it all started in vegas

Camille

Life in a small town is nothing short of a nightmare, well at least for me. I grew up in a small retirement community in North Carolina with nothing to do as a young adult but cause trouble or go to the beach. And when you aren't exactly a fan of the beach or trouble you do absolutely fucking nothing. I'm 25 and have nothing to show for it, i had all these dreams and aspirations, i wanted to see the world by now, honestly i want to see anything other than these same roads i've been up and down my whole life. I think this to myself everyday on my way home from work, one of these days I'll get around to actually doing it. As i pull into the driveway of mine and my grandma's house, i begin to consider leaving this town a whole lot more.

I unlock the door and walk in

"hey gram", i hear her yell "IM IN THE KITCHEN SWEETIE"

I follow her voice into the kitchen and instantly feel relief from today just by seeing her face. My gram has always been my rock, my parents and i have a complicated relationship but that's a story for another time.

"hi sweetie how was your day?"

"it wasn't too bad just long, i'm in my head today"

as she grabs her dish rag to put dinner in the oven "i can see that its written all over your face, talk to me what's going on"

i push myself up to sit on the counter and rest my head against the cabinet

"i want to get out of this town"

she looks to me with a certain sadness in her eyes that i see every time we talk about this

" i know you do cami, i don't know why its taken you this long to go, you have worked yourself to death the past 5 years and saved every penny possible to make sure you can go and have no worries yet you are still here"

" i know, i just can't bring myself to actually do it. I'd have to quit my job, i'd be leaving you and basically everything i have ever known."

"you can't live in fear sweetie, for all you know you will leave here and find some place that has everything and anything you want and be happy with your life. you know i don't want you to go but i also want you to be happy above anything else, if its a push you need then ill give you one, go get your laptop and i will book you a flight, It's not up to you anymore, i'm telling you to go and you don't want to upset your poor old gram do you?"

she looks to me with her signature sarcastic smile and swats my leg to get me moving.

I grab my laptop and we search for flights, i realize how serious this is getting and i should probably decide where im going before i end up in the middle of nowhere on my first solo trip from home. i look to gram " so where to first?"

She looks at me and smiles "you know exactly where, it's always been the place you said you'd go first"

i feel instant butterflies in my stomach when i type in LAS VEGAS, NEVADA to the destination.

It's later in the afternoon on Monday, gram is driving me to the airport because i'm leaving for Vegas today, Las freaking Vegas. i quit my job that next day and never felt more free. That damn restaurant was like my own personal prison. When we arrive i said quick goodbyes to gram, we agreed to have a simple hug and I love you so that we both wouldn't break down in tears and I ended up staying or dragging her with me. With a backpack and a small suitcase i walked into that airport ready for what was next. Or so i thought.

LAS VEGAS HILTON, the sign read from the window of my uber. A giant smile crosses my face as i arrive to a place i have dreamed of my whole life. Now for those who don't know me i realize that it sounds weird to be so excited about a regular hotel. Well this hotel used to be known as the International hotel, which was the home of Elvis Presley during his residency here. I grew up with my gram and all her records from her teen years, so my music taste goes from Elvis, Queen, ACDC and The Eagles. Elvis always held a place in my heart because of her so this felt like a full circle moment.

All checked in at the wonderful hour of 1 am, i go upstairs to get myself situated. I booked this Vegas trip for a little over a month but I'll only be in this hotel for two ish weeks before i move to short term rental so i'm soaking it in while i can.

After i changed and got myself comfortable I wandered down to the lobby to see the one thing i was too impatient to wait and see, the piano room. This room held a piano donated by the Presley family that they kept in a room down in the lobby for people to play. As i approach the room i expect it to be locked due to the time of night it is but to my surprise it's open and i head in.

I sit at the bench anxious to get my hands on the keys. I learned to play as soon as i was old enough for gram to keep my attention on a lesson, ever since then i learned any song i could possibly learn. I rolled my shoulders back to brush off the anxiety, i was alone in this dimly lit room with nobody in sight yet i felt the waves of nausea and heat rush to my cheeks that always came with my anxiety. I blew out a breath and began to play the first thing that came to mind, Can't help falling in love. Cliche i know but that was the dream.

I loved to sing and play the piano, gram always used to hide around the corner from the piano to hear me because she knew i couldn't sing if someone was watching. However right now i was very much alone and all i wanted to do was sing this song while i was on this piano because it was probably my only chance to do so with no prying eyes.

As i finished the song i got the strange feeling i was being watched but brushed it off blaming it on my anxiety and continued playing.

About three songs later i heard a soft yet husk voice say "you sure can sing" and my heart fell.