Page 36 of One More Time
‘Consider me your first guinea pig when you figure it out,’ Kim quipped.
‘Done,’ Lucy replied. She closed her eyes and tried again to capture those Badass Bitch feelings that had sizzled in her veins and made her feel young again, and in control.
‘But you’re not feeling, like,feelings? Right?’ Kim’s words sliced through Lucy’s revelry. Her tone was light, but after decades of friendship, Lucy could sense the undercurrent of worry just beneath the surface.
‘No,’ Lucy replied reflexively. ‘It’s more like the echo of feelings. From far off and a long time ago. Not the real thing. Don’t worry.’
‘I’m not worried,’ Kim lied. ‘Why would I worry?’ Then a moment later: ‘Should I worry?’
Lucy patted Kim on the hand. ‘I’m fine. It’s fine. He’s just a boy,’ Lucy said, offering the phrase that had practically been the mantra of their youth. ‘Just. A. Boy.’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NICKY
Nicky shoved his hands in his pockets and absentmindedly glanced around at the collection of family sedans and high-end SUVs parked in the garage beneath the Lusso Resort.
He was nervous.
Nicky couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted to impress a woman. Or, to be completely honest, the last time he’d had to. After a certain number of platinum records, impressing women wasn’t so much a desire as a nasty side effect of fame that he did his best to ignore. But suddenly, he really wanted to impress Lucy. Since the moment she walked away from him on the rooftop, he’d been sort of obsessed by the possibility of it, actually.
‘Okay, here I am,’ came her voice from behind him.
Nicky turned, and felt his boxer briefs get a little tighter at the mere sight of her. Dark jeans, white T-shirt with fineblack stripes. A pair of red Chuck Taylor’s. Her hair was kind of curly and wild. Beautiful.
‘You look amazing,’ he said.
‘It’s jeans and a T-shirt, Nicky,’ she said, looking down at her outfit.
‘I know.’
He smiled, and she smiled right back. The silent communication was so ordinary, commonplace. Still, it made his heart bang.
‘Mr. Broome? Ms. McManis?’ A large bald man in a black button-up and gray jeans approached them. ‘My name is Sonny. I’ll be your guide and driver for the evening.’
Nicky shook the man’s hand. ‘Good to meet you, Sonny.’
‘Where are we going?’ Lucy whispered, coming up to Nicky’s side.
He took her hand. ‘You’ll see.’
The Las Vegas Strip spilled out around them, a kaleidoscope of flashing light and color, just beyond the cool comfort of their black SUV. Flashes of red and orange flickered across Lucy’s face as she peered out the window.
‘It really is the most American kind of crazy,’ she mused beside him. ‘This insane circus of greed and excess in the middle of the desert.’
‘We absolutely do crazy better than anybody else,’ said Nicky.
‘We’re so good at it,’ Lucy added with a grin that he felt in his stomach.
‘We’ve reached our first stop,’ came Sonny’s deep voice from the driver’s seat. He pulled the car into a parking spot and turned to face them. ‘You may recognize the California Casino and Hotel from the explosive opening sequence ofCasinostarring Robert De Niro. The California is one of the oldest surviving casinos in Las Vegas. Many of the filmCasino’s other exterior locations have since fallen to the wrecking ball, as Las Vegas is a city in a constant state of renewal and reinvention.’
Lucy turned to Nicky, her eyes sparkling with excitement. ‘Are we on a movie tour of Las Vegas?’
‘We are,’ he replied.
Lucy trilled, ‘Nicky Broome!’ in a sing-song tone. Nicky went ahead and translated the giddiness and the giggle that followed:Nicky Broome, you goddamn fucking dreamboat. You’re a bona fide genius.
Over the course of the next hour, Sonny took them to locations fromNatural Born Killers,Leaving Las Vegas,Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,Showgirls,Vegas Vacation, andThe Hangovermovies.
