Page 6 of The One You Chose

A bang on the door and a yell to “get your ass in gear” from my dad, and I was off. Turkey hat and all.

An hour and a half later, I finished the race with my family. They took a slew of pictures where my eyes were no doubt half closed, that my aunt would post every single one in a Facebook album.

As I got into my car, I rested my head back and squeezed my eyes shut, the headache that had been threatening me all morning forming along my temples. I was thankful for the quick moments of respite before I would meet up with everyone back at my parent's. My family would start drinking or cooking depending on their own skill set. There would be arguments over how much onion to use in the stuffing and what kind of cranberry sauce was best. I preferred the canned kind you can slice by the indent. It would be loud, warm, and overwhelming.

Driving past the Ridgewood Inn and Suites, I considered what I should do about Fitz. Pausing at the red light, I considered what would be more awkward, going back and knocking on his door to give him my number? Or just leaving it? We didn’t discuss what would happen the night before. Wasn’t leaving the next morning what you did? Scrubbing a hand over my grimy face I cursed myself. How could I be almost in my mid-twenties and not know this stuff? There was no way he was still sleeping. I didn’t have a key to his room. I would have to knock on his door, and then what? Have an awkward conversation where he obviously wasn’t interested.

But if he was... my thumb traced the line of my bottom lip, remembering the way his lips felt against mine. And then the ways those lips felt against my stomach and my breasts and my...

I didn’t even get the guy’s last name and yet I had more of a connection with him than the boys I dated before. Boys I had shared juice boxes with in the school cafeteria. Boys that sang beside me in jazz choir and tried to feel me up in the hallway after school dances. Boys who had no idea how to use their hands and lips. And tongues.

The car behind me laid on its horn, jolting me out of my thought process. Fighting the urge to flip off the driver behind me, I drove straight up the hill and away from the Inn. He was there until the first. I could find my courage by then, right?

five

Bells All Ring

Fitz

Groggy,Irolledoverto the middle of the bed, my hand straying to find Lina only to find nothing but cold starched sheets. Opening one eye I saw her side of the bed was empty. I rose my head to look around the small room. Her glass of water still sitting beside the small sink, my clothes in a heap on the floor. All my stuff was here, but Lina was gone. Flopping back I stared up at the ceiling. Why didn’t I get her number last night, ask her to stay? Something.

The last one-night stand I had was on vacation, a nothing fling, but we agreed to it being a nothing. I realized I talked to that woman far more about my expectations than I did Lina. How could Lina know I wanted her to stay when I never asked her?

There was a loud knock on the door and I rolled out of bed, scrambling to find my pants. Maybe it was Lina coming back from getting ice or something. Maybe she got us coffee. Envisioning her on the other side, I left my shirt off.

When I opened up, an older gentleman with a Ridgewood Inn and Suites name tag with the name Walter, stood in the doorway. “Sorry to bother you, Mr. Deir.”

I bit back a groan, smiling at him. “No bother. How can I help you, Walter?”

Walter folded his hands together and frowned. “We’re having some plumbing issues in the room beside yours. We’ll need to shut off the water for this block of rooms until the issue is resolved. The hotel was hoping we could ask you to move to another room for a bit. We’ll help with the move if you’d like, I can bring you a cart, and we’ll comp you a night.”

I glanced back at my sparse room. Most of my stuff was in storage until the house was ready on the first. A break on a single night would be helpful for my wallet. Prices in Ridgewood were cheaper than Seattle, but they weren’t cheap. “Okay. I can do that.”

Closing the door, I took stock of the empty room.

The room looked exactly the same, but I was different. Irrevocably changed. On the bedside table was her water from the night before. I picked it up, the glass cold in my hand. There was a smudge of red lipstick on the rim. Rubbing the imprint with my thumb, I realized I hadn’t thought past bringing her back to my hotel the night before. Now that I've had her in my bed, I knew I needed more of her. If she had stayed I would have taken her out to breakfast. Kept her until lunch. I would have wanted her to stay the weekend. I needed more of her.

Shaking my head, I refocused on the empty hotel room. I needed to pack up.

Fifteen minutes later I was settled in an identical room across the hotel. My phone rang, and I saw the name of my new coworker who had dragged me out the night before. “Hey, Cooper. What’s up.”

“Okay, Mr. Deir. So I told my dad you didn’t have any family.”

“I have family, Cooper. And I already told you to call me Fitz...”

“No, can do, boss. Dad said you have to come over for dinner tonight. My aunts are totally nuts and will try to hook you up with my cousins, but don’t do it. Trust me, my cousin Nova seems pretty at first, but she is nuts, she just broke up with her boyfriend and she is on the prowl. Aside from that, it should be good grub.”

Looking around my empty room, I didn’t see any reason not to take Cooper up on his offer. Lina hadn’t mentioned what she was doing, and I didn’t even get her number before she took off with no notice. Granted, I was a heavy sleeper. We made no promises that night. It could have been a onetime thing. But I felt something. I was sure she did, too. Maybe I was wrong if she left without even waking me up.

“Okay, I’ll see you around noon. Text me the address.”

As I was about to get into my car, I stopped by the front desk where Walter was standing behind the counter.

“Hi, Walter. Could I leave a note, I’m expecting a friend to stop by and I want her to know I moved rooms.”

Walter nodded at me, handing me a pad of yellowing hotel stationery. “You could always use those new-fangled machines you kids keep in your pocket too, you know.”

Chagrined, I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t know her number.

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