Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine
I arrived in Vegas around 9:00PM on Thursday night. The other people I was meeting up with weren't scheduled to show up for another hour, so I found my way over to the airport sports bar and ordered up a nice, cold 48oz beer to quench my thirst and kill some time. I was in town for a friend/co-worker's birthday, celebrating with her and 25 of her closest friends. I hadn't met the majority of the people on the trip, including the handful that I was supposed to meet up with at the airport. Also in this group were the two girls that I would be rooming with for the course of the trip. I waited for their call to signify their arrival as I sat back, enjoyed my Sam Adams and took in the Sharks/Flames game on the big screen.
Eventually, 10:00PM rolled around and the bar closed up, so I made my way over to the appropriate gate. Just as I walked up, the plane began to deplane and the waiting area was flooded with people. I noticed one woman get off the plane, get out of the way of the crowd and plop her bags down about 15 feet in front of me. She reached for her phone, punched in a series of numbers and held it up to her ear. Almost instantly, my phone began to vibrate madly in my pocket. I answered.
"I'm here," said the voice, "where are you?"
"Turn around." I smiled and hung up.
I introduced myself to PartyGirl1 and we exchanged a few pleasantries. I also learned that everyone else was coming in on a different flight at an adjacent gate. We walked over to the other gate as that plane emptied out into the waiting area. Within minutes, our group was assembled and I was able to size up the crowd as well as my new roommates. I'm not going to lie; I was a little disappointed. On the beer goggles scale, they would be at the reading glasses level; not necessarily required, but definitely helpful.
There were enough of us to make a limo economical, so as soon as we got out of the airport, we all jumped into a stretch limo that was waiting curbside. Twenty minutes later, we were in the lobby of the hotel and I was loving life! The people, the excess oxygen, the cocktail waitresses, the bling-bling-bling of the machines—total elation!
The first night was relatively tame; we started off in a piano bar to get warmed up and wait for the birthday girl to arrive (her flight had been delayed). I think she finally arrived around midnight and by then, the rest of us were pretty good to go. The name of the game that night was simple; gamble and drink to our heart's (and liver's) content and not necessarily in that order.
We bounced around from casino to casino, sampling the various bar and table offerings as we went. Everyone was having a great time and all of the birthday girl's friends turned out to be really cool. I spent the majority of the night hanging out with PartyGirl1 and 2 and we all seemed to get along really well (although, at no time did I feel anything beyond a strictly platonic vibe). The night ended on the early side, probably in the 4:00AM range, because everyone was getting up early the next day to go sit out by the pool.
10:00AM came way too soon and the girls were up and about, getting ready to head out to the pool. I pulled a pillow over my head and told them I was sleeping in for a few more hours. Fortunately, they left shortly after and I was able to get back to sleep.
Sitting by the pool all day isn't really on my list of things to do when I'm in Vegas, so I decided to do my own thing for the day and meet up with everyone for dinner that night. I ended up at one of the smaller casinos, in the area of the strip that the wrecking balls forgot, right across the street from The Mirage and Caesar's Palace. I like these places the best, because all the dealers are nice and personable and they're not trying to take your money as fast as humanly possible. That, and I don't need all that Pirates of the Caribbean bullshit.
The afternoon turned out to be quite profitable for me and I made my way back to the hotel to shower and clean up some time in the evening. We had dinner at The House of Blues in Mandelay Bay. Incidentally, I have a friend who works at the restaurant, so I sought him out while we were there in hopes that he would want to meet up later. If you ever find yourself in the position to befriend a Las Vegas local, do everything in your power to do so, as it will pay off handsomely in the long run. I lucked out and he happened to be working that night; unfortunately, he wasn't getting off until 1:00AM or 2:00AM in the morning. Regardless, we made plans to hook up later in the night.
After dinner, we went up to the House of Blues Foundation Room at the top of the hotel. There was quite an impressive view of the strip, but unfortunately for me, all of the clientele were either much older or professionals, so the place didn't hold my attention for too long. It didn't take much longer for everyone else to tire of the scene, as well. They all wanted to gamble back at our hotel, so we cabbed it back down the strip.
I think we had been at the hotel no more than an hour when VegasBuddy rang me up. He wanted me to come back to the House of Blues because he would be able to hook us up there. So, I jumped back into another cab and showed up at the hotel around 2:30AM. We walked right into the House of Blues club but, by then, the place wasn't too lively and it was slim pickings with regards to the women. No problem, as VegasBuddy was my nightclub skeleton key. We tried Rum Jungle next; straight to the front of the line, no waiting, no cover.
No sooner do we walk in the door when I hear someone call out my name. I look just to my right and who do I see but LongNLean standing about three strides away.
Of all the luck. I walked up to her, gave her a hug and introduced her to my friend. There was definitely an awkwardness in the air, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as I would have imagined. She seemed genuinely interested in seeing me and we talked for a few minutes. By then, I'd realized that VegasBuddy was standing on his own, so I suggested that we take a walk around the club. As soon as we were out of earshot, I explained the situation to him, which seemed to amuse him quite a bit. For the rest of the time we were in the club, I was a little ill at ease due to the nature of the situation. As such, after a couple drinks I proposed that we move on to the next locale.
We'd run out of worthwhile bars in Mandelay Bay, so we decided to take off and check out a couple off-the-strip bars. VegasBuddy had some friends that were supposed to be at a particular place just down the street. By the time we got there, his friends were gone and the place was pretty dead. We quickly left and tried another bar a couple miles away; same story. At that point, I suggested that we just head back to the hotel and see what the rest of the group was up to.
When we arrived, it was obvious that everyone had been drinking like fish since we'd parted ways. It also seemed like the luck was spread pretty thin. VegasBuddy and I walked up just as one of the girls pulled a crisp $100 bill from her purse and bet it all on one hand of blackjack (at a $5 table, no less). She pulled a 16 to the dealer's face card. Ouch. Naturally, she busted and pretty much ended her night. PartyGirl1 and 2 were both pretty drunk and wanted to get something to eat. I was hungry as well, so I suggested that we hit up the 24-hour café in the casino. We got seated right away and ordered immediately. As soon as the waitress left, PartyGirl1 was suddenly overcome with a look of fear, excused herself from the table and hastily made her way towards the bathroom. The rest of us exchanged knowing glances around the table. All was well, however, and PartyGirl1 returned about 5 minutes later, having walked off whatever had come over her.
Our food was certainly taking its sweet time getting to the table, and PartyGirl2 started to fade quickly. Bang! All the silverware on the table jumped a couple inches as PartyGirl2 passed out and her head came crashing down on the table. She actually landed her forehead perfectly against the edge of the table and seemed pretty stable, so the rest of us just let her be. We didn't pay her any mind for the next 10 minutes or so and probably wouldn't have for a while longer if a cop hadn't suddenly appeared at her side.
"Your friend can't sleep at the table," he sternly warned.
PartyGirl1 stepped in; "No problem, officer, we'll take care of her right away!"
And with that, PartyGirl1 peeled PartyGirl2's face from the table and shook her friend back to reality. Of course, she had a nice, big red imprint of the table across her forehead. She managed to pull it together, though, and we were able to complete the meal without any other major hurdles.
After breakfast(?), VegasBuddy and I parted ways and I went back up to the room to try to get some sleep. The next morning, the plan was the same as it had been the previous day, but I woke up first and I can safely say that I was the only one in the room who didn't feel like hell. I got dressed and packed up everything since my flight was about 4 hours later. I went down to the casino, gambled for another hour, got comp'ed lunch, ate and headed off to the airport.
While I certainly wish I had more risqué tales to tell, I'd have to say that all in all, it was still a good trip. Killing time at the airport, waiting for my flight, I gave my friend (the one who'd introduced me to his co-worker's sister) a call to see if the girls from the other night would be interested in meeting up for drinks later. He said he'd find out and get back to me. Well, when I landed I had a message from him saying that they would be around and wanted to get together. Having nearly missed out on this potential opportunity the last time, I vowed to make up for it later that night.
Why do they make these things so hard to figure out?
Last Wednesday, I met up with a fairly good-sized (at any given time, there were about a dozen people present) group of co-workers and friends for Happy Hour. Since I was scheduled to fly out to Las Vegas the next night, I figured I would just have a beer or two and then head home to pack. By the time 8:00PM rolled around (I'd arrived at 5:00PM), there were still new groups of people showing up, including one of my old friends that I used to work with back in college. I was getting ready to leave at that point, but since I hadn't seen him in a while, I decided to stick around for a little while longer. It was a good decision on my part because, shortly after, he casually mentioned that one of his co-workers was going to stop by and she was going to bring her sister; someone he thought I would take a liking to.
Sure enough, the two girls showed up about 45 minutes later and, as promised, I was definitely attracted to the sister. She was probably around 5'3"-5'5", cute face, shoulder-length light brown hair, and a very nice body. She was dressed rather simply in jeans and a black shirt, but I think that added to her charm. My friend and I turned our attention to the girls immediately.
Things went smoothly, but at no point did I really get a vibe from the sister. In fact, I thought my friend's co-worker seemed more interested in me. Before I knew it, it was 10:30 and the majority of the happy hour crew had gone home. In an effort to feel the girls out, I asked if they wanted to continue the night at another venue. Both of them declined my invitation and justified themselves by claiming they had to be at work early the next morning.
Win some and lose some, I guess. It was just as well, since I still had to get my things packed up for the trip.
We said goodbye to the girls and sent them on their way. As soon as they were out of sight, my friend practically slapped me upside the head. "Man, [the sister] totally thinks you're cute and wanted you to ask her for her number."
"For someone so interested, she sure didn't show it well. No problem, just get her number from her sister at work tomorrow," I reasoned, a bit disappointed by this information of the too little, too late, variety.
"No can do; she wanted you to ask her personally."
Of course she did, why would she want to make this convenient? "Alright, we'll all have to get together again when I get back into town, then. Thanks for the info, although next time it wouldn't kill you to pull me into the bathroom or something and let me know while it's still relevant," I said, smirking.
With Vegas less than 24 hours away, there was no way I was going to sweat this minor loss. I had a city full of girls, all ready to party, awaiting my arrival.
…
Fortunately, this story does have a happy ending, but I'll have to save it for after the Vegas adventure.
