The Hangover 1.4

“Wait, what?” I asked finally noticing I was wearing BYU sweats and sweatshirt.

“You guys blew us away at the open casting call,” he responded adjusting his glasses.

“And who are you again?” I asked making sure I was clear.

“Garret Thomas,” he responded with a smile.

I remembered the name, but couldn’t for the life of me recall what we did.

“Garret is so kind,” Colin said to no one in particular. 

“How’s Brenden?” I asked confused.

“Brenden is fine, we are getting his face all cleaned up.  We are just glad you guys are safe,” Garret was still smiling.  I was starting to think his smile was a permanent fixture on his face.

The last time I saw Brenden, he was a mess, and I was glad he was getting cleaned up.

“Where did I get these clothes?”  I asked realizing again that I was wearing different clothes than the ones I had been wearing in a Provo holding cell.

“Oh, those…your other clothes were in bad shape after getting tazed.”

That’s right, I was tazed.  I remembered smelling poop before passing out.  I really hoped it was Brenden that soiled himself and not me.  

Some things are better left unknown.  This would never be brought up again, at least not by me.

“So let me get this straight,” I was now standing up.  “We showed up at a random casting call for a Book of Mormon movie you were directing?”

“Yes,” Garret answered quickly.

“You had never met us before last night?”

“Correct.”

“You gave us a part in your movie?”

“Yes.”

“Specifically, we were involved in some big battle sequence?”

“Yes,” Garret was nodding with a smile.  "You guys were great!" This guy was just happy.

“It still doesn’t make sense,” I sat back down.

“Garret, let me talk to him,” It was a voice I recognized from somewhere.  I tried to look in the direction of the voice, but my eyes were still a little blurry from being tazed.  “You and your friends are a bunch of crazy dudes.”

I recognized his face.  Didn’t I?

“Maeser, you guys were just what we needed last night for our film,” his voice was calm and so familiar.

“I’m glad we could help,” I responded.

“Seriously, our extras were having a hard time getting the true essence of what we wanted for that big battle finale.  I have put a lot of money into this project, and was worried it wasn't going to come together.  You and your friends showed up and injected so much energy into the group, I’m positive we got just what we needed."

I recognized him.  

It was Steve Young, former BYU quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer.

Just then Brenden walked in.  He was wearing the exact same BYU sweatpants and sweatshirt I was wearing.  The tattoo we thought was permanent the night before, was completely washed off.  He looked like a million bucks.

“Hey Steve,” Brenden said casually, as If he had known Steve Young his entire life. 

“Hey buddy,” Steve responded.  “I was just talking to your friend here,”

“He’s my brother,” Brenden corrected. 

“That’s right, I can't get you all straight,” Steve nodded, looking back at me.  “I was trying to explain to him what happened last night.”

“Crazy, right?” Brenden asked looking over at me, like I was supposed to all the sudden recall all the details.

“Too crazy,” was all I could say.

“Anyway, getting tazed must have given both of you some short term memory loss.  You might want to get that checked out.” Steve said looking more at me than Brenden.

“Who got tazed?” Colin asked standing up with a concerned look on his face.  He had head damage, I was convinced.

“We are so sorry you were arrested,” Garret jumped in with his happy – smiley self. 

“We did have your car,” Brenden responded looking at the ground. 

“You did, and that was fine.  After all, Chelsea was with you,” Garret said pointing to the other smiling face in the room.

“Hi Chelsea,” Colin said looking looking at her.  “I just got married.”

“That’s great Colin, you told me that last night,” Chelsea answered awkwardly.

“So we didn't steal the BYU car?” I asked wondering why we were tazed and later arrested.

“Yes and no,” Steve answered laughing.  “After we wrapped filming, we got to talking and you mentioned you had left your car at Village Inn.” 

“Wait, whose car?” I asked, looking at everyone.

“My Explorer,” Brenden chuckled.  “We left my car at Village Inn.”

“Right,” Steve continued.  “I asked Chelsea, my assistant, to drive you guys back to your car so that you didn’t have to walk.”

“You are so kind,” Colin blurted with a smile.  It looked like he was going to start crying.  “Meredeth and I love kind people.”

“Are you sure he wasn’t tazed?” Chelsea asked stepping away from Colin

No one answered.  We weren't going to bring up the possibility of us being drugged.  It didn't seem appropriate.

“Anyway, Chelsea had to use the restroom when you all arrived at Village Inn.  She thanked you and gave you a copy of the DVD we had burned for you, and went in the restaurant.  When she came out the BYU car was missing.” Steve explained.

“Who took the car?” Colin asked as if he was listening to the story for the first time.

“We weren’t sure,” Chelsea responded, now standing behind Garret.

“When Chelsea called me saying the car was stolen, we called the police.  We figured you guys had gotten in your car and gone home.  Never for a second did we think you were the ones who had taken the car,” Garret said.

Brenden and I looked and each other, then looked away.  We weren’t sure what had happened.  Apparently we had been at Village Inn last night.

“When we heard the car was found and that 3 men were arrested, I wanted to see who the culprits were,” Steve was laughing.  “Never in a million years did I think it would be you three.”

How come I couldn’t remember any of this?

“I’m just sorry I came a second too late.  You’ve got to watch out for the Provo Police; they will get you every time,” Steve said trying not to laugh.  

“Wow,” Brenden mumbled.

I looked around and it hit me: Mitch STILL was missing.

“We are glad you are all safe,” Chelsea chimed in still standing as far away from Colin as possible.

“Wait,” I stood up a little too fast.  Everyone jumped.  “In the note from earlier, you thanked the 4 of us,” I was looking at Garret Thomas.  After all, it was his initials on the not: GT.

“That’s right,” Garret answered calmly.

“4 of us….where is the fourth person?” I asked pointing to Brenden, Colin and myself.

“He left right after filming,” Steve Young answered.  It was still hard for me to believe he was somehow involved in all of this.  No one was ever going to believe me.

“Did he say where he was going?” Brenden jumped in.

“Back to the hotel,” Chelsea said keeping her eyes on Colin.

“What, that doesn’t make any sense,” I was getting frustrated.  “How was he going to get to the hotel if we didn’t drive to the audition?”

“You guys didn’t drive, he drove,” Garret looked at me confused.  "The rental van he rented for his family while they were here visiting."

“A rental van!?” Brenden looked at me in terror.  We both were wondering how a rental van was involved in all of this. “What hotel are we talking about here?”

Steve Young, Garret Thomas and Chelsea all looked at each other.  They were as confused as we were.

“Well,” I said trying to remain as calm as possible, “at least we have a good lead as to where Mitch could be.”

“Who’s Mitch?” Steve asked looking at Brenden and I.

“He was the other guy who was with us,” I answered rubbing my head.

“That wasn’t his name,” Garret said concerned.

I froze.

“What do you mean?” I asked still trying to be calm.

“The other guy you were with tonight wasn’t named Mitch,” Steve looked at Brenden, then me.  “He said his name was George.”

“GEORGE!?” Brenden and I asked in unison.  

It couldn’t be, could it?

Steve and Garret looked at each other.  Then Garret said, “Yeah, he said he was your brother-in-law.”

“He said he was our brother-in-law?” Brenden sat down right where he was standing.

“Yes, that is what he said,” Garret responded.  “In fact, he said he was visiting from Seattle for a wedding.”