Page 67 of Hot to Go

He goes through a list of names, calling them out in fours, directing them towards dorms as the crowd of fifty children gets smaller until there is only the staff standing there by the desk.

‘Who the hell is that annoying one with the buzz cut and the earring?’ Jackie from HR asks. ‘Anyone want to trade? He’s so gobby.’

‘Trade you for Kyle with the flatulence problem,’ Mark says.

Lee goes through his folders once again, chatting to reception as Suzie stands there quietly. ‘Who do you have?’ I ask her.

‘Mostly girls. Lola…’

‘She’s a nice girl. If you need a conversational in then ask her about Josh.’

‘From my French class, Josh?’

I nod. Don’t look at the sweat pooling around her collarbone.

‘So, guys. The room situation…um…err…’ from his hesitation, I am not quite sure what he’s hinting at. It’d better not be sleeping bags as my back won’t cope with that.

‘Don’t tell me it’s bunk beds,’ Mark says. ‘You know what happened on the ski trip.’

‘What happened on the ski trip?’ Suzie asks.

‘Mark got drunk, fell out of one and took out a tooth,’ Jackie, his wife, explains, rolling her eyes.

‘You two have a double bed because you’re married…’

‘I’m in with our tour host, Jorge and then…I know this is awkward but because we thought Fraser was coming, the other room is a bunk bedroom for you guys,’ he says, looking at myself and Suzie.

We both freeze, looking at Lee. I can almost hear the universe pointing and laughing at us. ‘I know this is awkward but there’s no other room. I don’t want it to be awkward. If you’d like to stay at another hostel nearby, we can try and find you a bed elsewhere, in an all-female dorm? Or we can put you in with some of the girl students,’ Lee says, looking at Suzie.

‘Or I could go so you’d be with the group?’ I offer. This is mildly ridiculous. First the plane and now this. I think about what Brooke said about the stars aligning. How the stars may have tripped Fraser up at pickleball to facilitate this situation and to now be pushing us in a hostel room together. It does feel like the stars were not in her flat that day though to witnessthe very awkward sex we had. I don’t know what they’re trying to tell me.

‘Bunks?’ Suzie asks.

‘Again, not ideal but it is ensuite.’

Suzie looks at me again, almost a little suspiciously. I have no idea what she’s thinking.

I put my hand up. ‘Look, ideally we should probably stick with the group because of the ratios and sharing the responsibility of all the kids. But I don’t want this to be awkward. I can leave the room when you want to use the toilet, get changed or have a shower. You get to choose the bunk too. Maybe we give it a night and then see what happens?’

‘Can I go on top?’ she asks, biting her lip, looking down to her feet to stifle her giggles. I hope no one heard that gulp leave my throat and hit the pit of my stomach like a rock.

‘Whatever the señorita wants,’ I reply.

We both stop and look at each other. I can’t quite breathe.

‘Then that is perfect. I am so grateful. So regroup here in an hour? Does that give everyone enough time?’

I nod as Lee hands me a key. I turn to Suzie. ‘Ready, roomie?’

She smiles as we head up the staircase towards our dorm, both of us saying nothing to each other. I should break the silence, shouldn’t I? I can bring some humour to it.You don’t snore, do you?Come on, Charlie. Talk about the heat. Or maybe don’t. I get to our dorm room, putting the key in the door.

As I push the door open, I see there’s a wooden framed bunk bed to the corner of the terracotta tiled floor, a window that frames the houses of the street across the way and a white gauze curtain waving in the breeze from a fan in the corner. I walk in and Suzie follows me.

‘You wanted to go on top?’ I ask, facing her.

That was not the line to open with. I can’t do this. I’ll go and sleep outside or something. Because she’s an arm’s length awayand all I want to do is kiss her. My breath gets heavier. Why is this so tense? Charged. Hot. She doesn’t reply, she just looks at me with her lips parted gently. Kiss her, Charlie. I take one step towards her.

‘SIR! SIR!’ The moment explodes with fierce knocking on the door. ‘THERE’S NO AIRCON, SIR! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!’

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