Bright Lights, Broken Dreams

Chapter 1

Present Day:

"Girly, I'm off to class." Anders called to her as moved to leave their loft style apartment.

"I've got work tonight A, I'll see you in the morning for breakfast." Air kisses were tossed about and he was out the door.  She dragged herself off the couch and to the bathroom for a shower to get ready for the day.

She dressed and headed out to her one class of the day, a photography class, they spent most of the day outside taking pictures, and her day passed in a blur of pictures and bright colors and before she knew it she was heading to work. She entered the bar through the back entrance, and went to the employee lockers, people were coming and going as they ran the bar nearly 24/7. People never needed a reason to party and drink.

She never touched the stuff herself. She steeled herself for the drunks and the jerks and everyone in between, the bouncers for the most part kept those that got handsy away but one or two always slipped by. She walked up to a table, she was dressed in  dark blue skinny jeans and a black tee with the bar logo, her pale hair was bright against the darkness of the shirt.

She put on her best smile as she approached a table. "What can I get you boys this evenin?" she asked as she pulled out the small pad of paper and the pencil tucked in her apron.

Silas and Ezra weren't exactly big fans of Las Vegas. The city had never exactly been good to them, but it wasn't also a place that was exactly meant for family life...their childhood had been the perfect example of that aside from the few months they'd spent with Genny before they were split apart again.

She'd tried to get them back after that but had no family connection and no formal adoption papers had been filed..so she'd not been able to get custody of them. Their lives had taken two different directions after that.. Ezra had gone to school for architecture...he'd nearly graduated and had an internship with a NYC firm, but that sort of fell apart when he found out about the project he was assigned to.

Not just because he didn't exactly have fond memories of Vegas, but because of the particular area they were looking at was where Genny's house was. He'd done some digging and the more he found out..the less he liked..It's why he'd planned on heading to Vegas..to make sure she was okay. He'd been delayed by his brother coming home after deciding not to reenlist.

The deployments had taken their toll, both medically and emotionally, and he really didn't know what he was going to do for a career but had time to figure that out. Those worries though had gotten pushed aside when he arrived home and his brother told him what he'd found out. That's why they were in Vegas now...Silas had sweet talked the front desk girl into a military discount since he was a Veteran.

When the waitress came up, Silas gave a soft smile, while Ezra seemed content to be building something with the toothpicks that were in a container on the table.

"I'll have a Bacon Triple Cheese burger and fries and Yuengling..."

Ezra looked up at him and shook his head a bit and laughed...though he wouldn't begrudge his brother his choices as Ezra ordered a much lighter Chicken and Strawberry Salad and a sparkling water.

The smile never reached her eyes anymore, there was a hidden sadness, or at least she tried to keep it hidden, but it did not always work. She looked the two over as they gave her their order. Both handsome in their own rights, siblings maybe, but she could be mistaken.  One seemed content to build with the tooth picks, other seemed to carry himself as if he had been in the military.  She arched a delicate brow at the action but brought it back to focus on what they were ordering.

 Her pencil moves across the paper, writing in the short hand she was taught for taking orders. "One BTC burger and a yuengling.." she repeated back. "How would you like your burger cooked?" she asked. When she got the answer she would look to the one who ordered the salad, repeat the order then ask. "What kind of dressing would you like for your salad?"