Who needed a hangover when there was utter exhaustion?
"I think I know what you need … " Heather, Sarah's maid of honor, donned a mischievous expression. "We've got another hour until boarding. Let's hit the bar!"
I withheld a groan. "Shouldn't we wait until we're actually on vacation?" I asked. "This still feels a little too close to home."
Ariana, another bridesmaid, snorted disapprovingly. "Being on vacation is a state of mind, my dear," she said. "And if you're not there already, a fruity cocktail will help you on your way."
I didn't want to become known as the serial complainer, so I followed the girls to the little bar near our gate. Did they really have to drink at the airport? It was already an expensive weekend as it was. I would be out of cash by the time we got to our hotel at this rate.
That being said, the vodka and cranberry juice did help cheer me up a little. The bill, when it arrived, knocked me back down a couple pegs, but that was another matter. By the time we got on the plane, I was feeling more or less human again. And by the time I first glimpsed the long strip of casinos and hotels through the plane window, I was starting to feel a little excited.
I'd never been to Vegas before. I hadn't been many places in general. I had always wanted to travel, but I had reasoned, in my youth, that I could do all the traveling I wanted after college. Then I'd met Sam's father and, well, the rest was history.
But here I was, flying high above America's den of pleasure and entertainment. Light flashed as the sun reflected off the windows of various buildings. I recognized a few from movies I'd seen, only adding to my excitement.
We got off the plane and found a cab to take us to our hotel. Sarah had insisted on staying at Caesar's Palace, even though my budget was more three-star friendly.
I watched in awe as buildings flashed by the cab window. The day was hot, especially considering it was October, but tons of people meandered down the sidewalks and over the pedestrian bridges on the main strip. Flashing signs and billboards advertised shows I'd always wanted to see, as well as many I'd never heard of.
"It's totally overwhelming," Elyse commented.
Elyse was the only other person on the trip who hadn't been to Vegas before. I was glad she was feeling a bit overwhelmed, too.
"You'll get the hang of it," Heather assured her. "You just have to remember that there's no way you could possibly do everything in one weekend, which is why we're not going to even try."
"Then what are we going to do?" I asked, and Heather grinned.
Sarah turned around from the front seat of the van, her expression mirroring her maid of honor's. "What do you think we're going to do?" she giggled. "Get crazy and make bad decisions."
"And eat everything," Ariana chimed in.
"I like Ariana's plan better," I joked. "I haven't eaten at a restaurant in months."
Ariana gasped. She was the youngest of the group at only twenty-four and was fully ensconced in the glamorous, early-twenties life I had always wanted. Eating out almost every night, going on a ton of dates, and always having fun. I would have been jealous, except I didn't feel like I'd missed out on all that much. I'd had Sam at twenty-three, and we'd had a different kind of crazy time, but one I wouldn't trade for the world.
"You're going to love the buffets here," Heather said. "They've got more food than you've ever seen in your life."
It all sounded a bit excessive, but hey-that was what vacations were for, right?
The cab pulled up to the doors of Caesar's Palace and my jaw dropped. I'd seen the building in movies, but the real-life experience was grander than I could have imagined.
"This is crazy!" I said.
"This is Vegas!" Sarah cheered.
We grabbed our bags and checked in at the front desk. I couldn't stop staring at our surroundings. I'd taken some Classics in college, and the statues and columns that populated the expansive space were fascinating to me.
The receptionist gave us each a map of the hotel, and my jaw dropped again.
"I could spend the whole weekend just inside Caesar's Palace," I commented.
Elyse, too, had eyes the size of dinner plates.
"There's a whole shopping district," she said. "This place is insane!"
I didn't even know where to begin. What if I got lost in our hotel and never found my way out? My dad would have to raise my son on his own, and he'd tell him stories about his mother and how much she'd loved him before she went into Caesar's Palace and was never seen again.
I was getting ahead of myself. I needed to relax.
"Let's drop off our stuff in the room and get out of here," Sarah said. "I want to go to that restaurant where they insult you."
"After that, let's go to the Miracle Mile and do some shopping!" Ariana suggested.
As for me and Elyse, I sensed we were along for the ride. I found I didn't mind. It had been so long since I'd allowed myself to get lost in anything. Maybe what I needed was to dive headfirst into this new, albeit terrifying experience.
"Let's do it all," I said.
My suggestion was met with excited cheers, and we made our way toward the elevator.
THREE
We started drinking at ten a.m.
I say "we," but it was more of a "they" situation. I hadn't expected much else from a girls' weekend in Vegas, so I didn't mind that I was the only one not imbibing. I was used to standing out from the group. Ariana and Heather were both married, Sarah was about to be married, and Elyse was single, but only newly so. I was the only one in the group who seemed to always be single, a fact I was reminded of constantly.
"Oh, he's handsome!" Ariana crooned, gesturing toward a guy with a dazzling white smile who was down the bar from us. "You should go talk to him, Skyler!"
I frowned at her. "He seems more Elyse's type."
"Oh no, I'm on the mend," Elyse chimed in, receiving her freshly filled Mai Tai from the bartender. "I'm staying away from men this weekend."
"So am I," I said. "The last thing Sam needs is for me to come home married to some guy I met while my friends refilled their gigantic sippy cups with alcohol."
Sarah groaned. "Nobody said you have to marry him, Sky. But don't you think it's time you got out of your shell a little? How long has it been now?"
"Since I dated someone?"
She nodded.
"Nobody serious since Sam's dad left."
I glanced over at the guy, who was still smiling at us. Maybe it was time for me to get back on the horse. But being a nurse and a full-time single mom made it almost as hard to date as it did to go on mini-vacations like this one. If I followed Elyse's lead, at least I wouldn't end up brokenhearted by the time I flew home.
"I can't imagine being alone for that long," Ariana said. She took a big gulp of her drink and smiled. "Roger and I can barely stand being apart for this weekend."
I turned toward the street so she wouldn't see me roll my eyes. The activity outside was a revolving door of new faces, and an endless source of entertainment for those who liked to people watch like I did.
After a while, we headed back out onto the strip and strolled down it for what felt like hours. I was baking in the early afternoon sun. Our trips indoors were brief but restoring, but then it was back out into the sunshine and onto the endless concrete boardwalk of sights and sounds.
Tired out from a long morning of sightseeing, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon by the hotel pool. I was infinitely grateful to finally get a bit of a rest-too much of a rest, in fact, because I woke up two hours later to Elyse tugging on my arm.
"I can't believe you fell asleep," she grinned.
I blearily blinked up at her. Her dark hair was plastered to her shoulders from her recent dip in the pool, and her face was pink from either the sun or the booze.
"I guess I was tired," I said.
"No kidding!" Ariana chimed in from somewhere ahead of me. I craned my neck to see her and the others drying themselves off next to the pool. "Heather wanted to draw something obscene on you in sunscreen, but I told her she wasn't allowed to."
"Good." I sat up. "Are we leaving?"
"Yup," said Sarah, wringing out her hair. "We're heading back to the suite to get ready, and then we're hitting the town."
I didn't mention how I felt like the town had already hit me. My limbs were stiff, and they complained bitterly as I stretched out my muscles. My face was hot from the sun, but I'd applied sunscreen liberally, so I wasn't too worried about burning.