Part 5 (1/2)
The next morning I rolled out of bed with a pretty major headache. We had casino-hopped *til all hours of the morning. As Matt had predicted, Jen had turned out to be a phenomenal card player. She had picked up blackjack fairly quickly, and ended the night four hundred bucks richer. The rest of had occupied ourselves with a lot of drinking.
”Ugh,” Ginny groaned from the bed next to me. ”I keep forgetting that I'm an old married mother and I shouldn't be doing things like this.”
”Gin, baby or not, you're only twenty-five,” I told her, rubbing my head.
”Let's go get food,” she said. ”Bacon is the only cure for a hangover this bad.”
”Oh my G.o.d,” I moaned. ”Bacon sounds amazing.”
We dragged ourselves out of bed, throwing on yoga pants and tank tops. ”You look hot,” I told Ginny drily as she pulled her hair up in a messy bun.
”Says the girl who didn't manage to take her make-up off last night,” she replied.
We made it downstairs to one of the casino restaurants and found a mouth-watering buffet. Ginny was whimpering next to me as we stared down the long line of food. We had never been the kind of girls to avoid food after heavy drinking-or any other time for that matter. We were of the opinion that the best way to kill a hangover was to stuff it full of greasy junk.
A few minutes later, we had found our way to a table with heaping plates of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. ”I need coffee,” Ginny moaned. ”Where the h.e.l.l is the coffee?”
”Right over there,” a voice said.
We both looked up and I found myself face to face with the guy from the casino last night. Oh, h.e.l.l. He looked even better in the morning, if that was possible, all bright eyed and rested. I'm sure I looked like c.r.a.p.
”How you doing this morning, Annie?” he asked, sitting down across the table. ”Have fun last night?”
”A little too much,” I said, feeling uncomfortable at his nearness in my present state.
”Well,” he said, ”what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?”
Ginny was watching my reaction to his arrival with a smile on her face that freaked me out a little bit. She knew me too well.
”Hi,” she said, pus.h.i.+ng her hand into his face. ”I'm Ginny, Annie's friend.”
”h.e.l.lo, Ginny, Annie's friend,” he replied, smiling. ”I'm Nate.”
”Nice to meet you, Nate,” she said, smiling at me way too obviously. Oh, geez.
”So what are you guys up to today?” Nate asked. ”Did you say something about thrill rides?”
”Yeah,” Ginny said excitedly. ”We're gonna go to the stratosphere tower and do the rides up there.”
”That's awesome,” Nate said. ”I've been trying to convince my buddies to do that, but they're way too chicken.”
”You could always come with us,” Ginny said.
I kicked her under the table. I could live without her matchmaking. It was one thing to flirt with the guy last night, when I was looking good and feeling pretty tipsy. It was another to invite him to spend the day with us.
Nate was looking at me with a slight smirk on his face. ”Thanks, Ginny, but I should probably hang out with my friends today.”
I gave a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived.
”Well, before we head over there we're going to spend some time at the pool here at the hotel,” Ginny said.
”Cool,” Nate said. ”I'll totally see you guys there.”
He tapped the table twice, then stood up. ”Good to see you guys, Ginny, Annie.”
”Bye!” Ginny said brightly.
”Bye,” I muttered.
After he walked away, I turned on her. ”What are you doing?” I asked.
”What? I thought you liked him?”
”I think he's cute,” I corrected her. ”I never said I liked him.”
She sighed. ”Well the only way to find out if you like a cute guy is to spend some time with him.”
”Ginny,” I said, ”he is so obviously not my type. Flirting with him at the casino is one thing. Hanging out with him all day is totally another.”
”Why don't you think he's your type?” she asked, surprised. ”He's totally into you. And the way you sauntered over to him last night-I think there's chemistry there.”
I sighed.
”I know what you're thinking,” Ginny said. ”You're thinking he's too together for you, right? You're wis.h.i.+ng he would be just a little more emo?”
”I don't like emo guys,” I said, offended.
Ginny laughed. ”Bulls.h.i.+t. Sensitive artist is just another way to describe emo.”
I glared at her. ”Gin, he's probably, like, an accountant or something. He lives in Birmingham.”
She shook her head. ”You're such a sn.o.b.”
”Who's a sn.o.b?” Jen asked, sitting down next to me. I looked at her and groaned. While Ginny and I looked like we'd been drinking all night, Jen looked as perfect and put-together as ever. Typical.
”Annie made a love connection and she's in denial,” Ginny said.
”Oooh,” Jen said, digging into her pancakes. ”Who's the guy?”
”It's not a love connection,” I said, feeling irritated with both of them. ”I met a guy from Detroit at the casino last night. I flirted with him a little bit. End of story.”
”Or not,” Ginny said, drinking her juice. ”He came over here this morning and you can totally tell he's into her. He says he's going to try to find her at the pool.”
”Wow, Annie,” Jen said. ”This sounds pretty serious.”
”I have an idea,” I said, putting down my fork. ”How about you both drop it?”