Jenny and Noah and Elijah had been the three most inseparable friends all throughout high school.
They'd grown up on the same cul-de-sac and their shared geography soon determined an easy grouping all throughout the following years.
In high school, they each stood out in different but complimentary ways. Elijah filled the role of the three-sport athlete that plastered activities over every inch of his Letterman's jacket. He was jovial, well liked, and generally involved in most things worth being involved in.
Noah was brilliant. And not just book smart. Noah could seduce you with words or force you into brilliant conversation in a way that might leave you feeling startlingly awake. He captained debate team and was perpetually successful with the girls he chased.
Jenny was popular, not because she was terrible to other people, but because she oozed a sort of warmth and genuine connection that allowed her to get her way in almost every situation imaginable. She was the ASB events planner, dance team choreographer, Spanish Club Secretary, Yearbook Editor, and so many other things. She cruised through AP classes like they were merely suggestions. When something at the school needed to get done, she usually got it done. Bureaucracy folded neatly into her back pocket. She was, with eye-rolling accuracy, a classic Americana author's version of the girl next door, which only made you want to please her even more.
Growing up, her house was directly in between both Noah's and Elijah's.
From childhood scraped knees to the eventual early pangs of first crushes the three had gotten to know each other more and more over the years
There had been a couple of close calls as they grew up together, but over time the simple truth was that the friendship was far stronger than any romantic inclinations.
This was for the best though. While some people had cycled three times through their various friend groups as they aged, these three had found ways of evolving together, still finding shared zones of their expanding life-interest Venn diagrams to keep each other always entertained.
When graduation came and it was time to apply for different schools, they all ended up in the same city, both Noah and Jenny had been accepted to a prestigious private university studying slightly different disciplines, while Elijah followed in his father's footsteps to study business downtown at the family alma mater.
They saw each other when they could, usually over quick lunches or on the weekends. Jenny's on-campus dorm was walking distance from Noah's apartment so they occasionally found themselves catching a movie during a cancelled class or just generally wasting away the occasional lazy Sunday in the service of bad background television while they worked on various homework projects and upcoming projects.
One of the biggest things that had kept all three friends connected over the years was the music festivals they enjoyed attending. It was perhaps because they grew up together that the one thing they always shared was a love for a similar style of music.
In high school it had been skater punk and hip hop, and then came the alternative and the underground hip hop, and then clubs and house music and DJ's and dancing. There was weekend festival visits and the occasional insane house party where the three would let loose and catch up like old times.
It was Jenny's idea to celebrate their third full year of college with a weekend in Vegas. All three had recently celebrated their 21st birthdays and Vegas was a right of passage at this age. Both boys had gotten the group text during the last weeks of the semester and both had enthusiastically agreed.
They were all exhausted from an invigorating third year of tackling the world, and spending three days in the grasp of Vegas's desert debauchery seemed like just the sort of medicine to turn off their brains for a bit.
They met at the airport where they'd be heading towards their much-needed friend-cation.
"Don't call it that," Noah said to Elijah as they boarded their flight. "There are over 170,000 currently active words in the English language...if we're stooping to 'friendcation' before we've even started the heavy drinking I shudder to think at how far we'll fall."
The friends laughed at that and quickly caught up after seeing each other for the first time in months. The end of the semester had been cruel to all of their schedules and their dialogue had existed mostly in the worlds of text and social networking.
It didn't take long for all of the old jokes and barbs and comfort to fall back into place. Good friendships are like good books—easy to pick back up even when you've been away for a while.
The flight flew by faster than it would have normally thanks to the easy comfort they felt with each other. And by the time they had arrived in the city of sin they were mostly caught up on each other's various city existences.
They had decided to share a room at the Cosmopolitan to save money. They'd gotten a corner suite with double king beds and a large Jacuzzi tub. They'd all spent countless nights growing up like this and it would've been a waste of money to do separate rooms.
As soon as they arrived at the hotel, Jenny had excused herself to a side bathroom in the lobby while the boys took care of getting the room cards and checking in.
As they turned away from the desk they saw her emerging from the bathroom like a butterfly breaking free from an east-coast college cocoon.
They had always known that Jenny had an understated sexiness to her-it was part of her charm after all. She had dark brunette hair that she usually wore to the side with whatever various dress or romper or jeans and a sweatshirt combo that she was going with that day.
But now she stepped out of the lobby bathroom amidst the glowing flat-screen columns of the casino wearing a flared pink skirt with a bare-midriff flowered blouse tied tight. The top two buttons were left undone which revealed a lacy pink bra that matchd her skirt. Heels completed the outfit.
"Holy Fuck!" Elijah said as she approached them with a playful bounce in her step.
"I'll see your 'Holy Fuck' and raise you a 'Goddamn!'," Noah replied.
"Boys. It's Vegas. Don't act like you've never seen me dress like a slut before. Also...don't slut shame me. That's more Noah's category of expertise anyway." She said, giving his chin a playful scrunch.
"I prefer the term 'non-monogamous serial romancer'," he countered, as he slung their bags onto the bellhop cart.
"You look great Jenny, clearly all the stairs you have to climb at that two hundred year old college you attend has done wonders for those curves," Elijah teased his old friend.
