Vegas Knot (✔️) | Love Travels #1

Ten

The sun beats down on my shoulders and I'm certain I'm going to burn, but there's nothing I can do except listen to his story and try to find a way to get inside as soon as possible.

"So, you came here for a bachelor party? That explains the Bond uniforms, then."

"Bond?"

"Yeah, James Bond. You know?" I mock the James Bond movie poster pose, but he doesn't even look at me.

"I know who Bond is. But why are you saying I was wearing his uniform?" He barely gets the words out before he realizes what I meant. "Oh, my God I didn't even realize. That's just like Josh to do that on purpose, too. So many of the pictures make sense now."

"Glad to be of service."

"So we were in the casino and my one friend was spending my money on slots, which is whatever, I didn't really want to play anyway and I left my cards in the room."

"Know how to protect yourself from predatory casinos?" I inquire, looking for any hint of something in his eye.

"You teach statistics long enough it sort of takes the fun out of the concept of gambling." He shrugs. "Well, anyway, apparently we got our drinks mixed up and I had a rum and coke which was pretty disgusting, but it's whatever again. Except given how little I could taste the cola, I'm pretty sure it was like a triple shot or something."

"Mistakes happen, right?"

"Well, I don't think it was a mistake that he ordered that, and I'm choosing to believe it was a mistake he gave it to me. Because if he gave me that disgusting thing on purpose I'm not sure we can stay friends. But yeah, after that the next thing I remember is waking up in my hotel room with, well, you were there."

"One drink did you in?"

"Not usually a drinker, so maybe? My friends say I had a few more after that but I'm really not sure. I just know I woke up and you were yelling at me and going on about how your friends should have hired a better actor."

"So you don't remember anything either?"

He shakes his head, looking down at the sidewalk. He can't possibly be telling the truth, but it seems like he is. And there's no way I'm getting anything else out of him right now anyway. "Well, that's the pits. How'd you figure everything out?"

"Your number was in my phone under an indecipherable string of emojis. And there were a lot of pictures. Like, so many pictures. Who the heck took those pictures?"

I never even thought to ask that. "I don't know, really. Did we take people with us? You're supposed to have witnesses when you get married, right?"

He shrugs. "I couldn't figure it out. I was hoping you might know, but it seems like it might remain a mystery. Unless we can figure it out together."

"Well, it couldn't have been my friends. They were all so shocked to see my ring and thought for sure it was fake because it's so huge and sparkly." And then I put together the giant rock in my purse with the fact that he's living off a teacher's salary, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to face him. "Oh, my God, do you want that back? That must have been more than your savings."

"Wow. Not even married three days and my wife's already trying to give back the ring. I really must have done a crappy job picking it out."

"It's not that, I just don't want to bankrupt you on a drunken wedding. Or any wedding, really. It's not worth losing your house over a shiny ring, no matter how long you've known a person."

"You won't bankrupt me. I'm fine. Keep the ring. You know, so it looks real." His eyes are playful, but I push down my inclination of what he could mean and keep walking.