Chapter Text
Nicole stood outside her hotel, already baking in the hot Las Vegas sun. She’d guessed it would be hot, but damn this was more than she’d expected. She fixed her hat, set her bag of rock climbing gear down on the sidewalk next to her, and grabbed her water bottle. She took a long drink, regretting not packing Gatorade packets. It was going to be a beast of a day out on the rocks. She’d just put her water bottle back into her bag when she saw the white vans rolling up.
Big City Rock Climbing Club Van 2
That was her ride. She didn’t normally do group trips but this one had peaked her interest. They were going to climb one of the hardest places in the area. Second only to the one she was hoping she could convince someone to go with her to climb after the ‘official’ trip was over. The high rate of injury on that one had quickly made the club decide to not choose that climb. But hey, when in Vegas right? She was sure someone would be brave enough to go with her. She just had to work her charm on someone in her van. All of them were supposed to be advanced to expert climbers. Van 1 was going to a much easier climb.
The van pulled to a stop. Nicole looked around at the others she assumed were also waiting on the vans. Most of the group piled into the noticeably larger Van 1. Guess it was going to be a small group heading to the advanced climb. She was okay with that. She didn’t really want to have a bunch of people. The more people on the climb, the harder it was to make sure everyone was safe. Granted she ignored quite a lot of safety standards in her everyday life, but rock climbing was a place she made sure to follow every safety protocol she knew. Too much could go wrong without it.
Nicole picked up her bag and opened up the van door. She climbed all the way to the back, hoping she might get the whole row to herself to stretch out and watch the desert roll by. The van slowly started to fill up, yet no one had made the move to the back quite yet. Her hope of solo riding in the back was increasing. The van door slid shut and she smiled. Yes. Now all they had to do was roll out and get to climbing. The driver made a move to get the van into gear but quickly stopped. The van door flew open and a beautiful dark haired woman climbed, clearly frazzled, into the van. She made her way to the back, dropping into the space next to Nicole. So much for stretching out.
“You okay?” Nicole asked with an amused smirk.
“Yeah. I’m not normally late. I couldn’t find one of my shoes. It had somehow managed to fall out of my bag and roll under my bed.” The woman replied taking a deep breath.
“We’re on vacation. Time doesn’t exist. You made it, that’s all that matters.” Nicole said.
The woman laughed slightly and ran her hand through her hair, visibly calming down as the van rolled away from the hotel.
“I’m Nicole.” Nicole said holding out a hand to the woman.
“Shae. Nice to meet you.” Shae replied.
“Nice to meet you as well. Have you been on one of these before?”
“A climbing trip? No. I kind of saw it last minute. You?” She asked, turning as much as she could to face Nicole.
“Nope. This is my first one. I want to do the climb and this was the cheapest way to do it. The whole group price on hotels and stuff thing.” Nicole replied, mirroring Shae.
“I feel that. I’m in med school and barely make ends meet. I know I shouldn’t have splurged on this, but like you said I want to do the climb and this is the cheapest way.” Shae said.
“Med school? That’s impressive. And exhausting. You need the break. It’s an investment in your sanity, not a splurge.” Nicole replied back with a grin.
Shae laughed again and nodded her head, “You’re right. I like that way of looking at it. Are you doing anything tonight? I know they were talking about going to see some magic show on the emails. I’m not doing that.”
“I’m actually going to see Britney Spears.” Nicole replied.
“No way! Me too! We should go together. I’m up in the cheap seats. You?” Shae asked with what Nicole could swear was a slightly flirty smile.
“That’d be fun, and same. But hey, we'll still be in the same room as Britney Spears. I never thought I’d be able to say that. Can I get your number, so we can coordinate later?” Nicole asked, digging her phone out of her bag.
“Smooth.” Shae said with a teasing smirk, but took Nicole’s phone and put her number in. She sent a text to herself with her name and a winking face.
Nicole smirked and took her phone back. Shae was definitely into her. This starting to look like it was going to be an even better trip than she planned.
Nicole’s phone buzzed and she glanced down at the screen.
Shae: Meet down in the lobby in 5?
Nicole: Yeah, hit a few bars and then the concert?
Shae: Perfect.
Nicole straightened her button up, smoothing out the creases and smiled at herself in the mirror. She looked good. No. She looked damn good. She grabbed the bottle of whiskey she’d bought from the store on the corner and headed in the direction of the incredibly hot woman she’d met in the van. Why should they have to wait to make it to the bars before getting started? They were on vacation after all. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right? That’s what all the shirts said.
Nicole felt her heart start to race when her eyes landed on Shae. Tight red dresses did something to her on average looking women, on Shae she could’ve sworn her draw dropped.
“You clean up nice.” Shae said with a slight raise of her eyebrow, giving Nicole a once over.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Nicole replied flashing her signature smile. “Care to join me?” She asked waving the bottle whiskey.
Shae grabbed the bottle, twisting off the top and taking a long drink.
Nicole grinned, this was most definitely going to be a fun night.
**********
Nicole groaned, her head pounding in rhythm with her heartbeat. She peeked open one eye and instantly regretted it. The overly bright desert sun burned into her retinas, kickstarting the nausea in her stomach. Oh shit. She could feel it coming up. Regret, whiskey and whatever terrible food she knew her blacked out self had overindulged on. Throwing off the covers she bolted to the bathroom and immediately vomited into the toilet. She slumped to the bathroom floor her head hanging over the open circle of the toilet.
Why was she so cold?
Why was her bathroom blue? It was definitely a disgusting yellow color yesterday.
She glanced down at her body.
Why was she naked?
“Fuck.” She groaned as another round of nausea hit and she vomited again.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and let her body dead weight fall against the wall. She glanced around the bathroom she was in, trying to piece together the events of the previous night. She remembered drinking the bottle of whiskey she’d brought down from her room. She remembered Britney walking out on stage and Shae dancing. Shit. Shae. Nicole turned her attention to the room she had just left. Yep, sure enough there was definitely another person in the bed. Her eyes made their way to the floor where her button up lay next to a familiar red dress. Context clues made her ninety nine percent sure that the faceless body in the bed was Shae. Nicole’s head started to pound again and she let her body slowly fall the rest of the way to the cool tile floor of the bathroom. She closed her eyes, letting the coolness work it’s way through her body, desperately trying to ease the hangover hitting her like a sack of bricks.
“Nicole?”
Nicole groaned as she opened her eyes. How long had she been on the bathroom floor? Drool pooled on the tile next to her head. She wiped her mouth and looked up at Shae standing in the doorway, now wearing athletic shorts and a tank top. How had she had the energy to put on clothes? Was she wonder woman? The redhead grunted in response.
“I think we might’ve done something really dumb.”
Of course they did. Could Shae not see she was laying naked on the bathroom floor of a women’s hotel room that she barely knew smelling like vomit and cheap whiskey? Nicole grunted again in response.
“I think we got married.”
Nicole bolted up, staring at the sheet of paper that Shae was holding out to her. Her eyes crossed slightly as she tried to read the fine print on the document, but the words that she managed to read, the big bold ones at the top, very clearly stated: Certificate of Marriage Las Vegas.
fuck