Texas Hold ‘Em (and Me)

“Just for the record.” I said as my best friend pulled me through the huge glass doors to the casino, “I’m only here because it’s your bachelorette party and because I love you.”

“Duly noted.” Rachel replied then squealed with some of her friends from work.

Rachel Vasquez and I had been best friends since elementary school when she bit Emily Meyers for pushing me off the play equipment. She was an irreplaceable part of my life and now I had to make room for her husband-to-be. Don’t get me wrong Michael Owen is a great guy and he’s a solid rock to keep Rachel tied to the ground. They seem very happy together and from what Rachel says, they have a very satisfying sex life.

Being Rachel’s maid-of-honor I’ve discovered a lot of differences in our preferences. I always knew she was more flamboyant than I was, always more talkative and more outgoing. She’d insisted that we have her bachelorette party in Vegas, bar hopping, casinos, gambling, being loud and drunk most of the night.

I would have skipped on the expenses of getting here and of being here and just went to have fun at my favorite bar in the town we lived and worked in. I would have hired a stripper or two and rented a hotel room if we didn’t want to do it at someone’s house. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just more reserved and simple.

Rachel had dragged me to the bar and I’d made my way off to the side to keep from being force-fed shots by my best friend. The only other person I knew at this party was Sasha and she loved to drink more than anyone I knew.

“Did you hear?” I heard a girl by the bar ask her friend.

Was she with our group?

“Yeah. Poor Rach. She brought that loser school friend of hers.”

Yep, they were from our group. And they were talking about me?

“I mean she did plan all this so that’s something. But I heard from Rachel basically had to tell her how to plan if for her.”

“Uhhhh how embarrassing for Rach. What she really needs to do is ditch the loser here and then we’ll have the night to party, loser free.”

They both laughed, “Yeah but who would keep an eye on us? Sasha? That loser doesn’t drink remember?”

They both laughed again and I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned and walked out onto the floor. As I weaved my way through the crowds of people either excited, mad or somewhere in between, I thought about what they’d said.

They weren’t wrong, I wasn’t planning on drinking, and where Sasha and Rachel were concerned I didn’t. If I was drunk then there’d be no one to keep the three of us in check. I wasn’t planning on doing anything crazy tonight. I was basically the designated driver of this damn party and even though I didn’t have a problem with it, it wasn’t fair to me either. I should be allowed to have fun.

Someone grabbed my hand and I turned to see it was Sasha. “Come on girl. You planned this party, you at least have to do one shot with me.”

I shrugged, one wasn’t going to ruin the night.

She moved me to the end of the bar with our shots and she glared at me. “What’s wrong?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, picking up my shot.

Sasha narrowed her eyes at me, “God, I swear sometimes I know you better than Rachel does.”

I shrugged. That was likely true, though I’d never tell Rachel that. Sasha, Rachel, and I were in the same apartment complex in college. Sasha and I clicked a little better than Sasha and Rachel did, though Rachel still considered her to be a friend. Even though I still call Rachel my best friend, Sasha was the one who got me to drink for the first time, we did weed, broke rules and she even helped me lose my virginity. Sasha was the one who was there for me more than Rachel was.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. What kind of a maid-of-honor was I? “It’s nothing.” I  took the shot and felt the tequila burn my throat. “Really. Now can we just focus on Rachel?”

Sasha shook her head. She got up and somehow picked Rachel out of the crowd of slutted work girls. Rachel looked at Sasha strangely, she’d definitely had more than one shot, “Kimmy is having her own kind of night out. I’ll take care of you sluts for tonight and make sure you get home before 5.”

Rachel shrugged, “Sounds fine to me.” She grabbed me around the neck and practically pulled me out of my chair, “Have fun Kimmy-boo. You deserve it. Your the best.”

“Have fun?” I said, patting her back begging her in my head to let me go.

She did and made it back to her friends yelling “Who’s ready to get this party started bitches!”

I turned to Sasha. Sasha? Be responsible for a group of drunk women and not drink herself? She rolled her eyes, “I’m doing this for you Kimmy-boo.” she said in a baby voice, mocking me.

I groaned and turned towards the floor. Great, now all I could do is go back to my room and empty the minibar and therefore my savings. “What do you expect me to do Sasha?”

She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and, after a moment, pointed at a card table. “Him. That guy right there in the black button-down and the suit pants, that’s your party tonight.”

I looked where she was pointing and clenched my thighs together. She had picked a gorgeous guy to be my ‘party’ for the night.

He was leaning casually on the table fiddling with a poker chip in between his fingers, his black button-down shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbow so I could see that he had some muscle on him. His hair was as black as tar and looked like he made a habit of running his hands through it regularly.

I felt the urge to run my fingers through his hair.

“I’ll go talk to him and then I’ll take these girls with me and the two of you can have some fun ok?” Sasha said smiling at my expression.

I cleared my throat, which seemed to be rather dry. “Uh, sure. Ok.”

I watched in horror and excitement as Sasha walked over and started talking to him. After a second he smiled and nodded a few times, then I had an idea. In a minute, Sasha was going to point me out and he would either say yes, or no. Right now, in my jacket, modified skirt, and black v-neck shirt. Damn, nothing I can do about the shirt.

I stripped off my jacket, set it on the chair, and took the two layers of flimsy tool that I’d sewn on the bottom of a short skirt I’d got second-hand and tore them off. Ok, so I wasn’t the best seamstress, even with a machine. When I was done I looked up to see Sasha and the guy looking at me, Sasha with a smirk and the guy with the ghost of a smile.

God, I hope he didn’t see that.

It seemed like less than a minute later before Sasha was back with a smile on her face. “I really deserve the title of your best friend way more than Rachel does.” She gloated, smiling brightly.

I rolled my eyes, “What’d he say?”

“He couldn’t say no after seeing you rip your skirt.” She chuckled.

I face-palmed, “He saw that?”

“Yep.” She said letting the p pop. “But it was cute. Don’t worry.” She reached around, grabbed the tool strips, and tossed them in the trash. Then she adjusted my shirt and boobs so that I had cleavage showing and she smiled. “Go get ‘em tiger.”

I grabbed my jacket, “Sash, you know I’m no good at these things. What do I say?”

She pulled me in for a hug, “Just talk to him, be yourself, buy him a drink. This is supposed to be fun. Just follow what your body tells you to do.” She winked and then turned to get the party ready to move.

I took a deep breath, I was suddenly glad that I let her help me do all the planning and reservations. I let out my breath and turned towards the card table.

He was looking at me as I approached. “Hey.” He said smiling.

He had a great smile. “Hi.” I just let my body move naturally and found myself putting an arm around his shoulder. He seemed almost ready for it and had his arm going around my waist at the same time. “W-what are you playing?”

“Texas Holdem” He said, turning back towards the table.

I heard screaming and yelling from the door and what sounded like Rachel calling that she loved me. I pretended that I didn’t hear her.

I had no idea how to play Texas Holdem but the guy Sasha pared me with seemed pretty good at it. I got happy and excited when he won and after he won three or four times he leaned back and turned to me smiling, “How about I buy you a drink.”

He had his hand on my back as we walked to the bar, now free from the bachelorette party. We weren’t the only ones either. Now that the girls were gone, and it was clear they weren’t coming back, there were people coming to the bar for a drink.

He ordered us two shots, checking for my confirmation which was appreciated, and then turned to me. “So, I never did get your name.”

I licked my lips, nervous habit, “Kimberly. But you can call me Kimmy, everyone does.”

He chucked, “Kimmy. It’s cute.”

I subconsciously bit my lip next. God. I was so nervous. He was so cute and I was so…. Plain. Sure people have called me cute before. I had a cute face with cheeks that looked chubby but it was really just my bone structure. I had the legs and arms of any girl who was five foot four with a tan. My hair was pinned back now but if I let it down it’d go down to my waist in its natural brown waves.

“What’s your name?” I asked, returning the question. I wasn’t really great at one on one conversation either.

He took the shot when the bartender set them in front of us. “Guess.” He chuckled after downing the shot.

“Oh, god.” I groaned, taking my second shot. That was gonna be my limit. I didn’t want to get too tipsy or anything. Had to keep up my guard, I mean Sasha did just point him out at a casino in Vegas. “I’m not really good at guessing names.”

“Humor me.” He smiled leaning towards me.

I looked him up and down then started guessing. “Brad”

“No.”

“John?”

“Nope. Do I look like one?” I raised my eyebrow but he just shook his head, “Don’t answer that. Keep going.”

I kept going through maybe four or five more names before he took pity on me. 

“If I tell you my name what do I get?” He asked smirking.

“To spend more time with me.” I said smirking right back at him. Maybe the alcohol was helping me to loosen up.

“Fair.” He shrugged, “But could I get a kiss if I tell you my name?”

I laughed, “Smooth.” I turned towards him, “Alright, but that’s just because I don’t want to guess anymore.”

He chuckled again and leaned in closer to me. My heart sped up and began to race against my ribs. When his lips were an inch from mine, he whispered, “Cameron. My name is Cameron.”

“Nice to meet you.” I whispered back smiling and leaned forward.

I really hadn’t had that much alcohol, I hadn’t even participated in the ‘pre-party party drink’ that Rachel and some of her friends thought was necessary. But when our lips met I swear I felt sparks shoot through my body.

He must have felt something too because he leaned closer cupping my face with both his hands. This couldn’t be a kiss with real feelings behind it, we’d just met, but maybe he saw me just as appealing as I did him.

After a minute he leaned back and I saw there was a grin on his face. “Want another drink?”

I licked my lips again, this time I wasn’t nervous. “Just a water.”

He looked at me for a moment before scratching the back of his neck, “Well, they gave me water in the mini bar in my hotel room. If you want to-”

He was cut off by my grabbing the collar of his shirt and kissing him. “Smooth.” I chuckled standing up and grabbing his hand.

He dug out a twenty from his pocket, setting it on the counter, and followed me, “Where are we going?”

I turned for a second to let him catch up, “You're taking me to your hotel room right?”

“It was so much easier getting you to come to my room with me than I thought it’d be.” Cameron said, his voice deeper as he backed me against the wall of the elevator. “You should be more careful with guys you’ve just met.”

Feeling emboldened by the alcohol in my system I gripped his shirt holding him close, “Maybe I feel like being a bad girl tonight.”

He chuckled, “I’ve seen my fair share of bad girls and you honey, aren’t one of them.”

I shimmied closer, “Is that what you like? Bad girls?”

He shook his head and leaned in for another kiss. This one was deep, it almost felt like he was drawing out my lust. I mean it had been a long time since I’d gotten laid. Maybe Sasha should be my best friend, she seems to know what I need more than I do.

“No. I just said I’ve seen them.” He said pulling away as we got to the 6th floor. “I didn’t say I liked them.”

He led me to his room, I held my breath as we approached, got to, then passed room 666 that had a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hanging on the handle. He led me to room 684 and within a second had slid his card in and opened the door for me.

I smiled and backed into the room, “So Cameron, you can play Texas Holdem. But can you play me?”

I could have sworn I heard him growl playfully as he closed the door, slipping the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on our door too.