I decided it was time to go after that. I hitched a ride to the next town and, with what little money I had, bought a bus ticket to Las Vegas. I figured it was a good place to get lost. I was right. The first couple months were rough. I slept on park benches, survived off panhandling, and did my best to avoid attention. Though the town was filled with people who didn't give a rat's ass about hard luck cases such as myself, that last part was difficult, because one group of people who always cared about vagrants were the police. I was in and out of jail a lot during that time. After a while I started working. Day labor and under the table jobs, mostly. Pretty soon I was able to afford a weekly apartment. It was a cozy little rat hole with a fridge, a TV, a couch and an ugly ass clock. Home sweet home. I kept to myself mostly. It was better that way. It kept the Red away. The voices too. The changed the day I met Sarah. Sweet Sarah... She reminded me so much of Jasmine. She was beautiful like her, smart, popular. The only difference was she wasn't a complete bitch like her. Couldn't say the same for her friends, but they didn't matter anyway. I'd landed a part time gig at a liquor store a few miles from me. It wasn't great money, but it helped make the rent.
That's where I met her. Her and her two friends, Dumb and Dumber, came in one night. They were talking and laughing like idiots, and really getting on my nerves. I was about to tell them to shut their skank mouths and buy something or get out, but then I saw her. She took my breath away. Flowing red hair, sparkling green eyes; she looked just like her... I watched as her and her friends milled about the store, grabbing things we all knew they weren't old enough to buy. I could hear them talking about some party they were heading to. They were discussing their dates, and whether or not they should put out; you know, real pressing issues. Then Dumb (or was it Dumber?) saw me staring. She made a face and said, "Eew! Stare much loser?" "Sorry," I said. "I've just never seen anyone with a giant turd growing on their face. How do you deal with the smell?" This was in reference to the big brown mole she had next to her nose which I'm sure she called a "beauty mark," but looked more like a rat took a dump on her face. Her reaction said she knew exactly what I meant. She gasped, and her face turned red. She pressed her lips in a deep frown and said, "What-ever!" I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. It looked like Sarah and the other bubble head twin were having the same problem. Don't worry ass face, we're laughing at you, not with you. They went back to their shopping and I got the store ready to close. I was already open fifteen minutes later than I was supposed to be. Normally I had the joint clean and ready to shut down at ten to eleven, but love makes you do funny things. The girls were in the back by the beer cooler. Dumb and Dumber were looking at 30 packs of Natural Ice. Sarah was a few feet away, talking on her phone. She sounded like she was trying to be quiet, but she failed miserably. She was obviously talking to her date. Most of it was the goo-goo talk of young sluts being courted by horny douche bags. One thing caught my attention, though. "Yeah, I'll see you there! It's at 5400 Harris Avenue. Uh huh..." Since she walked in I'd been trying to come up with a way to see her again. She'd just given it to me. All I had to do was drive to the party, wait for her to leave, then follow her. Of course, chances were she'd be leaving with her douche bag, but I'd cross that bridge when I got to it. Sarah hung up and the trio finished shopping. They came to the counter and unloaded their cart. It was quite the impressive cache. It included a bottle of 151 and a two-liter of coke, a fifth of Jagermeister and two 4-packs of Red Bull, two 30-packs of Natural Ice, and a 6-pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade for the wuss of the party. All said they had about $130.00 worth of alcohol: the makings of one hell of a night. Before I rang anything up I asked to see some ID. Gotta be a good employee! The Bubblehead Twins stared at the floor. Sarah riffled through her purse, pretending to look for her ID. As she shuffled things around, her real ID fell onto the counter. "There it is," I said as I snatched it up before she could grab it. She looked nervous as I studied it for several moments. I looked at her, then the ID, then back to her. The suspense was obviously killing her. Finally, I looked up and smiled, cheerily said, "OK," and handed it back. All three of them let out audible sighs as I began to ring up their items. I tried not to laugh. When the last item was scanned I gave them the total. Without blinking, Sarah took out a credit card and handed it to me. The last name on the card matched the ID, but the first didn't. I figured it was her mom's. I couldn't resist messing with her about it. I swiped the card and gave it back. I bagged the items as she signed the electronic reader. When it was all bagged up I said, "Have a good night Ginger!" She let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, uh, that's just..." "Don't worry about it," I said. "You guys be safe." Then I looked over at Dumb and said, "Don't get that thing snagged on a beer can!" She gave me a dirty look and said, "Screw you!" Dumber bit her lip to keep from laughing. Sarah said, "Thank you," as they walked out the door. As they pulled out, I noted the car they were driving. It was a red 2010 Mitsubishi Montero, pretty supped up. Probably costed more than I made in a year, too. The plates said LVPRNCS, a testament to the vanity of a spoiled rich girl.
