“I already called and made reservations at the hotel.” Taylor told Simone as they made their way to the baggage claim to pick up their luggage.
“Which hotel?” Simone asked him, letting her hand find his, then wrapping her fingers around his own. At the feel of his skin touching hers, that oh-so familiar and pleasant tingle raced its way through her entire body. He only smiled in response, not telling her anything more.
Luckily they were able to catch a cab at the airport. Taylor was easily able to distract Simone so that she wouldn’t really be able to pay attention as to where they were going. He wanted the hotel to be a surprise for her. She had always talked about staying there and how great it would be, and now that they were going to be in Las Vegas, he took this as the perfect opportunity to take her there.
The cab pulled to a stop and Taylor paid the driver. Simone stopped breathing when she realized where they were. Not as if she wasn’t happy to begin with, but this just made everything so wonderfully perfect.
“Ceaser’s Palace?!” she asked Taylor. “Are you serious??” He nodded in agreement. “Tay, this is too much--”
He cut her off with a quick kiss to her lips. A busboy came to their side and picked up their two huge suitcases from the trunk of the taxi. Simone smiled and took his arm as they walked into the extravagant hotel. Taylor made his way to the front desk while Simone decided to check out what some of the shows were going to be that night, and the following nights.
“Reservations for Jordan Hanson.” Taylor told the receptionist. She looked up and there was a glint of recognition in her eyes.
“Taylor Hanson…it’s been awhile.” She said. Simone was on her way to join Taylor at his side, but when she heard that tone of voice coming from the girl behind the desk, she decided to stay back and see where the conversation was going.
“Excuse me?” Taylor asked the girl, obviously not remembering who she was. It was natural for Taylor not to remember her. He met a lot of girls in his lifetime, but it would be something for the girl to remember because he was so famous at one point.
“Oh come on. You mean to tell me that you don’t remember me?” she asked, then did a little shake with her hips. “I showed you a whole new meaning to ‘mmmbop’ in New Jersey.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t really recall any…” Taylor trailed off. Simone’s temper started running away with her. What the hell was this?! Taylor’s cheeks flushed a deep red color. Carla, the receptionist, smiled sexily. “You used to work at Rudy’s didn’t you?”
Before Carla could answer or reply, Simone finally joined Taylor, making sure to kiss his cheek right in front of her. She took his hand and wrapped it around her back. Taylor seemed to be relieved. Carla blinked quickly, then looked at the computer screen.
“So, uh, what did you say the last name was again?” she asked, trying to cover.
“Hanson, Jordan.” Taylor repeated his name.
“Honeymooners Suite 723.” Carla says in a stunned/monotonous fashion, turning around and reaching to a high shelf for the card keys. Simone noticed that her skirt was shorter than all of the other receptionists, and she reached a little higher than what was called for. Bitch, she thought to herself. Then she turned back around and handed Taylor the two keys. She looked him over one last time before they turned to leave. Their busboy followed them into the elevator with the suitcases.
* * * * *
While Taylor was in the shower, Simone started thinking. Mostly she was thinking about Zac. She knew that it was wrong, so incredibly wrong, but she just couldn’t help herself. Is this what she really wanted? To jump into this marriage just because she thought that it would make her stop thinking about Zac? The more she thought about Zac, the more she wanted him, and to hear his voice. She picked up the phone receiver and dialed the Hanson’s phone number.
“Hello?” she heard Isaac answer.
“Hi, this is Simone. Uhm, Zac isn’t there by any chance, is he?”
“Actually, I’m not quite sure. Hang on.” He said, then set the phone down on the table. Simone’s heartbeat quickened more and more as it took Isaac longer and longer to return to the phone. Her palms became sweaty. She quickly wiped them off on her jeans and then she held her breath as she heard another phone being picked up.
“’Yello?” she heard Zac’s smooth voice fill her ear.
“Hey.” Was all she said. Zac didn’t really respond. “It’s Simone.”
“Oh, hey! How’s the vaca going?” Zac asked. “Use the chocolate syrup yet?”
“No, I don’t really want to talk about that. Listen, about why I called. Um, damn, this is really hard for me to say, but I need to tell you this.”
“Okay…” Zac said, waiting for Simone to continue.
“Taylor and I are in Vegas.”
“What?! Why?”
“Let me finish, ok?” Simone didn’t answer his questions. With his silence, she continued. “Yeah, we’re in Vegas and we’re going to get married, tonight. I thought that if we would get married as soon as we could, then everything would be the way that it’s supposed to be. And right now, I don’t even know what’s supposed to be anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Zac asked her.
“Well, I love Taylor, and I always will, but I have to asked myself, ‘why am I thinking of you when I’m with Taylor?’ and I can never come up with a reasonable explanation!”
“Oh, I know why.” Zac said. He paused before he continued. “You want me.” And even though Simone knew he was joking with that remark, both she and he knew that it was the honest to goodness truth. She didn’t laugh, though. “See, that was a joke, haha.” Zac prompted. Simone did get a little forced laugh out there.
“But I do, though. Don’t you see? This is never going to work out. I love Taylor, but I want you. But it’s such a horrible thing! I mean, he has no idea, and this would crush him so badly. I don’t want to hurt him, ever.” Simone tried to explain.
“Then don’t tell him. No one but you and me know about it. How’s he going to find out?” Zac made sense there. But Simone told Rachel, but she trusts Rachel.
“I guess you’re right. But what if it happens again?” Simone asked Zac. He said nothing in response. “Zac, what if it happens again?”
“I don’t know.” He said. “I want to tell you that it will never happen again, but I can’t. I don’t want it to happen almost as much as I do. I don’t want to make a promise to you that I can’t keep, especially if it’s a promise that I don’t really want to make in the first place.” Simone sighed. What the heck was she going to do?
She heard him cough. It came from nowhere, startling her. “Is someone in the room with you now?” she asked him to see if the cough was a warning to change the subject?
“No…I thought it was you that coughed.” Zac said. Panic filled Simone’s entire body. She couldn’t speak for a few seconds.
“Omigod, Zac!” she finally said when she found her voice again.
“What?” he asked her.
“Did Isaac hang up the other phone??”