Dear Maria, Count Me In

Chapter Two

The first 'date' was the night we met, in Vegas. My three best friends in the world, Adam, Jen and Jen's girlfriend, Laura had taken me to Las Vegas for my twenty-first birthday. I was the baby in the group; Adam was twenty-five, Jen and Laura were both twenty-three. They told me my twenty-first had to be special - I didn't do enough crazy, reckless, completely stupid things for their liking. Apparently, my job didn't count as 'crazy'. A job is just a job to them. One reason they're my best friends. But our first night there (my birthday) wasn't going so well. Adam had eaten a ninety-nine cent steak that had given him very bad food poisoning and Jen - as always - was wasted after three glasses of champagne. Laura - the member of our group you could always, always rely on - had taken Adam and Jen back to our hotel rooms and put them both to bed. She made me promise I'd still have fun on my birthday, so I tried. I was ordering a drink at the bar, when a guy slapped a twenty down. I looked behind me, confused and came face to face with one of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen. Tall, strong jaw, chocolate eyes, bushy eyebrows, perfect rosy lips, spiky dark brown hair, stubble. A cocky smile appeared, letting me know that he knew I was checking him out. It wasn't often that I did check out guys. In my job, after a while, men just seem to blur into one typical person. No matter whom they are, how different they are, in my mind, they're all the same. An older man, late thirties, early forties. A receding hairline. More money than sense. Almost always wearing a wedding ring. Loud, cocky, so sure of themselves. So handsy and quick to grab out at you. A booming laugh. A group of friends, maybe work mates that they're desperate to impress with how much attention they can get from this girl. I haven't had a boyfriend since I was nineteen, when the guy I'd been dating since I was fifteen told me he'd been sleeping with another girl for an entire year. We were engaged. He couldn't live with the lie anymore, he'd said. Anyway, it all starts with them buying you a drink - which you politely decline. I'm about to turn this guy down, when I remember that I'm not working. It's my birthday. Why shouldn't I accept a drink from this tall, dark stranger?

"Thank you," I'd smiled, taking the drink and gulping it down in one.

"Is this your first time in Vegas?"

"It is," I reply.

"Would you like to dance?" the stranger asked and I shook my head. I had been dancing almost non-stop since I was nineteen, since James had broken up with me. Of course, I didn't want to dance.

"I'm sick of dancing,"

"Well, what would you like to do?" he asked me now. It had been a while since anybody had asked me what I'd wanted to do. I hadn't even wanted to come here with my friends, Adam had had to harass me into taking time off from work.

"I'd like to know your name," is the answer I settle for, eating the glace cherry off the cocktail stick.

"You don't know me?"

"Should I?" I ask, raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow at him, pursing my lips slightly.

"No," he says, another smile forming - a genuine one. "I guess not. I'm Alex. Alex Gaskarth,"

"I'm Maria McLean,"

"Maria Mclean," he repeats back to me. It's a statement, not a question. "That's awesome," he finishes, glancing to his right as a girl brushes up against him to order a drink. The old, self-conscious Maria threatens to make an appearance at the sight of her. Stick thin, natural tan, long, straight, wheat coloured hair. Immaculate makeup. I expect Alex to turn away from me, start talking to this girl and forget me in a flash. But he doesn't. He looks back at me, still smiling. The girl frowns over his shoulder, disappointed not to have gained his attention. She's hard to miss in her short, tight, silver sequined dress and black stilettos. I'm not dressed up at all, despite Adam, Jen and Laura's protests. This is my time off from work. I was going to make the most of it and wear as many clothes as I wanted to. The sparkly girl reminds me of a pixie, even more so as she walks away, practically skipping as she sips her cosmopolitan. "So. Now that the introductions are over with, what else would you like to do?"