The Palms Hotel

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[[Tools from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] to Rain at The Palms]]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The guys arrived at the Palms, only for a bouncer to tell them that the club hadn't been open yet and wasn't going to open until about ten or so. They decided that since they had a couple of hours to kill that they would go grab a bite to eat at McDonald's and just walk around the strip for a bit to kill sometime and then head back to Rain when they opened up the doors.

Of course the boys couldn't be mature anywhere they went, since the second they got into McDonald's it turned into a zoo. Between them arguing over the toys, Jake whining for a milkshake. All while they flung food at each other and ate like pigs.

"OKAY!" Seth yelled excitedly, walking backwards down the Strip as he looked at the group sans Connor. "It is now ten PM. We have an hour till Rain opens. Suggestions?"

Ashton glanced over at a woman lying on the ground as they passed her, mumbling drunkenly to herself.

"Ummm... its cool walking around? Do you guys just wanna walk up and down or is there anywhere you wanna go in specific?" Antonio asked, he was content with walking around in Vegas, it was pretty fun all the lights and such.


James shrugged he really didn't care, and then they looked to Jake. As if this was all his idea and he was the unnamed leader of the group, "Um I don't know? Do you guys wanna go to another club, maybe hit the slots. Whatever you want guys, don't have to wait for me to make a decision."

"GAMBLING!" Seth announced, and with tout further ado, led the way to a gambling lounge at The Palms, conveniently near Rain.

"We're not drinking in here," Ashton advised. "We're probably going ot screw ourselves over at Rain, let's be sober -"

"And cheat. Who can count cards?" Seth asked, upon entering and ignoring the suspicious look a guard shot them.

Ashton flinched when Seth glanced at him, eyes thoughtful. "I hate blackjack," Ashton muttered, looking away quickly. "Can we just play the stupid slot machines?"

Luke had already started to drift over to a table where a poker game had been set up. He grinned at the boys and then asked the dealer if there were open seats. The guy nodded and Luke took one there, smirking to himself. He'd grown up playing cards - it made for a quiet hobby around angry parents.

Ashton hastily followed him to avoid being forced to cheat for Seth.

Jake would have went to play poker, but leave it to his five year old side to get distracted by the flashing lights of the slot machines. Antonio wasn't sure what he wanted to do, whether to go play a card game or sit at a slot machine, so he decided to walk around a bit until he found something that suited him.

James decided he'd keep Jake company at the slots since Ashton and Luke would be playing poker, although he had never gambled before so this would be a first.

"TIGGER!" Seth hollered obnoxiously across the room and Ashton groaned quietly as he sat by Luke.

"TIGGER, YO! Let's play BLACKJAAAACK!" Seth continued howling enthusiastically. He ran over and grabbed Antonio's arm, yanking him over to the table where a game had been set up. The other patrons looked horrified and the dealer smirked as Seth shoved Antonio into a seat and sat down.

"What're the odds Seth will count cards?" Luke muttered in Ashton's ear.

Ashton swore silently as he folded his hand and Luke did too. "A hundred percent."

Antonio was sure he went deaf, but then again that would be fate being nice to him for once. But to sedate Seth's hollering voice he decided to just go with him and play Blackjack.

The dealer dealt the cards, the dealer dealt Antonio a ten, his other card that was face down was an eight. He decided not to hit since he was never really that much of a risk taker when it came to games like this, plus knowing that he was sitting near Seth that Seth was probably attempting to pull a Rain Man.


James had looked to Jake, who had seemed pretty focused on the animated sounds and such from the slot machine. "So did you win anything?"

"Huh?" Jake asked out of his daze, honestly he wasn't sure if he had or not. He was too busy being distracted by the other slot machines, he was sure he was ADD at this point, "Umm.. I think I won? Or I might have lost. I'm not paying attention, you?"

"Um... I think I might have ordered a pizza." James snorted. He looked to the side and the game stated that you had to line up the four sevens to win the two thousand dollar jackpot.

Jake laughed and a women came to them dressed as a Playboy bunny, "Hey there gorgeous, can I get you and your friend anything to drink?"

Jake looked up at the blond and smirked, "Get us two Rums and Cokes." The girl nodded and winked at the both of them. James and Jake both leaned back in their seats watching the blond walk off and looked at each other.

"Man I love Vegas." James said grinning ear to ear.

Jacob laughed, smacking James' shoulder, "Hey dude, if either of us win the jackpot you know for the hell of it we should split? I mean a grand for the both of us. That would be pretty sick."

"Deal." James agreed shaking Jake's hand the waitress returned with their drinks and the both of them returned to playing the slot machine.

Seth's eyes were scanning the table and doing quick math in his head. So that was an eight there, he was sure he had all the queens...he watched other players take cards and when it was his turn, he slowed down deliberately.

The dealer glared at him. Seth grinned amiably and continued playing normally. Having a Fake ID meant you couldn't really draw too much attention.

After a while, Ashton and Luke, who had finished their poker game, which Luke surprisingly won with a Flush hand) walked over to James and Jake. Ashton checked his watch.

"Guys, we should get going, the lineup at Rain's gonna be huge and it's already ten."

Antonio glanced nervously at Seth and just gulped waiting for this hand to be over and praying that Seth wouldn't get caught and that they wouldn't be kicked out of Vegas... or end up in jail.


"Ah shit!" James cursed, he had lost about ten bucks or so to the machine and figured that maybe it was a good time to stop while he could before he lost his entire trust fund. "Yeah you're right, you done Jake? I don't think it was meant to be."

Jake watched as the machine showed him an unlucky combination, he had lost about fifteen or so which wasn't so bad but James had probably been onto something if it was supposed to happen it would, "Yeah come on... actually wait." He decided for the hell of it he'd play one more dollar, since he hadn't seen Seth or Antonio yet.

Jake stuck his coin into the slot, and pulled down on the lever. The images spun on the panel and Jake watched it as one seven rolled onto the screen, then two... three. His eyes widened as did James as they both got up from their seats staring at the machine. Then the machine stopped on the fourth seven and the screen flashed "Jackpot" as sirens went off and the neon lights flashed around the machine.

"OH MY GOD I WON!" Jake whooped, "WHOO!!"

Ashton and Luke, who had seen Antonio's fear from across the room, now glanced around, stunned. Ashton peered at the slot machine and then whooped, thumping Jake on the back. "FUCKING HELL! TWO GRAND!"

"Sweeet!" Luke commented, patting Jake's shoulder. "Now let's get out of here before yoru luck goes sour."

Seth laid down his hand at that moment, very innocently. "Twenty one," he said, blue eyes wide.

The dealer looked suspicious. Seth showed him his playing hand with laughter in his eyes.

The dealer glanced at the tense Antonio and his frown deepened. Seth swore silently.

"So we'll just grab our chips and leave now," he said hastily, standing up and grabbing Antonio's arm. he swiped at the chips in the center of the table.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" the dealer roared. Seth glared at him.

"Bro, I played fair and square," he snapped indignantly.

At that second, a woman at the table dropped her hand of cards. She cringed and picked htem up and Seth said carelessly, "DOn't worry, lady, it's over twenty-one anyways?"

She frowned at him. "How do you know?"

Seth had grabbed the chips while the dealer had turned to the woman. Seth backed up from the table, blue eyes twinkling mockingly. "Let's just say i'm a genius and leave it at that." He stepped backwards, shoving the chips in his jacket pocket and the dealer reddened in anger.

"RUN, TIGGER!" Seth announced, bolting for the exit past Jake, James, Ashton and Luke as a couple of burly bouncer types ran toward him.

Antonio yelped running behind Seth and trying to avoid the security guards, "I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT THE SLOT MACHINES!"

James cringed watching this scene unfold before him, Jake had pretended not to know Seth or Antonio as he went to collect his money he figured he wasn't leaving this damn casino without his winnings. Freaking Seth, just had to cheat in a Vegas casino.

After collecting his money, he split it in half and gave a thousand to James, "Here you go James, half like I promised. Although I'm sure my half will quickly be spent on getting those idiots out of jail." Jake let out annoyed huff stuffing his winnings into his wallet.

"Thanks bro, and yeah no kidding." James said, he couldn't believe they had won two grand.

[[Skanks from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]]

The girls arrived at the Palms, they walked through the lobby doors going towards the signs that pointed to Rain. They noticed that the crowd here was definitely one more younger, a few guys had winked at Evelyn and Ashlee as they went to stand in line to get inside of the club. Many awaiting to get in.

Ashlee had almost wished she had worn something to signify she was celebrating her birthday, but then again probably a lot of people were using that excuse. But she was a hot girl she would use this to her advantage, "Come on Ev, lets work the charm and see if we can get us to the front." Ashlee nudged her.

Evelyn simply blinked at her, confused. "You mean, hit on the aging bouncer?" she asked, somewhat amused. "Um,hell no!"

"Oh god no! I meant find some cute guys closer to the front of the line." She said inclining her head to a couple of cute guys closer to the entrance than they were.

"OH!" The light in Evelyn's eyes twinkled devilishly "Sure, I guess we could go ask if they'd let us go in with them," she agreed, following after Ashlee. She glanced back at their old spot in line, which was instantly taken by some bunch of girls. Damn, this better work!

She and Ashlee reached the group, as it turned out, of cute boys, all of whom were definitely older than 20. Evelyn glanced at Ashlee, just a bit unnerved. But this was what she'd planned to do tonight. "Okay, birthday girl," she said. "Strut your stuff since i don't have any excuse to butt in whatsoever."

Ashlee looked at Evelyn, and took off her leather jacket handing it to her to hold onto. Ashlee preened herself slightly. She took a deep breath, and put on a flirty smile and swung her hips as she did a little catwalk walk to the boys. After talking to them for a bit and batting her lashes at them Ashlee had signaled Evelyn over to the boys who were near the front.

Nothing like a push up bra and mascara to get a girl to the front of a line.

Despite her self-assurance she would be on her game tonight, Evelyn felt oddly relieved she didn't have to be the one flirting with those guys. She shook that feeling off, annoyed with herself.

She carried Ashlee's jacket over to her but kept her own on, for the time being. She needed a little buzz going, she decided, as one of the boys smiled flirtatiously at her. He was real cute, though, so she smiled back and began making polite small talk with him.

After a while of this, they reached the front and Evelyn linked her arm slyly through the guy's she had been talking to, easily slipping past the bouncer. Then again, the amount of makeup she and Ashlee were wearing...

She instantly let go of the guy and stepped over to Ashlee instead. Her eyes widened as she took in Rain's interior. For a second, she was speechless.

Not just at its decor but the sheer number of people in here. It was literally packed like sardines and the girls got jostled as they moved through the room.

A catchy drum and bass beat was blaring, bass thumping through the speakers, pulsating through Evelyn's chest and into her heart. She grinned widely and with a vague promise to meet the guys later (like hell they would) she and Ashlee snagged a booth.

"I'm glad we came early," Evelyn said. It was 11 on the dot and Rain was just opening, already crowded.

Evelyn shrugged off her leater jacket, tugging up her dress by the side a little to ensure its neckline didn't reveal too much cleavage. She wasn't going for vulgar tonight. She fluffed out her curled hair and then smirked at Ashlee. "Let's go rock that floor, Ash!"

Meanwhile, after much running along the Strip and hiding for Seth and Antonio, they had managed to sneak into the line at Rain and texted the others to meet them. Seth made a note to cash in his chips later.

Seth had a VIP pass, and they got in just minutes after Ashlee and Evelyn had. Seth cringed as he took in the huge turnout. "Fuck this. I need alcohol."

He headed for the bar and Ashton shook his head but followed him anyways. "WARM UP!" Seth announced.

"Yeah let's go!" Ashlee yelled joining Evelyn out onto the crowded dance floor as they both danced in rhythm to the song that the DJ was spinning.

Antonio followed Seth to the bar, this place was beyond amazing. Even cooler than some of the clubs back in New York. James followed suit and nudged Luke to follow them too.

Jake not wanting to be alone followed behind the guys, this place was huge! Even so it was still really crowded, people seemed to be in every corner of the place. Jake walked behind Luke, trying to not separate from them cause god knows it would probably be forever until they found each other again.

They snaked through a couple of people to get to the bar, and some guy had sort rammed past Jake. He winced as his side ached due to the impact. The guy muttered an apology and went on his way. Not like Jake could get too mad at the guy, clubs were crowded which kind of had him a little paranoid if he were to do anything in this place tonight he'd have to watch himself. Because he knew once all these guys got drunk he was on his own.

"You all right, dude?" Luke asked, glancing over his shoulder as he edged around a couple of huge guys. The other boys had all gone on and Luke hesitated for a second. The seconds he ahd looked over at Jake had cost him - the boys were nowhere to be found.

"Never mind, we're lost." Luke cringed. "We'll just find it ourselves. You planning to get trashed?"

***

The mood here was just right. Normally Evelyn hated crowds, but now everyone was too busy having fun to notice her so she was in her zone, dancing freely as she hadn't in a long, long time. She could feel her trained ballerina muscles tingling back to life and rhythm flowed naturally. "I LOVE THIS BEAT!" she yelled over to Ashlee, even though Ashlee would probably not really hear her.

Some cute brunet guy came up behind Evelyn, holding out his hand questioningly, and she grinned, taking it and letting him lead her to a slightly cleared away spot. The guy was a smooth dancer, she had to give him that, and he kept hr on her feet, moving with swift, sure steps as she tried to match his stride. She flashed him a slightly teasing smile and began to move just a little faster. The guy was probably a frequent visitor here. Didn't mean a newbie couldn't beat him.

***

"SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTSSHOTSSHOTS!" Seth was hollering, as he clinked his glass with James and swigged it back. Ashton followed suit, clinking his shotglass against Tony's while Seth grabbed another.

"Yo, where's Jake?" Seth demanded, throwing back this shot too. He reached for another from the tray the sexy bartender had set down in front of them. She smiled at him and moved away to get more.

Thank God for fake ID, he thought ruefully.

Ashlee had laughed at Evelyn, but she was glad to see her having fun. As she wandered off on her own a cute blond boy had asked her to dance, and she decided to go for it.

Ashlee danced care freely, and honestly was having a real good time.

***

Antonio shrugged, and chugged his shot. James had scanned the area and realized that Luke was missing too.

"I wouldn't worry too much if Jake is with Luke. Luke is responsible he'll watch after him."James stated, gulping his shot down.

***

Jake hadn't thought too much about it, he had had a couple of shots on the plane and he even had a drink at the casino. But his buzz had sort of worn off since then, but he didn't want to push himself if he was still on medication and then accidentally overdose or whatever.

"Kind of pacing myself, how about you?" Jake shouted over the music.

"I'm afraid if we're all trashed, who's gonna drag our drunk asses home?" Luke yelled back over the chaos. He continued shoving his way on, noticing the different crowd here. Whereas at a college party, people showed up in sweats, here, everyone, even the guys, were dressed to impress. The girls were more naked than dressed and as he and Jake walked, a few threw themselves at the boys with invitations to dance. Luke, not having had enough alcohol yet, declined and moved forward, nudging Jake along, figuring he could get back his buzz and let loose for once. But then he felt guilty. What if he got trashed and Jake got drunk too? That would end badly for the Spaniard. Already, people were jostling them roughly as they moved through the room and Jake was looking worn down.

Up ahead, Luke caught a familiar flash of black hair...wait, familiar? He stopped suddenly in hsi tracks, making Jake walk into his back. Luke stumbled a little, and his eyes remained rooted on the petite figure up ahead.

Ashlee? Of course, she and Evelyn were in Vegas. Given Rain's notoriety as a hotspot for the young and restless, it wasn't surprising they'd be here.

Wait...Evelyn....does that matter? Luke bit his lip, not entirely sure what to do. He figured there was no harm in wishing Ashlee a happy birthday but with Jake along...

Then again, Evelyn had ditched James for Jake. Why wouldn't she want to see him?

Luke glanced over his shoulder at the Spaniard. "Hey, I just saw a friend. Wait here, because if you die on my watch, Seth will kill me in gruesome, creative ways." Before Jake could answer, Luke pushed through the crowd toward Ashlee and some blond idiot she was with.

Luke smirked to himself and looked around before walking quietly up behind Ashlee. She was definitely dressed up tonight. Pity her hair was about to be ruined.

The guy and she were so busy dancing, they didn't notice Luke looming behind her.

He reached out, grinning, and in a flash, slipped his arms around the tiny girl and lifted her right off the ground away from her partner, spinning her in a dizzying circle. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEE!" he announced gleefully before setting her down gently.

***

Ashton finished his shot, spotting a huddle of girls coming toward them. Of course, with Seth and James in one spot, they soon had a lot of female attention. And these girls were mostly older than 21. Seth, after informing the girls drunkenly that Hugh Hefner was looking for his bitches, proceeded to invite them to do a round of shots with the boys.

Ashton, noticing Seth's level of drunkenness had worsened, stayed out of this round, figuring he had a wild buzz enough worked up. He grabbed one of the girls' hands and tugged her to the dance floor, winking at his brother. The girl was exotic, tanned skin, wild black hair and big green eyes, completed by a voluptuous frame and no doubt pneumatic breasts. He was definitely loving Vegas.

One of the girls placed herself boldly on James' lap and began whispering drunken sweet nothings in his ear while Seth entertained another by regaling her with tales of his accomplishments (of which there were many odd ones, even if he left out the dognapping and Jake-napping). Before too long, though, he'd stopped talking and the girl began gifting him sloppy drunken kisses in reward for his deeds. She was, Seth could tell with amusement, going commando. She confirmed this quietly in his ear.

***

Evelyn had paused to take a breather for a minute. Her cheeks were flushed and she was glad she had ditched her jacket. Her Amor necklace felt warm against her skin now. She fanned herself with one hand and the guy she was dancing with asked her, her name. She answered, "Eve," keeping up a soft sing-songy note to her voice so he was forced to lean in and listen. He offered to buy her a drink and she declined swiftly, remembering her last match with XTC.

But she was getting bored of this guy. He bragged too much about how he was a choreographer for some whatever club of hippo dancers. Or something. She'd zoned out. She wasn't here to talk tonight. He asked her for her number and she hastily gave him one to some pizzeria in Ash Creek, saying it was her cell.

"Wait, let me dial it and you can save mine when it shows up," he began, and hit the Call button on his phone.

Evelyn's eyes widened and she dove into the crowd right as the voice on the phone chirped, "Now open for the holiday season, we have Pepperoni specials! Pizza Club, may we take your order? Happy New Year's!".

Ashlee squeaked as she was lifted into the air, she almost hit the guy until she saw the dimpled smile of her best friend, "Aww Lucas! Thank you!!" She yelled hugging him again.

***

Antonio had walked off with a blond girl to dance, James chatted it up with the girl on his lap and then left with her to dance as well.

Jake stood where Luke had left him, he had pulled out his phone to see the time. It was about fifteen minutes or so until the new year. Jake tried scanning the place for Seth or any of the other guys but so far no luck. A girl had stumbled into Jake and he grabbed her to stable her, "Whoa careful chicka."

Luke returned Ashlee's hug and grinned down at her. "How's your birthday going? Where's Ev?" he yelled down to her, unable to hear HIS own voice, it was that loud.

"LADIES AND GENTS!" The DJ was booming from his stage. "WE'RE JUS' FIFTEEN MINUTES AWAY FROM 2011!!!" The crowd around them erupted into cheers and hollering. Luke felt his ears begin to ache.

***

Seth had headed for the dance floor with the girl he was with, drunkenly wondering where Jake went before the thought was shoved out of mind when the girl began grinding against him. Seth spotted James over in the crowd just as the lights overhead flickered and dimmed.

The crowd went "Ooooh," as one. Seth glanced up, distracted instantly, as flames lit up the ceiling. Or at least, it looked like it. The DJ was yelling something about countdowns.

The lights stayed low but the fire dimmed out like a teaser for its full show.

"That was sweeet!" Ashton exclaimed on Seth's right. He had ditched his dance partner and was now swigging a martini, dark eyes reflecting the dying flames as he looked upward. "FIFTEEN MINUTES!" he yelled over at Seth before heading into the crowd again.

Ashton had, in fact, spotted both Jake and Luke from his vantage point, and now made his way to their general direction. Luke glanced around and waved over at him with a grin before returning to his conversation with a pretty girl in an animal print dress that Ashton couldn't really identify from the distance between them. Besides, it was really dark anyways.

He was headed toward them when from five feet away, he realized it was definitely Ashlee.

Oh fuck!

He hesitated and then walked over anyways, finishing his glass off. "Hey, Ashlee," he siad nonchalantly with an easy smile. "Happy birthday," he added, remembering that it was still her birthday for another fifteen minutes.

***

The second (third?) guy of the night wasn't any better. Third time lucky, my ass Evelyn thought, storming away from his wandering hands after leaving a sizeable bruise on his cheek. She pushed through the crowd - and hit a railling. On the other side was more crowd after a little cleared space and she realized this was the inner dance floor.

Evelyn glanced around, saw no security watching, and leaped over the barrier toward the other dancefloor, landing on the middle-empty ground between the two dance floors. Her dress flared up in its damn layers and she hastily tucked it down when she had landed and then sauntered across the no-man's land nonchalantly, acting and looking like she belonged. This spot was excellent for people-hunting, but she couldn't see Ashlee anywhere. Ashlee would probably be able to see her though, if she was looking, because there was no one in a meter's radius of Evelyn, and she was finally able to breathe.

She freaking hated crowds.