Summer Trip
James woke up on a sunny Saturday morning full of excitement and anticipation. This was the day that he and his two closest friends would be making their long awaited road trip from Anaheim in California all the way to Phoenix, Arizona for the major league baseball All-Star game. This is not an easy ticket to get and he was thankful that his best buddy Bill’s father had hooked them up with these tickets. On top of this, their other friend Colton was able to convince his parents to let the trio borrow their RV for the road trip. They were hesitant at first, but these boys had shown all of their parents a level of maturity that had seemed well beyond their age. So although there was some apprehension amongst the three groups of parents, they had all talked together and agreed that they would allow the boys to make this trip together. After all, in another month they would all be parting ways and heading off to college.
The boys had a plan. They had already had fake IDs so that they could have easier access to alcohol for their Friday night parties. What they wanted to do was to head to Las Vegas first and then after a little gambling and partying, they would head off to the game in Arizona. Both of these stops really appealed to James and his two buddies. They loved baseball and were fans for what seemed to be their whole lives. They had already been to a bunch of Angels games this season including the recent weekend series against the Dodgers. Vegas offered something new to them though. It was an unknown that would offer memories that would stick with them forever. They knew that this could be the last trip that the three of them took together possibly for the rest of their lives. They had saved up from the previous summer until now. With their part-time jobs along with high school graduation gift money from family, they had enough to have this one last summer blowout. It would be amazing.
They had packed up and hit the road on Saturday afternoon. The plan was to hit Vegas hopefully that night. They would drive fast and hard and by making it there then, they would be able to have that night and Sunday to check out Vegas. They knew that they wanted to make the homerun derby in Arizona for Monday, but that seemed like a month away to them for now. They had found an RV park online where they could park the RV and they had already found a car rental place so they could hit Vegas in a more attractive vehicle. So there it was at some time after midnight, three 18 year-olds cruising into the Vegas strip in a Ford Mustang convertible. They felt like they were on top of the world. However, they wouldn’t feel this way for long.
The young gentlemen decided to test their luck at the Palms hotel and Casino. Part of the reason why they chose the Palms was because they knew it was owned by the Maloof family who also owns and operates the Sacramento Kings. Although gambling is frowned upon through all of the major sports, they were still hoping to bump into a couple of athletes or at least Joe and Gavin Maloof. They made it in easily and even when asked for identification, they had no problems at all. They first went for the roulette table to see if they had any luck there. Their luck at this table was pretty non-existent and they quickly moved on to blackjack. They were trying to stick together so that they could keep a track of one another and move on to somewhere else if one was doing worse than another. James had the best luck at blackjack as he finished his time there up an extra two hundred dollars.
The boys ended up playing Texas Hold ‘Em poker where Bill was cleaning up. This was no surprise to the other two as he was kind of a savant when it came to poker. He naturally was good and never showed what he had up his sleeve one way or another. They eventually stopped as Bill kept adding on to his chip stack. He was taking everyone for a ride. He felt so empowered and care free. He had never had this type of feeling before and he was certainly enjoying it. After a few hours daylight had come and he had reached five thousand dollars and his friends convinced him to walk away from the table. He felt like a conquering hero and he was the toast of the casino. They used the money to buy drinks and they decided to get a room for the night. They would split a penthouse suite. This is where they would spend their Saturday evening. Everything seemed perfect and the guys laid down for a nap. This is the last time things would be the same.
When James woke up he looked out at the sun still shining outside the penthouse window and smiled. He never knew things could be this good. He went to go wake up his buddies so that they could plan out dinner for the evening and hopefully some clubbing and dancing with ladies after that. He first woke up Colton and while he was getting James went to get Bill, but he was gone. James was a little concerned because he didn’t know what had happened to him. They didn’t even know where to look for him. They checked their cell phones and Colton had received a text that stated: GONE TO CASINO, BE BACK SOON. This could not be good. They immediately went to look for him. They didn’t see him at the tables or anywhere in the casino. They called and he wasn’t answering. They were really concerned now. They went back to the room to grab the keys for the rental, and those were gone too. They didn’t know if they should call their parents and the police. They didn’t want to get in trouble if it turned out they would be overreacting. They decided to walk around see if he would turn up.
The two boys walked the streets of Vegas for a few hours and Bill was not to be seen. They decided to go back to the hotel where they would probably alert the authorities and their parents. When they got up to the room, Bill was there and he was a little battered looking. They asked him what happened and where he had been. He explained that he had gone to play some more poker and he was doing well to start off again. A girl had come and sat by him and was flirting with him. She had mentioned that she recognized him from his play earlier and the she loved his style. They both had been drinking while he was playing and they got closer and more flirtatious over the course of an hour. She then invited him back to her room, and being the 18 year-old American male that he is, of course he was going to take her up on this. They went to her room and started making out. Things were getting hot and heavy and she stopped things and said she wanted to put on more comfortable clothes. He was feeling the drinks now and he was more than happy to see her get into some more revealing clothing. She drew all of the curtains closed to darken the room and then went into the bathroom. He laid back down on the bed and was waiting in anticipation. He lost track of time and what was going on as the alcohol had taken full effect by now. The next thing he knew he heard her voice and when he looked up to look for her, two big guys were standing over him. They immediately roughed him up and took all of his belongings. He didn’t remember much else and he assumed he was knocked out. He awoke to an empty room and empty pockets. His jewelry was gone and so was his money. He was unhappy and his friends were just happy that he was ok. He let them in on the worst news at this point, which was the fact that he had been carrying the tickets for the game on him as well. He apologized a thousand times over and the boys were not too sure what to do next. They still had some money, but very little and now no game tickets. What would they tell their parents when asked about the game? They had to figure out what they were going to do and fast.
They decided to take what little money they had left and try to win some money again at the casino. Each of them took $50 and went to a different table at the casino. Colton won an additional $30 at craps, but that was it. James lost all of his $50 at blackjack. Bill was holding his own at the poker table, but he wasn’t doing as well as he had been earlier and not even close to the night before. They took the extra $30 from Colton and added this to Bill’s pot. While there, another patron of the casino recognized Bill from his earlier success and he was invited into a high roller game taking place at the basement of a bar at the edge of town. They told the gentleman that they did not have enough money to get in and he asked if they had anything else for collateral. They decided to put up the RV as collateral. They went into the game and prayed that Bill could somehow pull this off. While there, another member joined the group and all three of the friends felt their jaw drop as he entered the room. Alex Rodriguez had joined the table and would be playing. Bill was doing well and was starting to get a real good stack of chips. He kept going and before he knew it, he had the most chips at the table. This bothered Rodriguez and his competitive juices. He went decided to raise Bill and Bill decided to go all in. Rodriguez couldn’t match Bill’s chips at this point so Bill asked if he had anything else. ARod asked if he would want his watch or something like that. Bill then shook his head no and confidence filled him as asked the ball player for tickets to the all-star game. Rodriguez agreed and they played the hand. Needless to say, Bill won. To show he wasn’t a poor sport, Rodriguez offered to host the three boys in a luxury suite and he also took them out for the rest of the night.
The crisis had been averted and the boys were able to hit Vegas and Phoenix with their new friend. He showered them with food and even helped them pick up girls at a Vegas nightclub. They enjoyed all of the MLB all-star festivities and agreed to not tell their parents and other friends all of the details. They would just take the memories of this trip to the grave with them.