What Happens in Vegas...

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Sydney Bristow simply wants to enjoy her Las Vegas vacation with her best friend, Michael Vaughn poolside with a book in her hand. Sadly, Michael's friends have other plans, especially when betting is involved... [16]

Disclaimer: Sydney, Vaughn, etc are properties of JJ Abrams and ABC.

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Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 16 + Epilogue

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Chapter 1

“Sydney!” Irina Bristow called up the stairs to her eldest daughter. “Sydney, Michael just pulled up out front! Are you all packed?”

“Just a second!” Sydney called back down to her mother.

Irina sighed slightly and shook her head. Of course her habitually late daughter would wait until the morning of her flight to begin packing for her trip. No matter how much Irina nagged and encouraged her to pack sooner, Sydney just would not listen. When she heard a car door slam outside, Irina walked over to the front door to greet the familiar boy. The son of her very best friend, Amelia Vaughn, and the best friend of her daughter, Michael was a frequent fixture in her life.

“’Morning Irina,” Michael said pleasantly. He hopped up onto the front porch of the Bristow’s two story brick home and crammed his hands down into his jean pockets. “Is Syd ready or did she just start packing?” he asked with a slight laugh.

“Sadly, she’s still packing, but I don’t think she just started – thank goodness. Go on up; perhaps you can encourage her to go faster,” Irina said, gesturing towards the stairs behind her. Since Michael and Sydney made it clear they were not now, nor would they be in the near future, in a romantic relationship, Irina saw no problem in Michael going upstairs into Sydney’s room unsupervised. Her husband, on the other hand, was not overly thrilled about it, but he was usually at work and was unaware of it anyway.

Giving her a soft smile, Michael jogged up the stairs past Irina. He turned down the left side of the hallway and went into the second door on the right, Sydney’s room. There, he found her digging through her drawers full of clothing, a half packed suitcase open on her pink-clad bed. “Syyyyyyd,” Michael groaned. “C’mon we’re supposed to leave in like…two minutes!” he said after glancing down at his watch.

“And I’ll be done in two minutes if you leave me alone,” she said in a sweet voice that had a razor sharp edge. Rising up his hands in defense, Michael backed two steps away from her and leaned up against the doorframe to wait.

The trip for which Sydney was packing was their “Thank God we’ve finally graduated from college!” celebratory trip to Las Vegas. While Sydney and Michael graduated from the same school, the trip was not a joint idea between them. Really, it had been cooked up by Michael and a group of four of his friends, with whom Sydney was not very close. Michael invited her along, though, stating that he did not want her to be left out. Besides, she did not even have to hang out with them if she did not want to; they were simply splitting the cost of a hotel room more ways.

At first, Sydney was very reluctant to tag along, fearing she would be the third (in this case sixth) wheel. Besides, in her view, Michael’s crew of cronies was not a bunch she got along with particularly well. Quite frankly, they teased her more than she would have liked for a supposedly mature group of twenty-two year olds. Though she was hesitant to go, Michael practically begged her on his hands and knees to tag along with them. Finally, he was able to seal the deal by stating the trip would not be complete without his best friend there to share it; this Sydney could not say no to.

“Okay, okay, I’m ready,” Sydney sighed five minutes after Michael arrived. He had been tapping his foot impatiently all that time in hopes of getting her to pack faster. Instead, all he succeeded in doing was earning a few menacing glares, which slowed the packing process down even more.

“Did ya pack that little red bikini?” he asked teasingly.

She gave him a look. “Don’t be such a guy,” she warned.

“Sorry; its my nature,” he smiled. Then he picked up her now full suitcase from the bed and carried it downstairs and out to his trunk. He waited while Sydney hugged her mother and said goodbye, even though they would only be gone for five days. Once this was over, Sydney climbed into the passenger seat of his car and buckled her seat belt.

“I can’t believe we’re really going to Vegas,” Sydney sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“You mean you can’t believe you agreed to go to Vegas?” Michael questioned with an eyebrow raise.

“Well yeah, that too,” she laughed softly. Gambling definitely was not her thing, neither was drinking. Since her chosen major, chemistry, left little free time, she had very minimal experience with the latter. Further more, she was not interested in gambling at all and planned on not doing so. Well, maybe she would try a slot machine just to say she had done so, but there was no way she was playing poker; she already knew she was terrible at it, so why prove that by risking lots of money doing so?

“C’mon Syd, everyone’s gotta go to Vegas once in their life. It’s like…a rule or something,” Michael told her.

“Oh yes, I’m sure it is,” she rolled her eyes. “Although, I’m pretty sure Nadia thinks so. All morning she was going on and on about how unfair it is she still has three more years before she graduates and can do the same.” Sydney sighed, shaking her head slightly at her younger and much more spoiled sister.

“Well we couldn’t have taken her anyway; she’s not twenty-one yet,” Michael pointed out.

“Try telling her that,” Sydney laughed.

After a brief drive, they arrived at the airport, unloaded their baggage, and hurried into the terminal. There, they met up with the group of four friends who would be joining them: Steve, his girlfriend Tammy, Andrew, and Jas (short for Jasmine, though no one called her that). Sydney said polite hellos to them all before shrinking back behind Michael, hoping to stay out of view and thus out of the conversation. Being Michael’s best friend, she had met the foursome many times over; however, she could not say she was close friends with – or even friendly with – any of them. That was why her suitcase was chockfull of reading material for the poolside.

“C’mon let’s go guys – the sooner we get there the sooner Sydney gets her surprise!” Andrew said with a rather obnoxious wink.

“Surprise?” Sydney asked very cautiously.

“Yeah, we all chipped in – we’re getting you a male hooker so you can lose your virginity!” Jas laughed.

“Wonderful,” Sydney muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes; it was going to be a very long week.



Chapter 2

During the five hour flight from their Virginia home to Las Vegas, Sydney felt as though she was flying back in time to her high school years, perhaps to even a more juvenile time. The foursome she and Michael were traveling with could not have been a more rowdy, misbehaving bunch. They were laughing and squealing and jumping over each other in their seats, obviously annoying those sitting around them.

Flight attendants continually asked them to settle down, but they merely snickered as the flight attendant walked away, calmed down for a minute or so, and then went right back to their mischief. Sydney practically wanted to crawl underneath her seat just so she would not be associated with the people sitting in front of her. Finally, a threat of legal ramifications from the air mashall on board the flight got the foursome to settle down, though they were still laughing more loudly than they should have been.

After they could no longer horse around for entertainment, Andrew and Jas turned their attention on their upcoming trip, while Steve and Tammy turned their focus on one another. Sadly, Andrew and Jas’s trip talk turned back to their joke on Sydney, which made her feel as though she was sitting through high school all over again.

Back in high school…well, Sydney did not like to dwell on that time very much mostly because it was not a particularly happy time for her. While Sydney and Michael attended the same school it didn’t always feel that way. Michael was most definitely part of the popular crowd, not just because of his unmatchable good looks, but also because he was the star of the school’s baseball team (state champs three years running, thanks to their star pitcher). Sydney, on the complete opposite end of things, was not known for anything except perhaps her academic success, and that was only by her teachers. For the most part, she was impossible to pick out in the crowded school hallways and she liked it that way.

True, she was not miserably unhappy during her high school existence. She did have a few close friends who she spent many fun times with. However, there were times when she wished she could just quit school all together despite her 4.0 grade point average. This was because of the only attention she seemed to get from those above her in the social hierarchy and that was in the form of teasing. Whether it was her clothes, her glasses, the fact that she answered questions during class or simply the fact that she was breathing, Sydney always found herself the target of some form of mockery.

For the most part it wasn’t that bad. After all, if they were mocking her because her jeans were a no-name brand or from Old Navy instead of Abercrombie, what did it matter? Jeans were jeans and, frankly, Sydney could not see the logic in paying eighty-five dollars for a pair of pants that already had holes in them; that was ridiculous and she could easily ignore that kind of teasing. When the scorning ran a little deeper, though, it was harder to bear. For example, during her junior year Sydney got her first real boyfriend, so to speak anyway. They were technically dating, but they rarely went out on dates. They simply sat together while eating lunch in the cafeteria and went to movies on Saturday afternoons; the most they ever shared was a kiss on the cheek – nothing more.

When the popular crowd got wind of the “geeks in love” as they called it since Sydney’s boyfriend was equally as studious as she, their teasing was endless. They threw fake black “nerd” glasses at them whole time they ate their lunch and constantly mocked them. The final straw was when Sydney found a package of condoms taped to her locker along with a note requesting she and her boyfriend use protection lest they populate the earth with more freaks. That day she went home crying from school, broke up with her boyfriend, and never wanted to return. She did, of course, mostly by the force of her parents, but it was quite some time before things became any better for her.

Michael was the only member of the popular crowd who did not treat her as though she was a disease that needed to be eliminated. He never said anything even the slightest bit mean or rude to her. In fact, if one or more of his cronies were being particularly mean to her, he would sternly tell them to knock it off before flashing her a smile.

Since their mothers had been friends practically ever sine they were born (they met at the pediatrician just a few weeks after Sydney’s birth), Sydney and Michael had always been forced to spend time together at barbeques or birthday parties or some get-together of that nature. They were always friendly with one another; they simply were not close friends. If Michael saw Sydney in the hall, he would either smile or wave at her, and they would talk casually while over at one another’s house with their mother but they never went out of the way to hang out together. True, they did go to the beach together with their families one summer during high school and spent the entire week together (since there was nothing else to do) but that was the extend of their time together—until they went to college.

Upon graduating from high school, Michael decided he wanted to get as far away from Virginia as possible, so he went to a school in California. Sydney, thinking he was insane for going that far if nothing more because of the complicated moving in, moving out process, went to a school only forty minutes from her home. Just as their first college year was ending, terrible news came: Michael’s mother, Amelia, had breast cancer.

The doctors assured them that the cancer was in its early stages and was very treatable, but still, both the Vaughn and Bristow families were stunned by the news. After finishing out the year in California, Michael decided to transfer to a school close by home just incase, God forbid, something worse happened. He transferred to the same school Sydney went to as it was the closest university to their home town.

During the summer between their freshmen and sophomore years of college, Sydney and Michael were practically inseparable. Sydney and her mother were volunteering their time in the Vaughn, helping with laundry, cooking and cleaning while Amelia was recovering from her chemotherapy. In that time, all Michael wanted to do was be close to someone familiar, someone he cared about and that person just happened to be Sydney.

That summer they realized just how much they had missed each other and how they had taken for granted the time they weren’t friends during high school. As it turned out, they actually had a lot in common besides their obvious social differences. They liked the same movies, music, and even some of the same books. Since they had the advantage of knowing each other since, well, forever they could talk for hours without ever feeling bored or uncomfortable.

Interestingly enough, in that time, the idea of becoming romantically involved never crossed either of their minds. True, it was a tough time for the Vaughn family and they were just trying to get through it, but it really was not an issue for them. They were just friends, best friends, actually and they stayed that way through the rest of their three year college career.

“Ladies and Gentlemen we are making our final decent into Las Vegas; please fasten your seatbelts,” a flight attendant announced over the plane loudspeaker.

“Sweet we’re here!” Andrew cheered.

“Finally,” Sydney sighed under her breath.



Chapter 3

After arriving at the hotel and being amazed by its swanky interior and expansive casino, the six of them checked into their hotel rooms and made their way up to drop off their bags before hitting the two. Once upstairs in their adjoining rooms, though, they encountered a problem.

Since they had two rooms and six people – three boys, three girls – Sydney assumed that the boys would have one room and the girls would have another; a perfect situation. However, it appeared that Steve and Tammy wanted to share a bed in one of the rooms. This made the group unhappy since at least one of them would be in the same room with the couple and they did not want to be in the same space when Steve and Tammy were kissing one another (or worse). Though Steve and Tammy promised they would keep themselves in check, it still created a problem on how to divide up the remaining three beds between the remaining four people.

“Dude there is no way I’m sharing a bed with Michael – that’s sick!” Andrew proclaimed. Everyone immediately groaned.

“Oh just grow up!”

“It’s not like you have to enjoy it…even though you might,” Steve snickered. This earned him a rather violent punch on the shoulder from Andrew, who was looking very annoyed.

“I’m serious!” Andrew maintained. “I can’t share a bed with Michael!”

“Well he doesn’t smell that bad,” Sydney chimed in, finding a rare moment to make the group laugh instead of turning on her viciously. Luckily it worked, and they all laughed, except Michael, who gave her a rather unamused look.

“It’s not just that – I can’t share a bed with a guy; that’s disgusting. Jas and I will share a bed,” Andrew said, locking an arm around the dark haired girl’s neck.

“No we won’t!” Jas insisted, pushing Andrews arm away from her.

“Yeah it’ll work out fine – Steve and Tammy, you and I, Sydney and Michael, and then we’ll have a bed leftover for our suitcases and other stuff,” Andrew rationalized.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Michael jumped in, looking rather concerned. “Sydney and I!?”

“Yeah, apparently she’s the only one who can stand your stench,” Steve laughed, clapping Michael on the shoulder rather roughly. Michael glared at him.

“Oh you guys we can’t do that to Sydney,” Jas said in a sweet voice. “I mean, you know her, she’s probably never even touched a guy before. If we make her share a bed with Mikey here poor Sandra Dee’s head might just explode.” Jas giggled rather wickedly while everyone else laughed as well and gave Sydney a patronizing look.

With a determined expression and a slight growl under her breath, Sydney picked up her bag from the floor and stated, “We’re taking the bed closer to the bathroom,” before stomping into the adjoining room.

Just as she set her luggage up onto the bed and began to unzip it, Michael walked into the room looking very cautious. “Um, Syd, you know we don’t have to share a bed if you don’t want to? I mean, I’m sure I could talk to the guys and we could make arrangements otherwise…”

“Michael it’s fine, really. Unless you don’t want to share a bed with me?” she asked, her tone very dangerous. After her time of the plane plus the teasing on the way to the hotel from the airport she was really on edge.

“No no, it’s fine with me,” he said, squeaking ever so slightly. Truthfully, sometimes he was a little bit afraid of her if for no other reason than the horrifying flashes of what would befall him if her father caught wind of him upsetting her.

“Good, now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to change into my bathing suit and go down to the pool so I can enjoy this beautiful weather,” she said. Michael nodded quickly before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him. Once in the other room, he found more bickering going on as they decided who would take which bed.

“Okay fine!” Tammy shouted, taking control of the situation. “We’re not having a luggage bed. Steve and I will sleep in here; Sydney and Michael in there, and then you two can pick which of you stays where that way Andrew can have his own bed,” she said in an obviously patronizing tone, looking between Andrew and Jas.

“I call in there!” Jas exclaimed, pointing to the room in which Sydney was changing. She slung her bag over her shoulder and was just about to walk through the adjoining door when Michael practically threw himself in front of her.

“No you can’t! I mean, Sydney’s changing right now…give her a minute,” he added more casually.

“Sweet I get to see her chastity belt up close and in person!” Jas laughed, trying to push her way through the door once more.

“Guys c’mon and give Sydney a break, okay? This is her vacation too and its not fair if you ruin it for her,” Michael told them.

“Jeez we’re just having fun!”

“No, no, having fun would be…making a comment about… I don’t know, how you don’t like her baiting suit or whatever,” he said, trying to find a topic that was consistent with minimal teasing instead of the borderline cruel kind. “This is malicious and its constant so…take it down a notch, okay?” he asked.

“Fine.” Everyone in the room grumbled with agreement. Of course, the second Michael moved from his position blocking the doorway to his room, Jas burst through it. She grumbled with disappointment when she noticed that Sydney was changing in the bathroom instead of out in the main bedroom, but Michael was glad about this; it was already going to be hard enough to wrangle his friends away from her that weekend; they didn’t need to make it worse by exposing her, half naked, to the group.

As everyone began packing their luggage, Michael did the same, carrying his in the other room and sitting it on the bed next to Sydney’s. As he was going through it and setting out toiletry supplies to carry into the bathroom, Sydney emerged in a red bikini top and cutoff jean shorts, under which there presumably was a red bikini bottom to match the top. Upon seeing her, Michael promptly dropped everything in his hands back into his bag. Of course it was not the first time he had seen her in a bikini, but there was something about seeing such a vast amount of flesh on any attractive woman that made him all thumbs.

“So-so you’re going to the pool then now like now?” he stammered, inwardly kicking himself for sounding like a fool.

“Um…yeah,” she said, giving him a peculiar look as she pulled out a novel from the side pocket of her luggage.

“Well I’ll come with you if-if you want,” he smiled softly at her.

“Don’t you want to go and start drinking and gambling with everyone else?” she raised a curious eyebrow at him.

He shook his head. “I can gamble anytime; it’s only sunny during the day.”

“Alright, whatever,” she shrugged slightly. Then she turned her attention back to her bag as she looked for a very important item. Sadly, it was not there; she had forgotten it in her haste earlier that morning. “Crap I forgot sunscreen…”

“I think I have some or you could borrow some from Jas….or I’m sure you can buy it at the hotel gift shop,” he added quickly at the less than amused look on her face. “Just gimmie five minutes and we’ll go.”

“Okay,” she agreed. Then, she sat down on the bed and opened her book with a sigh to read a bit more while she waited.



Chapter 4

After listing to the party hardy foursome complain that Michael was not going to be accompanying them when they dove head first into the bar at one pm that afternoon, Michael and Sydney made their way down to the pool area. The sun so high in the sky combined with the fact that they were in the desert made it sizzling out on the pool deck, which was surprisingly empty. Sydney and Michael chose neighboring lounge chairs and began laying out the towels they brought from their hotel room out onto them.

“It sure is nice out here,” Michael smiled at he sat down on the towel-covered chair. Then, he pulled out the small bottle of sunscreen he found in his toiletry case (most likely packed by his mother since he had no recollection of doing so) and began applying some to his nose.

“Can I have that when you’re done?” Sydney asked, sitting down on her own chair.

“Sure. I’ll even do your back if you want,” Michael smiled at her.

“O-oh o-okay,” she stammered slightly. Michael rubbing creamy suntan lotion all over her back and shoulders – yeah, that was going to help her situation. Though she never admitted it to anyone and rarely admitted it to herself, Sydney had always had a crush on Michael. Well not always but ever since their beach trip six years earlier and she was able to catch a glimpse of his body, perfectly toned and tanned from all the time he spent working out during baseball practice. She was far from the first girl in her class to have a crush on Michael Vaughn. In fact, she was fairly sure that every girl had a crush on him at some point, so it was just one of those things, or so she told herself. Nothing would ever come of her crush, though, this she knew. They were too close as friends for anything like that to happen. Besides, why would the most popular guy in school choose one of the nerds over the more beautiful cheerleaders? Oh, that’s right, he wouldn’t.

“Alrighty then,” Michael said. He squeezed a dollop of the white lotion onto his finger tips and began rubbing it across Sydney’s back, starting at her shoulders and working his way down to the strap on her bikini, making sure not to miss an inch. Sadly, the last time he had done that to a girl, he had missed a rather oddly shaped patch on her back, which caused this girl to get a burn in that same odd shape. Not surprisingly, she was not very happy with him and he was not anxious to repeat such a mistake.

While Michael was applying Sydney’s suntan lotion, a guy and girl just slightly older than them walked by them. As they passed they heard the girl say in a most annoyed and disgusted tone, “God Brian, how come you never put suntan lotion on my back?! You’re such a crappy boyfriend!” Once they were a few feet away, Michael could hear the guy, Brian, attempting to apologize and couldn’t help but laugh under his breath.

Sydney, too, heard this exchange between the strangers, but she only found it mildly amusing. For the most part she was focusing on the fact that the strange girl obviously believed she and Michael to be a couple. This horrified her slightly though she did not know why. After all she and Michael were just two friends. The fact that he was putting suntan lotion on her back meant nothing. After all, if she had a female friend who asked for assistance with such a task, she would not have hesitated to help. It was the same situation; no different. At least, that’s what she tried to tell herself.

“There all done,” Michael said once he was finished. Then he handed over the tube of suntan lotion so Sydney could put it on her face and wherever else she wished it to be.

“Thanks,” she said softly. After she had applied suntan lotion everywhere she felt was necessary, she settled back against her lounge chair and picked up her book once more. Michael, too, settled back with his hands behind his head, attempting to rest so that the jet lag did not affect him too much later that evening.

Just fifteen minutes after she picked up her book, from the corner of her eye she saw two girls no older than herself approaching Michael in all his glistening chiseled-body beauty. Fighting the urge to throw up, Sydney concentrated even deeper on her book as the two girls struck up conversation with Michael, obviously wanted to be invited to hang out with him, perhaps even more than that. Instead of falling subject to their coy smiles and bikini-clad bodies, Michael simply chatted politely before hinting as subtly as possible that he was not interested.

“Well you accomplished that fairly well considering you left your stick back in Virginia,” Sydney commented softly once the girls were gone.

“Huh?! What stick?!” Michael asked with utter confusion.

“You know, the stick you use to beat off all the women throwing themselves at you,” Sydney explained further.

“Oh,” he said shortly. He was also rolling his eyes but that was impossible to tell due to his sunglasses. “I’ll have you know that I own no such stick and women are certainly now throwing themselves at me.

“Mmhm,” Sydney sighed in a disbelieving tone.

Wanting to change the subject desperately, Michael asked, “So Syd, when do you start your new job again? The Monday after we get back?”

“No, the next Monday,” she told him. She had been one of the lucky ones to graduate college with a job already available and waiting for her. Actually, she had accepted the position back in the middle of April, which made studying for finals even more difficult. The job with a pharmaceutical company was located relatively close to her parent’s home, which meant she did not need to immediately move out on her own. Of course, she planned on doing so well before the end of summer, but at least the pressure was off for the time being.

“Ah yeah…it must be nice having employment,” he sighed.

“You’re going to get some, Michael. I’m sure once you start going on interviews you’ll get snatched up right away.”

“I hope so,” he sighed. Though he went on a few interviews, Michael had yet to land a position. This was partly because of his lack of pursuance on the issue since he was still unsure if he wanted to stay close to home to find a job or go further away. His mother’s cancer was in remission, so he did not need to stick close to home for that reason, but he was unsure he wanted to leave behind everyone else, including Sydney.

“C’mon let’s get in the water and cool off; it’s freakin’ hot out here,” Michael encouraged.

“Alright,” Sydney agreed. She was at a very good part of the novel she was reading, but in a more pressing matter Michael had a very valid point; it was boiling. She stood and shimmied out of her shorts before walking over and dipping a toe into the pool water. “Its freezi-AHH!” she screamed. Before she could even finish the word, Michael barreled into her and tackled her down into the water, where they both landed with a violent splash.

“Oh my god I’m going to KILL you!” Sydney screamed when she finally surfaced after having a very rude introduction to the water.

“But you’re cooler now aren’t you?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

“I’m freezing,” she informed him. Then she waded her way over to the pool edge, climbed out and returned to her lounge chair to plot her revenge.



Chapter 5

After a few minutes of potting, Sydney found the perfect revenge for Michael throwing her into the cold pool water. She ordered a soda from the outside bar, took an ice cube out of it and dropped it down the back of his swimming trunks when he was least suspecting it. This caused a very interest reaction during which he danced around the pool deck frantically, nearly knocking five people over in the process as Sydney laughed so hard she could barely breathe. Needless to say, Michael was not very happy with her after this.

Three hours after arriving at the pool, Michael and Sydney left so they could shower and change before dinner. Not surprisingly, their room was empty when they returned. Sydney did not even want to guess where they went, though she had a pretty good idea already.

After showering and changing, Sydney and Michael headed back downstairs to attempt to find the rest of their crew so they could eat dinner together. Of course in an expansive casino with dozens of people this was easier said than done, but after a few minutes of searching they managed to find Steve and Tammy playing slot machines. Steve was able to direct them towards Jas, who was playing craps, but as for Andrew…well, he had gone off with a woman he met at the bar and they were not exactly sure where he went to. Deciding Andrew could find his own meal (and probably already did), the group of five went to eat without them.

“While you two freaks were at the pool we managed to win ourselves a cool fifty bucks,” Steve said proudly as he glanced over the top of his menu.

“Oh yeah, how much money did you have to put in before you won that?” Michael laughed. Steve said nothing and looked back down towards his lap while everyone laughed.

“You’re gonna come to the casino with us after we eat, right?” Jas asked Michael and Sydney.

“Yeah I’m there. What do you say, Syd?”

“Oh I don’t know,” she said in a hesitant voice. “I mean… I’ll try one of those slot machine things, but I don’t think I’m gonna stay.”

“Why?” Jas laughed. “Does being a virgin affect your ability to gamble?” Michael shot her a silencing glare which she ignored easily.

“No I just… I didn’t bring that much cash with me,” she mumbled a lie hoping it would get Jas and everyone else to leave her alone.

“What? Why the hell not? Didn’t Michael say you’ve already got a job? You can afford to gamble a little bit!” Steve laughed. Sydney continued to stare at her menu, not wanting to explain that she did not want to part with all her hard-earned savings; she thought it was pointless. Luckily she didn’t have to because a moment later the waiter arrived to take their orders.

Along with their chosen meals, the two men ordered beers and the two women ordered mixed drinks; Sydney ordered a coke. Once again, this caused her to be the subject of heavy mockery. “A Coke?! A Coke?!” Jas exclaimed. “You’re not even going to have one drink?! God, Sydney, you’re even more of a prude than I thought.”

“Hey she doesn’t have to drink if she doesn’t want to,” Michael defended her quickly. Then he added under his breath, “Lord knows you’ll drink enough for the both of you and then some.”

For Sydney, the rest of dinner did not go much better than the beginning of dinner. She was forced to sit through more teasing and mocking mostly coming from Jas, though the others put in their fair share as well. Michael tried to deflect their comments as much as he could, but it wasn’t always enough and soon Sydney was feeling so sick to her stomach she could hardly eat.

At the first possible moment, she escaped the table and wandered out into the casino. She was just about to make her way over to the slot machines so she could gamble a bit to say she had done it and then go back to her room and finish the book she was reading when she heard someone call out her name. Turning around, she saw it was Michael jogging towards her.

“Syd I am so sorry,” he apologized immediately. “Jas is being such a jerk and I’m really sorry she’s ruining this trip for you.”

“It’s okay,” Sydney said even though it really wasn’t. “I’m used to it; its fine.”

“No it’s really not,” he sighed. “How about you and I do something tomorrow without those idiots in there? Just you and me and we don’t have to see or talk to them all day.”

“Oh Michael, you don’t have to-”

“But I want to. Please? C’mon it’ll be fun. This afternoon was fun right?” he asked with a grin.

“Yeah especially the part where I put that ice cube down your pants,” she snickered. He gave her an unappreciative glare.

“I’m serious. Please?”

Sydney sighed heavily and weighed the decision before answering. On one hand, she did not want Michael to feel obligated spending time with her when he could have been hanging out with his friends. Then again, she also did not really want to spend the next five days all by herself. “Alright,” she agreed finally, “it’s a date.”

“Great,” he smiled. Then, after playfully tapping her nose, he went back into the restaurant, where Steve, Tammy, and Jas were still waiting.

Shaking her head slightly, Sydney continued on her path over to the slot machines. There, she pulled out a ten dollar bill from her wallet and inserted it into the machine. All she was going to bet was ten dollars; no more. If she lost it all, it was not that big of a deal; it was just ten dollars.

On her first turn, she lost completely and couldn’t help but laugh and wonder why people did this so frequently; losing wasn’t any fun. Despite this, she pulled the handle once more. That time, she won a quarter and felt slightly better about the game.

Half an hour later, she had doubled her money and decided it was time to quit. True, everyone around her would have thought she was insane, but she wanted to quit while she was ahead instead of losing all twenty dollars. At least, she thought as she walked away from her slot machine, Jas wasn’t around and she did not have to face ridicule on that front.

Once she pocked her twenty dollars, Sydney walked over to the elevator so she could go up to her hotel room; a long night of relaxing awaited her upstairs and she could not wait to get started on it.



Chapter 6

The next morning when Sydney awoke, her ears were met by the sounds of soft snoring on either side of her. Apparently, Jas snored in her sleep, as did Michael, though Jas’s was much worse than his. When Sydney attempted to roll over, she found that she could not due to the fact that during the night Michael had swung one of his legs over her legs so that she was completely pinned beneath them.

Grumbling slightly, Sydney turned her head to find that Michael was practically taking up the entire mattress space. Annoyed by this, she jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, causing him to wake with a start. He grumbled and mumbled sleepily for a moment before opening his eyes and realizing the source of his forceful removal from slumber. “Wha’d you do?” he asked her, yawning.

“You were crushing me! Get your legs off me!” Sydney growled.

Once Michael was conscious enough to realize what was going on, he moved his legs and the rest of his body towards the other side of the bed and apologized quickly. This sudden talking roused Jas from her sleep, and she immediately started laughing. “She probably thought you were going to have sex with her and was scared her virginity was compromised,” Jas snickered.

“Yeah I’m sure that’s exactly what she thought,” Michael said with obvious sarcasm while rolling his eyes. Then he quickly got up from bed and shuffled his way to the bathroom while Sydney took her time sitting up and Jas rolled over and went back to sleep.

Forty minutes later, Michael and Sydney were on their way down to breakfast to begin their day of quality time together. Not surprisingly, their roommates were still asleep, having had a rather late night the previous evening. Sydney was not sure exactly what time she fell asleep since it happened while she was reading her book, but it was definitely after eleven, which really felt like two am east coast time, and at that point she was still alone in the rooms.

“What time did you get in last night?” Sydney asked as she and Michael stepped out of the elevator.

“Um about twelve-thirty I suppose. You were already asleep clutching your book and looking adorable,” he teased her with a grin. She punched his arm playfully while giving him an annoyed look. Michael laughed softly, “Hey it really was cute…anyway, I was the first one back and I don’t know what time the rest of the crew arrived; I fell asleep right away.”

“Oh ok,” she smiled at him. “I was just curious anyway.”

The two headed down to the buffet breakfast being served in the hotel where Michael picked waffles with lots of syrup and Sydney chose a daintier serving of scrambled eggs plus a few pieces of toast. As they ate, they discussed what they were going to do that day. They decided that they would go for a walk down the strip, looking in some of the more infamous casinos to see how they differed from the one they were familiar with. Then, if time and their wallets allowed, they would go to a show. Otherwise, simply return to the hotel and go back out to the pool.

Walking down the strip and seeing the unique and unusual sights there, Sydney and Michael realized that they were truly no longer in Virginia. Never before had Sydney seen people selling maps and overpriced t-shits and people she could only guess were hookers at such an early hour of the day (well, actually she had never seen hookers anywhere before). Needless to say their walk down the street was at a very brisk pace since Sydney was practically dragging Michael along with her.

After visiting the casinos at the MGM Grand and the Monte Carlo hotels, Sydney and Michael realized that all the casinos were basically the same. Sure, they had minor differences, but they were all very decadent with many people and even more slot machines. After this realization, Sydney and Michael turned around and headed back to their hotel.

Back at the room, they found everyone was gone, which was perfectly alright with them anyway; they were spending the day just to themselves. “So how about we play a little poker. After all, we are in Vegas,” Michael smiled, holding up a deck of cards.

“Ohhh,” Sydney groaned. “Michael I’m so bad at poker!”

“C’mon just a few hands,” he encouraged, still smiling. Sighing heavily, she agreed and sat down on the bed warning him that she sucked royally so he was going to win all the hands. “Good to know,” Michael laughed before dealing out the cards.

A few hands later, Sydney was surprised at how well she was actually playing. Of course, she was far from winning everything and was certainly not ready to go and play for real money, but she was holding her own. Michael even suggested that she take a chance and play downstairs, even for just a little money, but Sydney refused stating that her gambling days were over before they even started.

Just an hour after Sydney and Michael began playing, Steve, Tammy, Jas, and Andrew poured through the doors of their hotel room laughing loudly. They were all going to change into their bathing suits and head down to the pool and they invited Sydney and Michael along with them. Michael hesitated to agree to this, knowing that Sydney wanted a day away from them, but she agreed to go anyway. After all, it was a rather large pool area and, if necessary, she could just sit far away from them and read all by herself; she didn’t mind.

~*~

“Man, you know I gotta say for being such a prude Sandra Dee does have a nice body,” Andrew said as he peered over his sunglasses towards Sydney, who was sitting at the edge of the pool, her legs dangling into the water. Everyone else in their group of six was sitting in a row of lounge chairs a few feet away from her.

“Yeah, she does. I thought she woulda come down here in a black one-piece that went all the way from her neck to her knees,” Jas laughed.

“She’s not a nun,” Michael pointed out, slightly annoyed that even when Sydney did something seemingly normal she was still ridiculed for it.

“You know, now that we can see what a beautiful package was underneath those ugly clothes I’m thinking this weekend could get interesting,” Andrew said with a rather evil smile.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

“Well I’m thinking it might be our responsibility to devirginize Sandra Dee.”

“NO!” Michael shouted, sitting upright in his lounge chair. “No you leave her alone Andrew – no slipping her alcohol, no ‘hey baby this’ll be good’, nothing. Get it?”

“Jeez chill man!” Andrew retorted, mocking offense. “I was just kidding.”

“No you weren’t!”

“Yeah that’s true,” Andrew laughed softly, settling back into his lounge chair. “I definitely wouldn’t say no if she was interested.”

“Lucky she’s not,” Michael commented.

“Gee, Mike, it sounds to me like you’ve got a little crush on Sandra Dee yourself,” Jas laughed.

“I do not have a crush on Sydney and stop calling her Sandra Dee! I just feel like its my responsibility to keep you vultures away from her since I was the one who invited her here in the first place,” Michael rationalized.

“Whatever,” Jas sighed as Sydney returned to her lounge chair beside Michael. She sat down and picked up her book, completely oblivious to the conversation that had been going on moments earlier. She was just glad they weren’t mocking her for some reason at that very moment.

After just fifteen minutes of relaxing silence, Andrew sat up in his lounge chair, groaning. “God this vacation is boring…we need to do something to make it more interesting.”

“And what would that be?” Tammy asked with a sigh.

“Perhaps with a bet,” Andrew said. Immediately everyone else groaned loudly. “No seriously hear me out. We’re charging all the alcohol to the room, right? So that’s going to be a pretty hefty tab by the end of the week.”

“And your point is?” Steve asked in a dull tone.

“Well, I think we need to make a bet with Michael and if he loses he has to pay the whole tab,” Andrew laughed.

“What?! Why me!?” Michael squeaked.

“’cause you bailed on us to go hang out with Sandra Dee all day long…so what do you say? Are you in?” Andrew asked.

“Are you insane?” Michael retorted. “You haven’t told me what I have to do in order to win and something tells me I’m not gonna like it. Are strippers involved?”

“Not unless you want them to be,” Andrew laughed. Michael gave him an annoyed look. “No, I’m serious; I’ve got a good one with no strippers involved. It’s an easy win, Mike – I’m being far too generous.”

“Well what is it already?!” Jas asked impatiently.

An extraordinarily proud smile crossed Andrew’s face as he announced, “To win the bet, Michael and Sydney have to get married here in Vegas – tonight.”

At this point, Sydney, who had only been half listening to their conversation, threw her book up in the air and screeched, “WHAT?!”

Michael ignored her for the moment, though; he was weighing his options. “Yeah, ok, we’ll do it; it’s a bet,” Michael said finally, extending his hand to shake Andrews.

“Michael!” Sydney screeched. Then, furious, she grabbed her book, towel, and shorts and stomped out of the pool area.



Chapter 7

By the time Sydney arrived back at her hotel room she was livid and seriously regretting her decision to tag along on the trip to Vegas. Mostly, she was furious with Michael for succumbing to the peer pressure from his idiot friends. She could not believe he was being so stupid. Usually when his friends (typically Andrew) came up with harebrained schemes Michael ignored them or at least did not participate. This was…well, this was flat out ridiculous!

“Syd c’mon its not that big of a deal,” Michael groaned when he walked into the room about a minute behind her.

“NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?!” she shouted. “Michael, you just volunteered me to get married to you! Have you lost your freakin’ mind?!”

“No,” he said unconvincingly. “C’mon Syd I don’t wanna lose all that money. Do you know how much their bar tab is gonna be?! Probably like a thousand bucks!”

“Then you shouldn’t have agreed to this stupid bet in the first place!” she hissed. “God! What is the matter with you?!”

“Syd, seriously, you’re blowing this way out of proportion,” Michael said calmly. “I mean, its not like it’s a big deal. Weddings in Vegas don’t really mean anything.”

“What are you? Phoebe from Friends?? Vegas weddings are real weddings!! They result in actual marriages not matter how drunk or sober you are!” Sydney insisted.

Michael growled slightly. “I know that! I simply meant they can easily be undone – you can get them annulled two days later. Just look at Britney Spears; she did it.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s really a person you want to be using an analogy right now Michael,” Sydney snapped. “Me and Britney – we’re practically twins!”

“That’s not what I meant! Besides, think of it this way if we get married you probably won’t have to listen to Jas tease you all week for being Sandra Dee,” he rationalized, trying a different angle to convince her.

“I, unlike you apparently, do not fall subject to teasing and peer pressure, Michael.”

“Oh so you like it when they ridicule you then?”

“Of course not,” she sighed. “But I don’t hate it enough to get married – which is a big deal!”

“Seriously I think you’re making too big a deal out of this. I mean, god, its something fun – something spontaneous. Who knows, a few years down the road you might even look back at it and laugh,” Michael told her.

Sydney shook her head at him still in disbelief he was pressing the issue. Sighing, she sat down on the edge of the bed, her back to him. “You wanna know why I really don’t want to do this? The truth?” she asked softly, not sure if she was quite ready to admit the next words out of her mouth.

“That would be nice, yeah,” Michael said, mirroring her soft tone as he sat beside her very gently.

“Well it’s silly really…god, I mean, I’m such an idiot,” she laughed softly, covering her face with her hands. “But the truth is that I’ve had this…this crush on you for a while. I mean, it was just this little schoolgirl crush I had…at least it was back in high school and it’s just kinda gotten worse and…ridiculous over the years but…but I love you and that’s why I can’t marry you…if that makes sense,” she laughed slightly as she turned away from him, knowing her face was turning eight shades of red.

“Oh Syd, I love you too,” Michael sighed, putting a gentle hand on her back.

“No, Michael no,” she said, standing up and moving away from him. “I don’t just as a friend love you – I love you.”

“Yeah I know I love you too,” Michael repeated.

At this information, Sydney’s throat went entirely dry, her heart began pounding, and she was convinced she had stopped breathing. After staring blankly at Michael for a full minute, she managed to croak out, “What?”

“I love you, Syd,” he repeated.

“Are you just saying that so I’ll marry you?!!” she exclaimed with horror.

“NO! No of course not…I’m not that stupid,” he laughed.

“So…,” she said very slowly as she sat down on the bed once more. “You have… romantic feelings…for me?” Michael nodded his head. “I thought you always thought of me as your sister!” she insisted, squeaking slightly.

He couldn’t help but laugh. “No…well, maybe I did a little bit when we were younger, but I’m well aware you’re not a blood relative.”

Still staring at him wide-eyed, Sydney could not believe what she was hearing. “But I don’t understand…why didn’t you ever…”

“Ask you out?” he continued her thought. She nodded. “Oh I dunno Syd,” he groaned. “I guess…I guess I didn’t think you’d say yes. Keep in mind, I didn’t actually realize I loved you until recently. Actually, it was while you were dating that Bio major guy who always looked like he had waxed paper covering his front teeth,” Michael laughed softly. “Plus, I didn’t want to mess up our friendship.”

“And you think marriage is the way to do that,” Sydney said dryly.

“I told you its not a real marriage!” he laughed. “Oh c’mon Syd, doesn’t a little tiny part of you want to know what it’d be like if we got married? Just think how much our moms will freak!”

“That is true…,” Sydney laughed at the mental image of her mother’s eyes bugging straight out right before they rolled back into her head. She glanced over at Michael and saw him grinning at her enticingly; she bit her lip. On one had, every logical part of her body was screaming, “NO!” Yet, on the other hand, she never did anything spontaneous, and this certainly was spontaneous… “Okay,” she agreed finally. “Let’s do it.”

“Serious?!”

“Serious. But if anything goes wrong I’m blaming you completely,” she told him sternly.

“Deal,” he laughed softly. Then, to seal their agreement, he leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss onto her lips.

Sydney pulled back, surprised. “That was…different.”

“Bad different?”

She shook her head. “Nope, just different.”

“Oh ok good,” he laughed softly. Then, he leaned in and gave her another, slightly longer kiss. “C’mon. Let’s go tell Andrew he’s gonna have to pay his own bar tab.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a laugh.



Chapter 8

“You’re kidding! You’re actually going to do it?!” Andrew asked in utter shock when Sydney and Michael delivered their news.

“Yep,” Michael smiled.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Jas muttered.

“Well believe it because we’re doing it… we just have to figure out how,” he laughed slightly.

“Oh its easy. You just go to the courthouse, fill out an application, and they give you a marriage license. Then you just gotta find one of those chapels that will do it for you,” Steve said simply. Everyone looked at him as though he was insane. “What?” he said innocently. “I looked it up before we got here…”

“Why?” Tammy asked her boyfriend dangerously. “You getting any bright ideas?”

“No,” Steve croaked quietly, shrinking back in his lounge chair.

“Okay, okay,” Michael glanced down at his watch. “It’s just after two…how about we call around to wedding chapels and find an appointment for five o’clock? That’ll give us plenty of time to get to the courthouse and back.”

“What are you gonna wear? Your bikini?” Jas asked Sydney with a laugh.

“No, I have a white sundress,” she said simply. Then Jas made a comment connecting Sydney’s white dress to her virginity, but Sydney ignored it.

“Okay while you’re gone we’ll work on getting your gifts organized,” Andrew said.

“Gifts?!” Everyone else asked with shock.

“Yeah we gotta get ‘em something to open. We’ll meet back upstairs at four thirty,” he told them. They all agreed to this and then split up; they had a very short amount of time to accomplish all the tasks they wanted.

As Sydney showered, Michael called around to various wedding chapels he found in the phone book. As it turned out, the hotel right beside theirs had a wedding chapel. After calling them, Michael found out they had an available timeslot at five fifteen, so he booked it.

After Michael showered and dressed, he and Sydney made their way down to the front of the hotel to find a cab to take them to the courthouse. There, many other couples were waiting to get marriage licenses. The couple’s appearances ranged from very young couples like themselves, to an older couple who appeared to be over seventy years of age. Also, they ranged from looking slightly intoxicated to the one couple who had apparently decided to elope just a month before the wedding they planned, or so Sydney found out from overhearing a conversation going on between them.

When finally it was Sydney and Michael’s turn, they handed over the fifty-five dollars required for the marriage license and received the proper forms to fill out. Within just minutes, they officially obtained the necessarily legal documents to get married.

“I can’t believe this… its kind of exciting, though, right?” Michael asked as they left the courthouse, marriage license in hand.

“Yeah it is,” Sydney smiled up at him.

Back at their hotel room, Steve, Tammy, Andrew, and Jas had, terrifyingly, assembled all the things they felt were necessary for the wedding. In addition to the bouquet of flowers Sydney did not even want to know where they stole from, they had various “gifts” wrapped in paper bags for Sydney and Michael.

“Here this one’s Sydney’s,” Jas smiled, holding out one of the bags. Sydney took it with extreme caution and dumped the contents onto the bed. Inside she found a white garter, a pair of edible underwear, and some lip gloss.

“Thanks…guys…,” Sydney said, not knowing what else to say about her present; the only thing she would be using was the lip gloss.

Next, it was Michael’s turn. Inside his bag was a box of condoms, a flyer advertisement for a stripper, and something Sydney could not distinguish (but she was fairly sure she didn’t want to anyway). “This is…certainly interesting guys,” Michael laughed softly.

“Well we tried,” Andrew smiled.

“Uh huh…so I guess we should be going soon – make sure you guys bring your money,” Michael reminded them.

“What?! Why do we need money?!” Jas demanded.

“Well I figure this bet serves as entertainment for all of us and the wedding is going to cost a hundred and twenty dollars – that’s twenty each,” Michael smiled. Everyone grumbled at this, but agreed to pay since it was just twenty dollars and it was going to be entertaining.

As the group of six walked from their hotel over to the one next door, laughing and chatting about the upcoming nuptials Sydney felt just fine – excited even. It was only when she caught sight of the entrance to the chapel did she have an attack of conscience. “Michael, um, can we talk a minute?” she asked nervously, pulling him away from the group.

“What is it?” he asked, concerned.

“Well its just… are we doing the right thing here? I mean this is nuts!”

“Well…you can back out if you want to,” Michael said. He did not sound hurt, he was merely stating fact.

Feeling slightly guilty anyway, Sydney sighed. “It’s not that I just… I’m concerned about…tonight,” she whispered, her mind’s eye flashing back to the gifts given to them moments earlier.

“Tonight?” Michael repeated, obviously confused.

“Well technically we’re going to be married and I was wondering if you wanted to…”

“OH,” he laughed, finally realizing what she was getting at. “Well I hadn’t really thought of it that way… I mean, that’s not why I wanted to get married – so we can have sex. It’s up to you I guess…if you wanna, I mean. It’s not like it’ll be your first time, right?” he laughed. Sydney said nothing while her face turned a soft shade of pink. Michael’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god you’re a-”

“MICHAEL!” she hissed, clamping her hand over his mouth. “I don’t want them to hear you!”

“But you really are?! Wow…”

“I already get enough teasing from them, thank you very much; I don’t need it from you,” Sydney said, rather annoyed. Teasing of any kind from Michael would hurt a thousand times more than it did from his cronies and she never, ever wanted that to happen.

“No, no Sydney I wasn’t teasing; I would never. I was just… surprised I guess. I mean, you’re twenty-two and all…”

“Yeah, yeah I know,” she sighed. “I was just…waiting for the right person.”

“Well good for you,” Michael smiled at her. “Listen tonight… just forget about it okay? No pressure; nothing. We’ll just…watch a movie, how does that sound?”

“Sounds great,” she smiled.

“Great, then let’s get married,” he said. Sydney nodded with a laugh, took his hand, and then walked with him back to the rest of their group.



Chapter 9

“Boy if this just isn’t the ghettoest place I’ve ever seen,” Jas sighed as she and the rest of the group made their way into the wedding chapel. After twenty minutes of waiting it was finally Sydney and Michael’s turn. Waiting along with them was quite a crew of people who were unique to say the least. Interestingly enough, though, none of them seemed to be intoxicated, which Sydney was rather surprised about.

When they entered the chapel, Sydney and Michael handed over their marriage license along with the hundred and twenty dollars collected from their group of six. They had chosen the cheapest wedding package possible which included absolutely nothing except the chapel and minister fee. For additional money, groom and bridal wear was available along with accompanying music, wedding pictures and videos, and many other things. Sydney and Michael did not need any of that, though, especially since they planned on undoing the whole thing before they retuned to Virginia.

After just a moment, the minister arrived and Steve, Tammy, Andrew, and Jas took seats in the pews along one side of the chapel. Then, Sydney and Michael took their places at the front of the room in front of the minister. As was expected, the ceremony he performed was very short and minimalist, but Sydney and Michael shared their union with a sweet kiss. Immediately after this, cheers erupted from their four wedding guests.

“I can’t believe they did that…,” Jas shook her head in disbelief.

“Believe it,” Michael smiled proudly, locking his arms around Sydney’s waist. They posed that way for a few minutes while Tammy took some pictures so they would never forget that event (though it was not likely Sydney and Michael would forget it anyway).

“So I guess this means I won the bet, huh Andrew?” Michael smiled as the six of them were making their way out of the chapel. He still had his arm around Sydney’s waist and did not plan on moving it any time soon.

“Almost, but I must admit I’m shocked you got this far,” Andrew laughed.

“What do you mean ‘almost’?! The bet was Sydney and I had to get married. We got married. What else is there?” Michael questioned, slightly irritated that Andrew was changing the terms of the bet half way through. Then again, this did not surprise him at all; Andrew was always trying to weasel out of things when he found out he was going to lose.

“Well you and Sydney have to be married in every sense of the word which means you have to devirginize Sandra Dee before its official,” he said with a prod smile. Sydney’s jaw dropped slightly as she turned a ripe shade of crimson. Andrew simply laughed at this.

“Oh no, that wasn’t part of the deal!” Michael insisted.

“You’re not technically married until you have sex, bro,” Andrew laughed. “Now, if you and Sydney had sex in the past, I could let it slide…but we all know you haven’t.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed at him. “What are you gonna do? Watch us? You’ll never know if we did or not!”

“Oh I’ll know,” Andrew chuckled.

“Whatever,” Michael muttered. “I won the bet fair and square and when you’re finally ready to admit that, you know where to find me. C’mon Syd,” he said as he took her hand. Then, they left for their hotel without even looking back to see how the rest of the group reacted.

“Why are you even friends with him?” Sydney asked softly as they walked.

“I have no idea,” he told her honestly. All the while he was thinking that after that trip they probably were not going to be friends for very much longer. “Do you want to play a game or something before we go upstairs?”

“Oh no…not really. I think we’ve already spent our daily gambling allowance for today,” she laughed.

“That’s true… let’s grab something to eat first though. Then we’ll go upstairs, order a movie, and charge it to Andrew’s room,” Michael told her with a grin. Sydney laughed and nodded, agreeing to this slightly devious plan.

After eating at one of the many buffet restaurants in the hotel, Sydney and Michael made their way up to their room, hand in hand. They decided on ordering a comedy movie and curled up in their bed under a blanket to watch it. Once it was over, Michael placed a phone call to his mother as he promised to do but forgot the day before.

While he was talking on the phone (conveniently leaving out their marriage), Sydney began cleaning up the “gifts” given to them by the other four members of their group. It was only while doing this that she finally came to the realization that she was married – actually, legally married to someone whom she had never made out with and never gone on a date with. Albeit, that same person she had known her entire life and had been best friends with for three years. But still….she was married.

Just as she was coming to this earth-shattering realization, Michael hung up the phone from talking to his mother. He walked over to her, kissed her head gently as he rubbed her back, and then said, “I’m gonna go find a vending machine and get a soda or something. Want anything?”

“No,” she said distantly, managing to shake her head slightly. As he left, Sydney flopped back down onto the bed, seriously considering the ramifications of what they had just done.

When Michael returned, Sydney looked up at him and saw him as her husband – her husband. “Michael,” she began softly. “I was thinking…and I think I’d like to take back what I agreed to before about our wedding night – I think we should have a real wedding night.”

Upon hearing this, Michael promptly choked on his soda. After coughing and sputtering for a moment, he managed to croak out in a gravely, “What?!”

“I think we should have a real wedding night with all that that implies,” Sydney told him once more.

“Bu-but you’re a virgin…”

“Yes.”

“So that means I would be…”

“Yes,” she repeated. Then, noting the rather pale look on his face she asked, “Is that not okay?”

“Well,” he squeaked slightly. After clearing his throat he continued. “It’s just…what I mean is… I…,” he stammered. “Is this really what you want? I mean, you said you were waiting for the right person…someone special,” he said as he lowered his eyes to the floor, obviously not thinking he was such a person.

“Michael,” Sydney sighed, standing up off the bed and taking his hands in hers. “You are special. You’re my best friend in the whole world. I’ve known you since we were babies. You know me better than anyone else. I love you and you’re my husband – who could possibly be more perfect than that?”

She leaned towards him and continued in a soft voice. “I want this and I want it to be with you; I’m positive.” Then, she kissed him.

Unable to say no to such a speech (and not really wanting to), Michael kissed her back passionately. He snuck an arm under her thighs, lifted her up and tossed her gently onto the bed, where she giggled softly. When he sat down beside her and continued kissing her, he snuck his hand ever so gently up her thigh and underneath the short skirt of her white dress. There, he came in contact with one of Jas’s “gifts”.

“You’re wearing the garter?” he laughed.

“Well, a girl only has one first wedding… I wanted to make it count,” he smiled.

“Trust me,” Michael said deeply, “we will.”



Chapter 10

The next morning when Sydney awoke, Michael’s body was completely spooned against hers; his front was to her back, and his arm draped across her waist. This closeness made her smile immediately as she snuggled closer to his warm body. When she finally opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that the other bed was empty and unslept in. It took her a moment to realize that most likely Jas had slept in the other room, giving the honeymooners a chance to properly…honeymoon.

As she lay in Michael’s arms, Sydney could not help but review the previous evening in her mind. While it had not been all the magic and fireworks she expected, it was certainly something to remember. Though she was nervous at first, Michael took away those nerves quickly by making her feel beautiful. He even seemed a little cautious himself, but that was not surprising; it was a big step for them.

After just a few more minutes, Michael stirred as well and rolled away from her, stretching out all of his limbs. Once Sydney felt this, she stretched as well and rolled onto her other side to face Michael. “Hi,” she said softly.

“Good morning Mrs. Vaughn,” he smiled at her. She laughed softly and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. “So I see we had the room to ourselves last night.”

“Uh huh.”

“Well we fell asleep kinda early…Jas probably walked in, saw us, and stayed in the other room,” Michael said before yawning. The thought of Jas seeing her and Michael in such a state made Sydney blush all the way back to her ears, though she tried to hide it. “Anyway I guess we should get up… find some breakfast and then try to figure this situation out. You think they have annulments listed in the yellow pages?” he laughed.

Slightly hurt, Sydney sat up and wrapped the sheet tightly around the top half of her body. “O-oh…we’re doing that already?” she croaked out.

“Well it might take us a few days to figure it out so we better get started,” he told her seriously.

Tears stinging Sydney’s eyes, she looked away from him. “Oh…okay…”

Noting her less-than-happy tone, Michael placed a gentle hand on her shoulder asking, “Hey what’s wrong?”

“It’s just,” she sniffed, trying to keep her tears at bay though doing so unsuccessfully. “Last night-”

“Was amazing and wonderful,” Michael assured her.

“But you’re acting like it meant nothing!” she shouted tearfully, finally looking over to him. “You just want to undo it and forget about it…”

“What!?” Michael squeaked, utterly confused. “I don’t want to forget about it! I’m just trying to make you happy. Before we agreed that we’d just get our marriage annulled after the fact; I thought this is what you wanted”

“It was what I wanted,” she told him.

“So what do you want now?” he asked softly, brushing a few tears from her cheeks with his thumb.

“I don’t know,” she sighed honestly. “I just…I gave you my virginity, Michael, and I don’t regret it I just… I did so thinking it wouldn’t just be a one night stand.”

“Hey, you could never be a one night stand - never,” he assured her. She looked slightly relieved at this. “So…so what are you saying? Do you want to maybe…maybe be in a relationship with me?”

“I…I’m not sure,” she said softly as she looked down to her lap. Her head was already spinning a mile a minute at the concept of being married; she was very thankful alcohol had not been added into the mix otherwise things would have been much worse.

Michael was not really surprised by her comment. After all, if she had loved him for many years yet done thing about it, there had to have been something stopping her from doing so. “Well…okay… Do you not want to be in a relationship for the same reason you never wanted to?”

“Who says I never wanted to?!” she asked, snapping her head up to meet his uncertain gaze.

“Well…you’re the one that said you liked me all this time…and you never said anything…”

“Michael, come on – you know me. I’m like…the shyest person ever around guys,” she pointed out.

“Well yeah but…you were never shy around me!”

“I would have been if I was trying to ask you out!” she insisted. “Besides, for all I knew you just thought of me as your sister or something… and you were all…popular. You would have never been with a nerd-freak like me.”

“OH Syd you’re not a nerd-freak,” he sighed, pulling her closer to him. She gave him a ‘What are you, joking?’ look. “You’re not! Just because you graduated with a four-point-oh doesn’t make you a nerd-freak; it just makes you smart and you know what? Smart girls are really hot too.”

“Shut up,” she laughed, elbowing him lightly.

“I’m serious!”

“Uh huh…and it was a three point nine,” she told him.

“Huh?!”

“My GPA…it was a three point nine – I didn’t do so well my last semester,” she said sadly.

“OK, now you’re a nerd-freak,” he laughed. She tried to punch him playfully but he caught her arm and wrestled her back against the bed, where he gave her a searing kiss.

“Mm…wait…if we’re gonna…date we need…ground…rules,” Sydney managed in between the kisses Michael was giving her.

Michael groaned loudly as he sat up straight. “I was afraid of that…”

“Michael c’mon we have to do this right. I want us to go slow, date, and get to know each other in a romantic sense…”

“And not have sex,” he continued before she had a chance to. She smiled innocently and batted her eyelashes at him. “Fine, no sex.”

“Good,” she said before giving him a quick kiss.

“Alright now go take a shower first,” he sighed, leaning back against his pillow with his hands behind his head. She gave him a curious look. “Oh c’mon! If we’re not having sex the least you can do is walk from the bed to the bathroom naked so I can see ya!” he insisted.

Sydney rolled her eyes dramatically. “You’re such a freakin’ guy.”

“I know,” he beamed.

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Chapters 11 - 16 + Epilogue