. “You were already engaged, with your grandmother’s ring; I wanted to give you something that you could call your own, something that no one else could give you.”

Ana smiled happily to herself, cuddling closer to him as she once again began studying the scenery around them; a comfortable silence once again filtering through the noise and settling quietly over them. Bust as almost always, she was the first to break it; quick to destroy the calm, quiet film with a dagger of confusion or curiosity.

“March 29th” Blushing to herself, this was a secret she had held for far too long, “That was the day that I fell in love with you, sophomore year. We had a snow day, I had just gotten my wisdom teeth out so I couldn’t go outside with everyone; so you blew them off and brought me pudding, we watched Disney movies all day and you tucked me into bed that night.”

“We can book the church on Monday”

Ana was quick to glance at him out of the corner of her eye, questioning the validity of his offer and her inability to immediately respond sent him into a fit of panic, “I mean, unless you don’t want to set a date. It’s not a big deal we don’t have to set a date unless you want to, I don’t want to push you in—“

“No” The bright smile on her face was his interruption, “I want to set a date, I want to set that date.”

“Are you sure? Are you positive you don’t just want Elvis to marry us?” Patrick was a jokester, staring back up at the chapel in front of them, “And I mean, its Vegas so there’s actually probably somewhere that would even let Pete do it.”

Ana jokingly slapping his arm before standing up straight, “That’s not even funny, don’t you dare give him an idea like that!”

Patrick smiled happily as he once again intertwined his fingers with hers.

“You changed your outfit" Ana noted, studying him closely.

With a smile and a nonchalant shrug, Patrick was now linking his arm around her waist, “Kanye is waiting.”