"I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol, and wild women. The other half I wasted." --W.C. Fields
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One, two, three, four, five. Five, four, three, two, HEAVE. SPASM. Where was that wallet? Roselle crawled all around the jewelry shop looking for it, but it was nowhere to be found.
"Um, ma'am?" The shopkeeper asked.
"Oh no," Roselle kept mumbling to herself. "No, no, no, no, no. Where is it?"
"You good, Ro?" asked Eliot. "Chill."
"I can't chill!" she exclaimed. "There were credit cards, and my ID, and a whole bunch of cash." Her face froze. "All the Christmas gift money was there. Michelle's gonna flip."
"Well, when was the last time you saw it?" Antonio asked.
"When I was buying pizza in the foot court." She gasped. "THE FOOD COURT!"
* * *
Roselle, Eliot, and Antonio ran down to the food court to search for the wallet, but sadly it was nowhere to be found. They asked around, and even visited the mall security to ask about things that were in the lost and found, but no one has seen it. Hours were lost searching, and eventually they gave up.
* * *
Roselle was on the phone with the last credit card company to inform them of her missing wallet.
"Okay, okay thank you," she said. She hung up.
"Well?" asked Eliot.
"I just called my debit and credit card companies to cancel those cards and change my information. The good news is that no one has used them and my credit score is still squeaky clean. My new driver's license and cards are coming in the mail. The bad news is that I lost a lot of cash." She sighed.
"Dang." The future vice president shrugged. "That sucks."
She buried her head in her hands. "Michelle and I are probably not going to be able to buy Christmas presents for everyone anymore. I'm so stupid."
"Aww, don't say that. It was only kind of stupid."
She glared at him.
"Uh, I didn't mean that," he retracted. "Well, I mean, we're all kinda stupid sometimes, right? Anyway, you're lucky I'm here. I'm going to fix all your problems."
"How?"
"We're going gambling!" He exclaimed, throwing his fist into the air.
"No. Why do you keep trying to get me to gamble with you?"
"It's fun."
Antonio adjusted his sunglasses on his nose. "Sorry, but your grandma is strictly prohibiting you from spending more of your money gambling."
"Come on, man. Are you my bodyguard, or my babysitter?"
"You don't wanna know the answer to that," he said through slanted shades.
"Ugh." He turned to Roselle. "You really don't have any money on you? Maybe some loose change in your purse?"
"Well . . ." She hesitated, but she pulled a hundred dollar bill out of her bra. Eliot and Antonio gaped at it, then exchanged looks with one another. "This is my emergency boob money."
"Perfect. Antonio, this is her money, not mine. Can't I gamble with it?" Eliot pleaded.
The bodyguard stroked his beard. "Well, technically speaking, your grandma said she didn't want you spending YOUR money."
Eliot jumped in the air. "Yes!"
"Uh, no," said Roselle. "I haven't agreed to this. I don't want to waste my last hundred bucks on slots."
"Slots? Ha!" He tittered. "We're not going for slots. We're going for poker."
"Same thing."
"Wrong. Slots depend on luck. Poker depends on luck and skill." He dusted off his shoulders. "And I'm pretty skillful."
"I'll admit, he is good," Antonio weighed in. "But aren't you banned from playing poker at all the casinos here?"
"All the casinos except one. I've been saving this one for a special occasion." He rubbed his hands together.
* * *
"What do you mean I can't play?" Eliot asked, throwing his arms around.
Roselle had reluctantly agreed to go to the casino with Eliot and Antonio, but she was instantly regretting it. Eliot was throwing a tantrum fighting with the bouncer. Apparently, the other casinos in the area had warned that one of Eliot, and he wasn't welcome to play poker.
"Look, man," said the bouncer. "You're welcome to play machine games, but not card games. You got suspected of cheating."
"I wasn't cheating! They're just mad because I'm too good! I swear I'm gonna--"
"That's enough, man," Antonio intervened. "Let's go."
"But--"
"We'll all talk about this in private.
* * *
The trio found an empty table at the casino restaurant and sat down.
"Well, there goes that plan," Roselle said. She put her head down. "Guess I'm just going to have to face Michelle and tell her I lost all the money."
"I can still hit the slots," suggested Eliot.
Antonio smacked him. "No. Bad vice president."
His face lit up. "Hey man, why don't YOU play poker?"
"I've seen what gambling has done to you, especially before you went to rehab. I want no part in it."
"Okay, how about you then, Ro?"
Roselle lifted her head. "Me? I suck at bluffing." She shook a bit just thinking about it. "That's too much pressure."
"Come on, I'll teach you." He pulled out a deck of cards. "You said it yourself, you're desperate."
"Okay, fine."
* * *
Eliot taught Roselle how to play Texas Holdem. Over time she grasped the functionalities and concept, but there was something she was lacking.
"Man, you suck!" Eliot shouted, throwing his cards on the table. "Your face is too readable. "You happy-panic when you get good cards, and nervous-panic when you get bad ones. Noob."
She threw her cards on the table too. "Well, sorry I can't be a gambling genius like you."
Antonio sighed. "Looks like we aren't playing poker today. I'm very sorry we couldn't be of assistance, Ms. Reyes."
A bald man wearing all black approached their table. "Hey," he said, his voice raspy and thick. "I heard you guys are lookin' for a place to play poker. The casinos around here ban you if you're one of the greats, so me and my boys got our own little establishment."
"Sounds good," Eliot said.
"No it doesn't," Roselle butted in. "That sounds so sketchy. Is it in some alleyway at the crack of midnight?"
The stranger chuckled. "You're funny, little lady. Don't you worry a bit. It's at a party. A lot of people will be there." He took out a piece of paper with an address and password. "Come here if you're interested. We're only letting in people who know the code." With that, he walked away
"Come on, guys," Eliot said. "We gotta go. I can play, and we can win a whole lot of money."
"I don't know." Roselle munched on the waves in her hair. "It sounds kinda fishy. We don't even know who these people are."
"Not to mention you're the future vp of the United States," Antonio added. "It would be especially dangerous for you to go if these people were up to no good."
The future vice president rolled his eyes. "That's why you're here to protect me, man."
He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. We show up, but if it looks like trouble, we're leaving. Are you in agreement, Ms. Reyes?"
She shrugged. "Screw it. I'm in."
"YES! POKER!" Eliot jumped.
* * *
It was almost dusk when the trio arrived at the address. It was just a regular two-story house, but a lot of cars were parked outside. It really did seem like a normal party.
When they got out of their cars, Eliot rushed to the house right away and waited for them outside.
Roselle's hands were cold, and a shiver was overtaking her.
"Are you alright?" asked Antonio.
"Yeah. Fine. Are you sure Eliot is a good poker player?"
"I won't lie, he's one of the best. Still, being a good poker player won't guarantee he'll win all your money back. We can still turn back now if you'd like."
"I think that won't be necessary. I've already lost a ton of cash. What's a hundred more bucks? I'm more surprised that you're okay with this. Won't Grandma Scott freak out?"
"Don't tell Eliot this, but I texted her the address. She knows we're here."
Great. Just perfect. Everything was infinitely better when Grandma Scott was involved, wasn't it? She raised a brow. "She does?"
"Yeah. She's actually getting more of her guys to go to the party to keep an eye on him. They'll be incognito."
"I thought she wanted to contain Eliot's gambling habits."
Antonio scratched his chin. "That's what I'm confused about too. Something's not right. I think she's planning something."
"Like what?"
"That, I don't know."
Roselle and Antonio joined Eliot at the door where two guys were guarding.
"What's the password?" one of the guys asked.
Antonio approached them and cleared his throat. "Lady Luck is out with a schmuck."
The guys nodded, and opened the door.
* * *
The guards informed the trio that downstairs was the party, and the poker game was upstairs, so they wormed their way through the dancing party people to get to the stairs, and walked up to the second floor.
Eliot opened a door, and there was a heated poker game taking place in that room. He rubbed his hands together and grinned mischievously. "I'm back, baby."