Flashbacks

It must be morning, the sunlight through the hotel’s curtains is piercing through my eyelids. I slowly open my eyes. God, it feels like there’s sand in them. My head is pounding, and did a cat shit in my mouth? Reminds me of a Frank Sinatra quote I read at a bar, “I feel sorry for people that don’t drink because when they wake up in the morning, that’s the best they’re going to feel all day.” Yeah, well Frankie, I’d rather be one of those people right now.

“Whit, are you awake?” Ara’s quiet question shook me from my self deprecating thoughts.

“Ugh,” was all I could manage.

“I’m going to take a shower, but we have to hurry to checkout.” I feel the bed shift as Ara leaves it. The shower water turns on and it sounds like heaven. I slowly sit up in the king size bed and push my blonde hair out of my face. Looking to my left I see an unfinished bottle of water. I grab it and greedily chug what little remained. That was one crazy night I can barely recall how it started and definitely can’t remember how it ended. I set the empty bottle back on the table and notice a small, black, leather bound book on the edge. I grab what appears to be a bible to see if I can maybe find a solution for a hangover.

As I grab it, I notice it doesn’t have any wording on the cover. “Weird.” I remove the brown elastic band from the outside and open it to the middle. I can barely read the handwriting.

“Whit! We have to go soon. Get your ass in the shower!” oh shit, didn’t realize Ara was standing at the bed. I jump out of it, and make my way to the bathroom, dropping the book in my bag as I go. The shower water is cold as I step in and slowly begin to feel the hangover relief. After my quick shower and ibuprofen, I’m dressed, packed, and we’re out the door.

“What happened last night?” I ask as we make our way to the elevators.

“I don’t know. You would not come back to the room with me. I had to practically drag you back.”

“Where was I?”

“You really don’t remember?” she asked suspiciously.

“No, Ar, I swear I don’t remember anything past lunch.”

“So you do remember going to the dispensary and buying those gummies?”

“Yeah, but we only ate a little bit of them. I still have the rest in my purse. Those wouldn’t have made me blackout.” The elevator doors open and we step in.

“Vegas’ motto is no joke, what happens here, stays here. Because people black out and can’t remember,” she laughed. After noticing my concern, she continued, “Look, I don’t remember much either. We both drank a lot. We met those guys, Cole and Jonah, at lunch and then we went to MGM and took shots. They kept telling us that they knew how to win a lot of money or some bullshit like that. I mostly played slots with Cole. I remember we saw you stumbling past us with Jonah and I dragged you back to the room. Sorry for the cockblock.”

Flashbacks of the previous hours seep into my head as the elevator delivers us to the lobby. “Just try it,” Jonah begs as he and Cole do bumps of a powdery white substance. “It will unlock parts of your brain that you didn’t realize you had.”

“I tried cocaine in college and I wasn't a fan. It didn’t unlock anything for me, except a massive migraine,” I quickly refuted.

A chorus of laughter from everyone, including my treacherous friend, Ara. “It’s not coke, you dummy! It’s adderall.” as she sniffs it up.

Ara always seemed to know more about the real world than I did, even though we're the same age. She has an air of confidence that most just don’t have. She’s been like that since we first met in college. We were suitemates in our dorm. I remember when we first met, she came into my room in nothing but a bikini, flipping her long brown hair telling me that if there’s a sock on the doorknob of our shared bathroom, that means she’s in there getting it on. Her words, not mine. Her roommate at the time decided to switch colleges midterm and my roommate was as boring as watching paint dry. So I moved into Ara’s room and we shared living spaces throughout the rest of our college experience and recently moved into an apartment together. We’ve known each other 5 years, but we’re the closest thing to a sister that either of us have.

“Checking out of room 515,” Ara said as she handed our room key to the front desk lady, who’s name tag said Sammie.

“One second,” Sammie said as she typed into the keyboard. “Um, Ms. Stahl?”

“Yes,” I said, cautiously.

“Looks like they need to see you. Let me call our back office.” Sammie said as she turned and called from a phone on the counter behind her.

I couldn’t make out what she was saying but she looked perplexed. I looked at Ara and shrugged.

Sammie hung up the phone and turned to tell us that they’d be with us in a moment. She gestured to the next person in line.

“Excuse me, could you tell us what this is about?” Ara questioned Sammie.

She said that she wasn’t sure and Luis would be with me in a moment.

I mouthed to Ara, “what the fuck?”

“Ms. Stahl?” a tall, dark, and muscular man with glasses and an earpiece asked me.

“Yes. I presume you’re Luis?”

A head nod was all I got. “Please come with me.”

“What’s this about?” Ara asked as we rushed to keep up with Luis. Our steps echoing off the marble floor. He led us down the same hallway he came from and then made a left turn to another hallway with 4 doors. Two along the right side, one straight ahead, and one on the left.

“Right through here,” Luis said as he held open the door that was on the left side.

Ara and I stepped through the door to a room that looked much like a waiting room in a doctor’s office without any signage to know where you were. Everything was white except the black door in the middle of the wall in front of us. The door slammed shut behind us and it made me jump.

“Sit, we’ll be with you in a minute,” Luis said as he unlocked the black door and went through.

“What the fuck did you do?” Ara quietly screamed at me.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything...that I remember.”

“There’s no way they are giving us anything except a jail sentence. For the love of everything holy, Whitley, try to fucking remember something!” Ara never called me by my full name. It was usually Whit or Lee or Witty, when I would do something dumb, unlike what the nickname suggests.

“I don’t know, Ara! If you wouldn’t have pressured me into taking ad-”

“Shut up! Don’t you finish that sentence. I didn’t pressure you to do shit. You’re a grown ass adult, it’s time you start taking responsibility for your own actions.” she yelled the truth back into my face. It’s true, it wasn’t her fault. I can't blame anyone else for the situation we’re facing.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Maybe Jonah and Cole slipped something into our drinks.”

“Or maybe we just drank a lot,” Ara’s better answer to our situation.

Why did I talk Ara into going to Vegas. I told her that it would be just what we needed to get away from our exes. We needed to get away, especially Ara.

I drop my head in my hands and bile rises in my throat. “I think I’m going to be sick.” The ibuprofen I took earlier trying to make its way back out.

Ara starting to rub my back, reassures me, "It's ok, we'll figure this out together".

The black door opens and Luis stands in the doorway. “Ms Stahl, this way.” He jerks his head to whatever’s waiting in the other room.

I slowly look at Ara and take a deep breath. She smiles with a curt nod. Tears forming in my eyes. What could it be that they think I've done? Doesn’t seem likely that I hurt anyone. I’m usually a happy drunk, let alone a stringbean who couldn’t fight a fly. Ara usually did all our fighting, verbally, never physically. She has a lot of bark but no bite. Did I steal something that wasn’t mine? Again, not my thing. Drugs?

“Ms. Stahl.” Luis says again, calling me out of my reverie.

“Ok.” I say as I get up and walk through the door.

In the room is a counter height table in the middle of it and no chairs. Security cameras in all four corners of the room and another black door on the far side of the room to the right. Luis comes around to the front of the table and I hear what sounds like someone walking up metal stairs on the other side of the door. Two men dressed exactly like Luis emerge each carrying two duffle bags. They set them on the table and unzip them. They’re filled with stacks of hundreds bound together.

“What the,” my voice trails off.

“Ms Stahl, this is the money you won from last night and this morning. Sorry it took us so long to collect but it was a large sum of money and since you said that you’d rather cash, it took some time to get.” Luis said. “I just need you to sign this and I’ll need to see your id again.”

“Again? Oh, did you see it last night?” I surmised. “I was a little intoxicated. I mean, I had a couple of drinks.”

“Yes, Ms Stahl. All twenty thousand is here. Would you like me to count it in front of you?”

I stare at it and say, “Sorry, could I get my friend?”

Luis nods.

I go through the door and practically yell at Ara. “I won twenty thousand dollars!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ara, I won twenty thousand fucking dollars!” as if that explains what I just said a second ago.

“Are you serious? How?” Ara excitedly yells.

“I don’t know! But they want to count it in front of me. Please come here!”

Ara rushes to the door and we both turn to see Luis smile as he starts taking out the stacks of hundreds to count.

“And finally that’s twenty thousand,” Luis says as he lays the last stack down on the table. He and the others begin to rebag them.

Ara and I grab hands and start jumping up and down. “I can’t believe this is happening!” I yell excitedly.

“Wait, how did she win this,” Ara questions.

Luis smiles and replies. “Security will escort you out of the building and to the airport.”

Once back in Louisville and money deposited in the bank, we finally were able to relax and talk about what we were going to spend the money on.

“I still can’t believe it,” I tell Ara as I look at our unpacked bags from the trip. “We should go on a European vacation.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious how that money was won?”

“Yeah, but I guess we’ll never know. We don’t have Cole or Jonah’s contact information. Maybe it’s for the best to never know.” Then a thought hits me. The black book I found in the hotel room. I run to get my purse and dump everything out on the couch.

“What’s that?” Ara asks.

“I forgot, I found it in the hotel room and threw it in my bag,” I say as I flip it open to the front page and read aloud, “how to win big in Vegas.”