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[sub][color=dimgray][b][color=a0410d]Location | [/color][/b] Las Vegas, Nevada
[b][color=a0410d]Las Vegas Time |  [/color][/b] 11:32 AM     /[b]     [color=a0410d]London Time |  [/color][/b] 7:32 PM     /[b]     [color=a0410d]Moscow Time |[/color][/b] 9:32 PM
[b][color=a0410d]Interacting with |[/color][/b] AJ   [@TootsiePop]   /  Val (mentioned)  [@Dirty Pretty Lies]   /    Nate [@spooner] [/color][/sub]
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If they had been in Reno, or Salt Lake City, or even the weed-infested hive of Denver, Aleks would have snapped by now.

It was uncharacteristic for the roughneck nights of the oligarch's heir to appear on his face, but a combination of unfortunate events had conspired this morning to put actual circles underneath Aleks' eyes and a jittery, impatient energy into his fingers. Monica's departure the previous night had been something he had been forewarned of; her parents, forever pushy about her choice of undergrad degrees, had summoned her home for another one of the strict talks they loved to subject her to. AJ hadn't been warned, but that wasn't particularly shocking, either. In any event, it wasn't the end of the world - [i]we'll meet up after Thailand,[/i] they had promised each other with a hug and kiss, and Monica had ridden off west again in the dead of night to confront the hydra of a demanding family unit.

Yessi had proven a more unpleasant surprise. This morning he had returned from his run (four miles in the desert, a rare treat that was up on the 'dumb fucking maneuvers' list between pissing onto an electric fence and dragging Beyonce online) to wake up his best friend with his typical candor in the face of her tequila-fueled benders and found her violently ill, curled up in the cabin she'd staked out and dependent on a bottle of pills to even stay conscious. He had wanted to stay with her once it became apparent that she was in no fit state to travel, but when she had finally managed to get a message out between the waves of side-wracking vomiting, he could make one coherent sentence out between the foreign curses and the groans of discomfort - [i]you love Vegas, dumbass, go to Vegas.[/i] Only that directive, plus the thought of AJ alone on the road during this mess, managed to get him away from Yessi. 

She promised she would catch up, and he believed her - maybe she would even bring a fucking car that could function in the heartland - but that didn't change the fact that the lonely Nevada drive without Yessi made him feel as though he'd lost something vital. Like he'd tried to hit the gas pedal only to realize he'd lost his fucking legs to a shark, or something. Only occasional speakerphone calls with AJ and his playlist filled the funeral-like silence inside Aleks' Lotus - and even the music lost its succor without fighting over music choices with Yessi. Listening to 7 Rings a million times was less endearing when it was him looping it instead of her.

Even AJ, Aleks' last and strongest bastion of brotherhood, had been a wreck. Aleks had taken up his normal role as AJ Tyler's shadow; even here in the lounge, Aleks was rooted firmly beside the Gearheads' ringleader, kicked back on the couch beside AJ with one hand around his shoulder and the fingers of the other holding his cigarette to his mouth. But it hadn't been an altogether pleasant experience. 

AJ brooding over the end of his relationship was something he could deal with, but AJ brooding over the beginning of Val's was another animal entirely - and truthfully, the new power couple was starting to make a vein throb even in Aleks' temple. When his autopiloted brain had heard the cries the night before, it brought a wry smile to his face while he performed his card tricks, and he supposed he had even fallen into a sort of half-sleepy reverie to them. While AJ had been volatile, one wrong word away from an explosion until they were in the cars, Aleks had actually found Valeria's afterglow kind of adorable. When AJ had stopped to fix an angry glare on her, sweltering and furious in the California heat, the beleaguered Aleks - in the middle of trying to salvage Yessi's health and travel status -  had been looming over his shoulder to fix his pint-sized friend with an exhausted smile and a mouthed [color=a0410d][i]Good for you.[/i][/color]

But that had been in California. They were in Vegas now, and they were still fucking going on about it. He'd had great sex before, too, but sex was like a phone call with your parents. Too much of it too often would only make it a fucking chore - and none of your friends wanted to see it or hear a fucking word about it. Hearing coy dialogue about Nate's dick size like they were still fucking fifteen was almost enough to make him dig one of his cigarettes into each ear. 

He had gone through a [i]lot[/i] of cigarettes since leaving Yessi. He had even caught himself about to light up in his car - a survival instinct that overruled any of his normal rational thought - around the state line. He had switched to candy for a while after that, but by now he needed the smokes again. It wasn't the healthiest of breakfasts, especially not in regular intervals for four hours, but the fucking hobo they had somehow picked up for the ride seemed to live off the same diet and keep some measure of his roguish good looks. Aleks didn't even want to get started on that acquisition. Losing Yessi and gaining the hobo who had given her his stale-ass weed in the first place was like cutting off his arms and replacing them with fucking pool noodles.

At least they had AJ's cousins to look forward to. AJ seemed exhausted by the very idea of them, which was fair, but Aleks didn't mind. The small handful of occasions he'd met the Kables, they had always taken to him fairly easily. But even he was in no mood to deal with them on an empty stomach. The burrito boy was right. Aleks tilted his head up slightly, chin resting on the small hint of his lean chest that lay revealed by the two shirt buttons the Russian had undone.

[color=a0410d]"I want,"[/color] Aleks took a long, deliberate drag off of his cigarette, which did nothing to help the cavernous feeling in his stomach and chest, [color=a0410d]"more burgers. Greatest American food. First round is on me."[/color]