Reno recap, belatedly

I went to Reno a few weeks back with a couple of friends (Morgan and Josh; they're MySpace friend-approved, so I knew they were of reasonable quality) and we, as three semi-married men (long story) went there to, like, do stuff. I know that's kind of a crazy concept.

And stuff we did do. Stuff was done did.

I'd intended to recount the weekend as a sort of (attemptedly) humorous recap upon my return, but most of the most interesting stuff had absolutely nothing to do with me, and while there's no official "blah blah blah, stays in Reno" rule, I didn't want to embarrass anyone with the first letter of "J" who was in attendance.

With that being said, I posted a few pics of me/some mountain/my suite in my pics area. It might be your only chance to laugh at my soul patch, so take advantage!

Also, I did have a peculiar/funny adventure on the Saturday night in Reno. Morgan and I were in a bar in the casino, listening to the live band play and trying to find non-local girls to hit on (OK, "hit on" is too strong... maybe "talk to for at least 3 seconds" is more accurate). It was about 1:30 AM--30 minutes before closing, and Morgan commented to me that there were a pair of cute young women at a table near us, and there was only one guy sitting with them. After the man and one of the women got up to get drinks, I told Morgan it was his chance and that he should talk to her.

I wandered into the dance area (certainly not to dance) but I kept an eye on Morgan, as he traversed the 5 feet between the tables towards the woman. I didn't know what he said, but it was short and didn't appear to be too sweet. He said something and did a quick U-turn back to his table. It was funny. It was heartbreaking. It was entirely too much like what I'd do to be anything short of at least a bit painful.

If the story ended here, it would be about like 95 percent of the stories I tell: inane and irrelevant. But it was just the beginning... of a longer inane and irrelevant story.

I went back to talk to Morgan and he explained that he used the classic, "Having a good time?" opening. Classic in that it's such a closed question and classic in that it seems like a good question to ask in spite of that. Predictably, she had smiled at him and said, "Yes" and then he didn't have anywhere to go.

So rather than sit back down at the table, I was standing, leaning against it, talking to Morgan. I was about 3 feet from the woman that Morgan had just approached and her amigos had returned with their drinks as we talked. I noticed in my peripheral vision that the woman was looking at me as she laughed, and had done it several times in a row... of course, I notice a lot of things in my life, and they're not always consistent with reality. But after like the third time, Morgan said something like, "She keeps looking at you when she laughs" and I was more sure that I hadn't been affected by some sort of contact hallucinogen--or if I was, it didn't prevent me from noticing some things clearly (or, I suppose, that Morgan had been dinged by it, too... but I didn't think of that at the time).

Her friends for some reason got up and left again a few minutes later, and she was just sitting there, and I said to myself, "Self, this sort of pending disaster is exactly the reason you came to Reno." Power of positive thinking, huh? Self-motivating through shame and fear is always the best way to approach women, from what I've read.

But I introduced myself. And she smiled and we talked and when her friends came back they introduced me to sit down. And, since he was like 3 feet away, Morgan sat with us and we got a bit of a scoop on the three people.

The woman Morgan and I had each approached was from out of town. We'll call her Christine, although to be honest I don't remember her name at this point. The other woman was her cousin and lived in Reno. We'll call her Adele, although that's almost certainly not right. The gentleman was a local, too... I think his name was Rafael, and he's the crux of why this gets interesting (it does get more interesting, trust me).

Rafael is a married man. He'd been married about a year. Not to either of these women, though. Christine and he had been dating, and they were dating at the time he got married. They were now "best friends". Pretty standard stuff.

2:00 came quickly. We were regaled by a few embarrassing stories about Christine and the bizarre facts about Rafael's relationship(s). Rafael was pretty quiet, but he was smiling and seemed happy even if he wasn't nearly as effusive as his companions were. Christine and I were sitting kinda close and it seemed she was digging me just a little bit. But the bar closed, and we went our separate ways.

The casino only had one other club that was open past two... a dance club. So after some consideration, Morgan and I doubled back to check it out. In line (of course, given the incomplete nature of this story to this point) were Christine, Adele, and Rafael. They greeted us warmly (or, rather, the girls did... Rafael continued his "man of silence" routine), and I hopped in line behind them. Morgan wasn't dressed appropriately (he had open-toed sandals; I'm sure he would have been denied entry on any of a variety of other fronts, as well, if it had come to it) so I became the fourth wheel.

I paid for Christine's cover as well as my own, and was feeling pretty positive about it all as we entered.

First stop: restrooms. Rafael and I went to the little boys' room and I asked, in the crappy seriously-man-tell-me-the-truth tenor that people take in otherwise lighthearted moments, if he was cool with me being there. He gave me a smile from his urinal stall and performed a veritable soliloquy given his lack of speaking to that point when he said, "It's all good."

It was all good. And it was going to get just a bit better.

We waited for the ladies, and when they emerged, Adele instructed the three of us to grab a table as she said "Hi" to some friends. We started to weave our way to the tables, with Rafael in front, Christine behind, and me taking the rear (*giggle*) as Adele hugged the bar and moved to the other side of the room.

This was the first time that I noticed that things were a bit... off. Christine was right behind Rafael... kinda grabbing his shirt or his belt as they moved through the massed people. I shrugged it off, thinking that Christine (being a small person) was just taking advantage of Rafael's wake.

We got a table. Christine sat down on a stool, and Rafael (brave, tragic, magnificent Rafael) remained standing. So close, and yet just out of reach. But not literally out of reach, as was demonstrated shortly thereafter.

Of course, I just saw that there was a spot next to Christine and I assumed that, like in the bar, she would want me to sit next to her. So I did.

Music was loud. It was dark. There were people all around us, and I wasn't really sure what to do. It was too loud to talk, and we were waiting for Adele so even if (through some twisted miracle) I was inclined to dance, I didn't want to leave.

But the moments dragged. Christine was kinda still and she wasn't looking at me. I whispered into her ear (actually, shouted into her ear) something like, "Is it OK I sat by you? Everything going OK?" and she smiled at me and assured it was fine. Excellent. Something positive.

More moments dragged. It was weird how it could be insanely loud and deathly silent at the same time. Rafael remained standing, apart from us.

I then noticed that Christine was looking at Rafael. And that she had tears in her eyes. Dear Lord.

I whispered/shouted again: "So what's the deal with Rafael? Is he your ex- or your current-?" To which she replied, "He's my best friend." I managed to stifle a knee-jerk eyeroll...

Now, I don't think Rafael could hear this, but I swear at that moment he reached up and wiped a tear from his eye. It was so deliciously scripted, so magnificently uncomfortable... I couldn't get enough, and yet I couldn't take it any more.

As I was considering taking off, Christine reached out to Rafael from her chair, and they clasped hands for a brief moment. Touching physically in a way that they remained emotionally connected. Or something.

In spite of this oddly humorous situation, I was very close to leaving when Adele got back. She was all happy and energetic and she was pretty damn cute, so I perked back up. She encouraged us to hit the dance floor, and when Christine and Rafael somberly declined, she grabbed my hand and led me to the floor. I think that I've noted in previous blog entries that I am no dancer (if there is an opposite that didn't involve absence of limbs, I would be that) when a hot chick is pulling me somewhere so she can rub up against me, I tend to put aside my qualms about making a fool of myself. At least temporarily.

So she kinda rocked my world a bit, and after several songs Christine and Rafael appeared, as if from nowhere. They danced a bit (although to be honest at this point I wasn't looking at Christine very much because I had other more ... pressing... matters to attend to) and then somehow Christine communicated to Adele that they had to talk, and they headed back to the bathroom.

Rafael and I waited outside the facilities in an awkward (if, at this point, predictable) silence. I was totally convinced that the night was ending, and that the best night of dancing of my life was going to be over after 15 minutes. They emerged from the restroom, and Adele assured me that the night was young and that she eagerly anticipated grinding on me some more (OK, that's a paraphrase), but then Christine revealed that she was going home. Adele, who was driving, was confused until it was revealed that Christine planned on getting a ride (*giggle*) from Rafael.

Adele, being the responsible one in spite of being something approaching 7 years younger than Christine, put her foot down, and when Christine reiterated she wanted to leave, that meant that the night was over for Adele and, essentially, for me.

Of course, it was only 3:00. There were still lesser adventures to be had with prostitutes and bowlers that night. But that little teaser is actually more interesting than the experience, I think, and maybe I'll save it for another time.