Underlined For Your Protection

The first night in Laughlin was our big gambling and drinking night. We all knew that going in. And yet, as we found ourselves sitting at a bar at our second casino, it seemed Al and Joe were taking turns sulking over their early losses.
Now, yours truly had appeared to have blown his load early in the luck department as I sat at a broken machine after hitting four of a kind to put me up by nearly $80. But, as it were, I had another bit of luck as we went to the craps table.
At first, I found myself down forty of my winnings as I let the two sulkers have say in my bets—something we often do when out together. But then I made a Hard Ten bet. I hit it for forty bucks but, like a greedy bastard, I parlayed it putting all of my winnings back up there. And wouldn’t you know it, it hit again two rolls later. I took 300, gave the dealers a five, and let fifteen up in case it came back again. It didn’t. but I still had the $300.
This is where you see what kind of person I am.
Instead of counting my money in front of my pouty friends, I gave them both a hundred dollars to get them back in the mood.
Now I sit here at 2:35am broke and on the floor (the deal was that the first person to go to bed would take the floor) as they both continue to play with their $150+ that they currently had when I left.
I can’t help but think that I could be sitting up here with enough money to pay for this trip and my first car payment if I had just been selfish enough to keep MY OWN money, of which I would have not gambled with anymore, instead of sharing it with my friends. But I’m not that person. I can’t find happiness while others are sad, no matter if it is their own fault. And somehow I end up on the ground.