the morning after , the hangover

three.

"I feel like shit." Liv told him honestly, suddenly feeling shy. She was never shy, not with Phil, not like she was when she was 19. Her usual sharp words and sarcastic remarks were the only way Olivia knew how to communicate with him without having any old feelings. She didn't know what to do with the man who she had grown up with, who smelled nice and looked at her like she was something new to discover. "Here's your shirt."

"Shy isn't usually your thing, Billings." Phil said, smugly. "Keep it, give it back to me next time."

She rolled her eyes, fighting a smile off her face, "Shut up."

"There she is." He grinned, his canines flashing every time he was just a bit arrogant. He suddenly got serious. "We had a great fucking time last night. I hope we did, right?" Phil approached her, his hands finding her waist. "We just can't remember anything."

Olivia responded to his touch by leaning closer, placing her hands on his biceps. "You want a next time?" She asked doubtfully, tending to overthink a lot. They both had grown up since college, now with completely different lives, but those old feelings had lingered the whole time.

"Remove the getting black out drunk part." His eyes softened, looking down at her. "You of all people should know what you do to me." He cupped her cheek, "I'm fucking crazy about you, Liv." He confessed.

      Throwing all her doubt out of her mind, Liv looked into his gorgeous, blue eyes then down to his lips, connecting them to hers into a soft kiss causing Phil to hum in response, bringing her body closer.

      "Phil—" The two separated at the sound of Stu's croaky voice. It was an understatement to say that he looked the worst out of the three of them. "They have my credit card downstairs, this place is a mess, I'm so screwed." He rambled.

      "How does a tiger get into the bathroom? It almost killed me." Alan's panicked voice came from behind him.

      Phil sighed, reluctantly letting go of Olivia but exited the room anyway to console his worried friends. "What the fuck happened last night?" It only now came to his attention how messy their room was.

      "Am I missing a tooth?" Stu opened his mouth, showing a bloody gap in his row of teeth, confirming that he was missing a tooth.

      "Oh, shit." Liv couldn't help but wheeze out a laugh, Phil joining in as Stu scrambled to grab a mirror out of panic.

      "My lateral incisor's— it's gone!"

"It's okay, it's okay. Just calm down." Phil assured, "We're fine. Everything's fine. Alan go wake up Doug. Let's just get some coffee and get the fuck out of Nevada before housekeeping shows up."

While Stu kept panicking about what Melissa would think about his missing tooth, Alan searched around for the other Billings twin in every room of their villa, coming to find no Doug in sight. "Hey, guys, he's not in here."

"What? What do you mean?" Olivia now felt herself sober up a little, her heart starting to beat in panic, her eyes snapping to Alan for an answer.

"I looked everywhere. Plus, his mattress is gone."

"Liv, it's okay." Phil told her in attempt to ease her worry, "He probably went to the pool to get something to eat. I'll call his cell." Dialling his number, the receiving call rung in the hotel room, indicating that Doug's phone was with them.

      "Oh, my god." Olivia stressed, putting her head in her hands, "Tracy's gonna murder me." She felt angry with herself. Tracy wanted her to go on this trip to keep everything in control, but instead they all got black out drunk with no recollection of previous events from the night before and now her brother was possibly missing.

Unexpectedly, a baby's cry shrieked through the air causing the group to share a confused glance. "What the fuck is that?" They all followed where the sound was coming from, opening the closet door to reveal a sobbing baby.

      "Who's fucking baby is that?"

The four were now sat at the bar, now all feeling the full effect of their hangover as they sat under the warm sun, sweltering in their own skin. Olivia felt envious of those around her enjoying cocktails and beverages that the hotel had to offer when she couldn't even think about alcohol without heaving.

      Stu came storming over to the table, with a cloth full of ice on his mouth. "I've looked everywhere. Gym, casino, front desk. Nobody's seen Doug. He's not here."

       "You can't be serious." Liv said worriedly.

      "He's fine." Phil ensured, putting a comforting hand on her thigh, "He's a grown man. Seriously, Stu, you gotta calm down. Here, have some juice."

      The man pushed his body on the side of his chair, puking on the floor with a grimace. "I can't have juice right now."

      "Let's just track this thing." Phil suggested, grabbing a napkin and pen, "Alright, what's the last thing we remember doing last night?"

      "Well, the first thing was we were on the roof..." Alan answered, "And those shots of Jäger." Stu retched at the mention of the drink.

      "And then we ate dinner at The Palm. Right?"

"And then we played craps at the Hard Rock, and I think Doug was there."

"No, no, he definitely was."

      "I can't even remember going to dinner, he could be anywhere." Olivia stressed.

      "I don't think I've even been this hung-over." Phil leaned back in his chair in bewilderment. It was like last night didn't even happen the way they couldn't remember.

      "After the Hard Rock, I blacked out. It was like emptiness." Alan shared, laughing aloud, only receiving blank stares from the three.

      "Okay. We have until 10pm, so that gives us a 12-hour window where we could have lost him."

      "What is this?" Alan held up something they couldn't recognise it was so small, until Liv was gasping in familiarity to what he was holding.

      "Stu, I think that's your missing tooth."

"Why do you have that?" Stu cried, "What else is in your pockets?"

That sparked an idea for Phil. "This is a good thing. Check your pockets. Do you have anything?"

They each piled stuff onto the table, inspecting any clues they could've collected from last night, possibly tracing to Doug. "I have an ATM receipt from the Bellagio. Eleven-o-five for $800! I am so fucked!"

      "I have a valet ticket from Caesars. Looks like we got in at 5:15 am."

      "We drove last night?" Olivia wondered aloud, thinking they could've possibly crashed the very expensive car that Alan's dad gave them to drive.

      Alan laughed, "Driving drunk. Classic."

      Stu mocked his laughter, not finding this situation humorous whatsoever.

Liv looked in the corner of her eyes, seeing a bright yellow hospital band on Phil's wrist, grabbing ahold of it. "You were in the hospital last night." She gazed at him in worry, her thumb softy grazing his skin.

      "Jesus." Stu creased his brows in concern.

      "I guess so, yeah."

      "You okay?" Alan asked, genuinely distressed that Phil could be harmed.

      "Yes, Alan." Phil said, deadpanned, "I'm fine."

"At least we have a lead now. It's better than nothing." Olivia spoke, feeling more assured that they were a step closer to finding her brother in the massive city of Las Vegas.

      The group just hoped it was going to be an easy task.

𝗝𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦 !
not sure how i feel about this chapter, i'll probably just rewrite it but hope you enjoyed! <33