HANDLE WITH CARE
23. Vegas Baby!
L U K E
"How did you convince me to come here?" Annie mumbled to Luke as she sipped on her coffee, at the airport.
Admittedly it was Nina who convinced Annie last night, the young pair went out to celebrate their youth and Nina had it planned all along; get Annie drunk, tell her how amazing the experience will be, help her pack, make her sleep at Nina's house so she is forced to leave in the morning.
They had to be at the airport for 4:00am according to Nina, so she woke Annie up at 3:00, since the drive there would take a while too, and considering they got home at 2:00, wasn't as exciting as it may sound.
Annie was at on the floor in an oversized jumper and some yoga pants, sunglasses covering her weak eyes and her hair in a surprisingly neat ponytail. She was waiting for everyone to get their food as Luke stood next to her, himself too excited to sit down.
"I told you I would somehow." He smiled, looking down and seeing her tapping her freshly done nails. Her and Nina went to some place as a treat from Calum, Luke was a little confused as to why he bought them to get their nails done, and when he asked he went on a huge tangent about how he wanted to do something nice for Nina.
"So you told Nina to get me wasted? Thanks," Annie mumbled, the yellow of her nails being too bright for her at this time, if she didn't have her sunglasses on that is. She knew she looked like an idiot wearing sunglasses, at night time, inside, in the winter, but Nina was very persistent in getting Annie to beyond drunk.
The others had finally got their food and a disposable camera (Nina's choice) before they started making their way towards the seats by their terminal. They should be boarding the plane in the next half an hour, so the wait shouldn't be too long, and Annie was hoping she could fit in a quick nap.
It was only Annie, Luke, Calum, Nina and Ashton coming on the trip as Michael and Olivia were on their honeymoon in Bali, which is most definitely more fun than this. Not that Luke would think so, he hadn't been on a plane in years and the last time he did was wild, it was a private plane with the band and some other friends that they had hired for a flight.
Nina was showing a video to Calum and Ashton, which Annie didn't really care about until she heard her voice coming from it. She jumped up and rushed over, seeing that it was a video from last night of Annie dancing on the bar, whilst the bartender yelled at her to get down.
Annie groaned as she slid back onto one of the chairs, ignoring Luke's wide smile as the video continued. "Vegas is going to be 10 times more fun with you," Ashton laughed, thankful that the friend group were going out for once.
He had missed going out with Luke, he would constantly go out with Calum to get drunk and make some memories, but it had been so long since he'd been out with Luke in the same way.
"I am not drinking," Annie muttered, looking up at everyone who was staring at her, mostly in disbelief but some with a little sympathy, they've all had killer hangovers a few times before. "Ok, I am." She huffed, rubbing her face as she tried to get comfortable on the seat at the end of the row.
As much as Luke had missed Ashton throughout the year he had been gone, he'd rather look at Annie now then have the meaningless conversation they were currently having. In Ashton's defence, Calum would not stop talking to Nina, and vice versa, but Luke wished he had that same problem with Annie, no offence to Ashton.
She was curled up on her seat, her jumper over her knees as she used somewhat like a blanket. He wanted to take a picture of her, he didn't want to seem like a weirdo though, especially since she made it very clear to Calum and Nina they were nothing more than friends.
Nina nudged Luke's arm with the disposable camera, pointing her head towards Annie and saying that she looked funny, and how it will be their first memory of their trip. He shrugged his shoulders before standing up, an unhide-able smile on his face as he took the photo.
Everyone was emerged in their own conversation so he quickly whipped his phone out, snapping a picture he could keep before sitting back down next to her, passing Nina the camera back.
When their plane got called, Luke felt bad for having to wake Annie, he wished he could just carry her but:
a) he's weak as fuck at the moment and really needed to start working out again.
b) he didn't want her to get annoyed or something when she woke up.
c) he didn't want to make a scene or make it look like he cared so much, even though he did.
d) all his thinking took too long, and Nina had already waken her.
Nina and Annie were sat next to each other in economy, as Annie had refused to let one of the boys buy her a plane ticket for first class with them. Nina knew Annie wouldn't let them buy her anything as expensive as that, and frankly she didn't want that either, so she didn't mind paying for economy like she would normally.
Calum only told Nina they were sitting first class because that way they would have some privacy, and whenever they take economy now they got swarmed with fans, and he assumed Luke wouldn't want that right now. Annie fell asleep almost instantly yet again, she would probably sleep the whole flight as it wasn't too far, only a couple hours.
Luke, however, was jammed between the two most talkative people in the world, Calum and Ashton. He wasn't actually that close to them, they were beside him, but he had two screens he could rise to shut them up basically.
He couldn't wait to get off the plane and go to the hotel, before spending the night with his best friends and therapist, or friend, or whatever she was.
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As soon as they landed, Annie went from being tired to being ecstatic, it was as if she was another person. "Vegas baby!" She shrieked, dragging her sunglasses off as she breathed in the not so fresh air of Vegas. Ashton joined her in yelling, like he always did, as they made their way to a taxi to take them to the hotel.
All throughout the car ride Luke was wondering what the rooms were going to be, if Nina and Annie would share or if Calum would beg Nina to stay with him, and if so where would Annie go? Arriving at the hotel, Calum and Nina were already making out as soon as they stepped out the car, and they hadn't even drank yet. Luke rolled his eyes, slightly surprised that Calum was so indulged in the PDA, especially since there was a lot of paparazzi in Vegas normally.
He wanted to ask Calum if they were officially public, but not when Nina was around in case it made things awkward between them. They went to the hotel first, Annie and Nina sharing a room which made Calum all pouty, he even tried to convince Annie to share with Luke so he can be with Nina.
Annie declined politely, something about how she wanted to just chill with Nina of a night, and how she'd rather share a bed with her. Luke pretended not to take offence, she didn't mean it in a harsh way, but it did hurt Luke's feelings a little. Why didn't she want to share a bed with him? He wasn't going to pull any stunts or anything, but then again he had no idea what he would do if he were in a bed with Annie.
Instead Luke had to sleep alone on a single bed as Calum and Ashton shared a double. Luke debates on just buying his own room instead of splitting, but he would probably get really bored by himself.
The first thing that was on the list- which Nina has created on her phone notes and sent to everyone- was go to the Mandalay Bay Hotel Aquarium, because for some reason that was an attraction at Vegas.
The boys wanted to get to the casinos and clubs and what not, but Nina reassured them that the night was filled with all that stuff.
Annie also reminded them how not all of them were rich Rockstar's who could afford to lose a few rounds at a casino, she would not be in a great place financially if she bet all her money away for the weekend.
"So do we just walk around and look at the fish?" Ashton asked as they got their tickets and began to walk the given route of the aquarium.
"No were actually going to swim with the turtles and crocodiles," Annie said as if it were true, showing everyone her snarky side which Nina had grown to hate and love.
"We can swim with the sharks and dolphins though, I doubt the turtles." Calum informed, pointing to the poster that had all the times in which you could join the staff in swimming with the animals.
"Oh my god please can we swim with the dolphins?" Nina beamed, putting her hands up so no one would speak yet, "actually, I don't care what you say I'm swimming with them, anyone is happy to join me."
Everyone was happy to join apart from Calum, who tried to explain that he had a slight fear of the ocean, specifically the parts with sharks in. Annie thought that was completely rational, yet everyone else thought it was hilarious. Nevertheless, Calum watched as they all got into scuba suits and were told the instructions by an employee who had been doing this for 20 years now.
Ashton even bought an underwater camera along with Nina's disposable one which luckily was waterproof. Luke was intent on getting a selfie with a shark, or at least a photo with one. They were swimming for around an hour, and Luke managed to get his photo, even though he started to regret the decision when the shark came a lot closer than he expected. He took a photo of Annie too, she was with all the cute little fish which lived in the colourful coral.
Calum said he did an Instagram live while he waited, since he could barely see them in the enclosure anyway, and how the fans were happy that Luke was having fun.
Calum was just as happy for Luke, if not more, as he noticed just how much he was staring at Annie with a wide smile on his face. It was quite obvious to Calum that Luke was in love, Calum definitely looked at Nina the same way- not that he would admit it.
The next place on Nina's list was lunch, which everyone was relieved for as apparently swimming for an hour can work up an appetite. The rest of the day Nina has already planned and Luke tried his hardest to speak to Annie as much as possible without coming off annoying. It seemed to work, as Annie would laugh a lot at the stupid stuff that he kept saying.
Now was the time they were all excited for, the casinos and clubs.
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SONG OF THE WEEK
Who Do You Love? - 5SOS, the chainsmokers
Of course this is the song of the week who do you think I am??? Also unpopular opinion but I don't understand all the hype with Ariana grande. Like yes she is an amazing singer but her songs are THAT good pls don't hate me
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lotta love
A x