November 26, 2000 – Las Vegas

“Pack your bags.” Junior called walking into the Noelle’s house the Saturday after Thanksgiving. “You too Hollie!”

“Junior, what are you doing here this early? It’s six thirty!” Hollie yelled from her bedroom.

“Just do it!” Junior yelled as he walked into Noelle’s room and found her sprawled out in bed, still asleep. “Rise and shine.”

“Get back in bed.” She mumbled and rolled over.

“I wasn’t in bed, dear. It must have been your other boyfriend.” Junior sat down on the edge of the bed and started tickling her before he turned on the light. “C’mon…we have a plane to catch.”

“Huh?” Noelle lifted her head and looked at him, confused. “I’m not going anywhere today.”

“Oh yes you are. C’mon, get up. Hollie’s up already. I gotta go get Tony and I’ll be back to pick you up in an hour. Your ass better be up and showered by the time we’re back.” Junior slapped her on the butt and then left the room. Noelle heard him pound on Hollie’s door and then heard a thud as Hollie threw something at him and missed.

Noelle groaned and slowly got out of bed. She made her way to the shower and stood under the spray until it fully woke her up and she could comprehend what was happening.

The previous six months had gone by in a blur. Things had started to go extremely well between Junior and her. They were finding time to spend together when he wasn’t on the track or hanging with his friends. Everything seemed to be looking good.

Hollie had quit her job with their father’s company and filed for divorce from Brian. She moved to Mooresville and was working in a doctor’s office as an office manager. The relationship between her and Tony was something almost out of a storybook. They were happy, sometimes a little too happy for Noelle’s taste. You needed a little conflict now and again. Things may have been going good for Junior and herself, but that didn’t mean they didn’t fight now and then. Usually it only occurred when one of them was trying to be too headstrong.

“You almost done?” Hollie yelled into the bathroom. “Because I have to take a shower too. You take too friggin’ long!”

An hour later, Junior and Tony walked into the house, followed by Josh and David. Junior found Noelle in the kitchen making a pot of coffee. He went up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck.

“Where are we going?” Noelle asked as Tony walked in and grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard. “Make yourself at home, Tony. You practically live here anyway.”

“I will.” He grabbed the pot from the coffee maker. “Can’t say that you’re here much, so someone should be.”

“Are you two fighting already?” Hollie walked into the kitchen and shook her head. “What the fuck is with all the people in the house?”

“We’re going with you guys.” David opened the fridge and started going through it for something to eat. When he couldn’t find anything, he went to the pantry. “Damn, Noelle…don’t you buy groceries?”

“Not when she’s with me three out of seven days a week.” Junior laughed as Noelle elbowed him in the stomach. “Anyway…Tony and I decided to take you girls on a little trip to Vegas.”

“We just got back from Homestead two weeks ago. Can’t we just stay here?” Hollie asked a slight whine in her voice.

“Nope…shut up or I’ll duct tape your mouth shut and drag you on the plane. If duct tape can hold a race car together, it can keep your trap shut for four hours.” Junior said as Noelle once again elbowed him. “Ouch!”

That evening, they arrived in Las Vegas. Junior and Tony had made all the arrangements and Junior had secured a rental car through Enterprise.

“Must be nice to get free shit.” Noelle laughed as Junior got in the driver’s side. “Did you kiss their ass to get this?”

“Hell no…it pays to be me.”

“Uh huh….” Noelle smacked him in the back of the head and then looked in the backseat at Tony and Hollie and grinned. “Someone’s gotta keep the boy in check…or his head gets too swollen.”

“That was very big TMI.” Tony groaned.

“I think she was talking about his actual head, hon.” Hollie laughed. “With these two, the only things on their brains are sex and racing.”

“Hey if you could do both at the same time, we’d be extremely happy.” Junior said as he maneuvered the car onto the highway.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” Tony asked and then looked at Hollie. “Can we try?”

“Fuck no!” It was Hollie’s turn to hit Tony in the arm.

“Mmm…I love it when you’re violent.” Tony grabbed her and kissed her. Junior made gagging noises from the driver’s side and Noelle had to cover her face to keep from laughing.

“Your dad has no room to talk about us.” Noelle leaned against’ Junior’s shoulder as he drove down the main street in Vegas. “Where are we staying?”

“Luxor. Do me a favorite and call the two dumbasses behind us and ask them if they’re lost.” He handed Noelle his cell phone and she punched in David’s number, and then put it on speaker phone.

“Dude, where the fuck are you?” David asked. “We can’t see you.” Junior glanced in his rearview and saw them about three cars behind them. “What hotel are we at?”

“Luxor…and you’re behind us. I can see you.” Junior said swinging into the other lane to avoid rear ending the car in front of him. “Get the fuck out of my way!”

“I’m not in your way.” David laughed. “Ok…we’ll see you in the lobby.” Junior shook his head and glanced at Noelle who looked to be holding on for dear life.

“I’m not that bad of a driver. I didn’t break up those two.” He nodded toward Hollie and Tony. “Will you two wait until we get to the fucking room?”

“We’ll do that too.” Tony mumbled.

That night after everyone was settled in, they met for dinner and then decided to start walking and see what casinos had the best luck. Junior and Noelle walked behind everyone else, taking pictures of various things.

“We look like tourists.” Noelle laughed as he took her picture in front of a fountain with different colored lights. “I feel like an idiot.” Junior laughed and took her hand as they walked further down the strip.

By midnight, Josh and David and gone back to the Luxor to try their hand at the blackjack table. The other four, still wandered through the casinos, drinking and having a good time.

 

“Have I beat you yet?” Noelle asked sitting down on Junior’s lap at a bar they stopped at. She downed her beer and slammed the bottle down on the table. “I’m at 14.”

“Nope…I’m at…shit.” Junior lost the number he was at. “More than 14.” They both laughed and looked over at Tony and Hollie who were doing shots. “I think we’re as drunk as they are.”

“Nah..we’re drunker.” Noelle slurred. “Wait…is that a word?” Junior shrugged and motioned for the waitress to bring them another round.

*******

The next day, Noelle woke up with a major hangover. She groaned at the sunlight coming in through the window and pulled the pillow over her head.

“Do we have aspirin?” Junior asked when he realized that Noelle was awake. She mumbled and he took the pillow off her face. “Huh?”

“I don’t know…check my purse.” She said taking the pillow back again. “What time is it?” She felt Junior get off the bed and heard him wander through the room.

“Three.” He said and then cursed. She sat up a little too quickly and grabbed her head.

“What did you do?”

“Stubbed my toe.”

“Smooth….” Noelle laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. Junior sat back down on the bed and started going trough Noelle’s purse looking for some aspirin. “If I don’t have any, I know Hollie has some. I’ll call…”

“Uhh…Noelle.” Junior’s voice sounded a little off. She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Read this.” He handed her an envelope. She took it and took the paper out from inside.

Noelle had to read it three times before she comprehended what it said. Her mouth dropped open and she wasn’t sure what to say to it. It wasn’t even a minute later the phone was ringing in her room.

“Noelle…we have a problem.” Hollie said into the phone before Noelle could say hello.

“Yeah, you could say we do too.” Noelle glanced at Junior who had taken the paper from her and was reading it over again, himself. “What’s yours?”

“I married Tony…and I’m not divorced from Brian yet! At least not until next month!” She sounded like she was going to cry. “I’m coming over…Tony isn’t awake yet.” She hung up, leaving a dial tone on Noelle’s end.

“Get dressed…” Noelle sighed. “Hollie’s on her way over here.” Junior nodded and they both threw on some clothes.

Hollie must have woken Tony up before she left, since he arrived with her. They all sat in Noelle and Junior’s room, not saying a word.

“What do we do?” Hollie finally asked. “I mean…am I going to get in trouble? How do you get this annulled?” Noelle shrugged. “Fuck…man.”

“So what’s your problem?” Tony asked rubbing his new wife’s shoulders.

“We just wanted aspirin.” Junior said suddenly before Noelle could say a word. “And she didn’t have any.”

“That’s it? I thought you two were going to say you got married too.” Tony laughed. “Wouldn’t that be a riot.”

“Well…” Noelle started.
 

“Nooo….but I did ask her to marry me.” Junior looked at Noelle.

“You did?” Noelle and Hollie said together. Junior nodded.

“When?” Noelle was confused. Junior got up and went into the bedroom and came back with a box. He got down on one knee and opened the box to show her. “Junior…”

“Noelle, will you marry me?” He took out the engagement ring and slid it on her finger.

“Umm….” She didn’t know what to say. She looked at her finger and then at him, then at Tony and Noelle who were smiling. “Yes?”

“That sounded more like a question than an answer, but I’ll take it.” Junior kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Noelle was shocked at the whole situation. Not just Junior asking her to marry him.

David and Josh came busting into the room and saw Junior on his knee in front of Noelle.

“You dipshit, you did not just ask her to marry you.” Josh yelled.

“Without us being here!” David finished. Noelle laughed and showed them her ring. “We went with him to pick it out. He wanted something cheap, but we made him get the big one.” Noelle looked at Junior who shook his head.

“Try the other way around.” Junior laughed and sat back down next to Noelle. “Should I feel different now that we’re engaged?” Noelle shrugged.

“Should I feel different now that I’m married?” Tony asked, causing David and Josh to exchange glances and then look at Tony. “Hollie and I got married last night…..we’re trying to figure out how to get it annulled since she’s still married right now.”

“Damn…we should have stayed with you guys.” Josh laughed and sat on the edge of a chair. “All we did was lost money at the black jack table.” They all looked at each other. “Did you two really get married?” Hollie and Tony nodded. “Daaaamn.”

“We’re going to go back to our room and get ready to go eat.” Hollie stood up and walked to her sister. She leaned down and hugged her. “Congrats, Noelle.” She patted Junior’s shoulder. “It’ll be nice to have you as a brother in law.” Junior smiled at her, not knowing whether to say congratulations to her as well. He stood up and shook hands with Tony. “Meet ya’ll downstairs in an hour?”

“That’ll work.” Noelle nodded as Hollie and Tony left. She sighed and put her head in her hands as Junior sat back down.

“We still didn’t get any aspirin.” Junior joked. Noelle groaned and leaned back against him. He smoothed her hair and kissed the top of her head.

“So when’s the wedding, who gets to be best man and all the jazz?” David sat down where Tony had been sitting and propped his feet up on the coffee table. “You gonna do it before the next season starts or wait until after it ends?” Both Noelle and Junior shrugged. “Boy, you two are a barrel of fun today.”

“We just woke up.” Junior yawned.

“Fuck man, you two just got engaged. Shouldn’t you be all excited?” Josh asked.

“I don’t know…should we?” Noelle looked up at Junior who winked at her. She smiled back and then laid her head back against his chest. “I really just want to crawl back in bed and get rid of this headache.”

“I think that’s our cue to leave, Josh.” David laughed. “C’mon, let’s head to the poker table. Call us when ya’ll are ready for lunch or dinner, or whatever you want to call it.”

Junior and Noelle sat on the couch for awhile, saying nothing. Junior put his arms around her and sighed, feeling content. He knew he had done the right thing by asking her to marry him. Too bad, they just did it backwards.

“I’m going to go take a shower.” Noelle said after dozing off for about twenty minutes. “Maybe food will make the headache go away.” She turned to Junior who nodded. “Wanna conserve hot water?”

“Is that an offer?”

“Not one that I make to anyone other than you.” She smiled.

“Well then, c’mon.” Junior took her hand and led her back into the bedroom where she went and started the shower and got in. He joined her a minute later.

“Hon…what are we going to do?” Noelle asked looking up at him as they stood under the spray of the water. “Do we tell anyone?”

“Probably just our families. Let everyone else think we’re just engaged.” Junior shrugged. “I really don’t know what to think other than my dad is going to go off on us.”

“Yeah, you could say that again.” Noelle laughed.

“My dad is going to go off on us.” Junior laughed causing Noelle to smack him. “You told me to say it again.” Noelle shook her head and then kissed him.

Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30