Chapter One
I wasn't especially thrilled that we were going to be spending two weeks of my last summer vacation before I started college in Las Vegas. There was nothing for me to do there, especially when my parents went down to the casinos at night and I was left alone.
"So where are we staying again?" I asked, as we got out of the taxi.
"Here," Mom said, as we walked into the main lobby of the Treasure Island hotel/casino.
"Really?" I asked, looking around. I had to admit, it was a really nice hotel. "Fancy."
We checked in and then headed up to our rooms. As we got to the floor, Mom handed me a key.
"Don't loose this," she said.
"Don't worry," I said, "I won't."
I slipped the key into the pocket of my jeans. We had almost an hour before we had to get to the family reunion that we were there for. Mom, Dad, and I headed up to our rooms, where our bags had already been delivered.
"We'll come and get you in half an hour," said Mom.
"Okay," I said.
I went into my room and unpacked some of my stuff. After hanging up everything that needed hanging, I tried to decide what to wear. Mom had told me that it wasn't going to be a fancy thing, but not something that I could just wear a tee shirt and shorts to. I found a short light blue and white tank dress that wasn't too wrinkled and slipped it on. I wasn't too thrilled about wearing a dress, but I knew it would make my grandmother happy. After changing my shoes into these white strappy platform sandals, I brushed my hair and did my make up. Looking at my watch, I figured that I had enough time to go downstairs and walk around a little bit. I went across the hall and told my parents that I would meet them in front of the lobby in half an hour. Then I headed downstairs.
I was walking down a row of shops when I almost ran into a tall blond guy. I looked up and into his face. He looked so familiar.
"Sorry," I said, stepping to the side.
"It's okay," said the guy, "I should have paid more attention."
We went on our separate ways. I went down the row and then back up towards the lobby again. When I reached the top, the blond guy was still there.
"Hi," he said, stepping up to me, "Can I ask you something?"
"Um, sure," I said, slowing down. I looked around to make sure that there were witnesses just in case something happened.
"Have we met before?" the guy asked.
"I don't think so," I said.
"You look so familiar," said the guy, "But it could just be my imagination."
Then I realized who he was. It was Nick Carter from the BackStreet Boys.
"Okay," I said.
"Sorry to bother you," said Nick.
"It's okay," I said.
Nick walked away and I headed to the lobby where I was supposed to meet my parents. They were just coming out of the elevator when I reached the edge of the casino. We went outside to meet up with Aunty Karen (my mom's sister), Uncle Les (Aunty Karen's husband) and Scott and Malia (My cousin and his wife). They were just pulling up in a rented van when we stepped out of the lobby doors.
"Hi!" Malia said, coming up to me to give me a hug.
"Hi," I said.
"You look so pretty," said Malia.
"Thanks," I said.
"You look different, Jen," Scott said.
"How?" I asked.
"I don't know," said Scott, "You just do."
"I only saw you about a month and a half ago," I said, "When you came for my graduation."
"I know that," Scott said.
"Let's just go," Malia said, grabbing Scott's sleeve and pulling him into the van.
We all got into the van and headed Downtown. (Our hotel was on the Strip.) The trip down took about fifteen minutes because there was traffic.When we got out of the van, Uncle Les handed over the keys to the valet. Then we headed into the Main Street hotel/casino. Uncle Les and Mom led the way through the casino to the restaurant. Everyone made sure that I was still with the group because i was the only one not old enough to gamble. We eventually got to the restaurant and met up with the rest of the family. There were so many of us wandering around the lobby of the restaurant. I'm sure that the other people there were wondering what was going on. But once we got seated, we looked like any other bunch of people in the restaurant.Dinner was a lot of fun, but I was glad when we finally went back to the hotel at about six. I was going to go up to my room and take a shower and change when Malia asked if I wanted to walk across the street to the Venetian with her. Of course I didn't want to say no. Malia and I walked across the street to the Venetian. There were so many people walking around and the night was hot. Hot humid hot, but this dry hot. I wasn't used to it. I was so glad I had decided to wear a dress with no sleeves.
"Let's go look at the stores," Malia said.
"Okay," I said, following her.
All the shops at the Venetian were high class and expensive. Most of the time, I waited outside while Malia went in to try something on or to look. While I was waiting, I watched a wedding going on. It was on one of the bridges.
"Are you ready to go?" Malia asked, when she finished some of the shops she wanted to go into.
"Yeah," I said.
We walked a little farther down and then stopped again.
"Are you sure you don't mind waiting?" asked Malia.
"Yeah," I said, "I'm sure."
"Okay," Malia said, before disappearing into another store.
At about eight, we finally got back to the hotel. Malia had to go back to her hotel with Aunty Karen. They had made plans with Scott and Uncle Les to go and visit some of the other hotels. I was heading up to my room when I saw the BackStreet Boys standing on the edge of the casino. They were talking about something and then Nick started to walk away. I slipped into the open elevator and pressed the button for my floor.
"Wait!" I heard someone called.
I quickly pressed the Open Elevator button and Nick Carter slipped in just before the doors closed again.
"Thanks," he said, breathlessly.
"No problem," I said.
Nick looked at me. "Oh, hi," he said.
"Hi," I said.
"I'm sorry about earlier," said Nick.
"It's okay," I said.
When I got to my floor, I exited the elevator and Nick continued on. I went to my room and unlocked the door.
The next day, we were going to be going shopping, so I already knew what I was going to wear. After a long soak in the tub, I went to bed.
