As the lights go down, Maria quickly gathers up the singles, and her clothing. The last thing she wants is to be on this stage any longer and something about darkness always brings her emotions out. Like it suddenly becomes real and reminds her exactly what she was just doing on that stage, especially now that her stomach is doing somersaults after seeing Rhett. She keeps herself in check long enough to flee from the stage and lock herself in the dressing room. Her clothes and money tumble from her hands onto the vanity in front of her and she crumbles to the floor. She can’t stay back here all night, she knows that. But for now, she needs to take a breather and pull herself together.

Her hands shake as she tries to pull herself together but she can’t seem to calm her racing heart. Never in a million years did she think he would be able to find her. The whole thing is a little too reminiscent of Casablanca although Rhett walking into a strip club in Las Vegas is less romantic than Ilsa walking into Rick’s Café. Thinking about one of her favorite movies helps calm her down slightly but she still can’t ignore the intensity of her feelings when she saw him out in the audience. She felt the same strong pull to him that she felt earlier today. Now that he’s here it’s a lot harder to push those feelings away.

Maria forces herself up from the floor and pulls the scarf down from the mirror in front of her. She barely recognizes her own reflection. The woman staring back at her has a face caked with makeup, but underneath that is insecurity and regret. And that has never been who she is. Even from a young age, Maria was always the most confident girl in her class and never had issues being in her own skin. Now? She can’t say those things about herself at all. She’s becoming this person who she doesn’t like and the further she gets away from the real her, she wonders if she’ll ever be able to make it back again.

The door squeaks open behind her and her entire back stiffens. There is any number of people who could be walking through that door right now, but her gut tells her exactly who’s walking toward her at this moment in time. She throws her scarf back over her mirror just in time to watch as he makes his way back to her corner of the room. She knew there was a possibility he would try to come back here but she didn’t really think about whether or not that would actually happen. They’re pretty strict about now allowing anyone besides club employees into the dressing room or backstage but he snuck by somehow.

He pauses just as he reaches the entrance to the room and clears his throat behind her. She knows he’s there. He knows she knows it too and yet he’s allowing her to make the decision right now. If she ignores him he’ll probably walk away and back out of her life. For good this time. But if she turns around and walks toward him…there are too many endless possibilities of how her life could change by not turning him away a second time. She knew it was a mistake this afternoon and she’s not willing to make the same mistake twice.

She braces her shoulders back and walks right over to where he’s standing. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“You could ask me the same thing?” Is he kidding her right now? She feels enough like shit that he’s seeing her here, but now he has the balls to judge her? She shakes her head and starts to walk away, but turns around and asks, “How do I owe you any kind of explanation? This is my job and I don’t even know you. We had a hot hookup on the airplane and that’s it.”

He opens his mouth like he wants to say more but thinks better of it. Instead, he says, “Remember my friends' wedding? This is the bachelor party.”

She should have guessed that. Why didn’t she even think of that when he told her he was in town for a wedding? Charles has made sure that this is one of the best clubs in Vegas and bachelor parties tend to be their specialty. They tend to fill up the room. She slowly nods her head and says, “I guess I should have figured that much.”

“Why did you lie to me?” He asks as he runs his hand through his hair and pulls on the back of his neck. He dips his head and his cheeks redden.

“I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t tell you what I did for a living, but you also never asked. And it’s not like it’s exactly a respectable career choice. Besides, did you really think we would see each other again?”

“Yeah, I guess you’ve got a point. Fuck. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m being a dick, I’m sorry. It’s just－”

“It’s just what?”

He steps up toward her. So uncomfortably close that their bodies are almost touching. “I’ve never been so pissed as I was watching you while you were up there.” Maria opens her mouth and he puts his hand up stopping her from speaking so he can continue his thought. “I wasn’t mad at you, but every other guy in this room. I wanted to beat the shit out of all of them for looking at you, my friends included. I don’t even know what that fucking means, but I felt like an animal standing there. I refused to look at anything but the table in front of me. I didn’t want that to be the way I see you for the first time or be the way I remember you.”

Her heart warms up and the butterflies start back up again. Rhett is making all of these proclamations, but they don’t mean anything. Realistically she knows he’s not here to rescue her and take her away from this horrible life. This isn’t Pretty Woman for fuck's sake. But damn if she didn’t wish that was her reality.