Waking up in Vegas

I shook my head as I got into the car. I still couldn’t believe I was doing this. I never ever did things like this, especially not when it involved me calling into work claiming to be sick. If my boss ever found out that I was calling in to take a road trip to Vegas with my crazy friends for my best friend’s birthday, I would be fired in a heartbeat. But at least it was the weekend so I only had to worry about calling in for Friday. And you only live once right? At least that’s what Cassie kept telling me.

“You need to loosen up Kendall. You never do anything fun. All you do is work and read and hang out with your two gay dads,” she said as we started our drive to Vegas.

“I hang out with you more than I hang out with my dads ok Cassie? I just happen to enjoy their company, and I know for a fact that you do too.”

“Yeah, they’re awesome, but still. You never go out and do crazy things like we do,” she said gesturing to herself and our three other best friends Mallory, Jayla and Camrynn. “Remember when Camrynn got that tattoo? That was crazy and that was fucking awesome. You should do stuff like that.”

“Are you telling me that I should go out and get a tattoo?”

“No, I just mean that you just need to be more… spontaneous! Yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for. So I’m giving you a challenge.”

I rolled my eyes. Cassie gave people challenges all the time, but for some reason I was the only one who ever actually tried to complete them. I think it was because I had known her all my life and I knew that she could get really annoying if you didn’t do what she wanted you to do.

“Ok Cassie, what’s my challenge?” I asked, sighing.

“While we’re in Vegas I want you to do four spontaneous things that you’ll regret.”

“Why does it have to be something I’ll regret?” I whined. “Why can’t it just be spontaneous things that I’ll look back on and say ‘Wow that was a really great idea’?”

“Because things that you’ll regret will be way more interesting. Now don’t argue with me, it’s my birthday,” she said and the conversation was over. The radio got turned up and I was left to sit there staring out my window during the five and a half hour drive, wondering what the hell was going to happen once we got to Vegas.

After a couple stops for food and gas and bathroom breaks, we made it to the city that never sleeps. We found the hotel, and it was a good thing Mallory was driving because she was the only one out of the five of us with a good sense of direction. Of course we were staying in a fancy ass hotel in a huge suite because Cassie accepted nothing but the best. I’m just glad her father was paying because none of us really had the money to cover it.

We walked up to our room after checking in at the main desk and all of our jaws dropped in awe. I don’t think I had ever seen anything quite so amazing as that suite.

“I call the biggest bedroom!” Cassie yelled and ran off to find it. And the rest of us girls fought over the other rooms. We got all of our stuff settled in and decided to go and get an early dinner before we got all prettied up for our night out on the town.

We found a casual restaurant and sat down for a nice dinner. However, Cassie seemed to think it was more of a planning session than a dinner because she never stopped talking about all the crazy things she had planned for that night. And Mallory, Jayla and Camrynn chimed right in with their own ideas. I just ate quietly and said a “yeah” or an “uh-huh” here and there, but I was just going along for the ride.

“I vote that before we even go back to the hotel, no, before we can go back to the hotel, Kendall has to do one of her things that she’ll regret.”

“What!?” Now that got my full attention. I didn’t think she would actually reinforce this challenge and make me do the things. But apparently she had different ideas.

“Come on Kendall, I know you’re not going to do any of them unless we give you a little persuasion.”

“This is not persuasion, this is force.”

“You’ll thank us for this later,” she said in a convinced tone, but I wasn’t so sure. “So, what’s it gonna be?”

“Well, I’m not getting a tattoo.”

“What about a piercing?” Camrynn chimed in. Well, I guess none of them were on my side. But I thought about it for a minute. I kind of had been wanting to get a piercing; I was just kind of chicken. Not that I would ever tell Cassie that. If she thought that her challenges were actually helping me, then she would never stop with them.

“Yeah, they don’t hurt as bad as everyone says they do,” Jayla added. She had her nose pierced and she never failed to let us know that she loved it.

“Fine, I’ll get a piercing.”

The four girls started clapping and cheering and I just rolled my eyes. At least I hopefully wouldn’t regret this one, but Cassie didn’t have to know about that.

“And don’t think you’re just getting it on your ears. It’s not gonna be that easy.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say,” I waved her off and continued eating my dinner.

When we were all done eating we piled back into the car and Mallory drove to the nearest tattoo and piercing parlor that we had entered into the GPS.

“How can I help you ladies today?” the guy at the desk asked once we walked in.

“My friend wants a piercing!” Cassie answered before anyone else had a chance to and started pushing me forward.

“Ok, what kind of piercing were you thinking?” he asked.

“My nose.” I pointed to it for emphasis.

“We can do that,” he said with what he probably assumed was a comforting smile, but it just freaked me out even more. I wasn’t really good with pain and I didn’t know how much this was going to hurt.

He talked to some other guy that worked there and they got everything set up before calling me back into the piercing room. He told me how it was going to work, the cleaning and healing procedures and asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this.

Somehow I managed to nod my head yes instead of chickening out and before I even realized it, there was a needle through my nose and there was definitely no turning back now. He put in a hoop after taking the needle out and it didn’t hurt as much as I had thought it might, just like Jayla said. He showed me in a mirror and I even managed a smile because it did look really good.

I thanked him and followed him back out to the desk to pay him. Cassie gave him a huge tip and thanked him more than I did before we left the piercing place.

“That looks so freaking good Kendall! Aren’t you glad that I’m forcing you to do these things?”

“Ecstatic,” I said in a monotone voice and she just rolled her eyes at me and walked back to the car. I followed her with a small smile on my face, and we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the rest of the birthday festivities.

I was actually getting kind of excited to find out what else the night had in store for us.

We got back to the hotel around 8:00 and everyone went to their rooms to start getting ready for the night. I had no idea what to wear and I hadn’t really packed that many “party” clothes. Actually I didn’t really own that many party clothes that would be suitable to wear on a night out in Vegas. I had dresses, sure, but not any Vegas worthy dresses.

But apparently my friends knew me well because not even a half hour later they were all walking into my room with different dresses and shoes and more makeup than I had ever owned in my life.

“Whoa guys. Whoa.”

“Pick one,” Cassie instructed me as she pointed to the five dresses that were now sprawled across my hotel bed.

“Can’t I just wear my—”

“No!” I was cut off. “Pick one.”

I reluctantly looked at the dresses that were laid out. There was a hideous pink one that I ruled out right away. There was a frilly green one that reminded me of the color of baby vomit. There was a yellow one that was kind of cute but looked way too short for something that I would be comfortable in. Then there were two blue ones that I could actually see myself wearing. I studied them for a couple minutes before picking out the dark one.

“Try it on!” Camrynn urged. So I did. It was actually really cute.

“Thanks guys,” I said.

“We’re not done yet,” Cassie said, and she wasn’t lying. They made me put on high heels that I would probably not be able to walk in. I actually liked heels but not ones that were this high. And they adorned me with more jewelry than I ever wore, and Cassie and Camrynn did my makeup while Mallory and Jayla did my hair.

“Alright, look,” Cassie said, leading me to the full length mirror in the bathroom once they were done with everything. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. I looked amazing and I rarely thought that of myself.

“Really you guys, thank you so much. I actually look decent,” I said with a smile.

“God Kendall, you really need more self-esteem. You look gorgeous, stunning, beautiful, sexy. Not decent. You’re way beyond decent babe,” Cassie said and rolled her eyes.

“Sorry that I’m not a freaking Latina goddess like yourself.”

“Oh please. But this dress looks great right?” she asked with a smile.

“Better than great. And your birthday celebration is gonna be better than great too.”

Once the girls finished getting ready we headed out for out night on the town, Vegas style. Our first stop was a casino and I was planning on just having a drink and watching my friends lose their money. I wasn’t a big gambler. But I should have known as soon as we stepped inside and Cassie had that evil glint in her eye that she had something else planned for me.

“Regret number two!” she shouted as we got to the craps table. “You’re going to gamble!”

“No Cassie! Come on, I’m already broke as it is! I don’t need to lose any money!”

“You’re doing it! It’s my birthday you can’t say no to me!”

I pouted and tried and tried to get out of it but I ended up sitting at the blackjack table with one hundred dollars in chips in front of me. All my friends were sitting around with me and they were way more into gambling than I was. They were all smiling and laughing and having fun and all I could think about was how much I needed that hundred dollars that was sitting in front of me for more important stuff. I had paid my own way through college and was up to my ears in student loans since my dads weren’t really that wealthy. They weren’t poor by any means but they just didn’t have spare money lying around to pay for my schooling as much as they wished they did.

I looked at the cards in front of me and starting thinking about Rain Man and how they got away with counting cards and I really wished I could do that because I wanted money. But I just wasn’t that smart, especially at math, and I went over on the first hand. At least I had only bet a little bit.

The hands kept being dealt and Cassie kept ordering drinks for all of us. And once the alcohol started flowing so did my cash. I was becoming tipsy and a lot less careful with my bets. I started going for more than just the minimum and my confidence grew as I won a couple hands.

I was truly on a roll and I was starting to have fun. I had almost doubled my starting amount and I think I was getting a bit smug as I got more and more tipsy. I was starting to gloat to Cassie that her plan had backfired because I wasn’t regretting this at all right now and I was about to make out one hundred dollars richer.

“If you’re on such a roll you should start betting higher amounts. It only makes sense. Then you’ll end up with even more money!” Jayla stated matter-of-factly even though I could tell that she was getting intoxicated too.

I was starting to protest but of course all the other girls, who were also on their way to drunksville, wholeheartedly agreed with her and once all of them had an idea set in their minds there was no changing it. I had tried and failed many times.

So my bets got bigger and I was still winning at first. But then I bet a hundred bucks on one hand and lost. A normal person probably would have stopped there but I was getting really buzzed by that point and all of my friends were still egging me on.

So I bet fifty bucks on the next hand. And I lost again. I only had about twenty dollars left and I wanted to leave and at least keep some of my dignity but Cassie just wouldn’t allow it. She had already lost her spending allowance so she was gambling through me. All the other girls were done too so they had nothing to do but pressure me into losing even more money.

“Come on you can’t stop now. You might win big. It could be a lucky hand,” Camrynn suggested and the girls plotted over how much I should bet.

“Just go all in! I’ve always wanted to say that. All in!” Cassie shouted and pushed my chips forward for me. Well, I guess I had no choice.

“All in,” I repeated quietly.

The dealer gave me my first two cards and I thought about what my move should be. It was really getting hard to do math when my brain was getting all fuzzy from all the alcohol the girls had been giving me.

“Hit me.”

The dealer gave me another card and I groaned loudly when it was one over the number I needed to get a 21. I busted. And I had officially gambled away one hundred dollars in Vegas.

“I hate ALL of you!” I yelled to my friends as we were leaving the casino.

Cassie laughed the loudest as all of them giggled at my obvious drunken reaction.

“That’s two down Kendall,” she said in a sing song voice.

“Yeah and I really do fucking regret that one! I needed that money!”

“It was just one hundred dollars babe,” she said like it wasn’t a big deal at all.

“Yeah well we’re not all rich like you and your daddy,” I said and immediately regretted it. In the back of my mind I was wondering if this could count as one of my four things but mostly I just felt like an asshole.

“Cassie I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean that. I’m drunk and I just lost a hundred bucks. Please forgive meeeeee!” I said and threw my arm around her shoulder. But she was laughing.

“Kendall’s drunk and she’s becoming a bitch! This is even better than I thought it would be!”

We all laughed and made our way to the club to continue on with Cassie’s birthday celebrations.