CHAPTER TWO
the real caesar's palace

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CHLOE SLIGHTLY TILTED her head and narrowed her eyes as she popped a chip from the packet she was about to buy at the gas station in her mouth, watching Alan shoo away an innocent old man who was simply admiring Sid's car. "Hm."

"He's actually kind of funny." Phil evaluated as he took a chip out of his own packet and ate it.

Doug tilted his head in agreement, each of the three still keeping their eyes on Alan as they conversed. "Yeah, he means well."

"I'll hit an old man in public!" Alan's distant voice called from outside, not necessarily helping his case.

"Is he all there? Like, mentally?" Phil turned his head to glance at Doug as he gestured to his head, his question incredibly serious.

"I think so, he's just an odd guy." Doug accounted with a shrug, trying to defend his soon-to-be brother-in-law. "You know, he's kind of weird."

Chloe nodded in concurrence as she popped another chip in her mouth. "Just a little bit."

"I mean, should we be worried?" Phil added in a sarcastic tone, turning his head to glance at Doug again.

"No." Doug blew out a casual breath as he shook his head.

"Alright." Phil popped another chip in his mouth, taking his word for it.

"No." Doug repeated, and it was almost as if he was trying to convince himself of the fact.

Chloe then turned to look at Doug briefly before shifting her gaze back to Alan as her, Phil and Doug continued to wait in line. "Somehow, I'm not completely convinced."

Doug met her brief gaze, thus ignoring her sardonic attitude and redirecting the conversation. "Tracy did mention that we shouldn't let him gamble. Or drink too much."

As the line progressed, the trio finally ended up getting served, and each of them placed their respective snacks and drinks on the counter, watching the cashier scan them through.

"Jesus, he's like a gremlin. Comes with instructions and shit." Phil furrowed his eyebrows as he redirected the group's attention back to Alan outside.

"I'm sure I'll probably take this back at some point, but give the guy a break, alright?" Chloe sighed, the woman feeling bad for Alan already as she took the gum packet off the counter and popped two sticks in her mouth before placing it back down to be scanned. "He's a weird guy, yes, but he's Tracy's brother."

Doug nodded slowly. "True."

"And one water." Stu's voice cut in as he reached between Phil and Doug to place the bottle of water on the counter.

The trio turned to face Stu, Doug raising his eyebrows as he spoke up. "All good with Melissa?"

"Oh, yeah." Stu sent the group an unconvincing, tight-lipped smile. "Told her we're two hours outside of wine country, and she bought it."

Chloe stifled a laugh as she rolled her lips inwards, glanced down momentarily, and cleared her throat before focusing on the boys again.

At this point, her several attempts to try and convince Stu to dump Melissa had fallen on deaf ears—as the saying goes—, and it was as though she was pleading with a brick wall. Everyone else could see how awful Melissa's behaviour was, how horribly she treated Stu, but alas, the man had simply refused to take their advice.

So, instead of trying to continually convince Stu to dump Melissa, Chloe chose to find the situation amusing. The reality of it was ultimately saddening, but still somewhat amusing.

Phil hung his head momentarily in frustration, and he blew out a long breath as he slowly turned to face Stu. "Don't you think it's strange that you've been in a relationship for three years, and you still have to lie about going to Vegas?"

"Yeah, I do." Stu quipped, ignoring the malicious undertone behind Phil's words as he met the man's calculating gaze—which was concealed by his sunglasses, as usual—with a lighthearted one of his own. "But trust me, it's not worth the fight."

Chloe opened her mouth to respond, however before she could, Phil scoffed, essentially expressing what the entire group was thinking. "Oh, so you can't go to Vegas, but she can fuck a bellhop on a Carnival Cruise Line?"

As Phil said the sentence way too loudly, the cashier momentarily paused her movements in surprise, staring at the four, unblinking, before returning back to her task with furrowed brows.

Chloe noticed the action, and she glanced at the woman, sending her an apologetic smile during her gum chewing as she already anticipated the following debate.

"Okay, first of all, he was a bartender." Stu corrected Phil matter-of-factly. "And she was wasted."

Phil remained unamused at the justification he had heard a million times before, and at the expression, Stu just allowed his string of thoughts to flow freely from his mouth. "And, if you must know, he didn't even cum inside her."

"And you believe that?" Phil scoffed, still unconvinced as he turned around to face the cashier again.

"Uh, yeah, I do believe that, because she's grossed out by semen." Stu fired back, eyebrows deeply furrowed as he shot daggers at Phil.

"Maybe she's just grossed out by yours." Chloe suggested, her best intention behind the words honest, though the tone didn't seem to land on Stu as she turned to face the cashier again, who was now staring at the group, wholly disturbed.

"That'll be $32.50." The woman mused.

Phil turned to face Stu again. "It's $32.50, you gonna pay for it?"

Stu sent the man an unenthusiastic glare once more, and Doug just raised his eyebrows, a silence overtaking the group for an unnecessarily prolonged moment.

Chloe, flickering her eyes between the pair, just scoffed and pulled her wallet out. "Oh, for fuck's sake, I'll pay."

•

"It says here we should work in teams. I think Chloe should be my spotter because she's the only girl, and she's probably smarter than any of you guys." Alan voiced, subjecting the rest of the group to his suggestions on how to safely gamble. "And I like her perfume, it smells nice."

Because of their minor dispute at the gas station, Phil and Stu had now separated, resulting in Chloe being forced to sit in the middle seat between them.

Phil's arm was comfortably resting on the back of Chloe's seat, and a little of Stu's, and Chloe could only just feel his arm tickling the back of her neck.

"I'm not spotting you, Alan." Chloe simply refused as she snatched the opened beer bottle from Phil's other hand, that wasn't resting on the seats, and took a swig, then politely adding the following words once she swallowed. "And thank you."

"What the fuck, Chlo?" Phil shot her an annoyed glare as he watched her take another swig. "We've got plenty of beer, get your own."

Chloe rolled her eyes at his immaturity, the woman shoving the beer bottle into his chest and waiting for him to take it before she moved her hand back to her own space. "Stop crying, yours was already open."

"What happened to you guys getting along?" Stu sarcastically questioned, pointing between the pair as he spoke.

"We've always gotten along, Stu." Chloe seriously answered, turning to meet her friend's gaze. "Relax, we're just kidding."

"Yeah, she's too nice to genuinely argue with me." Phil tried to make a witty comment, although he didn't realise that the statement was incredibly true until after he said it.

Flickering his eyes down to Chloe, Phil added in a witty remark, his signature smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "And that's the only compliment you're gonna get from me for the rest of the trip."

"I don't think you should be doing too much gambling tonight, Alan." Doug interrupted before the conversation diverted into irrelevant territory.

"Gambling? Who said anything about gambling?" Alan furrowed his eyebrows at Doug. "It's not gambling when you know you're gonna win. Counting cards is a foolproof system."

"It's also illegal." Stu corrected with furrowed brows.

"It's not illegal, it's frowned upon, like..." Alan defended himself, simultaneously exposing a part of his own criminal record. "Masturbating on an airplane."

A perturbed silence fell between each of the other group members, who wordlessly stared at him, with the exception of Doug—who was driving and now huffing out a disbelieving laugh—, for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal too." Phil spoke up, suddenly breaking the awkwardness—much to Chloe and Stu's relief.

"Yeah, maybe after 9/11, when everybody got so sensitive." Alan justified his previous remark with an even more heinous one.

Chloe cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to help Alan. "Alan, you might want to stop talking n-"

"Thanks a lot, Bin Laden." Alan firmly stated, the man looking outside the car in mild annoyance.

Stu sighed, holding his thumb, index and middle fingers to his head and glancing away as he tried to ignore the man's blind insensitivity.

Another brief awkward silence fell between them, and Doug just spoke up, trying to alleviate the incredibly awkward tension that Alan had now bestowed upon the group. "Either way, you've gotta be super smart to count cards, buddy, okay?"

"Oh, really?" Alan defensively scoffed, head whipping to face Doug.

"It's not easy." Doug shook his head.

Alan scoffed defensively. "Well, maybe we should tell that to Rain Man because he practically bankrupted a casino, and he was a ret-"

"Okay!" Chloe interrupted the man before he could finish his sentence, eliciting entertained laughter from the group. "Jesus, Alan."

•

"Hi, welcome to Caesar's." The receptionist started in a friendly tone as the group made their way towards it, suitcases in hand.

The five just sent her polite smiles and happy, chorused greetings at the introduction.

"Checking in?" The woman, whose name read 'Lisa' on the card attached to her blazer, questioned.

"Yes." Phil excitedly clapped his hands together at the words.

"Yeah, we have a reservation under Dr. Price." Stu confirmed, and as he spoke, him, Doug and Phil placed their forearms on the countertop comfortably, while Chloe placed her hands on her hips, sending the woman at the desk a small smile.

"Okay, let me look that up for you." Lisa answered, tapping on the laptop's keyboard quickly.

"Dr. Price?" Phil provokingly started, words condescending as he turned to face Stu. "Stu, you're a dentist, okay? Don't try to get fancy."

"Phil, come on." Chloe looked at Phil humourlessly, as she knew how much Stu hated the 'doctor' teasing. Sure, she'd partake occasionally, but only when it was just their group, never when there were other people to embarrass him around. At least she knew when to stop.

Stu sent Chloe a slight 'thank you' nod before redirecting his, now irritated, expression and tone towards Phil. "It's not fancy if it's true."

Lisa briefly casted her uncaring eyes up to the three as she continued her task.

"He's a dentist. Don't get too excited." Phil directed his words to the receptionist as he moved his arms off the counter. "And if, uh, someone has a heart attack, you should still call 911."

"We'll be sure to do that." The woman reluctantly entertained his lacklustre attempt at flirting, as she truly couldn't care less about their pointless bickering.

"Can I ask you a question?" Alan chimed in, the man holding his pager up as he earnestly furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you know if the hotel's pager-friendly?"

"What do you mean?" Lisa confusedly asked.

"I'm not getting a sig on my beeper." Alan sincerely explained as he twisted the beeper in his hand, though his vague words were still lost on everyone.

"I'm not sure." Lisa's brows creased inwards.

"Is there a payphone bank? Bunch of payphones? Business." Alan badgered, to which Chloe furrowed her eyebrows at the man, sending him a 'stop' look that was accompanied by a subtle shake of her head, the rest of the group shooting him similar, though more bemused, expressions to convey the meaningless nature of his question, and the fact that he was now harassing a stranger who was just trying to do her job.

"Um..." The receptionist raised her eyebrows as she was more perplexed than before. "There's a phone in your room."

Alan raised his eyebrows and pleasingly nodded in acceptance. "That'll work."

The group shot him final, bewildered looks before focusing on Lisa again as she changed the subject. "So, I have you in a two-bedroom suite on the twelfth floor, is that okay?"

"It sounds perfect." Doug nodded, finding the arrangement perfectly fine.

"Actually, I was wondering if you had any villas available." Phil interrupted, earning himself disagreeing furrowed brows from the rest of the group.

"Phil, we're not even going to be in the room." Stu frowned at the man.

"It's unnecessary." Doug affirmed.

"It's no big deal, you guys can share beds for one night and I'll sleep on the couch, or vice versa, it's fine." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest as she agreed with the two, gesturing to the duo she concurred with.

"If we're sharing beds, I'm bunking with Phil." Alan's eyes darted between the group, and as they all shifted their attention to him, he directed the following question to Phil. "You good with that?"

"No, I'm not good with that." Phil's eyebrows creased inwards at him, and as Doug huffed out an entertained chuckle, the man continued. "Guys, we are not sharing beds. What are we, twelve years old?"

"Phil, who gives a fuck about sharing a bed for one night, it's not that bad." Chloe briefly widened her eyes to try and convey the ridiculousness of his words.

Phil just ignored her logical protest and redirected the group's attention back to the receptionist. "Lisa, I apologise. How much is the villa?"

"Well, we have one villa available, and it's $4,200 for the night." Lisa informed them.

"Is it awesome?" Alan intently inquired, chin high.

"It's pretty awesome." Lisa affirmed with a small, knowing smirk.

The thought of the woman simply wanting to make a significant financially viable sale passed through Chloe's mind, and while the villa was probably very awesome, Chloe still felt as though they should just take the original arrangement.

"We'll take it. Give her your credit card." Phil glanced at Stu, gesturing to Lisa with a tilt of his head as he awaited Stu's payment.

"I can't give her my credit card." Stu objected.

Chloe sympathetically glanced at Stu before shaking her head and beginning to pull out her own credit card. "I'm a paralegal, the least I could do is cover this."

"No, Chloe, we'll split it." Doug protested, shaking his head as he stopped her mid-movement.

"Are you crazy? No, this is on us." Phil steadfastly refused the suggestion as he held his hand up and pointed to the rest of the group.

"You don't get it. Melissa checks my statements." Stu explained, glaring at Phil once more.

"We just need a credit card on file." Lisa cut in, trying to make the transaction as simple as possible. "We won't charge you anything until you check out, so you can figure it out then."

"Perfect." Phil's eyes shifted between Chloe and Stu. "That's perfect, thank you Lisa. We'll deal with it tomorrow. Come on."

Stu reluctantly sighed, pulling out his wallet as he did so. "Fine."

Chloe mirrored the movement and directed her following words to Lisa. "Is it possible to split it? I'll cover the other half."

"Of course." Lisa nodded as she put the transaction through.

"You didn't have to split that, Chlo, Stu could've covered it all." Phil glanced at Chloe, simultaneously half-joking and being half-serious.

Chloe shot him a glare. "Don't be a dick, and you're paying for everything I want back home for a month. And that's on top of the three weeks worth of coffee you still need to reimburse me for."

Phil slightly narrowed his eyes as he knew he wouldn't win this war. "Fine. I'll buy you whatever you want for a month, and three weeks worth of coffee. Anything else?"

"And anything that Stu wants, you're paying for." Chloe added with raised eyebrows.

"Now you're pushing it." Phil deadpanned, pointing at her as he did so.

Stu appreciatively looked at Chloe. "Thanks for trying."

"Can I ask you another question?" Alan spoke up at Lisa, once again catching the group's attention.

"Sure." Lisa politely, and patiently, answered. Chloe envied her customer service skills, and she knew, for a fact, that if she was in her position, she would've broken down by now.

"You probably get this a lot." Alan pre-emptively attempted to justify his following inquiry. "This isn't the real Caesar's Palace, is it?"

Lisa confusedly shifted her eyes between the other four before settling them back on Alan. "What do you mean?"

"Did- did, um...did Caesar live here?" Alan rephrased, not missing the incredibly perplexed looks he was receiving from the others.

Lisa tried her best not to make her amusement obvious as a facetious smile overtook her features and the familiar gleam of secondhand embarrassment flashed past her eyes. "Um, no."

Alan looked around, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't think so."

•

AUTHOR'S NOTE
i did not expect this fic to get as many reads as it has so far, i only posted the first chapter last night, so thank you so much for reading and enjoying it!

i hope you love chloe so far!! her and phil are already so >>>

also, fair warning, as i mentioned in the introduction, there will be a lot of mature themes within this fic, so if you're uncomfortable with depictions of sex, violence, and strong language, skip over those parts. it is a hangover fanfiction too, so all of that is to be expected, regardless.

© voidvaleska