Chasing Rainbows

                “So are we hitting the casinos after dinner?” Isobel asked. “I want to play poker, but I don’t know how!”

Eve laughed, “don’t expect to learn here darling! This is serious gambler territory! We could watch! That’s fun!”

Angelina giggled, “don’t be silly, if nothing else I have contacts here!” They all laughed, after all Caleb Osman had made himself a bit of a nuisance since they’d arrived. Angelina had confessed over dinner the previous evening that they’d dated maybe three times years ago, but when he’d agreed to upgrade their booking, look after them, well it seemed that this favour to her was loaded with the presumption that this situation would be rekindled. But she was a formidable woman, and no one gave Caleb a chance. “Well anyway, there’s a novice night in one of the gambling rooms, so Caleb is lining up a guide to talk us through things. So that should be fun.”

They were eating sushi, after the last two nights they were planning to not have a really heavy meal, since arriving in Vegas they’d been tired and turned in really early. Full and satiated by all the amazing food on offer. Before hitting a restaurant that evening Emma had checked out her bank account balance and that feeling of nausea that was so close all the time returned with a vengeance. Even if she didn’t eat all next month she still couldn’t pay her bills, or rent. She was approaching bankruptcy, and that would devastate her father. If she returned to London and took on three more jobs it still wouldn’t be enough. Putting all her eggs in the acting basket! The most disastrous decision of her life.

So with her credit card primed and her only life line, she was throwing herself half in to the evening, but one thing was certain she wasn’t wasting money on anything she wasn’t eating or drinking. Champagne or even beer was beating gambling that was for sure. But she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. She didn’t want to upset Isobel; this was her weekend after all.

Despite her intentions and reservations, the casino was an addictive environment, and once the four had been shown to a private room, she was more than a little intrigued.

They were playing for peanuts, a few dollars here and there, Emma had played poker before, that was Damien’s thing, but none of the other’s had. And she was a little bored when they failed to fully understand the game after two hours.

                “Go play with the big boys!” Isobel insisted. Emma protested, but she was insistent. “Come on! By tomorrow we’ll be ready to play anyone! Promise!”

With slight reluctance she gathered the chips she’d won, then found a low bet table. She only wanted to play for the small bets that she’d been playing with the girls. So she ended up sat between two octogenarians and a middle aged couple, all pushing single chips out and doubling for a blind.

Winning ten dollars was still satisfying, and Emma had no intention of playing for higher stakes. So she cashed in her winnings, she’d made fifty dollars -  it could have been a lot worse, then headed for the bar. Sitting on a high stool she smiled at the barman who approached, they were all so accommodating and so helpful that it almost made spending money a pleasure.

                “Could I get a beer please? Something light?” She was all wine and champagned out!

                “Sure Ma’am.” He listed several brands.

                “Which do you recommend?” Her knowledge of US beers didn’t extend beyond Budweiser. A few moments later she was sipping on a bottle of unknown beer, which was excellent and browsing the room from the distance of her seat. It was such an industrious place, various rooms expanded from the bar, each filled with dozens of tables, set with several chairs and centred with a gaming table. Poker in one area, roulette, craps, vingt-et-un. It was all going on.

And for a people watcher like Emma it was such a fantastic place to be, especially as her winnings meant she wasn’t actually paying for her drinks as she’d won.

It was when she glanced across the bar, that she recognised a face. The blonde dishevelled hair, those blue eyes that at that moment were watching something in the distance, in the opposite direction to her.

Signalling to the barman, she asked for another beer, then ordered one for the man. The least she could do was buy him a drink, who knew what she owed him. Nodding, at her request, the barman took the second  beer across the bar to place in front of Blondie. When he looked up questioningly, the barman indicated towards Emma with a nod of the head, and when those blue eyes located her, his face lit up.

Emma smiled, a little coyly, then raised her glass in a salute towards him then took a long drink. He reciprocated then drained his glass before making his way around the bar. Dropping onto a stool next to her, he smiled again, “beer is a damn sight better than coffee anyway! Thank you!”

                “No thank you!” She offered. “I hate to think how much it cost to replace whatever I smashed this morning.”

He sighed, “honestly, it’s not that big a deal!”

Emma still didn’t believe him, but she kept quiet for a moment, eventually her curiosity got the better of her, “Are you staying here?”

He shook his head, “no, but I’m expected on a poker table here a little later. I’m in a competition. Tonight is the semi final. I win; I’m in the final tomorrow.”

She felt her eyes widen, “so you’re a good player?”

He shrugged, “I like the maths of it all,” he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “but they don’t like to hear that here, so shhh!”

                “Is it that technical then? I always thought you had to keep your face blank and bluff a lot!””

Laughing he shook his head, “I can’t believe you’ll win any games with those tactics!”

His laugh became a guffaw when she snipped, “I won fifty dollars earlier!”

                “Well, if you want to do more than steal from people in their eighties you need far more than just luck, it’s a logic thing, you know?” he gestured to the barman for two more drinks.

                “So do you do this a lot?” He was dressed far more casually than the average man in the casino, in jeans and a polo shirt, his unruly hair curling over his collar. But he had such confidence in himself as he lounged against the bar beside her.

His response was a shrug, then he took their drinks from the barman and handed her one, “I’ve got a few thousand dollars and it’s kind of my final chance to increase it!”

It sounded like an intriguing story, but he changed the subject dramatically. “So who are you here with?”

                “Best friend. It’s her hen weekend. She gets married in a couple of months; they’re learning poker in one of the novice rooms.”

He nodded, “and you’re not?”

She shook her head, “I took them all to the cleaners, then you’re right, I robbed a few pensioners through the modem of bad poker, and I was sat here drinking my way through those fifty dollar profits!”

He laughed out loud, “sounds like you’ve had a great night. Maybe you could be my lucky charm later?”

It was Emma’s turn to laugh, “Suppose I should think about it, I do owe you hugely for earlier.”

It was ages since she’d sat like this with a strange man just chatting. And it was fun. And he was a nice guy.

                “It was fine; I should’ve had a better grip on it. Anyway, my mother, who asked me to pick up the vase was expecting me to screw this up! Let’s just say she doesn’t have a lot of confidence in me, so breaking it was part of her anticipation!”

That was meant to make her feel better, but it didn’t work. She was feeling much worse. “Can’t I at least replace it? It was my bad, and I know what disappointed parents are like!”

What the hell made her say that? She barely knew this man and she was one step away from a heart to heart.

As he made to reply, his phone bleeped. Glancing at it he sighed, “I’m up...would you...?”

                “Lucky mascot? I can do that. Show me the way!”

The smile lit up his face, “you will?” Emma realised he really did genuinely want her there, and also worried that she would be anything but lucky. “I’m so sorry I don’t know your name...I’m Jacob!”

He held out a hand and she took it, “Emma.”

                “Well then come on Lucky Charm Emma! Our theatre awaits.”

It was so interesting that Emma forgot about her friends for a while. The six men played with a dealer, around a large oval table in a side room. She was allowed to sit just behind Jacob, but couldn’t see what he was doing. Though the pile of chips in front of him was building steadily. A couple of the men folded out of the game, and eventually there were just three of them. It was then she realised that her silenced phone was filled with messages from her friends.

Scribbling a note explaining that she had to abandon him, she passed it to him via one of the hostesses, then slipped out to the main casino rooms.

Her three friends had obviously given up on poker and were giggling loudly at a roulette table. They all squealed even louder when she arrived, and soon the four of them had quite an audience as they animatedly played roulette...badly.

                “So where were you?” Isobel asked between turns, she’d loaded a huge pile of her chips on 24 as she was getting married on the 24th of June, before looking up at her friend.

                “I bumped into the man I saw this morning...the vase!” She had told her friend about both the shoes and the vase man during their earlier massage. “He was starting a poker game and wanted some good luck!”

                “And he picked you?” She asked before screeching at full pelt as miraculously 24 was called.

Suddenly everything was forgotten as the four danced around excitedly. Then more champagne was ordered! They wanted to hit the basement club to celebrate, but Emma wanted to check on Jacob, she’d abandoned him, Isobel was concerned, but agreed to see in half an hour. And so the group split.

The side room was filled with tension as she walked in. There were two men sat at the table, one of them being Jacob. He still had a huge pile of chips in front of him, but the other man’s pile was looking larger.   She sidestepped behind him and retook her place on a high chair, as she did Jacob glanced over his shoulder. Relief flooded his face and he gave her a quick smile.

The next two hands were tense, and Jacob had the most amazingly serene poker face. She fought the Gaga song that flew annoyingly around her mind, and focussed on his actions. And was rewarded with him winning both hands. But the third one was ridiculously anxious. Even thought Emma barely knew this man, she was watching him gamble a phenomenal amount of money, and knew that this hand was make or break.

As the cards were turned and the bets increased Emma found herself holding her breath, this was so dramatic, and she was praying that he didn’t lose such a large amount of money. After the river was turned, she could just make out a slight ease in Jacob’s shoulders, the other man called him to the last moment. So they turned over their cards. The whole room seemed to collectively join Emma in her breath hold. As Jacob, his eyes trained on the other man’s cards watched him turn them slowly; he sighed, then gave a victorious grunt. Emma couldn’t see all the cards, but she saw the dealer start pushing the winning ships towards Jacob.

And when he turned the smile he gave her was amazing! He’d won! Jumping to his feet he stormed towards her and pulled her into a bear hug.

                “Where did you go? I lost two big hands in your absence! Then you come back and I win! You are a lucky charm Miss Emma! And you HAVE to accompany me to the final tomorrow!”