It could only be better, more exciting, right? Abbey had grown up thinking so; Lake Tahoe was beautiful, serene, and a lovely place to spend the first couple decades of your life, if you appreciated that sort of thing.

She didn't. 

Magazines. Newspaper clippings.  Radio specials. She devoured them all in a never-ending hunt for more details on the Las Vegas life.  There were celebrities, singers, actors! The money flowing into and out of the glamour spot was endless and intoxicating to the untrained eye. So, after graduating typing school out of pure obligation to her mild-mannered and now-mortified parents, she left for the lights. 

Indeed, those lights were bright. So bright that she'd had to buy black-out curtains after the first night in the apartment she shared with another cigarette girl she'd made friends with at the MGM Grand. With her looks, youth, and outgoing personality, she'd been hired immediately and had begun raking in the tips, keeping herself afloat quite nicely, as long as she didn't gamble it back into the business. It had been this way for half a year now; her parents' raised eyebrows at the thoughtful, and rather expensive, Christmas gifts she'd brought home on her solo visit had stopped all arguments in regards to coming to her senses and returning to Tahoe.

She'd had her share of dates, but on the whole, she found the local boys too eager to impress the wrong people, and the out-of-towners too...temporary. So when she turned to make another circuit around the gambling floor one night, distracted by the raggedy jangle of the slot machine next to her hitting a jackpot, she smacked right into him.

Who 'he' was, she didn't know. Blinking up at him, she stared with an uncharacteristic silence at him as he looked down on her. It wasn't an uncomfortable, awkward silence, though...far from it. A thousand words passed between them, and she knew without a doubt that HE was IT. Gripping her tray so hard that it cut into her side, she forced herself to stop gaping at him and SAY SOMETHING. Something witty. Something clever. Something profound.

"Hi."

Las Vegas was like an island where all broken and cast-off things gathered in the brilliance of artificial high society together winning and losing fortunes together with the turn of a wheel or the flip of a card. If there was ever a place for new starts and rebirths it was here, and no one ever needed a new start more than Michael did. The son of a poor clannish family who had taken the boats to the land of the free two generations earlier, he'd grown up in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City, in the mud and mire of street warfare. In an attempt to garner favor with some of the local crime lords his parents had pushed him to marry a donkey-toothed girl named Mary Mack, princess of the Bowery Boys. Michael wasn't going to be a pawn for his drunken and neglectful parents. So, one fine morning he scraped together the money for a one way ticket to Las Vegas.

His first night there, he made his way to the first casino in sight and immediately began gambling what money he had left hoping he'd win enough to spend the night in a halfway decent motel. An hour and a half later, he had lost all but five dollars and sighed as he placed the last of his money on red. When black showed on the wheel, he hung his head and spun around hoping he'd find some generous soul at the bar who would allow him to drink on their dime. Sleeping on a street wouldn't be much worse than where he was before, but it was not how he imagined experiencing Vegas.

Three or four strides into his mourning procession towards the bar, he bumped into a young woman selling cigarettes, awkwardly dipping his body to catch a pack before it tumbled out of her tray and setting it back before looking at her to pardon his inattention. He felt in that moment as if he'd seen an angel. For a moment he stood dumbstruck, mouth half open and blinking as she quickly righted herself and they stood silent for much longer than necessary, though he could have sat there forever. Eventually she spoke spoke...

While his heart tried to throw a dozen words into his mouth, his brain suppressed them and forced out the word, "Hi..."

Another second of silence before... "Oh. I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention! I was on my way to the bar... but I've just realized how stupid that is since I just lost the last dollar I have at roulette." he laughed to try to break the tension as he stared unwittingly at her, "Are you alright? Had I known I was going to bump into you, I'd have saved the money and bought you a drink..."

"My fault. I wasn't paying attention. Can't say I'm terribly sorry, though!" She said, smiling unabashedly. "Here," she said, handing him a five-dollar chip. When he looked to protest, she slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "I insist. Believe me, you're doing me a favor by taking it. Standing in the employee line after shift trying to cash out along with the rest of the waitresses and staff? Not fun," she said, rolling her eyes dramatically. Naturally, someone at one of the tables was frantically trying to flag her down for cigarettes. With a sad little sigh, she blew a curl out of her face and looked back up at...

"What's your name? I'm Abbey. I assume you're not a townie, and I never do this but, I'm off in thirty minutes. That chip ought to get you through a slow drink or two, if you care to wait?"

It was a casual offer, but she already knew instinctively just how disappointed she'd be if he turned it down. The patron behind him needing cigarettes now resembled an aircraft marshaller bringing in a Boeing during a difficult landing. With an apologetic smile, she hastily brushed past him and completed a quick sale. With another five-dollar chip between her fingers, she lifted a half smile while holding it up as she returned to him. 

"More nuisance. Gamble it for me? I'm feeling rather lucky."

He smiled as she returned from the very insistent costumer and handed him another chip, "I'm Michael. First night in actually." He pocketed the chip and twirled it in his fingers, "I'm happy I bumped into you, Abbey, you're the nicest Las Vegas has been to me so far. You look like..." an angel, a marble statue, a thousand stars, "You look like you'd bet on red. I'll be waiting at the bar to tell you how luck treated us."

As she excused herself, Michael walked back over to his table and placed the five dollar chip on the red diamond. The wheel spun and the ball skipped around the trays as Michael looked up to scan the room for Abbey who was in the blackjack pits. She looked up at him as he heard the clacking of the ball stop in the wheel. He tried to focus on the color of the tray but the wheel was spinning too fast. He glanced back up at Abbey who seemed to be watching him expectantly. Another look at the wheel revealed a red blur at the base of the tray. Michael smiled and raised his face back up to Abbey in a victorious smile, which she mirrored before moving on to another costumer.

Unwilling to risk losing the money he had and lose the chance at a drink with his cigarette girl, Michael cashed his meager winnings and made his way to the bar, taking a booth in order to keep himself from drinking until his companion arrived. It isn't the meeting of a woman that speeds men's nerves, it's the anticipation beforehand. Michael was a fidgeting mess for the next half hour as we waited for Abbey. Trying his best to look casual, yet expectant, yet calm... his knee bounced impatiently beneath the table, and every couple minutes he conspicuously peeked around the low dividing wall of the bar to see if he could see her walking the casino floor...

"Hey!" She sang as she slipped into the booth opposite him while his head was turned. The tray was gone, but the black, sparkling cocktail dress was still present and accounted for. Running her hands through her hair as she tilted her head towards the bartender, she grinned and motioned for service. 

"Free, now that I'm off the clock. So you did well? You looked like you did," she grinned at him, remembering his victory smile earlier. She cared not if he won or lost, the smile had been worth millions when she'd seen it. 

A waitress came to a halt in front of them then, and Abbey tore her gaze from the man across from her to her co-worker. "Hey Carrie! How is it tonight?"

"Oh, you know. About average. My ass is getting pinched and my tips are being swiped by the busboys. Looks like you're doing alright tonight, though," She said, sending a cheeky grin towards Michael. Abbey looked back at him herself, then, as she spoke.

"Best night ever! Can I get my usual? Double the mint? And Michael here...what do you drink, Handsome?" 

"A Manhattan, please." Michael answered directly to the waitress, who moved off from the table with a final smiling glance to Abbey.

Returning his attention to her again, Michael felt as if there was a massive pull of gravity affecting his eyes, pulling them to her. She looked completely different. The cute working girl in the casino had become a stunning young woman sitting with him at the booth with a charming grin. Perhaps there was luck left in him still.

"I did do well," he said, setting down the ten dollars in the middle of the table between them, by all accounts it was her money and he couldn't bring himself to keep her tips. "You've got a good gut feeling about luck. I'd been on a bad run before I bumped into you." he smiled at her as their drinks arrived promptly. He looked down at his drink and plucked the cherry out of it. "I've always loved the taste of a Manhattan but not so much the cherry." He dangled it playfully from his fingers, "Would you like mine?"

Abbey passed a dollar to Carrie...professional courtesy...and accepted the cherry from Michael's fingers, brushing them as she did so. Cherry was the last thing to go with a double mint julep, but any excuse felt like a good one. She toyed with it as his words fell across the table at her, in direct contradiction to his easy smile.

"What possible bad luck could you have run into? Was your plane late? Did some careless waitress burn your toast this morning?" She winked, using the spoon in her drink to smash the mint leaves against the side of the glass to release the flavor before taking a sip as Michael raised his as well. When he began speaking, she slowly lowered her drink to the table. As his story progressed, she absently popped the cherry into her mouth and listened, fascinated.

Michael nearly cringed at the question. The story wasn't at all flattering, but here she was, someone actually asking and willing to hear if he decided to talk, and perhaps that was what he needed after all...

"I left New York City to get away from some family trouble," he started, looking up at her from his drink to gauge whether that alone was enough to turn her off to him. When she didn't recoil, he continued a bit more emboldened, "I decided to come out here and make a brand new start of things. I thought I could get lucky with what I'd brought with me and find a place to stay off the winnings while I set up a life. I'd heard a lot about Las Vegas; like how a guy could show up with a couple pennies and leave owning half the town. What they don't tell you is that you can show up with pennies and leave with pocket lint." He took a nice swig of his drink to break the story a bit.

"I walked in here fresh into town and lost...well everything I'd brought with me." He paused and set his glass down on the table, "Wow." he said genuinely surprised at himself, "I'm sorry. I sure know how to kill a mood, eh?" he tried to chuckle but it came out as a pseudo-cough, "Now that I'm sitting here with you the whole experience is justified." he grinned and tipped his glass in her direction before taking another drink.

The stem emerged from between her lips, tied in a perfect knot. She absently set it on her cocktail napkin, all the while studying him. 

"I came here for very similar reasons. Well, I wasn't running from trouble. Just wanted something more...exciting? And it is. Exciting. But even that wears off a bit, eventually. I still love it here, though. The money is good, and sometimes you get to see famous people. There are shows, which I get discount tickets to, and tours...oh, you should see the dam they've just finished, it's really amazing. But my point is, you should give it more time, don't judge it by one day," she advised as she lifted her drink again. The mint was numbing the back of her throat; it was a sensation she'd developed a penchant for since arriving in the desert. By the time she'd set her drink back down again, she'd made the decision. 

"Look, I kinda lucked out, got a job my first day and a place to live on the second. I have to share it of course, I'm in no way rolling in dough, but if you need..." Was she really doing this? "Somewhere to stay..." No going back now, but she felt no regret over the words so far, "I have room. Okay that's a lie, I have A room. I also have the roommate, she's in the second bedroom. But it's a big room, mine is, and I don't mind sharing at all if it keeps you from having to return to your troubles in New York. You don't look like you deserve them," she said, a rare furrow creasing between her brows.

He was... well, he was genuinely surprised.

"Well, that sounds fantastic, and much better than sleeping on some hotel lobby couch or something," he started, "if you're sure it wouldn't be a problem, I'd be very grateful for a place to sleep."

He wasn't sure what the motivation behind her offer was. Was she feeling sorry for his situation and extending a friendly courtesy? Or something more? Still, the flutter in his chest when she spoke made the decision for him.

Honestly it was as if a giant burden had been lifted off of him. The uncertainty, at least for tonight, was gone. He offered her a smile and finished the last of his drink, setting it on the table along with the money required for their tab... paid for with borrowed money.

"So... I guess I'm following you out, then, Abbey." He ventured. In response, she stood with remarkable grace from the booth, allowing the fullness of her figure to be appreciated and gifted him a smile of her own. He rose, and they disappeared into the blinding light of Las Vegas after dark...