PLEASE read chapter 7 if you haven't already!
"Look at the view," Oliver sighed, in a daze from the sparkling landscape of Sin City. It was beautiful. Almost fit-inducing.
Charlie approached him, clasping his fanny back under his arm. He placed his fingers on the tall window of the penthouse. "I memorised this view years ago. I practically lived here."
"Yeah, well this is new to me. I'm in love." He smiled at Charlie. "Let's go down to the casino."
Charlie nodded, slotting his black card into his wallet. "Let's go."
One elevator ride later, they found themselves in the belly of the beast. They were in the middle of the booming casino. Waiters whizzed past them with trays of colourful drinks as the crowd tended to their fiscal desires. Elites in suits and gowns juxtaposed with tourists in cargo shorts and Hawaiian shirts. Red and gold carpets and rainbowed chips. It was glorious.
"Where shall we go first?"
Charlie eyed his watch. "Um, okay, I just have to sell for a bit but give me like an hour and we can do whatever you want."
"Wait. What? Dude, you're abandoning me?"
"No! Well yes. But no! I have to sell these pills," Charlie said, patting his bag. "I'll be quick, I promise. In the meantime, go explore or something. Drink. Gamble. Flirt. Do whatever you want."
"Flirt?! I genuinely think I've forgotten how to..."
Charlie smiled before take a step closer to him. The tip of his sneakers knocked against the side of Oliver's. He could feel his breath.
"It's easy. You just get real close to the girl..." He brought his lips to his ear. "Really close...."
Oliver couldn't hear the casino anymore. The only sound he could make out was the pounding of his heart.
"And then..." Charlie suddenly took a step back, much to Oliver's disappointment. "You try not to say anything dumb or creepy. Simple!"
Oliver knew he was blushing from the smirk on Charlie's face.
"I, uhhh-" He cleared his suddenly very dry throat. "I-I'll try that."
Charlie winked at him. "I won't be long!"
Oliver remained frozen as Charlie strolled away. He was very good at flirting, as proven by the way Oliver felt kind of attracted to him at that moment. What a Casanova. Oliver ran his hands through his hair before making his way to the bar. He really needed a drink.
However, three scotches later he still felt flustered. What was wrong with him? He couldn't stop thinking about Charlie.
"Hey..." A voice said from behind him.
He turned around to find a really pretty woman with a really pretty smile looking at him.
"Oh. Hi."
"Hey... again," She laughed. "So my friends sent me over. You can probably spot them giggling if you look over my shoulder..."
Sure enough, standing at the opposite end of the bar were a group of people blatantly staring and snickering at her.
"Yeah," He chuckled. "I don't think they're even trying to be subtle."
"Subtlety has never been their strong suit. I'm Casey."
She held out her hand which Oliver shook hesitantly.
"Oliver. So, uh, what is this mission your friends sent you on?"
She smiled and took a seat beside him. "Well, I just broke up with my girlfriend. And I'm on the rebound. And you caught my eye."
Oliver raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Me? Really?"
"Yeah. You."
"Um... thank you?"
She laughed. "You're really bad at this."
He raised his arms in defence. "It's been a while!"
"Clearly!" She joked. "So, are you single?"
"Um..."
Behind her shoulder, Oliver spotted Charlie making a beeline towards Casey's friends. He watched as Charlie subtly whispered into the ear of one of the girls. She nodded quickly before digging into her bag and carefully slipping some notes into Charlie's pocket as he simultaneously placed something into her purse. Charlie was good at that. He was good at persuading people, whether it was to buy from him or sleep with him.
"I'll take that as a no then..." Casey said, flatly.
"Oh, crap sorry. I zoned out there."
"Am I that boring?"
"No! Not at all. Sorry! I was just watching my friend sell something to one of your friends."
"Oh." She turned around and took a quick look at her friends before returning her focus to Oliver. "Cool. So are you single?"
Oliver smiled sheepishly at her, scratching the back of his neck. "It's....complicated."
The last thing Oliver wanted to do was sleep with another girl. It didn't feel right. He was in love with someone else. And he couldn't betray her like that.
She shrugged. "That's okay...Can I sit here for another few minutes though. I don't want my friends to think this was a total bust. Do you see that really tall girl standing in the middle?"
Oliver nodded.
"That's my ex. It was a messy breakup but she's friends with my friends. And I just.... I wanted her to see that I've moved on."
"Have you?"
"I don't know."
Oliver smiled sympathetically at her, knowing exactly how she felt. He downed his drink and leaned closer to her. "Let's leave. They'll think we're hooking up."
She perked up and smiled. "You'd do that? For a complete stranger?"
He winked at her. "Of course."
He stuck his hand out and she held it, beaming widely. They made a show of leaving the casino together as her friends watched in shock.
"I owe you," She whispered as he threw his arm over her shoulders.
They entered one of the private bathrooms near the hotel's reception and quickly locked the door behind them.
"So..."
"So..."
She hoisted herself onto the counter beside the sinks. Blowing a raspberry, she swung her legs back and forth. "Where are you from?"
"New York."
"Nice. I'm from Chicago."
"Cool...."
She dug into her purse and pulled out a small white baggie. "I'm bored. Want to do a line?"
Oliver chuckled and nodded fervently. "Yes!"
She poured the contents of the bag onto the marble counter and let Oliver cut it with his Centurion black card. That was more like it. They took turns snorting it with a rolled up hundred dollar bill until the white pile had become nothing but a faint residue on the marble.
Oliver leaned against the wall and began to laugh. Casey joined him in laughing although neither of them were sure what was funny.
"Why are we laughing?" Casey snickered.
"I have no idea. Maybe it's the fact that fate brought two queer cokeheads together."
"You're queer too?"
Oliver froze. Why did he say that? He wasn't bisexual. Why did that come out of his mouth? Where did it come from? Any laughter quickly died down as Oliver realised what he just admitted out loud. It wasn't true though, was it?
"What? Oh, no. No. I didn't mean to say that."
Casey peered at him suspiciously for a few seconds before nodding. "Whatever you say."
"I'm not. I'm not.. I'm straight."
"Okay. I believe you. Don't knock it til you tried it, though."
"Huh?"
She smiled. "Give in to your deepest desires, babe. Kiss whoever you want.... with their consent, of course."
Oliver pursed his lips and nodded. "Okay."
"Right!" Casey jumped off the counter. "Shall we go back then? I promised my friend I would play Poker with him."
Oliver nodded wordlessly and followed her back. As soon as the got close to her friends they all collectively stopped chattering and stared at them.
"Um, so thank you again."
Oliver smiled. "No problem."
"Can I kiss you? It's for show. And also because I'm curious to see if you're a good kisser or not."
Oliver winked at her before dramatically taking her into his arms and kissing her deeply. Her fingers knotted in his hair and her skirt rose up. When they eventually let go of each other, they were both out of breath and her friends were stunned.
"So?"
"So?"
"Am I a good kisser?"
Casey chuckled and placed one final peck on his cheek before beginning to walk away. "Ten out of ten."
Oliver fixed his hair with his fingers before walking away with a wide grin on his face. At least he was good at something.
He scanned the casino for Charlie. A few minutes later, he found him at the craps table and jogged over to him.
"Hey."
Charlie rolled his dice without replying. When it landed on six, he, along with the rest of the people at the table cheered. As the dealer called out six, he pumped his fist in the air.
"YES!"
"Congrats, man!" Oliver laughed, clapping his hand down his shoulder.
Charlie turned around and grinned. "Oliver! I was looking everywhere for you!"
"Oh, yeah. I was...preoccupied."
Charlie smirked. "Yeah... I saw that."
"Her name is Casey."
"That's...nice." Charlie's tone seemed fake but Oliver ignored it.
"She said I was a ten out of ten kisser."
"Oh yes you are."
Oliver looked at him, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Huh?"
He nervously broke eye contact with Oliver but not before an indistinguishable expression flashed on his face. Like he knew something that Oliver didn't. However, he quickly played it off with a smile. "Never mind," He said dismissively. "Okay, Ol, blow me."
Oliver bugged his eyes at Charlie. "Huh?!"
Charlie rolled his eyes and unclenched his fist to reveal a bright red pair of dice in the palm of his hand. "Blow on the dice. For luck. What did you think?"
Oliver blushed furiously before bending down quickly and blowing sharply on the dice, almost knocking them out of Charlie's hands.
Charlie smirked. "You look a bit red there, man." His other hand reached under the table to poke Oliver's thigh who in turn jumped at the sudden contact.
Why couldn't he act cool around him?
"Come on six!" Charlie threw the dice on the table and quickly crossed his fingers. They landed agonisingly slow but the five and the one proved that Charlie was truly one of the luckiest people in the world.
"Oh damn..." Oliver muttered as Charlie cheered drunkenly.
"I'm a king!" He laughed, throwing his arm around Oliver's shoulder and pulling him towards him.
He had to feel that pounding from Oliver's chest. It was so loud and obvious. He couldn't not feel it.
Oliver noticed that when Charlie laughed, he guffawed and used his entire body to convey his amusement. His body shook and his mouth opened as wide as it could so that his laugh was as loud as possible. He wanted people to hear him laugh. He wanted people to know he was euphoric.
His hand was still on Oliver's shoulder, his fingers digging into his skin.
And his laughter was incredibly contagious. Standing there, so close to him, hearing him roar and cheer into his ear every time his money doubled, Oliver felt the happiest he had been for a long time. Maybe it was the cocaine? Or maybe Charlie's laughs were intoxicating enough. They were almost addictive.
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By the end of the night (or middle of the morning), Charlie had cashed out the winnings of his lucky streak. They were both exhausted yet exhilarated by the chaos of the casino.
Oliver became hypersensitive every time Charlie touched him whether is was a cheerful hug after winning yet another five grand or a harmless nudge. That alone was exhausting because it led to overthinking. And Oliver hated overthinking. Not only that but even after Charlie would back off, the feeling of his arm around Oliver's shoulders or his fingers on Oliver's arm would linger. It wasn't something that he could easily forget about.
At around five am, after many drinks, many games and many wins, they decided to retire from their winning streak and returned to their penthouse suite. As they entered, Oliver could see the sun beginning to rise through the suite's tall windows. Charlie came up from behind him and handed him the bottle of Jack he had been swigging from.
"That was a fun night," He sighed.
Oliver nodded in agreement and took a drink from the bottle before handing it back. He met Charlie's eyes and, maybe it was because he was super drunk and high, but he couldn't look away. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes and Oliver could only imagine what he was thinking. He continued to shamelessly study his face for a few more seconds before Charlie eventually cleared his throat.
"Why do you stare at me like that?" Charlie asked as if he didn't know already.
He must have known the answer to his question. It was so obvious.
"You...you affect me." Oliver was just about drunk enough to say things he would probably regret later. But, right there and then it felt right.
"How?"
That was certainly a good question. But staring at Charlie's face, tinted gold by the young sun rays spilling through the window, Oliver couldn't help but be affected by him. He was glorious.
"You make my heart beat quicker."
"Oh?"
"I feel an adrenaline rush whenever you're around me."
Charlie smiled and put down his bottle. "Is that right?"
"And I feel like I can tell you anything."
"Then tell me this.... what would you like to do right now?" Charlie took a step towards Oliver.
Oliver had to shut his eyes to stop the sensory overload. He knew what he wanted to do. And, by the tone of his voice, Charlie had some idea too.
"I...I want to kiss you."
Charlie took another step towards him, this time dangerously close.
"Then..." Charlie looked down and gently looped his fingers around Oliver's shaky hand. "Do it."
Oliver took a deep breath in and used his free hand to raise Charlie's face. He stared at him for a few moments, taking in all his sheer beauty. His thumb gently ran over his lips and Charlie leaned closer. Oliver knocked his nose against Charlie's first before closing his eyes once more and finally kissing him.
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Quick update because I'm 100% that bitch.