The Resistance(32)

“You broke my fall,” I reply, starting to laugh. I climb back onto the seat and look out the window to see what the commotion is as Dalton gets up. “Traffic jam.”

“We’re only to Aria. Damn it.” He looks at me and I can see a plan forming by his expression. “You up for an adventure?”

That’s the second time I’ve been asked that tonight. And I give him the same answer I gave Tracy, “I’m always up for an adventure.”

“C’mon.” He slips out the door, then helps me out.

The driver’s window rolls down and he starts apologizing, begging us to get back in. Dalton waves. “No worries, man. We’ll leg it from here. I left money on the seat.”

I look back and there’s two hundred dollars on the seat we just vacated. The driver waves just as Dalton takes my hand, and we run to an island in the middle of The Strip. “We’re not supposed to stop here,” I say, worried we’ll get in trouble, or worse, hit by a car.

It’s barely wide enough for the two of us to stand there, but he says, “I know, but look up. Look around, Holliday. We’re in the middle of it all, the entire Strip.”

Holding tight to his side so I don’t fall off the small curb, I look up and then around and smile. “Wow. What a view.”

He surprises me by kissing me all of a sudden. And if I didn’t know better, I would swear in that moment in time, the entire world revolved around us.





“If I tell you all my tricks they won’t work anymore. So let’s just say I like to surprise my dates and do something unexpected, something special just for them.” ~Johnny Outlaw





“I’ve never been on a date to a 7-11 before,” I say, squinting under the bright fluorescent lights of the convenience store.

“Sadly,” Dalton says, looking at me over his shoulder, “I have.”

Checking out the goods he’s eyeing up, I laugh and hand him a Twix. “I’m getting hungry.”

“I offered to buy you a fancy French meal earlier, but you…” He leans down and kisses my neck adding a little sucking action that gives me goosebumps. “… decided you were hungry for other things, like me.” He stands up all proud. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I still am. So get your treats and let’s get out of here. You’ve got me all worked up and I’m starting to feel like everyone is staring at us.”

“It probably just feels that way.” We both scan the place. “Correction,” he says, “everyone is staring at us. Just follow me and stay close.”

“That sounds so ominous. Are we robbing the place?”

Chuckling, he says, “Get your sweet ass up there and let’s buy this stuff. Do we have everything?”

“More than we need, but if they had Big Red, I’d be all over that.”

“Wow, I haven’t had one of those since I was a kid back home.”

“I crave them sometimes. Reminds me of my childhood.”

“Who knew a soda could hold that much power,” he says, as we step into line. When it’s our turn, Dalton dumps all the junk food onto the counter. Other than one can of Monster Energy, a Gatorade, a Twix bar—large, an extra-long Slim Jim, and a big bag of Bugles hitting the counter, the entire store is silent and still staring at us.

He pays and grabs the bag in one hand, my hand in the other and we hurry out the door. “We should get going or people will follow us.”

We choose to walk down a dark alley on the back side of a large hotel, lurking in the shadows where occasional car lights find us.

I stay close to his side, a little nervous. “Do you think this is safe? I mean, you may be famous, but we could still be attacked back here.”

Stopping, he pulls me closer to the building. We keep walking, but he explains, “I’m not afraid, Holliday.”

“What if they have a knife or a gun?”

“Then we should walk faster.”

“Real comforting.”

We take a right onto a main road where the sidewalks are wide and not crowded. There are enough people around to make it feel a little less dodgy, but vacant enough that one of the biggest stars in music today can go without notice. We share the Monster drink as we walk, passing it back and forth, and talking about our pasts.

“When did you lose your virginity?” he asks with a sly grin aimed in my direction.

“Upstairs, earlier… with a security guard,” I deadpan.

He follows a loud laugh by saying, “You’re such a liar.”

“Okay,” I say now laughing too. “It was high school. Senior year, after prom.”