Alina groaned in her sleep.
I pulled the phone away from my ear. "Sorry." I slipped out into the hall again. I put the phone to my ear again. My heart was beating so fast. "Hey," I said, a little calmer.
"Hey, Daphne. How's the bachelorette party going?"
I sighed and leaned against the wall. Bryce. It was Bryce. He was probably just calling to see how Alina was. "Hey, Bryce. It's great."
He laughed. "Is everyone still asleep?"
"Um...yeah. Do you want to talk to Alina?"
"No, just come down to the front desk."
"Why?"
But Bryce didn't answer. He had already hung up the phone.
Weird. I was wearing pajama shorts and a tank top. I looked back at the door. There was no reason to change. The only person I cared about impressing was Rob and he wasn't here anymore. And I certainly didn't care what Javier thought about me. He was the most unhelpful concierge in the history of the world. He deserved pajama Daphne. And maybe my ensemble would just scare off anyone so they wouldn't want to come close enough to remove my bracelet. Crap, I have to put another one on today. I'd be stuck with two bracelets and Rob wasn't here to help me.
I walked over to the elevator. Bryce had probably sent Alina flowers. Which was really sweet. They were the cutest couple ever. Or maybe Tim had sent some male strippers. I stepped onto the elevator. That would be hilarious if Alina had to wake up to some guy dancing around the room in a banana hammock. But even that thought didn't make me smile. Rob hadn't called me back. It was morning. He was back in Newark or New York or wherever their jet had taken them. He would have heard my voicemails and gotten all my texts by now. And...nothing. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. I had made such a mess of everything. I sighed and stepped off the elevator.
"Daphne!" Bryce was standing in the middle of the lobby with a huge smile on his face. His shaggy brown hair was sticking to his forehead because of the heat. Tim's hair was still perfectly coiffed somehow and he was leaning on the counter talking to Javier. And Ethan was staring at the activity board with his strong arms folded across his chest. He seemed completely transfixed with the options. I still hadn't looked at it. Maybe there was something weird on it.
I realized I had just been standing there awkwardly staring at all of them. I quickly walked over to Bryce. "Oh my God. What are all you guys doing here?" I didn't mean to sound horrified, but I'm pretty sure it came out that way. I now deeply regretted my wardrobe choice.
"You're not happy to see us?" Bryce said. He gave me a hug and a swift kiss on the cheek.
"No, it's not that. I'm just...surprised."
"That was kind of the plan."
"I hope you ladies haven't been having too much fun without us." Tim grabbed my hand and kissed it like he always did. "Looking lovely as ever, Daphne."
"Thanks, Tim."
Ethan gave me a fairly awkward hug because we didn't know each other that well. Bryce and Tim had seen me in pajamas plenty of times. Ethan had maybe seen me in a cocktail dress most recently? I should have changed.
"So everyone's still asleep?" Ethan asked. "We thought we'd bring breakfast up to the room and surprise the girls."
"Yup." Everyone but me. "That's a great idea. So...what are you guys doing here?"
"We can't want to go on vacation with our ladies?" Tim said with a smile.
"Of course. But, it's Alina's bachelorette party."
"Those shouldn't last a week. We were bored. We thought it would be better for us all to hang out together."
"I don't know how you guys could have been bored with Tim planning your bachelor party," I said.
"Bryce kept vetoing all my delicious ideas like an ignoramus," Tim said.
I laughed.
Bryce shrugged. "We just thought it would be fun to combine our parties."
"That's a great idea." Except, it wasn't really. Because now I'd be the seventh wheel. If you thought a third wheel was bad, a seventh wheel was absolutely horrible.
"If I'm being completely honest," Tim said, "I wanted Bryce's bachelor party to be here. When he turned the idea down, I helped hook Alina and you ladies up instead." He rubbed his hands together. "Now I'm getting what I wanted."
"You just got lucky. Don't act like you planned this whole thing," Bryce said.
"Believe what you want to believe."
"Let's go get breakfast," Ethan said. "I'm starving." But from the way he said it, it was pretty clear that he just wanted to see Layla. It was cute how eager he was to see his wife.
Not only was I now the seventh wheel, but I had to endure them all being stupid and adorable and coupled up. It made me miss Rob even more. We had never gotten to be a couple and now we never would be. I bit my lip.
Javier cleared his throat. "Here are your keycards, gentlemen. We got the two rooms adjacent to your ladies' room. So it's three rooms total. We'll have our cleaning service take care of the first room and make sure they're upgraded to the couples' suites."
What now?
"Sounds great," Tim said.
"Wait," I said.
Javier looked extremely disappointed that I had spoken.
Jerk face. "Where will I sleep?" Three couples' suites for three couples. Did they expect me to sleep in the hallway?
"It's fine, Daphne, you can share our room," Tim said.
"Um...no."
Tim laughed. "Although you have the face of an angel and the posterior of Beyoncé, I promised Kristen that I would never sleep with any of her friends."
"That's good to know. How much would another room cost?"
Javier typed something into his computer. "All we have left is the penthouse suite. It costs ten thousand dollars a night."
Seriously?
Javier nodded. "Usually our most prestigious guests stay there. I believe you met the Hunters and Caldwells during their stay."
"Yeah." I could feel all the guys staring at me. "Okay, well, I can't afford that." A teacher's salary would never let me afford a room like that.
Bryce laughed. "You can crash with Alina and me, it's fine."
I didn't want to ruin their pre-wedding whatevers. "Yeah, we'll figure it out. Thanks for looking, Javier." Thanks for nothing.
"Of course, ma'am. Now, gentleman, I have the menus for all our restaurants here. If you'd like to order, I can have your food sent up to you."
"That would be great." Ethan picked up the closest menu.
"We are kind of in a hurry," Tim said. "I don't want to accidentally lose my card before I even get to greet Kristen." He had put the word accidentally in air quotes.
Bryce hit his shoulder.
Apparently they had already been told about the stupid bracelet game. At least I wouldn't have to wear Alina's bracelet anymore. The silver lining to being a seventh wheel, I guess.
"What do you want?" Bryce asked me. "Say it slow so I can write it all down."
I laughed halfheartedly. "I'm not really hungry."
"Are you okay?"