I got out of bed that dreary morning at about 11 AM and gave myself a pep talk about what I was about to do. As I got ready to go over to Justin's house I looked at my reflection in the mirror and said outloud to myself, "I can do this--I can break up with him." After I was ready I ran downstairs to get my keys just in time to hear the telephone ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Julie! this is Shannon." Shannon is one of my best friends.

"Are you going over to Justin's?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm getting ready to go over there right now and break up with him."

"Ok girl but make sure you call me so that I can get a hold of Laura. She was rooting for you."

"Okay Shan I'll call I promise." I said as she continued on, "And remember Juls, we leave for Vegas tomorrow morning, so make sure that you have everything ready to go."

"Yes mom!" I said laughing. "Bye Shan I'll talk to ya later."

"Bye Julie."

I put down the phone and headed out the door. I got in my car and put in my Backstreet Boys CD to calm my nerves. As I drove to Justin's house I kept telling myself: You can do it! I pulled into Justin's driveway and got out of the car, I went up the steps to his porch and knocked on his door and almost ran back to the car as the door swung open.

"What are you doing here?" asked Justin.

"We need to talk, can I come in?" I asked.

Justin rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah come in." I followed him into the living room where her turned to look at me.

"So, what's up?" he asked.

I took a deep breath and said, "Justin, I want out of this relationship. It's been over for a long time."

A look of disbelief came over his face. "You're breaking up with me?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am. You don't love me Justin, you just keep me around so that you can take it out on me when something in your life goes wrong," I said not liking the look he was getting on his face. He grabbed me by the arm and said angrily, "I've always been good to you, you ungrateful little bitch!"

"You're full of crap, you are always mean to me and I'm always around when you need me, you asshole!" I yelled at him as I tried to shake his hand off my arm only to have him tighten his grip on it. "Let me go, damn you Justin!"

"I'll show you just how mean that I can be!" said Justin as he brought his hand up and slapped me across the face. Immediately my hand went up to my cheek and I ran for the door, not noticing that he was right behind me as I went out onto the porch. Suddenly he gave me a shove from behind and I went sprawling down the porch steps onto the concrete with only my arm bracing my fall and when it hit the concrete I heard something crack. I looked up at him with teard running down my face and yelled, "I think you broke my arm,you bastard!" The only thing that he said was, "You deserved it!" and then went back inside and shut the door. I sat on the concrete and cried till I could manage to get up bracing my arm against my body. I got into my car and looked for my cell phone so that I could call Shannon. I dialed her number as I drove with my good arm to the hospital. She picked up on the 2nd ring.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Shannon." I said.

"What happened?" she asked.

"He hurt me, so I'm going to the hospital."

"Oh MY GOD! Laura and I will be there in 5 minutes!" she said and hung up.

I pulled into the emergency parking lot, parked, and went into the hospital. I was holding my arm against my body as I went to sign in with the nurse. It was relatively deserted that afternoon so they took me right back to see the doctor. While I sat there to wait for the doctor I tried not to cry since my arm was throbbing so bad. Then the doctor came in. "Julie, what happened?" asked the doctor.

"I fell down some stairs," I said.

"Well, we need to take som X-rays I'm pretty sure you're arm is broken," said the doctor gingerly taking my arm to look at it.

"Let's go to X-ray and then we'll put a cast on it, ok?"

"Okay," I said and followed him to X-ray. The X-ray technician was relatively quiet but gentle with my arm as she turned it different ways to take the pictures. Then a nurse came in to take me to another room to put on my cast. When we got into the room it was near the entrance so I could hear the Laura's voice outside. Apparently the nurse wasn't going to let her and Shannon come back to see me but the next two people through the door were Laura and Shannon. The stopped short as they saw the nurse putting on my cast.

"It's broken you guys," I said as they came over to sit beside me.

"Other than the arm, are you OK, Julie?" asked Laura, looking worried.

"Yeah, other than the arm, I'm okay," I said.

"Thank God, you had us worried to death," said Shannon.

Just then the doctor came back in and put the X-rays up on the screen.

"Well, Julie your left arm is broken but only in one place, and it was a clean break so it should heal just fine and you'll need to go see your doctor in about 6 weeks, ok?" said the doctor. "Okay doctor," I said as the nurse finished up my cast and said I could go. Laura, Shannon, and I head out of the emergency room and into the parking lot. As we got to our cars Laura turned to me.

"What the hell happened?" she asked.

"I guess Justin didn't like the fact that I broke up with him," I said.

"That still gave him no reason to hurt you," said Shannon.

"He pushed me down his porch steps and I landed on my arm, that's how I broke it."

"I always knew he was an asshole, this just proves it to me," said Laura.

"I know I just wish I could've figured that out sooner," I said yawning.

"Well, Laura and I still have packing to do, so we'll see you tomorrow around 11, ok?" said Shannon giving me a hug.

"But if you need anything call one of us!" said Laura who also gave me a hug.

"Ok I will," I said and got into my car and drove away.

I got home and made myself some dinner and turned on the TV. After a while i got tired and decided to go take a shower. It was really hard to take a shower one handed but I managed. I walked back into my room and made sure everything that I was taking on vacation was in my suitcase. After that was done I sat down on my bed and cried. I didn't deserve this, I thought to myself. After the tears subsided I turned out the light and climbed into bed.

I couldn't sleep so I closed my eyes as my mind began to wander. In my mind I was sitting on a deserted beach alone with tears rolling down my cheeks. I heard a noise and when I looked up i saw a rather nice looking guy coming my way but for some reason he looked awfully familiar. As he got closer and i could see his face and it was none other than AJ McLean. I thought to myself, I have to be seeing things, as he crouched down beside me and brushed the tears from my cheeks with his fingers. I was absolutely speechless when he did that but when he scooped me up into his arms I asked, "Where are we going?" He looked into my eyes and said, "Somewhere that no one can ever hurt you again." Then his lips brushed my forehead as he carried me away...

Suddenly the alarm clock went off and I pulled the blanket over my head and groaned. "I can't believe i have to get up already!" I said out loud to myself. I dragged myself out of bed and pulled a pair of jeans and a tshirt out of a drawer to put on. I got dressed and went to look for my sneakers. Then I hit the bathroom, brushed my teeth and fixed my hair. About 20 minutes later there was a knock at the door. I managed to get my suticase down the stairs the best I could with one hand and not toppling down with it. When I got down to the door and threw it open there was Laura and Shannon looking too chipper for so early in the morning.

"Hey, girl!" said Laura. "You ready to blow this pop stand?" asked Shannon reaching inside to help me with my suitcase. "Yeah, all I have to do is grab my keys and we're outta here!" I said and went into the living room to get my keys off the table and to flip on the answering machine. I put my keys in my pocket, locked the door and headed out to the car where Laura and Shannon were waiting for me. I jumped into the backseat and said, "Let's blow this joint!" We hit the highway as Laura put in Millenium and we sang on the way to the airport.

After about 10 minutes Laura turned down the stereo to talk to me. "So, how's the arm today?" she asked catching me eye in the rearview mirror. "It's a little sore but other than that its okay," I said. "How did you sleep?" asked Shannon. "Not bad but I had another dream about AJ," I said turning to look out the window. "Damn,girl again?" asked Laura. "Yeah," I sighed. "I swear Julie i think that you and AJ are destined to meet someday." said Shannon trying to get me to smile. "Yeah right, my ex pushed me down the stairs yeasterday and now I'm gonna meet AJ? WHATEVER!" I said saracstically. "I swear to God Julie if you don't lighten up I'm taking you back home!" said Laura as we pulled into the airport parking lot. "Sorry." I said as laura pulled into a parking place and turned off the car.

We got out of the car and pulled our luggage out of the trunk and waited for the bus to pick us up to head into the airport. While we were riding the bus Laura patted my hand and said, "I'm sorry that I bit your head off back there but I want you to enjoy the vacation, broken arm and all." "I'm going to try to enjoy it, I promise," I said as we pulled up to the doors of the airport. We got our luggage and walked in to the Continental ticket counter to get our tickets and to check in our luggage.

Our plane didn't leave for another hour so we decided to look around for a little while. We went into some of the shops and browsed and then we decided to head for the gate. "WEll, ladies here we are," said Shannon as cheerful as usual. "Yeah," I said managing a smile which shocked them both. "Now that's what I wanted to see, I knew that smile was in there somewhere!" said Laura and I just started to laugh. A couple of minutes later we heard, "Flight 1272 to Las Vegas is now boarding passengers 1-30 so please have your boarding passes," over the intercom. "Well, that would be us, we are 13, 14, and 15." I said as we showed our boarding passes to the flight attendant and boarded the plane. I had the window seat, Shannon was in the middle, and Laura got the aisle.

After we took off we decided to get comfortable. Shannon leaned her seat back and closed her eyes, Laura was listening to her walkman, so I was left alone with my thoughts. I pulled my journal out of my backpack and bgan to write but soon my mind took over and I doodled "juls-n-aj" in my journal. In my daydream AJ was standing at my door with a dozen roses just about to ring the door bell and when I did open the door he looked at me and said, "Hi beautiful, these are for you." As I took the roses from him he swept me into his arms... then I was jolted out of my day dream by Shannon who was shaking me. "What?" I asked. "We're flying over the strip! Look out the window!" she said excitedly.

I looked out the window and saw a whole different world. There were casinos and hotels in the coolest shapes and sizes. The one that you could really see was the Luxor because its black and shaped like a pyramid. The plane touched down in Las Vegas about 5 minutes later and we couldn't wait to get off the plane. We left the plane and walked into the airport where there were slot machines galore. We practically skipped down the escalator to get our luggage. We picked up our luggage and headed outside to hail a cab that would take us to our hotel. When we got outside Shannon exclaimed, "I can't believe we're here!"

"Me either," said Laura. "Juls, you ok?" she asked. "I'm great," I said smiling.

Then the cab pulled up and the driver got out to help us with our luggage. As we all piled into the cab the driver said, "Where to, ladies?" "The MGM Grand please!" said Laura. On the way to the hotel we were all staring out the windows in awe of Las Vegas and everything it had to offer. Then we pulled up in front of the hotel and hopped out of the cab when the driver helped us get our luggage as Shannon paid him.

I just happened to look up at the awesome hotel we were staying at and something caught my eye.

"OH MY GOD!!!!" I said trying not to freak out.

"WHAT??????" asked Laura and Shannon at the same time.

"Look up there!" I said pointing to the marquee, which read,

"No friggin way!" said Laura.

"I cannot believe this you guys!" I said trying not to jump for joy right there on the sidewalk.

"My life is going to get a whole lot better!!!" I said out loud to myself. Little did I know how much better it was going to get.

"Well, first thing we need to do is check in but after that we should go down and see if there are any tickets left for the show," said Laura dragging me inside by my good arm. We walked through the casino to the check-in desk and within 10 minutes we had our room keys and everything that we needed to get into our room. We made our way to the elevator with all of our luggage all the while trying to absorb the atmosphere around us. When the elevator got to our floor we left the elevator with all of our stuff and proceeded to our room which was only a few doors away from the elevator.

When we got to our room Laura stuck our key in the door and when the green light came on she pushed it open and walked in with Shannon and I close behind. Shannon flipped on the light and then exclaimed, "This place is huge!". Then I walked over to the balcony doors and threw them open letting in the warm Las Vegas air into the room and when I turned back to get the girls reaction Shannon was passed out on one of the beds and Laura was brushing her hair. "Laura, can you believe that we're in the most exciting city in the country and Shannon's asleep already??" I asked. "I believe it." said Laura, laughing. "So do you want to go play some slot machines or something?" I asked reaching into my backpack to get some money. "Yeah let's go... Julie, I'm glad you're in a better mood," said Laura. Laura grabbed our room keys and handed me one and me headed for the door.

When we got to the elevator we talked about what we were gonna do the next few days that we were gonna be there. When the elevator got to the lobby and we walked into the casino all of the pain that Justin had put me through was gone from my mind. We sat down at the Wheel of Fortune machines and we were having amazingly good luck for just getting to Vegas.

After we played for a while we decided that we were thirsty and we headed for the bar that was across the casino from us. All of a sudden I stopped in my tracks and Laura about knocked me over. "Why did you stop?" asked Laura. "Ok I know I have Backstreet on the brain cuz I swear to God that's AJ sitting over there at the bar."

Laura followed my gaze to the guy sitting at the bar all alone. "Julie, I thought you were crazy but I must be too cuz I think that I see AJ sitting over there,too," said Laura looking at me. "Well let's go and keep him company," I said going up to the bar with Laura not far behind.

When we got to the bar I took the seat beside him and Laura sat on the other side of me. The bartender came up and asked,"What can I get for you ladies?"

"I'll have a screwdriver," I said. "I'll just have a Pepsi," said Laura.

I snuck a glance over at AJ and when I looked at him he was looking at me with interest. "Hi there!" he said giving me a smile that about made me melt. "Hi!" I said smiling back at him. The bartender sat down our drinks as he introduced himself to us. "I'm AJ," he said extending his hand. "I'm Julie, and this is Laura," I said reaching out to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you ladies," said AJ giving me another one of those killer smiles.

"Likewise," said Laura. "So, AJ, what are you doing down here all alone?" I asked curiously.

"Well, I couldn't sleep and all of my friends are in bed except for one of them and he's down here somewhere," he said. "What are you ladies doing down here so late at night?" asked AJ.

"Well we just got here and our other friend is asleep so we decided to come down here for a while," said Laura. "So, you guys are on vaction I assume," said AJ lookin curiosly at the cast on my arm.

"Yeah we're on vacation," I said. "If you don't mind me asking, Julie what did you do to your arm?" asked AJ. "I fell down some stairs and broke it." I said taking a deep breath as he reached over and touched my fingers that were hanging out of my cast. "Does it hurt?" he asked looking into my eyes. "It aches that's all," I said when I saw him look across the bar at something. "Hey here's my friend now," he said as Laura and I followed his gaze and by God, it was Kevin.

Kevin came over to the bar where we were sitting and looked at Laura and I with interest as he said, "Hey Bone, what's up?"

"I'm just enjoying the company of these two good lookin' ladies," said AJ not seeing the look that Laura and I gave each other when he said that. "Julie, Laura this is Kevin, and Kev this is Julie and Laura," said AJ. "Nice to meet you Julie," said Kevin giving my hand a squeeze. "You too Kevin,' I said flashing him a smile. "Nice to meet you, Laura," said Kevin looking at Laura when was obviously enjoying the full affect of his green eyed gaze. "You too Kevin," she said.

Not long after that, Kevin and Laura were lost in conversation and I as usual had run out of things to say and finally AJ looked at me and said, "Do you want to get some fresh air, maybe go for a walk?" he asked. "I'd like that," I said turning to tell Laura where I was going but then decided not to when I saw how intent Laura was talking to Kevin.

AJ and I got up and headed outside. As we walked outside my thoughts were running away with me. "Oh my God! Maybe Shannon was right, maybe I was destined to meet AJ after all," I thought to myself. I was pulled out of my thoughts by AJ who grabbed my hand. When I looked at him he just smiled at me.

We wandered down to Bally's where the have a water show every ten minutes and there was one about to start as we approached. A couple of minutes later the water started and the arches lit up as the water got higher. AJ was watching the show but my eyes were on him the whole time. Just the sight of him was making my heart pound, he looked absolutely fine in a pair of worn out jeans and a white wifebeater with his tatoos out in all their glory. After the show was over AJ noticed that I was watching him and said, "Next time I'm gonna check you out when you aren't looking, ok?" He chuckled when he saw the horrified look on my face. "Julie I was only kidding," he said touching my cheek with his fingers. "Sorry AJ, I just don't take jokes very well these days," I said trying to hide what I was feeling at that moment. He took my chin in the palm of his hand and looked into my eyes and said, "Julie, it's ok, don't be sorry," he said and kissed my cheek.

We walked back to the hotel hand in hand and I was in heaven. When we got back to the hotel and were headed for the elevator he said, "How about I walk you to your room?" "Sure," I said as we got on the elevator.

We were silent as the elevator went up to my floor and we got off to walk to my room. When we got to my door and I turned to say goodbye he was just leaning against the wall gazing at me with a twinkle in his brown eyes. "I had a nice time on our walk, AJ," I said looking at him. "I did too, Julie. I hope we can get together again before I leave," and with that he leaned over and quickly brushed his lips against mine laeving me breathless as he disappeared down the hall.

I opened the door and walked into my room and managed to find my pajamas in the dark. As I climbed into bed, Laura whispered, "I want details tomorrow!" I smiled in the darkness and snuggled underneath my covers. As I fell asleep all I could think of was the soft touch of his lips against mine.

The first thing I heard the next morning when I awoke was Shannon telling Laura that she was full of crap. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. Laura was telling Shannon about our meeting Kevin and AJ and she just wasn't buying it at all.

"I swear to God, Shan, we met Kevin and AJ last night!!" said Laura getting frustrated that Shannon wasn't believing her. "Sure, Laura you guys are just mad at me cuz I fell asleep last night and didn't go downstairs with you guys," said Shannon.

Laura noticed that I was awake and looked to me for some support. "Well, Shannon we did meet them last night and the were very sweet and charming," I said getting up to get dressed. "Okay Julie, WHATEVER!!" said Shannon. "Fine don't believe us Shan," I said.

"How about we all go down and see if there's any tickets left for the concert tonight?" said Laura looking in her bag for some money. "Good idea Laura," I said and grabbed Shannon by the arm pulling her to the door. We walked to the elevator and rode down the lobby in silence.

When we got down to the lobby we went to look for the ticket counter. When we walked up to the ticket counter, the lady sitting there asked, "What can I do for you girls?"

"Are there any tickets left for the Backstreet Boys concert tonight?" I asked crossing my fingers.

"There are three left if one of you girls is Laura," she said. Laura looked at the lady kinda funny but then spoke up, "Well, I'm Laura."

"Well here you go," said the ticket lady handing Laura an envelope with her name on it. When she opened the envelope she couldn't believe her eyes, there were 3 backstage passes and three tickets with a note attached that read:

Laura,

I had a great time talking to you last night, it really made me feel good. Here
are three tickets and backstage passes for you, Julie, and your friend to enjoy.

See you tonight!!

Love,
Kevin

Shannon who was reading over Laura's shoulder got a funny look on her face, "OMIGOD!! You guys weren't lying to me!! I'm sorry!" I was so happy I could have bounced off the walls. "This is so awesome, I can't believe that he did this for us!" said Laura. "God, Julie we really must have made an impression last night for him to do this!" said Laura giving me a hug.

"Actually Laura you must have made the impression cuz the note was addressed to you!" I said giving her a hug back. "I can't belive we're going to the concert and I get to meet them too!!" exclaimed Shannon as we shared a group hug. People were looking at us kind of weird but we were so happy that we didn't care.

"So, what do you guys want to do today?" asked Shannon. "I vote for sightseeing," said Laura. "Me too," I said. "How about lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then we will head back to the strip, ok?" asked Laura looking at Shannon and I to get our opinion. "Sounds like a plan," I said as Shannon nodded in agreement.

After that we went outside to hail a cab and as usual Shannon's mouth was running a mile a minute and Laura and I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Finally a cab stopped and we got in telling the driver to take us to the Hard Rock Cafe.

On the way to the cafe I asked "Laura where did you put the tickets?" "They are in my camera bag, don't worry Julie, ok?" she said. The cab pulled up to the cafe and we jumped out. Before we went inside we took some pictures and the headed for the place where they sell the shirts and other memorabilia. We all bought shirts with Hard Rock Las Vegas emblazoned on them.

When we had finally gotten to sit down for lunch, Laura was being awfully quiet so when Shannon got up to go to the bathroom I decided to ask her why. "Laura, why are you being so quiet?" I asked. She didn't answer me right away but when a dreamy smile came over her face I knew that Kevin was on her mind. "I was thinking about Kevin, actually." she said. "He is the most wonderful guy that I have ever met, its like we have a connection or something." she said.

"Wow, you guys must have had one helluva conversation after AJ and I left," I observed. "Sooo... what about you and AJ?" asked Laura raising her eyebrow at me. "We had fun on our walk, we talked and he teased me a little and..." I trailed off remembering the touch of his lips against mine. "And what?" she asked. "He kissed me." I said as Laura's jaw dropped. "Woooohoooo you go girl!" she said. "Is he a good kisser?" "Hell yeah he is," I said as Shannon made her way back to the table with the waitress right behind her.

We ordered our food and sat there enjoying the atmosphere until the food came. We were so hungry by the time the food came that we chowed down in silence. When we were done we went ouside and hailed a cab to take us back to the strip. When we got into the cab Laura looked to me and asked, "Did you tell AJ about Justin?" "I didn't tell him, I didn't think that the time was right," I said. Oh God , if she finds out I told Kevin she'll kill me, thought Laura to herself.

The cab dropped us off back at the hotel and we made our way down that side of the strip, stopping to take pictures and to explore the other hotel and casinos. We even stopped at the M&M factory to get some chocolate. We walked out of the M&M factory into the hot Las Vegas sun and headed past the Flamingo, the Imperial Palace, and Harrah's, to finally reach the Venetian that looks like a Roman palace.

We went inside and looked in the shops that were in the mall when Shannon said, "Hey look you guys!" Laura and I followed her finger to see what she was pointing at. In the middle of the mall there was a river made to look like Italy and they were giving gondola rides on the water. "Hey let's go for a ride!" said Laura. We headed for the gate and waited for the next boat to come. The next gondola pulled up and the three of us piled in. The gondola driver sang to us as he rowed. Shannon and Laura were talking to each other softly and I was lost in my thoughts. "I can't believe I'm In Las Vegas with my two best friends and last night I met the man of my dreams! But what is he going to think when he finds out about Justin?" I thought to myself. I was torn from my thoughts by Laura who was waving her hand in front of my face.

"Earth to Julie!" laughed Laura as we got out of the gondola. "Where were you, another planet?" asked Shannon. Before I could answer Laura said, "I bet she was in AJ land!" I just started to blush when she said that and her and Shannon just laughed their asses off at me. After we left the Venetian we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the concert.