Sorry for the lag of updates... it was late, I was tired, but I'm posting the rest of the dark this morning

24. Casino

I was shovelling in my nachos – I'd gotten an odd look from the waiter when I ordered the large meal, probably because of my thin physique – when I heard them talking about it.

They, were two men, about mid-fifties, and they were talking loudly as that age did too each other. I had been drowning out to sound, too busy trying to chuck as much guacamole, cheese covered chips into my mouth. I was in the middle of scooping up a dollop of salsa and sour cream on my corn chip when my ears pricked to what they said.

"...and you won't believe how much I won at that casino just up the block. That win you got on the pokies a couple of weeks ago, this makes it look puny."

"As if, you probably one a hundred."

"No, I'm serious; I won way more than that 257 you did."

"Let me guess, two fifty-eight."

"Higher," the first said, my ears tuned in.

"300," the other guessed, his voice still disbelieving and mocking.

"Higher," I could almost hear the other's grin.

"500," the guy's voice was very disbelieving, but the mocking was dropping.

The guy took his time before he answered, and I could hear the triumphant tone in his voice. "It's even higher than 500. I won 6492 dollars."

The other didn't talk for a while, and I slowly brought the chips to my mouth, trying to crunch it as quietly as possible. He eventually spoke, his voice incredulous. I almost wanted to turn, to see if his face was really as shell-shocked as his voice. If it was, it'd probably be a little funny to see. "You won over 6000 dollars. What are you going to do with it?"

"I'm going to double it; I'm going back to the casino tonight. I'm feeling really lucky."

"That's silly, you could lose it a..." the other guy didn't let him finish.

"Don't try and convince me out of this, I'm going to do it."

"But," the other started.

"No, don't even try or I'm going right now and you get the bill."

That shut the other guy up, and he turned the conversation to some other light topic. I stopped listening.

I thought while I shoved the food into my mouth. That guy was gambling his win. My thoughts strayed to the memory of winning that pile of cash with the guys and the dice. Maybe I could be lucky enough tonight, win that money off this guy.

I ate quickly after that, eager to get to the store. I almost choked a couple of times, but still managed to enjoy the meal. It was supremely good, and I smiled as I paid my bill. I gave a 5 dollar tip, not a heap but enough that I could spare, after all I was hopefully going to get that 6000 tonight right?

I knew the odds were against me, but I felt this was right, or my chest did, it was practically ripping out of my chest trying to get me to move faster. I chugged my lemonade down and went outside, sneaking a look at the two men. I tried to memorise their faces, knowing to follow them and join a game with the winner. I didn't know which one was the one who had won, so I had to try and quickly examine them both without full out stopping and staring. They didn't notice, so I walked out of the restaurant.

They weren't long, and I followed them from a distance as they walked to the casino. I hoped the place we were going had enough money to make good on their wins. I guessed they would, the man ahead of me was proof. It took a while to arrive, but eventually we got there.

I entered the casino, and it was exactly as you'd expect a casino to be, hundreds of slot machines, tables for card games, girls walking around in slightly skimpy costumes carrying drinks, men in tuxes, pretty much nothing new. It looked a little like you'd expect in a movie.

I found the men I'd been following at a table. One stood behind the other, not playing just there for 'moral support'. Surprisingly, he looked more worried than the man holding the cards.

I walked smoothly to the table, and took a seat in an empty chair. "Can I play?"

"How old are you?" Why did I always get that question?

I went back to work at lunch, not being able to contain my grin.

I hadn't won all the money from that man. In fact, he had gotten most of my money from what I bet. With my remaining money I had bet on roulette, and had doubled my income of yesterday. The money felt warm in my pocket, and I skipped to work. People gave me odd stares, and I poked my tongue at them.

I didn't care, I was happy, and tomorrow I would do it again, and again.

I worked all that afternoon and night. My eyes covered with the silk could look wherever they wanted, and they stared hard at Todd when he thought I couldn't see him. His eyes were a mix between ecstatic, lustful, confused, and concerned as he looked at me. I turned to him and he quickly changed his face to smile, giving me the thumbs up. I blew him a kiss and turned back to the customers.

I felt eyes on me that whole night, and kept looking up for their source. I only ever saw a vague outline in response, one that left when I blinked. This continued all night, and even in the morning of the next day when I walked to the casino.

My luck that day wasn't good. I lost most of my winnings of yesterday. I stopped when I had lost successively 34 times. It was work time anyway.

So that was my new routine, work, gamble, gamble, work, gamble and eat, eat and work, work eat and gamble and the same time, same old same old. The point was that 5 days passed faster than I thought possible, a daze and a blur of money and men.

Remember the NINJA names, she's a girl