Rated: G
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.
For her 21st birthday, Rei's best friends had surprised her with a road trip to Las Vegas. "You're an adult now; it's time to do some serious partying!" Her birthday also just happened to fall on spring break of their senior year, so it seemed right to spend the week doing the serious partying that Usagi seemed so excited for.
As she stood in the smoke-filled casino though, she wasn't sure it was the best of ideas anymore. They'd just checked into their rooms and changed into fresh clothes, and Rei didn't really appreciate the idea of washing out the smoke smell from her new dress. "Don't these people know that smoking kills?" she muttered to Ami.
"Just try to enjoy it," Ami advised, smiling. "And be glad that we don't work in places like this."
"What should we try first? I've never gambled before..." Makoto was looking around all the brightly flashing lights, looking for all the world like a lost tourist in a big city - even though they probably all did.
"I don't want to do the slot machines; they're too boring," Minako piped up. "We should try the card games - Rei, you know how to play, right? You mentioned playing a lot at your internship last summer."
Rei nodded. Her roommates last summer were poker fiends, and loved playing regardless of whether or not anything was actually gambled. They deemed it unacceptable for her to not know how to play and set about instructing her on their first night living together. She wasn't particularly good at any of the games, but at least she knew the rules. "Blackjack's probably the easiest to learn. Just be prepared to lose money."
"All right, let's find the blackjack tables then." Minako was off before anyone could say a word to the contrary. By the time they'd caught up to her, she had already sweet-talked a hot young man at one of the emptier tables into explaining to her how the game worked. She winked at Rei, who could only chuckle gently as Usagi and Makoto dragged her over to another table so that she could explain the game to them.
Jadeite, as the blue-eyed blond was known to his regulars, was one of the most popular blackjack dealers in all of Las Vegas. It wasn't because they often won with him handling the cards, it was just because he was one of the most smooth talking, best looking men in the business. He knew everything about world politics, as well as the newest technology on the market, and could also strike up an interesting conversation with the people at his table, no matter what their interests.
To him though, it was a boring job, something he was only doing to make a bit of cash while deciding what to do with his future. The people who frequented his table were either rich and old or beautiful and dumb - he was starting to tire at the lack of variety. Hence, when a group of four beautiful women approached his table, he sighed inwardly. He wondered if they even knew how to play. "Hello, ladies, come to try your luck?" he asked, putting on the smile that his ex-girlfriend claimed could outshine the brightest of Vegas lights. It was a nice compliment - from an uneducated party animal, anyway.
"No, we've just come to have some fun." Rei raised an eyebrow at the dealer with the too-fake smile. She didn't even know why the dealers pretended like the gamblers had a fair chance of winning. The house always made out better, regardless of what skills the gamblers might have.
"Rei, be nice," Usagi scolded, smiling at the dealer as she took a closer look at his nametag. "Jadeite, is it? We're just here to watch her play - is that OK?" When the dealer nodded, Rei found herself pushed into a chair. She watched as Jadeite's hands meticulously and methodically shuffled the cards before dealing them out to the six people at the table.
"Rei, what do you do?" Jadeite's voice carried smoothly over the din of the room. Rei peaked at her cards before looking up at him.
"Why?" She narrowed her eyes, uncertain of why he was asking.
"Jadeite's just trying to make conversation." The kind-looking old man sitting next to her smiled as he tapped two fingers on the table, signaling for Jadeite to deal him another card. "He's great at talking while you play - knows a lot about everything. I'm a lawyer, for instance, and the lady to your right is an accountant." Rei looked over, and the pretty brunette smiled at her before taking a sip of her cocktail. "We were just talking about the recent primaries results before you joined."
"Oh. I'm actually a Poli Sci major at UCLA, finishing up my senior year. Double." She set two more chips next to her initial bet, and took the card that Jadeite gave her.
"Congratulations then," Jadeite said to her, as he began dealing to the accountant. "Do you know what you want to do afterwards?"
"I'm going to work for a law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area while I do law school at night." The lawyer was explaining the rules of the game to her friends, so she was free to meet with the other people playing at the table. Apparently they'd just happened to pick what was probably the most successful table in the room - everyone had respectable jobs and were all just down in Vegas to celebrate something or another.
The last person at the table finally said "stand". Jadeite flipped over his hole card, and started dealing to himself. A six of clubs brought him to a total of twenty, and he set down the deck, smiling.
"Push," the lawyer said, flipping over a twenty. Everyone else pushed their cards towards him, and he took their chips along with the cards. He turned to look at Rei, who seemed to be waiting for him.
"Twenty-one." Rei flipped over a ten, five and six. Someone at the table whistled, and Jadeite raised an eyebrow.
"Lucky day," he said to her, collecting her cards and counting out the chips to match her bet. "Don't tell me it's your birthday or something."
"Actually, it is." She smirked, took her winnings, and stood from the table.
"Well, happy birthday then, lucky Rei. Leaving so soon?"
"Staying after winning would only mean you'd take back what you lost," she replied, turning to look for her friends. Jadeite shuffled the cards absentmindedly as he watched her join one of the pretty blonds she'd come in with. He smiled and waved when both girls looked over, only to get a glare from Rei and chuckles from his table, which quickly brought him back to his job. She was something different, all right. He wondered if he could get his buddy Zoisite, who dealt in hotel management, to find out if she was staying at their hotel.
As he
began dealing the next hand, he realized that Zoisite was going to ask
why he didn't just ask her. Speaking of which, why didn't he? Oie. It
was going to be a long evening.