49 A Whole Lot of... Everything (1/2)

I woke up to a ringing cellphone. It took me a while to realize that, as I incorporated the ringing of cellphone to the dream I was having. So it was hard for me to draw the line. However, now that I was fully aware, I threw the covers away and slowly stood up. The cellphone continued to ring.

I shook my head sideways vigorously to get rid of the residual sleep and zombie walked towards the ringing cellphone. The bright screen cut through my vision, making me blind for a moment. As I squinted my eyes to read the caller's name, it vanished. The room went silent. The screen showed six missed calls and two new texts. I unlocked my cellphone and went straight to the messages.

Text from Gian: 11, Goldlink Street, Osoyoos. You can even come to the GasMaxx gas station to meet me. Love, Gian.

Text from Trigman: U weren't picking my calls, so I had to call Kyo. We are in the casino downstairs with P.A.

They were here.

I opened my call logs and saw four calls from Trigman and two from Kyo. Before I could call them back, I received another call from Kyo.

”Hello,” I said.

”Mad, Trigman and Mapalla are here. Did you invite them? Anyway, we are downstairs at the blackjack table. Priscilla is going mad with the wins. Come downstairs.”

Saying that, she hung up.

She sounded excited, happy.

I shuffled through my briefcase and took out my best joggers and sweatshirt for this event. I went in the washroom touched up my hair, my face and applied a little bit of lipstick. Then I walked back to my clothes and took out the most comfortable bra and undies before I donned my sky-blue hoodie and black joggers. But I switched my flat sole shoes with black stilettos. Feeling like a mismatched mannequin, I walked out of the door.

Hall of the Gods really did feel like one. It had brightly lit hallway that led to the casino. It was basked in golden lights and glittery roof. But the end of the hallway, a casino basked in red waited. It was like changing realms. The air changed from relaxed to excited in a second. The huge casino was round in shape, with what seemed like million games all over. It had a fountain in the middle, with a porcelain figure carrying a huge pot, spilling water in the said fountain. Given the name of the hotel, I gave the name 'Poseidon to the huge figure.

After laughing by myself, I walked up to the bar and got myself a Lagavulin. The hot bartender retracted to the back and brought the unopened bottle. She poured me a double and I asked if she had seen the rapper P.A. she pointed me to the table she was sitting at, and I made way towards it with the drink.

There was no huge commotion around the table. Never thought there would be in the first place. I mean, P.A. is just a worldwide famous rapper. But I was more interested in the two men sitting next to her. Mapalla and Trigman. They did book the next available flights. I loved them so much. I walked up to them and casually kissed them both on the cheeks. They seemed elated at the surprising gesture.

”Hey!” Mapalla exclaimed, ”How have you been girl?” He stood up to hug me. The warmth in his arms was second to none. He rubbed my back and returned my kiss on my forehead. After he let me go, he examined me from top to bottom and replied,” You have no right to look so hot.”

I chuckled at his remarks and looked at Trigman, who also had stood up to greet me.

”How are you, child? I hope you are eating well.”

Trigman never knew how to regulate his strength, thus his hug was rugged and tight. But it was comforting. Had he grown? Or was I imagining it?

”How have you two been doing?” I asked.

”Just the regular,” Trigman replied.

”And by regular, he means lot of sex.” Mapalla chimed in.

”Shut up and go back to your seat,” Trigman pointed his harsh words at Mapalla. After getting rid of his husband, he turned back to me and said,” I'm sorry. You know he becomes loose after he is bubbly. Should have never let him get that cranberry cocktail.”

”Cranberry? I thought Mapalla was into hard liquor.”

”Yeah, he is. But when he saw this huge casino, he turned into the stereotypical Hollywood gay person. His composure is gone for some hours now.”

”Hey, big guy. Less talk, more playing,” Priscilla said to Trigman.

”Yeah, it's time you lost,” Trigman returned to his table and resumed with his game. I turned to Kyo. She was looking at us the entire time. I smiled at her. and she smiled back. She was wearing a red polka dot skirt and navy blue heals. I noticed the gold anklets she was wearing. She looked hot, glammed up and all. I went to her side of the table and bent over to kiss. Shockingly, she didn't retract like I thought she would. maybe she didn't want to cause a drama in front of everyone. Or maybe, she was become acceptable of me. I guess that was the first step in becoming her own person.

I took a seat in between her and Harman, who was stressing over her cards. I never imagined Harman to be the gambling type. I turned back to Kyo and asked if she understood what was even going on. She shook her head in denial. I replied, 'Me too' and turned my gaze at the Trigman and Mapalla. They were more invested in the game than us.

”Hey, how come nobody is fawning over our celebrity? I mean, a celebrity is sitting on the table. I thought more people would be crowding this table,” Kyo asked.

”it's not just us who is in the room,” Harman replied. ”There are mayors, painters, authors and all other kind of people playing right now. Nobody has the time to turn into a fan when they are a well-known entity themselves.”

Made sense.

The next eighty minutes passed away in a flash. It was full of surprises, gasps, laughter, shouting and liquor. So much damn liquor. It was one of those days for me when I genuinely left my tensions at the door. That was the rule of our households. But it had been rather impossible following recent incidents. So it was refreshing seeing gleeful smiles over everybody's face. Even the dealer smiled while listening to our banter. It was the evening I deserved. No, it was the evening which everyone deserved.

After spending over $250,000 priscilla finally decided it was enough and cashed in her chips. We all followed. the golden light that lit the hallway was welcoming after what seemed like an hour of optical strain. Priscilla walked in front of the pack. I noticed she was wearing her favorite color of top. Light pink paired with bell bottom denim jeans. I guess she wanted to bring back the 2000s. Harman was carrying her bag, which became apparent when she slowed her pace to match with hers, only to fish through the bag while it still hung over Harman's shoulder. The pair was followed by Trigman who was listening to Mapalla's rendition of 'Highway to Hell'. He didn't mind his off-key singing when he was seven drinks down himself. Kyo was carefully trailing behind them, careful not to trip and fall. The soft tumble and sway in her walk made her intoxication apparent.

In the end was me, not affected by the whisky at all. Or was it beer? I could not recall. The truth was that the sight in front of me was unique. I never had Priscilla and Trigman and Mapalla and Kyo in the same room before. But after a vigorous session at the casino, they seemed alright. Knowing Priscilla, I thought she must have rambled something off to them. But it seemed less like it. I didn't want to involve my friends more than they needed to be.

We all made the way to the lift. Priscilla's hands were out of the purse. I guess she was done fondling it. She had a black bag in her hands, which concerned me little. Harman pressed both buttons of the adjacent lifts and we silently waited for them to open for us. After waiting for twenty seconds, the doors went ajar. Priscilla and Harman entered in one lift, and us four entered the remaining one.

The doors closed in front of us and I pressed the button '77' on the panel. As the gears moved and we started going up, Mapalla posed a question.

”So what did happen with Brad and Amaan?”

Trigman swatted Mapalla's lips as to shut him up, but the words were already out. I was surprised but not shocked that they knew about them. I had mentioned them in passing, but never went in the details.