"Dude, happy birthday," Dan said in his typically low-key fashion as he handed Mike an envelope. Mike was partly surprised that Dan even knew about his birthday. His friends usually didn't keep track of those things.
Still, he couldn't resist giving Dan some crap, so he replied, "You do realize that you are a week early?"
"Oh, I don't think you'll mind," Dan replied with a smug grin.
Mike ripped open the envelope as his friends watched with the same cat-that-swallowed-the-canary look that Dan had. Clearly they all knew what was inside and were looking forward to Mike finding out. "Holy shit!" Mike exclaimed. "Are these real?"
"100%, good as gold," Dan replied trying to sound cool.
"How the fuck did you get your hands on these?" Mike asked in shock.
"I know a guy who has a friend that works there, and he owed me a favor. I figured what better way to celebrate your turning 21 than this?" Dan answered.
Mike stared at the tickets in his hand again in disbelief. The bold orange lettering across the top proudly declared, "No Limits Halloween Ball". His friends all broke into happy chatter and exchanged high fives as Dan went into the kitchen to grab another round of beers.
The No Limits Halloween Ball was infamous in the college town where Mike and his friends attended school. The legends and stories about the party were too numerous to count. According to the stories, the party was basically a drunken orgy of the rich. Stories about "a friend" who had gotten into the party ran wild around campus all through the weeks approaching and following Halloween. Invariably this "friend" returned with wild accounts of sexual depravity and fucking of all sorts and types.
Mike never was really sure if the stories were true and he never knew anyone who had actually gone. Due to the high price of the tickets none of the students from college could ever afford to go, at least none of the students that Mike knew. The tickets in his hand had a price of $1,000 each on them. There were obviously many people around for whom the cost of the tickets didn't matter because the tickets always sold out a few hours after they went on sale.
Mike was excited to find out if all the stories would live up to his reality in a week. Mike would be turning 21 the day before Halloween and so would be allowed to get in. The security at this event was also legendary and nobody under 21 was allowed with absolutely no exceptions. He was the last of his friends to turn 21 and so all five of them would be going together to find out the truth behind the legend.
The party took place at a very upscale resort on the edge of the town. Guests reportedly came from hundreds of miles away and would fill the hotel rooms the night after the party, as most were either too drunk or horny to go back home.
The week leading up to Halloween passed quickly. Mike and his friends talked excitedly every night about the big party on Thursday night. By the time of his birthday on Wednesday there really wasn't much of a celebration. Everyone was so excited and looking forward to the following day that they just sat around over a few beers talking about what might happen at the party.
Mike was so excited the night before the party he had a hard time sleeping. If the stories were even half-true then he surely would be in for the most amazing experience of his life. He and his friends had gone to Florida for Spring Break the previous year and they fully lived the Spring Break experience complete with lots of partying and lots of women. He expected that this night might top even that experience.
Other than looking forward to Halloween about the only other thing that happened on his birthday was that his mom called to wish him a happy birthday. As usual she would be coming up to visit him for his birthday. Every other year she came up on the day of his birthday, but this year she said she had some plans for Halloween so instead they arranged for her to arrive on Friday and stay for the weekend. She lived about a two-hour's drive from Mike's school so it wasn't impossible to drive up and back in the same day, but it made things much easier on her to spend the weekend.
Mike had casually asked what her plans were for Halloween and she had simply answered that she was going out with some friends. Mike didn't ask any other questions and was just happy to see her getting out again. His dad had walked out suddenly about a year and a half ago after telling her he'd been fucking one of his co-workers for nearly a year and he was going to move in with her.
Needless to say, Mike's mom was devastated and she and Mike spent a long time working to get her back to her normal, happy self. Mike had hardly talked to his dad since he left and neither Mike nor his dad really seemed to care. His dad never made an effort to contact him and Mike decided his dad had to be the biggest asshole in the world and so didn't care if he ever saw him or heard from him again.
Since he left Mike knew his mom hadn't been getting out much. He thought it would do her good to go out with some friends and have some fun so he was happy to hear of her Halloween plans.