I stepped into my bride's maid dress, the final fitting before the wedding. I pulled my raven hair over one shoulder so that Tracy could zip me up. I smiled in thanks to her and stepped up to the full length mirror in her room.

"Oh, my God." I breathed, playing with the black fabric that covered my stomach. The whole thing was black lace over black satin and had a cute white bow under the bust.

"Do you like it?" She asked as the seamstress made little adjustments to the dress.

"Like it? Are you crazy? I love it." She beamed at me and I grinned back. "You know, Trace, you didn't have to include me in the wedding." She shook her head at me like I was the crazy one.

"No, you introduced me to Doug, why wouldn't I include you in the wedding? You're the whole reason there even is a wedding." I smiled and turned back to the mirror. Doug and I had been friends since we were in grade school; we had lived right next door to each other until high school, when my family decided to move across town. We were still best friends, though and luckily I didn't have to change schools. Then we ended up going to the same college, where Doug had met Phil, and Stu was in a few of my classed. As it turned out, my roommate in my senior year of college, Elizabeth, was best friends with Tracy, who I had met at a party. I had introduced Doug to Tracy a few years after college at some bookstore I had begged Doug to take me to and they had been dating ever since.

"Can you do me a favor, Nat?" I met her eyes through the reflection and instantly zeroed in on her worried expression.

"What is it?" I furrowed my brow as Tracy bit her lip. Clearly I had been spending so much time with her that my worry habit had rubbed off on her.

"The bachelor party tonight-" I shook my head, cutting her off before she could continue.

"You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Trace. Stu will be there." I joked and she cracked a smile. "Seriously, I'll make sure nothing happens." I smiled at her relieved sigh. I couldn't believe she was worried about Doug of all people.

"All right, Natalie, you're dress is finished. Just take it off nice and slowly and it'll be ready for you when you arrive for the wedding." The seamstress said and I bounced on the balls of my feet as Tracy unzipped me. I eased the dress down and stepped out of it, gently handing it to the seamstress to hang up and started getting dressed.

"Have fun tonight, Nat." Tracy said as I pulled up my jeans at lightning speed, ready to get to Vegas as quickly as possible.

"Oh, we will." I barely had time to throw on my shirt and grab my bag as I flew out the door, Tracy's laughter following after me. I ran to the garage, hoping that Doug and Alan were finished with their fitting as well. I passed Alan, Tracy's brother, who was on the ground kissing their golden retriever, and spotted Doug and Sid, Alan and Tracy's father, who were both standing next to a blue Mercedes.

"Doug!" I yelled out, slamming into him. We both nearly toppled over but I found my footing and straightened out. I started bouncing again and Doug could hardly contain his amusement.

"Ready?" He asked, grinning excitedly.

"Of course I am, Stud Monkey." I linked my arm through his and turned to a very confused Alan and amused Sid.

"Remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." He tossed Doug his keys and Doug started laughing awkwardly. "Except herpes. That shit'll come back with you." Doug cleared his throat and I decided it was time for me to step in to help him.

"Trust me, Sid, no one will be bringing back anything but really cute souvenirs." Doug nodded his head frantically.

"Shotgun!" I turned to glare at Alan and huffed, untangling my arm from Doug's and getting into the back seat. Doug and Alan situated themselves in the front seats and started the car, waving to Sid.

"Hey, you loaded my bags, right?" Doug glanced at me from the rearview mirror and smiled.

"Yes, Nattie, I did. And what did you pack anyway? It's only one night." I lifted my eyebrow and slid on my sunglasses.

"What kind of girl would I be if I didn't bring back-up everything?" I smirked and Doug shook his head and continued driving. We sat at the front of the private school that Phil taught at for almost five minutes while Alan continued to act weird.

"What is with you?" I asked the fidgeting Alan as he tried to shield his face with one hand.

"Did you have to park so close?" He asked, turning his head away from the school.

"Why, what's wrong?" Doug asked, looking back towards me with a questioning look. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm not supposed to be within 200 feet of a school." Alan answered, as if it was the weather we were talking about.

"What?" Doug and I asked simultaneously.

"Or a Chuck E. Cheese." He added as the bell rang and a swarm of kids escaped the confines of hell. Seriously, I never could understand how Phil of all people could be an elementary school teacher, although, he did teach sixth grade so that had to count for something.

"Holy shit." Phil eyed up the car and threw his duffel bag at me, and I caught it, dropping it unceremoniously on the floorboard. Phil didn't seem to care and he ignored Doug as he hopped over the side of the car and landed on the leather seats.

"Watch the leather!" Doug whined.

"Just shut up and drive before one of these nerds asks me another question." Doug turned back around and started the car. "Who's this?" Phil indicated to Alan and I rolled my eyes, digging around in my bag for my magazine.

"This is Alan, Tracy's brother." Doug said, turning back around.

"Who?" Phil turned to me but I continued to ignore him, choosing instead to look up good hair ideas for tonight.

"Dude, we met like four times already." Alan said, and Phil nodded absently.

"Oh, right, what's up, man?" I shook my head at Phil and went back to my magazine. Doug put the car into drive and started on his way to pick up Stu.

"So, you're stealing from sixth graders now huh?" I asked casually. I saw Phil shrug his shoulders and I looked up at him.

"Had to get my Vegas money from somewhere. God knows that everything else is going towards the divorce." I frowned at him as he looked away from me.

"How is that going, by the way?" Doug asked, and Phil smiled sardonically at him.

"She wants full custody."

"What?" Doug looked back at Phil to make sure he was serious before turning his attention back to the road. "She doesn't even have a job."

"Yeah, but her Sugar Daddy does." I pouted and closed my magazine, careful not to lose my place, and slid next to Phil, leaning into him as he put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.

"It'll be ok, Philly." I rubbed the inside of his thigh and he tensed for a second then squeezed my shoulder.

"It definitely will be if you continue to do that." I pulled back from him then hit him over the head with my magazine.

"Pervert." I mumbled and the whole car exploded into laughter. Doug stopped in front of Stu's house and I watched as Phil cupped his hands around his mouth and leaned slightly out of the car.

"Paging Dr. Faggot!" I started to snicker as Phil turned back toward us then resumed his position. "Dr. Faggot!" He called out again and I continued to snicker as Stu came out of his house, bag in hand, as swiftly as possible. Doug popped the trunk of the car and Stu pushed his duffel bag into it. He was about to close the trunk's lid when I lifted up in my seat with Phil's bag, ignoring Doug's cries for me to watch the leather.

"Stu, would you mind?" He shook his head at me but grabbed the bag all the same and stuffed it into what little room was left. I flopped down in the car and Stu shut the trunk, coming over to my side of the car.

"Scoot." He said as he opened the car door. I blinked at him then glanced over my shoulder at Phil then back to Stu.

"Oh, you can't be serious." I picked up my bag and slid into the middle of the back seat where Phil placed his arm over the top of the seat to allow me more room, although, as Stu slid in then closed the door, it really didn't matter because I was still squished. I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted as Doug navigated his way to the highway so that we could get started on our drive to Vegas.

"Ah, cheer up, Shorty," Phil ruffled my hair and I stuck my tongue out at him. He handed me his beer and opened one for Stu. I took a drink and handed it back to him, still kind of put out that I was going to be sandwiched for six hours. "Come on, Nat, this is Doug's weekend." Phil muttered in my ear, laying his forehead on my temple. I sighed and turned my head towards him. Our noses were centimeters apart and I could smell his breath; it smelt of peppermint, like he had just brushed his teeth or eaten a mint or something. I sighed again and swiped his beer, taking another drink and then handing it back to him. He smirked, taking the first drink of his already half drained beer.

Alan started whooping and hollering about Vegas. He got up from his seat and started yelling at a little kid. The girl flipped him off and he sat back down, much quieter than he had been when he stood up from it. I laughed with Phil and leaned against him, propping my feet up on Stu's lap.

"Can I help you?" He asked and I just smirked, opening my magazine back up.

"Yes, you can." I replied, dog-earing a page with a celebrity with a cute hairstyle that I wanted to look at again. Phil brought his arm around my stomach, holding me to him again. By the time I had finished my magazine, five pages were dog-eared and Phil had asked Doug almost twenty times if he could drive.

"Come on, people are passing us. Just let me drive, I could get us there is less than six hours." I rolled my eyes and Doug shook his head.

"I promised Sid that I would be the only one to drive this car. Plus you're drinking." Doug replied.

"Oh, what are you, a cop now? You know I drive great when I'm drunk." Phil said, trying to convince Doug, quite poorly, that he was more than capable to drive.

"That's true; don't forget Phil was always our designated drunk driver." Stu said drily, and I snorted as Phil lightly slapped my stomach, only slightly offended.

"You wanna explain to them, Alan?" Doug asked Alan who turned around in his seat to look at us, a solemn look on his face.

"You guys, my dad loves this car more than he loves me. So yeah," He turned back around and I furrowed my brow at his statement. That was actually really sad.

"Yeah whatever, look, this was my weekend with my kid and soon-to-be ex-wife. I blew them off to come to Vegas with you guys. Do you know how hard that was?" I shook my head at Stu and dug around in my bag for something to keep me sane during the trip there.

"That's really sweet, Phil." Alan said, convinced that Phil was really upset by blowing off his ex-wife. I knew for a fact that he was upset about blowing off his kid's weekend with him, but he was going to get to see him tomorrow and at the wedding, so he would live during one day without him.

"He's being sarcastic, Alan." I spoke up, trying to save the poor guy from embarrassment. I pulled out my iPod and stuck one earphone in my ear. I turned it on and let it play randomly.

"Yeah, I fucking hate my life. I may never go back; I may just stay in Vegas." Phil said.

"Here we go." Doug muttered under his breath but still loud enough for all of us to hear over the wind of the convertible. I smirked, trying to get more comfortable.

"You know what Doug; you should enjoy yourself, because you're going to start dying, just a little bit, every day." Doug made a noise of disagreement and I started laughing slightly.

"Yeah, that's how I've managed to stay single." Alan injected and Stu perked up.

"Really, that's how you've managed to stay single?" He asked sarcastically and I smiled at him.

"Yeah," Alan answered.

"Great, good to know," Stu replied mockingly. I shook my head at them and turned my attention to my iPod. Phil's fingers started rubbing circles on the side of my stomach. I turned my head towards him to where I was nearly in his lap and our faces were inches apart.

"Buddha's Stomach of Luck is out of order." Phil snorted but continued to rub teasing circles on my cloth covered stomach. I rolled my eyes and settled back, already bored out of my mind.

"Am I alright over there, Alan?" Doug asked, wanting to switch lanes.

"Yeah, you're good." Doug took his word for it and started to drift over into the right-hand lane. A shadow fell over us and a horn honked as a semi nearly toppled over trying to avoid hitting us. I screamed and clutched onto Phil's arm as Doug righted us back into our original lane.

"That was awesome!" Alan exclaimed as I was trying to recover from a near heart attack.

"That was not awesome! What is wrong with you?" Doug screamed, completely freaked out. Phil was nearly doubled over in laughter, Stu was just as freaked out as Doug, and I was still clutching Phil's arm, trying to regulate my breathing.

"We all almost just died!" Stu tried to explain and I felt my heart rate spike at his words. I was too young to die.

"You should've seen your faces! Classic!" Alan replied, as if the joke was taking us to a haunted house or something. I clenched my jaw, and glared at Alan.

"That's funny." Phil laughed and I shook my head.

"I'm gonna kill him!" I made to leap at him, but Phil and Stu both grabbed a hold on me and kept me from strangling the man in the front seat of the car.

"Hey, easy Tiger. It's all going to be ok." Phil said, wary of loosening his grip on me. I huffed and death-glared at Alan, hoping maybe he would spontaneously combust into a pile of ashes.

"Not funny." Doug said, gripping the wheel a little tighter.

Hello everyone, just so you know, I don't own anything from the Hangover, just Natalie. Like it, hate it; just want to leave a comment? Review please!