“I have them” the mysterious little girl said appearing out of nowhere.
“Your suppose to be watching my sister” Whitney said as her instantly spiked
“She is currently safe and so are your parents. They wont remember a thing” the little girl said as she pointedly looked at Whitney.
“Now that that’s taken care of. Ryan what…” Lala asked trying to continue our previous conversation.
“Including my mom?” I asked ignoring Lala
“No but Whitney can find her and before she gets too far.” the little girl said as she once again disappeared leaving us all stumped and in an awkward silence.
“Well Im assuming its time to address the elephant in the room” Shan said getting fed up with the silence.
“What elephant?” I asked playing dumb.
“The answer to your proposal silly” Shan said chuckling evilly
“Your right. La‘Bria will you marry me?” I asked looking her directly in the eye.
“You have enough women problems at the moment. No need to add a wife into the mix.” Lala said as she walked off to the exit of the studio.
I didn’t know how to take the answer she had just given me. She didn’t say no but she also didn’t say no. I didn’t know whether to rejoice that it wasn’t a flat out no or be upset that she avoided the question.
“What‘s that suppose to mean?” I asked jogging to catch up to her.
“Look at what happened with Alex” she said stating the obvious.
“She was my friend with benefits not wife” I said
“Then there was Claire who turned out to be my father.” Whitney offered up from the back.
“Thank you for the input” I said sarcastically to Whitney.
“Ryan I know you mean well but marrying me isn’t the way to protect me. You marry them because you love them and protecting them comes with the territory not the other way around.” she said sounding slightly disappointed that I was even suggesting it.
“I cant even believe she was considering it” Shan tried to whisper to Whitney.
“Why wouldn’t she?” I asked turning around to talk to him.
“To her it would be like marrying a brother and making love to a family member” he said loud enough for her to hear.
“Even more reasons to not get married.” Lala said even though I could clearly see I her eyes that that wasn’t the way she felt.
“Shan whose side are you on?” I practically yelled.
“Yours man” he yelled back
“La‘Bria you will marry me.” I whispered in her ear then tried to ignore the way her body reacted
“Sure I will” she said sarcastically then skipped ahead the rest of the way to the car.
What she failed to realize was that I was already devising a plan in my head.
“We went through a lot today.” Whitney said as she casually leaned against her new car that Alex previously owned.
“We find my mom then we can all relax” I said truthfully
“The sun is going down nothing can be done in the dark but adult things” Shan said being rational and a little nasty.
“We have to find her” I said leaving no room for negotiation.
“We can and we will in the morning. Right now we need a place to rest. I really wore myself out today” Lala said just as firm.
“A place to relax” Whitney said joining in
“A place to have fun” Shan said adding in his 2 cents.
“This is California it has all of that and more. Not to mention Vegas is about 4 hours away.” I said in my duh tone.
The three of them looked at each other and seemed to be having a non verbal conversation. I was definitely feeling left out so I looked at then too like I was having the same thought.
“Vegas” they all screamed simultaneously.
That’s when I knew we weren’t on the same page.
“We are not even 21” I said easily as I bursting their bubble.
“Oh please a smile and the right clothes can get you into anywhere” Lala said cockily.
“Lets go” I said smiling widely as I knew it was true.
We filed into the cars and made the trip to Vegas. It was a quiet and quick trip each person consumed by their thoughts. I tried to let go and imagine the fun I was going to have but at the back of my mind one emotion was gnawing at me. Guilt. How could I go out and have fun when I was suppose to be looking for my mom. I felt like a horrible son. But I knew that if I didn’t take this moment to relax and let go then the stress would build up until I had another breakdown. Which would be worse than the first one. I guess we did need this break but first thing in the morning we were going to go look for my mom hangover and all.
As we finally made it into the city the streets were bustling with activity. We found a hotel right in the center of the activity and hurriedly checked in. While the hotel itself wasn’t much we were right in the heart of the city. After dropping our bags off Shan and Whitney went one way while I stuck close to Lala.
“Where to first” she asked with stars glistening in her big full brown eyes.
That was the last thing I clearly remembered Lala saying to me.
Next thing I know I was back at the hotel in the bath tub with Lala on top of me half naked. Whereas my pants were gone her shirt was missing. It must have been one hell of a night.
“What the fuck” I said trying to sit up only to have the world spin around me.
“Ryan get up” Whitney yelled from the other room.
“No way come to me” I said softly as I tried to stop the room from spinning.
Whitney staggered into the bathroom still feeling the effects of last night or better yet this morning.
“Oh shit your in trouble” she slurred.
“Why?” I asked shielding my eyes as Shan came into the bathroom and started to pee.
“Close the door Shan” Whitney said from clearly force of habit.
“Focus” I said trying to get her to spit it out already.
“What happened last night?” she asked snickering as Shan messily washed his hands.
“Lights, drinks, white, certificates, and more drinks” I said trying to remember last night but only coming up with bits and pieces.
“Eureka” Shan whisper shouted as he found some aspirin on the counter.
“What the hell” Lala said as she slowly opened her eyes taking in her surroundings.
This just kept getting better and better.
“Whats going on?” Lala tried again then rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
That’s when I noticed it and she did too. I don’t know whose face held more shock mine or hers. One thing was for sure I definitely knew that this moment was the beginning of WW4. Lala looked down at her hand and then mine. In that moment we were all suffering from her piercing scream.
“Ryan are we married?” she yelled reaching for my hand.
“Yup” Whitney said popping the p then handing over the certificate I didn’t notice she was holding.
This was definitely not the plan. The plan was for her to lose a bet to me or something. I know how strongly she felt about her word.
“Everyone out” Lala said suddenly scaring us all.
I moved to get up which was quite difficult with the extra body weight.
“Listen here Ryan we are going to find your mother then get a divorce” she said dangerously low leaving no room for discussion.
With that she got up and left. I looked down at the golden wedding band on my finger and suddenly felt a sense of pride. That was until I thought about it and totally freaked.
“OMG I‘m fucking married” I said to myself.