I often envied my cousin Jason. He lived in Los Angeles, and on more than one occasion when I had gone to visit him, I had seen the people known to the rest of America as "celebrities."
Sure, living in Las Vegas has its perks. After all, Las Vegas is the craziest city in the world. Nonetheless, there are times when Jason seemed to have it all.
My name is Michael Garrett. I was born in November of 1981, about a week after Jason. I was born in Las Vegas. I've grown up in Las Vegas. And I've never seen one single famous person in Las Vegas. Oh, sure, I've
heard
about famous people being in town, but all the famous people I've seen have been in the L.A. area.
There was that time when Jason and I saw Jay Leno at the Fuddrucker's in Burbank, and then the time when we saw Michelle Pfeiffer at a Starbucks in Redondo Beach, the time we saw Tom Petty at the Macaroni Grill in Ventura... the list goes on and on. But never a famous person in Las Vegas.
That all changed one night.
It was January of 2006. My girlfriend and I had just broken up the night before, so I had a really sucky shift at work. Working as a valet at the Bellagio can be a fantastic thing much of the time - driving all kinds of exotic cars, getting fatty tips, and making a pretty good hourly wage on top of the tips - but tonight, my mind was just not on work.
When my shift ended, I wandered out to the front of the Bellagio, and stood on Las Vegas Blvd., watching the fountains. I often did this when I had things on my mind. In fact, I was so preoccupied that I didn't even notice when somebody came up and stood beside me.
"It's beautiful, isn't it," she said when the show ended. The last show had been the one set to Andre Bocelli and Sara Brightman's rendition of
Time To Say Goodbye
- not a good song to be listening to when one has just broken up with one's girlfriend. But she was right. It was a great show.
"Yeah," I agreed. Then, I thought, why not take the initiative. Turning to face her, I stuck out my hand. "Michael Garrett."
She took my hand and shook it. "Julia Stiles."
No shit?!
was the first thing that ran through my head.
As in,
10 Things I Hate About You
Julia Stiles?
But I didn't say that, because that would be rude - and right at the moment, I didn't really care who she was. "Nice to meet you," I said. With that, I turned back to face the now-dark lagoon out front of the Bellagio.
She seemed to notice my listlessness, too. "Are you alright?" she asked.
And that just got me going. "No," I replied. "My girlfriend broke up with me last night. I really thought she was the one - we were in love with each other. I thought that it was going to last a lifetime. On top of that, I'm stuck in Vegas and Gomorrah. I grew up here. I've lived here all my life. I'm sick of living here. I'm sick of being the guy that girls use and then dump because I'm not Goddamn good enough."
I turned and looked at her. She had a bit of a shocked look on her face. "Sorry," I apologized. "It's just that with so much on my mind, I needed to vent and you happened to be standing here when it happened."
"No, no, that's alright," she replied. "I don't mind. If you needed to vent, that's quite okay with me. And just based on a first impression - I disagree with your personal assessment that you're not, to quote, 'Goddamn good enough'."
"Oh really," I said. Where was she going with this?
"Yeah," she replied. "Usually, when I meet a guy, they don't make eye contact with me - which you did. They stare at my chest and then tell me just how hot they thought I was in
Save The Last Dance
, or
The Bourne Identity
, or whatever. You didn't do any of that. Unlike my date tonight."
"Did he do that?" I asked. Stupidly.
"Well, yeah," she said. "I never knew Shane West could be such an ass. I ended up getting out of his limo and storming away down the street because he was being such a flaming prick."
"I'm sorry," I answered. "That... uh, that sucks."
"Yeah, it does."
Then, with a smile forming on her face, she said, "So, where's a good bar around here?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, I think that you and I should go get plastered and toast significant others who use us up and then screw us over."
Wait a second. Julia Stiles wanted to go out drinking with me?
"Okay," I replied. "Uh, my car's up in the parking garage..."
"Lead on," she said.
When I bought the 1979 Screaming Chicken Trans Am in high school and spent an entire summer restoring it, I knew that someday there would be a moment when I would be glad that I had done so. That moment had arrived.
The moment Julia saw my car, she made mention of it. "Oh my God, that is an awesome car," she said. "I remember watching
Smokey and the Bandit
as a kid and wishing that Burt Reynolds would take me for a ride in his Firebird. And now, I get to go for a ride in his Firebird!"
"Well, except, I'm not Burt Reynolds," I replied with a laugh.