When the doors open, we walk past a row of slots and find ourselves in the lobby. A circle of smiles greet our arrival, but it doesn’t take long for one grin to disappear. “Fuck no, not happening,” Jen exclaims. “Casen, rein your boy in,” she demands. All of the girls are dressed in the usual bachelorette paraphernalia of penis necklaces and tiaras while Jen fashions the bride sash across her chest. I personally think Sally fits right in.
I hoist Sally up on my shoulder and bounce her like she’s just made the winning shot in a championship game. “She’s our wedding mascot,” I insist. “Sally will be our ticket to VIP sections.”
The girls, with the exception of Jen, laugh. I recognize Carly’s laugh instantly and I find myself yearning to hear it again.
“More like our ticket to videos and pictures gone viral,” Campbell jokes.
I grab ahold of the penis necklace that dangles from Carly’s neck. “If you girls get to wear phallic jewelry in public, then Sally should get to come along.”
“Fine, but she rides in the trunk or on the roof,” Jen growls.
Now that our disagreement is settled, we head toward the exit. The noise of the Vegas strip is exciting. The energy of the atmosphere infects my body and causes a vibration within my system. I find Carly in our crowd and navigate to her.
Casen hails cabs for us and I rush to get to her so I can share a cab with her, but the girls crowd me out. Instead, I’m stuck with my bandmates, John and Seiger, and Lakin.
We all pile into the cab, and I make sure there is enough room for Sally, as I refuse to follow Jen’s trunk rule.
“Buckle up for safety,” I say once we smoosh in. The comment garners me a stern, unappreciated look from them all. “Oh come on you guys, this is supposed to be a fun night, don’t be asses.”
“Where to, guys?” the cabbie asks before looking in his rearview mirror. His Eastern European accent is so thick I can barely comprehend his question.
“Tallywacker’s, we are in the mood for a little punany bread,” I say with the utmost seriousness.
Lakin snaps his head to me, like he can’t believe what I’ve just said. When a broad smile appears on my face, he just shakes his head at my level of immaturity.
“I know no such place,” the driver call’s back. “You get guys and girls there?” he asks.
When we don’t answer right away, he looks back at us and sees Sally. His brow reaches into his receding hairline and nods his head in an unspoken understanding.
“I know just where to take you boys,” he says before whipping the cab into traffic.
The four of us look back and forth to each other in confusion.
“You like men too, or just the women?” he asks. “I can find cheap, cheap rates for you. Just tell me what you like.”
“Ummm,” Seiger begins to say, uncomfortable with our new possible destination as opposed to Fremont Street as planned. “We…um,” he stutters again, unable to spit out any recognizable complete sentence.
John sees the grand opportunity to fuck with Seiger and I give him the nod to pounce.
“We prefer the women, but my friend here,” John says, pointing to Seiger, “likes the men, but they must be midgets.”
“What?” Seiger exclaims. “No. No. No. No. No. I like the women. I like the women,” he insists.
I sneak a peek over at Lakin, and he’s trying to hide his laugh in his hand.
“You no worry,” the cabbie says reassuringly. “I find you good little guy.”
“No little guy,” Seiger says, narrowing his eyes at us. “We want to go to Fremont, sir.”
We try to maintain our composure, because the second we laugh the joke will be over. Lakin is desperately trying to keep it together, but with every passing second he struggles more and more.
“Fremont, may be hard and more money,” the guys says. “How much you pay? The tip counts you know,” he adds with a wink.
Aaaannd that does it, Lakin snorts and breaks into hysterics. His laugh is contagious and I have to duck behind the Sally doll to conceal my laughter.
“No men, no women, just take us to Fremont Street,” Seiger demands.
“Okay, okay,” the cabbie resigns. “You change your mind, just find me. I hook you up.”
Within minutes, our cabbie has us parked on the street that will lead us on the short walk to Fremont. Up ahead the crowd has overtaken the area to watch a band playing on the main stage and onlookers stare as people fly above the crowd on the zip line.
A pissed off Seiger bursts out of the cab slamming the door behind him. He catches Sally’s head in the car door, popping the plastic. She deflates immediately, air hissing in the back of the cab, with no way of saving her.
I jump out and race around to see her flattened head hang out of the car door.
“Dude! There’s no reason to take out your anger on Sally,” I say as the cabbie drives away with her head flapping in the wind.
“Yeah, she was an innocent bystander in all of this,” John teases.
“I betcha that cabbie can get you a new one,” Seiger says. “You guys are assholes.”
His lack of humor toward the situation makes us laugh even harder. “Sorry, man,” I tell him. “We couldn’t pass up the chance.”
He crosses his arms across his body, sulking. “You’re fucking hilarious,” he steams.
Lakin pulls out his phone and sends a text to the rest of the crew. Hopefully, we can catch up with them. “Come on,” he says as he puts his phone back in his pocket. “I’ll buy you all the first round. It will only take a couple of drinks for that ride to be funny, Seiger.”
Lakin was absolutely right. Three drinks in and the cab ride was an epic story, which Seiger felt free to share with anyone who would listen at the bar.
Somehow, amongst the crowd, we managed to find the other carload of our group, but I didn’t get to spend any of our time out with Carly. Jen made sure to keep the girls partitioned away from us, and it became a look but don’t touch situation in regards to Carly. After my buzz began to wear off and I realized none of my efforts were going to be aimed at the one girl I actually wanted to talk to, I caught the bus back to the strip.
The girls left long before I did, and none of the guys were ready to leave, so the bus ride home is a lonely one. Although the bus would take me all the way to my hotel, I decide to hop off on one side of the strip and enjoy the long trek back to the hotel. I could use the fresh air to think about how I’m going to get another chance with Carly.
I make it all the way to the Bellagio before I stop to see the water display. The crowds have thinned, so finding a spot along the stone edging in the middle is easy to find. I lean on the cooled rock and wait, and wait.
After several minutes of no show, I look around for any clues as to why nothing is happening. Looking down the edging, I notice Carly leaning against the stone just as I am, a mere fifty feet away.
She hasn’t noticed me.
I close the gap between us and scoot in close to her, staring out at the water, when I finally reach her.
“Did I miss a memo or something?” I ask.
“By about two hours,” she responds without missing a beat, making me think she did see me and just chose not to acknowledge me.
She turns and smiles at me, which puts my fears to rest. “I googled it. They turn the fountains off at midnight. We’ll have to catch it tomorrow before we leave.”
I zone in on her use of the word we, and I absolutely love the sound. “We’ll have to do that,” I say, adding my own we into the conversation.
She nods and turns her back to the water, leaning against the rocks. “What happened to Sally? I noticed she didn’t make it to the bar, but I didn’t get a chance to ask.”
“It’s a long story,” I laugh. “Let’s just say the old girl has been laid to rest.”