Dear Dad,

How do you like this post card? It looks just like the real New York skyline doesn't it? It is actually a picture from the New York, New York casino. I felt right at home there! Claud and I spent most of the morning there. (But don't worry, I am not gambling). I thought it would pale in comparison to the real Big Apple, but it is actually pretty cool.

Luv,

Stacey

Of course, I couldn't mention to my dad the real reason Claudia and I spent the morning at New York, New York. Claudia and I had walked all over the casino that morning trying to spot the gorgeous guy I had seen the day before but had no luck. I don't think Claud minded though. She loved being in the casino. She kept talking about finding a way to gamble.

This afternoon we were going to take a break from sightseeing and were just going to hang out at the pool with Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn. We had invited the rest of the BSC but Kristy was off with her family, Abby had been saying strange things about Elvis and then disappeared, and I had no idea where Jessi or Mal were. But they had been acting so weird and immature lately that I didn't really mind.

"I can't wait to check out the pool area!" Mary Anne exclaimed as we walked outside. "It is supposed to be gorgeous! Did you know The Hard Rock's pool has swim up black jack tables and an underwater sound system where they pipe music underwater? And it…."

"Mary Anne! Enough." Dawn said rolling her eyes.

"Okay, okay. " Mary Anne said a little quietly, probably a little hurt that Dawn was the one that told her to be quiet. I think she expects Dawn to be nicer to her since they are sisters. "I just hope I don't get sunburned."

I had to laugh. Mary Anne ALWAYS gets sunburned on vacations. She was carrying a huge bag down to the pool with her and I knew it was probably filled with six bottles of sun lotion and 3 hats or something.

As soon as we got out by the pool, I stripped down to my bikini. And if I do say so myself, I looked pretty good. My father had given me his credit card to buy a new one before my trip (although he probably wouldn't have if he saw how skimpy the one I picked out was). Sometimes I think the only reason my dad buys me so many things is because he feels guilty about him and my mom getting divorced.

Claudia was also wearing bikini I am pretty sure she made herself out of two different bathing suites. The bottom half was white covered with little red hearts and the top half was black with numbers all over it. As a cover up, she had on this long white jacket that she had painted pictures of kings and queens on. Then on her feet she had one red flip-flop and one black one. So the overall look was that she was a deck of cards. And it looked fabulous on her. It is amazing how Claudia can pull off any look.

Logan was also at the pool with Pete Black, Alan Gray, and some other guys from SMS, so Mary Anne ran over to talk to him. She got him to come back and sit by our chairs, even though it sounded like the guys were giving Logan a hard time. Honestly, sometimes the boys at our school can be SO immature.

As we lay down on these really fresh beach chairs I started combing some sunlight though my hair before I started to work on my tan. The great thing about going to Vegas in March was that out there we could lay out by the pool like it was summer. But if we had stayed back in Connecticut we would still be wearing warm coats. I said this to Dawn, and she just told me it was warm and sunny all the time in California.

After a while, we went over to this restaurant in the pool area and the other girls and Logan got these fancy tropical drinks. Even Dawn got one, she said since they were made with mostly fruit they were healthy enough. They looked delicious but since they had sugar in them, I had to turn them down. The worst part about having diabetes is not being able to have treats when the rest of your friends are. I got a diet soda instead.

Suddenly I noticed the bus boy at the other side of the restaurant.

"Oh, my LORD! That is him!" I hissed.

"Stacey, I was talking." Dawn glared at me. She had been blabbing something about how beaches in California were better than artificial pools.

I mumbled an apology and went back to staring at the gorgeous blonde.

When the others were done with their drinks, I whispered to Claudia that I was going to go talk to him and then slipped off while she and the others walked back to our towels.

It is a good thing I am not shy. I walked right up to the blonde. His nametag said his name was Stewart (Stewart? Oh, well…names are not everything. Afterall, my real name is Anastasia. Can you believe it? I don't know what my parents were thinking).

"Excuse me?" I smiled at him. "But I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

"Sure." He grinned back at me. He had a gorgeous smile.

"Well, my friend has been telling me that you have 4 Jacuzzis here. But I haven't counted that many. So, is her guidebook wrong?"

The gorgeous blonde laughed. He had such a great laugh. "That probably counts the ones in our health club." He paused for a minute. "Hey, have I seen you somewhere before?"

I didn't want to admit that I remembered him from yesterday. That might make me seem a little crazy or something. After all, I hadn't talked to him then.

"Maybe….my friends and I have been all over the place since we got here." There, that was honest. I figured that way, if we got married someday I would not have to feel bad about lying to him when we met.

"That must be it. Anyway, my name is Taylor." He smiled that gorgeous smile at me.

"Taylor? But your name tag says…"

"Stewart, I know. That is my real name. Stewart Taylor. But no one calls me Stewart if they want to live. So I go by Taylor. But they are making me use me real name on this thing while I am filling in here" he said gesturing to the nametag.

"You're only filling in?" I asked him. I started to wonder how old Taylor was. If he was working at this hotel, I hope it didn't mean he was out of school. I have dated older guys before, but I wouldn't want him to be TOO much older.

"Just on my spring break. My father works in security in the casino, so he got me a job on my vacation. My older sister works at the hotel too."

So he must not be that much older than me, I thought, relieved. If it was his school vacation he couldn't be more than a couple years older than me.

"So, what's your name?" He asked me, and I realized I was still staring at him.

"Oh! I am Stacey, Stacey McGill. I am here on vacation for the next couple weeks. It must be amazing to actually live here."

That was when someone from behind the bar started calling to Taylor. He asked if I could wait, since he only had a few minutes on his shift. (Was he kidding? Of course I could wait).

After he did a few things he came back and we sat at the edge of the pool and kept talking. Taylor told me a bunch of stories he had heard from his father about working in casino security. Apparently they can come down really hard on people who try to cheat the casino. (I wondered if I should tell Claudia. She was so excited about finding a way to gamble, I didn't want to make her nervous). Then I started telling Taylor about growing up in New York.

I didn't want to leave, but I noticed it was starting to get dark and I saw across the pool that the rest of the BSC was packing up to leave. "It looks like my friends are leaving," I told Taylor. "I should probably go with them, they will expect me to have dinner with them."

Taylor and I said goodbye, but he made a point of asking what room I was in before I left so he could track me down. He said he wanted to hang out again while I was here. I couldn't wait. I was definitely in LUV!