Fate and Learning in Las Vegas

las vegas 
I was somewhere above New Mexico when I knew it was too late to turn back. I was flying towards Las Vegas at over 500 mph, and there was no going back. This was my first trip to the Jewel of the Desert, and I was in awe as soon as I saw the strip.
Flying to Vegas from Amarillo there is little to see, but as soon as the pilot announced that we were making our final decent my eyes were peeled, I wanted to enjoy every second, I wanted the entire trip to me remembered. I had been drinking bloody marys since our departure, and the lack of sleep from the night before plus the vodka were twisting my mind in the way that I wanted it to.
When our plane descended into Las Vegas International Airport my heart was pounding with anticipation. Could I survive this trip? I didn't know what was in store for me in the next 36 hours but I was leaving everything to chance. This was after all Sin City. What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas, unless you are me, I am a person that has to share, and my Vegas trip was one of the most indescribable events of my life.
I had made arrangements with someone to pick me up at the airport. I had known JD for a couple of years and we had our fling when she lived in Amarillo, she now lived in Las Vegas, by sheer luck I found her account on myspace.com and asked if she could pick me up at the airport. I expected nothing from her, her myspace account said that she was in a relationship, and I was not one to rock the boat. I called her cell phone as soon as our plane taxied in and she gave me directions to meet her by a Starbucks in the terminal. I walked into the terminal and my mind was blown, I had no idea where I was, or where the fuck to find the Starbucks. Vegas is a total rape of your senses, the sounds of slot machines, and the lights in the airport threw my brain for a curve. I was short two senses, but my sense of smell kicked in, as soon as I smelled coffee brewing in was just like the toucan, I followed my nose. I saw JD before she saw me, I was in awe of her beauty. It is too hard to describe the way I felt, I was nervous I suppose, she had grown up since I had last seen her, she didn't look older, just more alive. I walked beside her aquardley trying to get my bearings I had not expected to have these feelings for her. I knew that I had to keep them to myself, she was involved with someone else and there was no need to embarrass myself with awkward questions. We walked into the parking lot sharing small talk, two people trying to hide and share emotions at the same time. We got to her car.
"You want some Jager?" my heart skipped a beat, I couldn't remember if it was by shear luck she knew my weakness for the deers blood or it there was something more.
I lit my second cigarette off the butt of a smoke that I lit as soon as I hit the doors leading outside. I got into her red Saturn and twisted the green bottle of Jager open and took a short pull off the stuff, it was hot, not was I prefer, but for some reason it tasted better hot. I stared at JD though my black tinted sunglasses as she talked, trying to catch me up on what was going on with her life, I stared into her eyes as she talked, and fell deeper and deeper into her. Each and every word she spoke drew me farther and farther away from where I had been, I didn't care about anything else except being right there with her at that moment.
We drove down to the strip. Vegas is like a dream, that is the best way that I can describe it nothing seems real, yet you can touch things in this dream. The structures that surrounded me were amazing, I stared at the Luxor Casino, the pyramid on the strip, but my attention quickly went back to JD. She too amazing to look away from, all the sights, the most beautiful structures in the modern world did not compare to me in the slightest bit, I had found what I had been looking for. People always say, if you quit looking for something, you will find it much faster. I guess that is the way that it works for love. I wasn't looking for it, but it had found me.
She parked the car at Caesars Palace and we walked to the elevators and into the casino. We walked and talked. FATE had brought us together this afternoon in March. This was like a movie, our steps as we walked were totally in tune. We found our way to the Bellagio and stood in front of the lake and awaited the water show. She said that the show starts every 15 min. But it never did. We stood in front of the lake in front of the Bellagio and talked. Finally I had enough. I leaned towards her to kiss, and she did not move away, our lips met and I knew for the first time what is was like to be happy. I knew what it was like to be totally into someone. So close that I could almost feel her soul. This does not happen every day, and I didn't want it to ever end. This is where I end this story, the rest is for JD and I. I flew back to Amarillo the next day, they say what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas, not for me..... I take the memories of that afternoon and a smile comes back to my face, my heart beats a little slower. JD and I still talk, not as much as I would like, but we are both busy. We have both made promises to come see each other, but like most things in life, you don't get a second chance at a thing like this. I LEARNed a lesson in Vegas, don't cry because it is over, be happy that it happened. I hope to one day see JD again, I dream of her driving through the desert in the middle of the night coming to see me, but until now this still remains a fantasy. The best way to sum it up, the weekend was too weird and random, probalby to ever fully describe I just hope that I did this story justice, because it shall never, ever leave me.