Page 71 of Six Wishes

“Chlo,” Hunter starts whining, and I know it is the alcohol talking for sure. This girl is not the whiny type when sober, at least not that I could tell from the couple of times I met her. “If you get married, I wanna be married too.” She then leans more into Chloe and drops her head on her shoulder. “Just think what our parents would say if we both go back home married in Vegas. Our moms!”she squeals.

She looks like she is about to pee herself from laughing so hard. The laughter booming from my chest takes not only me by surprise, but a few of the people around us as well. Unfortunately, I do notice a couple of stray ones who have their cell phones out and are most likely recording us as we speak.

I lift my chin at Zach, “Let’s get this show on the road, brother.”

His shrewd eyes scan the place, and with a very subtle nod, he grabs Hunter in a firmer grip and starts walking. I hook my arm around Chloe’s neck and pull her into me. She lets go of Hunter’s hand, and we start following them.

I kiss her on the side of her head, loving how messy her hair looks. “We won’t stay long,” I promise in her ear. “Hit the slots?”

She nods and smiles, and we continue following Zach and Hunter around until we make our way to where all the nightly activity is. The noise coming from the slot machines rolling, people laughing and the general fun vibe all around gets us all in a great mood all of a sudden. Even Zach.

My friend is usually a fun to be around dude. He and I bonded over our constant need to laugh at stupid shit. I can’t reconcile this serious side of him now with what I know of him from our five-year long tight friendship.

“Which one?” Chloe is eyeing everything around us, looking excited to see what our future will be.

As I put my hand in my pocket to grab some cash, my eyes land on a Friends themed slot machine.

“This is fuckin’ meant to be, Chlo!” I propel her in that direction, completely forgetting about Zach and Hunter. They’re both adults, so they can go find their own lucky slot machine.

“Oh my God!” Chloe starts running like a little kid toward our destination, her excitement palpable in the air. She starts reading the instructions on the side of the machine. “What do we need for the jackpot?”

I bust out laughing. “To get all the spinners to show jackpot.”

“Okay, smartass,” she elbows me in the ribs playfully. “I thought maybe it was something more Friends oriented, since it is a Friends slot machine.”

“Gotcha,” I tease her back. “Good to know I don’t have to worry about our mini Vans…”

“Wait,” she interrupts me, “you want more than one?” Her eyes look as big as saucers.

“I never really thought of it to be honest,” I shrug. “But sure, why not? I’m an only child, you’re an only child. Our children should not be only children.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, Van,” she rolls her eyes and turns back to face the machine and take a seat on the stool in front of it.

I lean down to whisper loudly in her ear, “Fine, I want enough of them to fill a minivan. How’s that?”

Chloe remains frozen in her spot on the stool, no reaction whatsoever. I am starting to worry that maybe I did push it a bit too far this time. But then her shoulders relax and she leans back against my legs.

She looks up and grins, “Good plan.” She then puts her hand out for the paper money I got ready for her. “We can’t stay late, Van, I’m serious. I will die if I am late for this meeting tomorrow!”

“You’ll be fine,” I wave her off like it’s nothing, then watch her as the machine sucks my money in. She pulls on the handle, and we both watch to see what we’re going to get.

Three Rosses, one Rachel, and one Phoebe.

“Bust,” I try not to let my disappointment show, then remind myself that the night just started. “Try again,” I nudge her in the shoulder, and she complies.

By the tenth time, we are both down in the slumps.

“I think there’s something wrong with this machine, Van. I don’t like it,” Chloe complains. I have to agree with her. The Friends machine sucks. So much for thinking it’d be our lucky charm.

“I need to go make some change for a hundred,” I look through my bills and realize that we used all the bills that the machine takes. I only have enough for two more tries. “Here,” I give her my last two bills we can use, “We’ll try two more times, then take a break and find something to eat.” I look around us but don’t see Zach and Hunter anywhere. “I wonder where your cousin and my friend are. What’s up with the two of them anyway?”

“They have some history,” Chloe acts like I haven’t figured that shit out by now. “I don’t know very many details, but it sounded complicated as hell.”

She turns back to the machine, and here we go trying to spin these fuckers again. Nothing.

“Van,” Chloe stomps her foot she’s got on the floor. “This is stupid.”

“One more time,” I nudge her. “Then we’re done. I think you’re right. It’s broken,” I agree with her. “Let’s do it together.”

She puts the money in, and I place my hand over hers on the handle.

“Ready?” She nods. “Okay, at three,” I instruct her. “One, two, three!”

We both give it our all when we pull the handle down. Our eyes never move from the glass as we watch, almost breathless, for the spinners to stop. And then, they do.

Chloe buries her face in her hands. I can’t tell if it’s because she is relieved, happy, sad… What? I kind of feel the same now.

Because they stopped.

Now what?

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