Not before long, I could see the skyline of Vegas on the horizon. Specifically the Strip. A street lined with hotels, shops, restaurants, and clubs that have a bustling nightlife. It seemed shocking that an introvert like myself would want to come to such an extroverted place. But, the thing is that no one cares in Vegas. If you go anywhere in LA or Chicago or even New York and you do something strange like look slightly drunk coming back from a party, people will give you weird looks. But in Vegas, people will not bat an eyelid. It's also really nice when you want to do things out of your comfort zone. No one notices you because there will always be something weirder happening around the corner. It's fantastic.
Once we were on the strip, my face glued to the window. I was looking out at all of the beauty of the strip in the daytime. I was beaming with anticipation. Looking at all of the buildings in the daytime was like seeing Space Mountain at Disney World when the lights were on. You got to see everything that went into making this place magical at night and it was fascinating. I couldn't wait to just walk around the strip, holding hands with Joe, and taking in every second of it. It made me smile.
"Are you happy?" Joe asked looking over at me. The traffic was awful, but it allowed Joe to look at me taking in the sights.
"Yes, very," I answered. I looked over at him and leaned in to kiss him. I caressed his face with my hand until I pulled away from the quick kiss.
"Me too," He said with a smile. I could see our hotel coming up. A big green and black building that was shaped like a plus sign. It was one of the biggest hotels on the strip, possibly THE biggest. But, I didn't care. All I cared about was the fact that this was the hotel I always stayed at and it was Hollywood themed. It was something I always liked. We swung around the hotel to park in its parking garage. We had paid for a pass that allowed us to park there for the four days we were there.
After 20 minutes of looking, we found a spot and started unloading our bags from the car. We didn't have that many, just one bag each, and we made our way into the elevator and into the lobby. Before we left the elevator, Joe put on his Yankees Baseball cap along with his sunglasses he was wearing in the car.
"Going in incognito?" I asked. He looked like he was trying to hide, which in a way made him stand out.
"You know it, babe," He said fixing his hat to be the perfect angle. I shrugged at him and the elevator doors opened. We walked up to the front desk, Joe slightly in front of me and I waited for him to check us in. I was looking around trying to take in the sights I had seen before, but it all seemed so new. Like a new aura was around the place. It felt happier and lighter. I couldn't explain it, but I liked it. While I was standing there, I heard a voice come up from behind me calling my name.
"Julie?" I turned around to face the person. A girl, no older than college-aged, had her mouth open. She was with a group of friends, but none of them seemed to have noticed she stopped. She was wearing a light blue crop top and some black high-waisted shorts along with some black converse. Her blonde hair was slightly curled at the ends and she had a lot of makeup on, but it suited her.
"Yes?" I replied in shock. I didn't expect to be noticed here. I've been approached and noticed before, but for some reason, I didn't expect it here.
"OMG. I watch your channel and your voice is amazing. I've been watching you for forever! How's LA?" She seemed excited, but she also wanted to not seem that excited. Like this was a normal occurrence for her.
"LA is great," I replied. I took my hand off my bag and I was talking with my hands, trying to emulate her excitement. "Still a couple things to get used to, but I'm getting there," I gave her a small laugh.
"What are you doing here?" I snapped back to reality and realized where I was.
"Oh, it's my birthday tomorrow. So, I came out here to celebrate." She raised her eyebrow at me, then both of them.
"I didn't know you were a partier." She seemed proud that she knew this fact.
"Oh, I'm not. Not in the slightest. But, I like the sights and all the things you can do here." There was a small pause like I had let her down. I mean, what did she expect from a YouTuber. The name practically screams introvert. An extrovert wouldn't spend hours and hours in their house making videos for strangers to see. They would be out partying. That wasn't me.
"Do you mind if I got a picture with you?" She asked, holding up her phone and trying to end the awkwardness of the situation.
"Yeah, sure. Let's do it." She got next to me and put her arm around me. She raised her phone up and took a selfie with me. I put up a peace sign as she took the picture. When she was finished, she pulled away from me and reached out her hand for me to shake.
"I'm Paige, by the way." I took her hand and shook it.
"It's nice to meet you, Paige."
"If you need anything while you're here, like advice on where to go or what to see or anything. Like, I live in the area so I would be glad to help." She seemed very genuine and I liked that about her. "I'll tag you in this on Twitter so you'll have my handle." She pointed to her phone as she spoke.
"Ok, thank you. That's very nice." I replied, nodding my head. She looked around and noticed that her friends were nowhere in sight. She looked back at me frightened like she didn't know what to do. I felt Joe come up behind me and put his arm across my shoulder. I pointed to the door for Paige. "I think I saw them go that way," I answered. Paige's face lowered into a smile as she realized that Joe was with me. She looked at me and I put my finger up to my lips, shushing her. Her face became frightened again and she waved to me before she ran off to find her friends.
"And who was that?" Joe asked.
"A fan. You're not the only one with fans, you know," I tapped the brim of his hat making it fall into his eyes a bit more. He fixed it and then quickly grabbed my waist, trying to tickle it in retaliation. I pushed his hands away. "What floor are we on?" I asked through my giggling.
"24th." He answered holding up the room keys. I clapped quietly and we made our way to the elevator to go up to our floor. We ended up getting into an elevator with a family. A couple and 2 kids. They seemed like a sweet family and we said hello and smiled at them and exchanged pleasantries. They pressed the button for the 17thfloor and we pressed ours. We waited in the elevator, listening to the music playing softly from a speaker above us.
I was looking at the kids who were playing with each other. They couldn't have been more than ten. They were adorable. I had always wanted kids. Maybe even with Joe, but it was way too early to bring it up to him in my mind. I could feel the doors open next to me. And I watched the parents wrangle the kids to leave the elevator. I never took my eyes off the adorable children, until I heard Joe speak.
"You've got to be kidding me." I look up at him and he's looking past the elevator doors.
"What is it?" I asked before looking to see what he was looking at. My face turned into a smile. "Oh," I squeaked, slapping my hand over my mouth and putting my other hand on Joe's bicep. Right in front of the opening of the elevator doors was a movie still hanging in a picture frame. It was from Jurassic Park. More specifically, it was the scene where Joe and the two archeologists were surrounding a sick triceratops. I looked up a Joe with a huge smile on my face. "Life finds a way?" I shrugged and he threw his head back as he sighed.
"What a terribly perfect joke." He said, still looking at the ceiling as the elevator doors closed in front of us. I stayed in that position, holding onto him until he hit our floor. When the doors opened, we were hoping there wasn't another movie still from something Joe was in. Thankfully, it was just a picture of Marilyn Monroe. We grabbed our bags and walked to our hotel room. A room that I knew nothing about. Joe wanted to be in charge of booking it, and I didn't complain. We walked down the hallway for what felt like forever before we hit the very last room.
"Is this it?" I asked. Joe nodded his head. He grabbed the keys out of his pocket and opened the door slowly. What I saw in front of me was like nothing I had ever seen before. A huge room with one entire wall made out of windows. A table that sat about eight, a kitchen area, a white couch with off-white carpet covering the whole room. A coffee table, a huge TV, and a separate bedroom. I left my bag by the door as I investigated the bedroom. The bed was a king size with white sheets and covers. There was a television and a dresser near the front of the room. There was another window with the curtains closed. They were a shade of deep blue. There was also a master bathroom with a huge bathtub, separate sinks, and a shower bigger than the bathroom in my apartment, it seemed.
I left the bedroom and made my way back into the living room/kitchen area. Joe was waiting there with his arms open, presenting the room to me.
"Happy birthday." He said in a soft voice. I ran over to him and threw off his sunglasses and hat. I kissed him with as much passion as I could muster. Our lips hitting each other with such force that I couldn't believe we didn't hurt each other. Joe's hands made their ways to my waist and moved his thumbs up and down as we kissed. My arms were over his shoulders with one hand running through his hair and pulling him deeper into our kisses. He pulled away. "I take it you like it." He laughed. He was too amazing for me to handle. I kissed him again and he smiled through it before pulling away again. "I want something to drink, do you want anything?"
He moved over to the kitchen and he put his bag into the counter. He pulled out a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses that he must have brought from home.
"It's, like 5:30. You want to drink already?" I asked moving closer to the counter.
"Well, I thought that maybe tonight, I could take you out. I know you really don't like to party, but it's your birthday tomorrow. So, I thought you might want to..." He shrugged. "Go wild?" I chuckled. He seemed really nervous bringing this up. "Come on. You're telling me that you never want to let loose again?"
"I'm not saying that. I just haven't done it in a long time. I don't like not feeling in control of what I do." I was still smiling. The thought of getting drunk right before my birthday did seem fun. Especially because it would mean that we would probably take tomorrow easy with my hangover. It was intriguing.
"I'll be with you the whole time. And I won't get drunk. It's your night if you want it." He held up the bottle and placed it on the counter. "It's totally up to you."
"Where would we go?" I asked, staring at the bottle on the counter.
"There's a club a couple buildings over that's supposed to be really fun." He was speaking softly as he came around the counter to me. He grabbed me by my hips and pulled me gently closer to him.
"What would you expect me to wear? None of my clothes are 'clubbing' clothes." I made air quotes with my fingers. "And even if I did have some, I didn't bring them with." I put one hand on his arm and started rubbing up and down. It was becoming a bit of a nervous tick when he held me like this.
"That was the other part of your present." I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Remember when I said I didn't want anything fancy for Valentine's Day?" He nodded. "What happened to that?" I asked through some nervous laughter.
"That was just for Valentine's Day. I get to spoil you every other day of the year because that's what I want to do." He pulled me in a bit closer.
"You didn't tell me what you want me to wear," I said, trying to get us back on topic. He took one hand off my hip and he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a credit card.
"This is a card that has about $1,000 on it." I let go of his arm and tried to back away. This was too much. It was too big of a gift. "It's okay." He took the remaining hand off my hip and planted it on my cheek. I held his hand there for comfort. "Look, you're going to take this and buy something to wear tonight. Whatever you want. You can spend all of this money or one dollar of it, I don't care. It's yours. I love you." He held it out in front of me until I reached down to take it. His hand was still on my face. He leaned down next to my ear and whispered, "I know whatever you pick will look sexy as hell on you." He kissed my cheek before pulling away completely. The lack of his hand on my cheek made me feel even more vulnerable. "Go." He laughed, egging me on.
I put my shoes back on and made my way over to the door. I looked back at Joe who was sitting on the couch, as comfortable as ever. I gave him a small smile.
"Thank you," I whispered. "It's too much, but thank you. I won't let you down." My whisper turned into a normal speaking voice. I shook the card at him and I left the room. I needed to get used to that fact that Joe wanted to spoil me. He wanted me to have an extravagant life because that's what he believed I deserved. I was the only one who didn't think so.