The story that I'm about to tell you is something that happened in Las Vegas. It is so wild and unbelievable that I still wonder if it wasn't just a dream. Before this incident never did I suspect or even imagine that anything like this could happen. However, it happened and even though I was very shocked and surprised, I was also rather pleased.
It all began when my friend Mike called and said he had something very important to talk about.
"Where's Jason?" he asked, breathing heavily into the phone.
"Right next to me," I answered lazily chewing on some popcorn. Jason and I were watching some silly movie that had a lot of hot girls in skimpy outfits.
"Put me on the speakerphone. I got something important to tell you guys."
I complied and clicked the speakerphone button.
"You're on," I said.
"Guys, Laurie and I decided to get married!" said Mike excitedly and paused. I'm sure he was expecting some sort of a feedback from us, but we didn't quite know what to say. Mike apparently didn't like the silence that followed his announcement, so he added: "You'd think my two best friends would be happy for me, but anyway... Laurie and I don't want to wait much longer. In fact we decided to get married in two weeks. In Vegas!"
That got a reaction out of us. There was a lot of "Are you fucking crazy?" and "Shouldn't you plan a proper wedding?" type of comments. Mike countered everything with how it was his and Laurie's decision and that's what they wanted. Arguing with Mike was like arguing with a wall, it always has been. We ended up calling him a lot of bad names before finally coming to peace with his rash decision. We promised him we would make it to his wedding, even though it was on such a short notice. Since Las Vegas was only a few hours drive for us, it was not such a big deal. Mike told us that he only wanted family and friends at his wedding. I told him that he'd be lucky if anyone could make it at all.
"What a fucking idiot," said Jason after we hung up with Mike.
"Yeah, but I'm not surprised. Leave it to Mike to have a crazy idea like that."
"I guess. I should see if my parents are coming to his wedding. Are you going to ask your dad?"
"Why bother? I'd be lucky if he came to my own wedding," I answered.
My dad was a business executive. That's what I told people that asked me about my father's profession. Honestly, I have no idea what exactly my father does. He's on the phone a lot, he goes on business trips often and he's almost always running from one meeting to another. He never visits me at college, so the last time I saw him was when I came back home for Christmas break. But that doesn't really bother me. I'm used to my dad being like that.
Let me give you a little bit more background on my friends and myself. Jason, Mike and I were friends since we were little. I think we first met in little league baseball - that is the first memory I have of us all together. After that we ended up going to the same elementary, middle and high schools. The three of us were best friends and we always did everything together.
Mike was probably the social of the three of us. He played on varsity basketball team in high school and was good at getting girls. He almost always was involved with one girl or another. He was the tallest, handsomest, but also the least smart one of us. He was very stubborn and very unpredictable. I guess that was the right combination to sweep any woman off her feet.
Jason was somewhat of a quiet guy. He was very levelheaded and would always think twice before opening his mouth. He was shorter than me and, I'd like to think, that he was the least good looking. That's not to say that I was Don Juan or anything like that. I would catch a girl giving me a brief glimpse every now and then. I was a little taller than Jason and a little more muscular. However, neither Jason nor I ever had much luck with girls.
Like I said the three of us were best friends. However, if I had to pick just one person as my best friend, I would probably have to go with Jason. It's mostly because Jason was my neighbor during our childhood and we were practically inseparable. We always walked from school together and stayed over at each other's houses as much as we could. Mike lived on the other side of town, so he couldn't always be there with us. He would also disappear for weeks when he was chasing some new girl. However, when the three of us were together we were always up to no good.
My parents got divorced when I was in elementary school. I don't know all the details, but my mom had an affair with some other guy. She moved away to a different state and I stayed with my dad. At first mom called a lot, but when I heard that she got re-married, I got angry and didn't want to talk to her. I got over it eventually, but it put a big divide between us. Now my mom and I talk every other month.
I wasn't really in need of family though. I always felt like I was part of Mike and Jason's families. Mike had an older brother, Andy, who would often terrorize us or teach us something stupid, like smoking cigarettes. Mike's dad took us hunting and fishing, and his mom made the best cherry pies. Jason's mom and dad were like my second parents. His dad taught me a lot of things, my own father never did. I learned to drive a car on a manual transmission, build a backyard patio and drink Budweiser along side Jason and his dad.
I loved going over to Jason's house. I think primarily because I got to see his mom. She was very "shaggalicous", or at least that's what Mike and I called her. We would often try and catch a glimpse down her shirt or at her butt, whenever we were sure Jason wouldn't notice. Every time Mike and I would talk about how sexy Mrs. Ellis was, Jason would promptly get very mad and tell us to "shut the hell up". Not that we didn't enjoy teasing our friend like that, but Jason had a sensitive nature.
Let me try to describe Jason's mom as best I can. She was very easy going. She let us do whatever we wanted. She drove us wherever we needed to go. Allowed us to stay up late and even bought us alcohol a few times. She was cool, nice and she had the looks. I always suspected that Jamie Ellis - that's Jason's mom - was one of the hot, popular girls in high school. I see those girls all the time, but they never seem to notice me. Anyway, Mrs. Ellis was in her early forties and I really have no idea what she was like back in her young years. Though I imagine she didn't look that much different. Jason's mom aged well. She had that mature, experienced and sexual appearance about her. I can't deny that she was in a lot of my fantasies when I was growing up.
