“I’ll go get the rooms,” Chris says. I stop him and hand him my credit card.
“I’m not going to take your money, Lauren,” he chuckles and I laugh.
“My money is kind of your money,” I smile. He frowns, still not taking the card from me. I guess he thinks of it as Cal’s money, and of course, he doesn’t want anything of Cal’s. Which leaves me little hope in all this. This is going to be a long trip.
Chris made sure to get us two rooms. We go into mine first. It’s a nice size. There's a standard queen sized bed with a down comforter and flat screen TV. Hopefully, we won’t be here for more than a couple of hours, which is why I don’t understand why we couldn’t have shared a room. Though, I guess that would be disrespectful to Jenna, and we wouldn’t want that.
Ugh. I can’t get the smell of her perfume out of my head and I feel annoyance and agitation seeping through my pores. I try not to think about them together but smelling her on him meant she had to be close enough to... Ugh. I won’t think about it.
I won’t.
“This is pretty nice, huh?” he says cheerfully. I can feel my expression set into a scowl.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, noticing it.
“Nothing,” I say flashing my fake smile as I sit on the bed and turn on the television. I flip through the stations until I find the news. The newscaster’s talking about severe thunderstorm warnings in the area.
A little late for that.
I see Chris pull out his phone charger and plug it in.
“I must have not been getting phone calls earlier. All these messages just came through at once,” he says aloud, sitting at the little desk. He puts the phone to his ear and frowns.
“The volume's really low. Do you mind if I listen to these on speaker?” he asks. I nod giving him the okay as I wonder if they have any good stuff in that mini bar.
“Hi Christopher, it’s Mom. I’m worried about you and Lauren out there. There’s a storm warning. Please call me and let me know you’re safe. Your father and I are worried,” Chris smiles and so do I.
His mom’s such a sweetheart. I can’t believe I thought for a second she’d hide the fact that he had a child from him.
“Chris it’s me. I really need to talk to you. It’s important so, uh, when you get a chance can you let me know a good time we can get together. Soon okay? And at my house,” I glance over at him. That’s Lisa’s voice. She sounds distressed and maybe just a little bit tipsy.
“You think everything’s okay?” I ask him and he rolls his eyes.
“She’s fine, it sounds like she’s been drinking,” he chuckles and I nod. That she did.
“I’ll text Aidan asking him to go check on her, just in case,” he says casually. The next message that plays causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.
“Christopher, I love you so much and I didn’t mean what I said earlier. I don’t want this to be the end of us.” I immediately sit up in the bed. Chris quickly takes her message off speaker. I look over at him questioningly. Did they have fight? If so what about?
“I’m going to go check out my room,” he says, taking his charger and phone with him.
“Okay,” I say simply, but I really want to know what the hell just happened. Did they break up? My heart starts to beat wildly in my chest but then the pessimistic side of me notes how quickly he’s gone in the other room to call her back. If they were just off, they probably are about to be back on. I grab the remote and turn off the TV. I fall back into the bed letting my head come down hard on the mattress.
“What am I doing?” I mumble aloud to myself as I cover my face with my hand. I’m pathetic. I walk over to the mirror and look at myself.
Why doesn’t he want me?
“Because he wants her that’s why,” I mutter to myself. And like the genius I am, I let him think that I’m okay with it because it’s best for Caylen. That’s what I tell myself, but really it’s because I’m a coward. A coward that’s too afraid to lay her cards on the table and say how she really feels because she’s scared of having her heart broken into a million pieces. I bite my nails. I have to know what he’s saying to her. I make my way over to the double door and open it slightly.
“I do love you, Jenna,” I hear Chris say and I quickly close it again. Of course he loves her. When will I just give up?
I need a drink.
I head to the mini bar and am utterly disappointed with its contents. The only thing that look’s mildly appealing is a mini Heineken beer and I’ve never really been a beer drinker. I look back at the door and hope it’ll put me in a mood where I won’t cry or completely snap. A few moments later I hear a knock at the door. It’s Chris wanting to make sure I’m decent before he comes in.
“Come in,” I say flatly. I glance over at him. He looks relieved, like a heaviness has been lifted, happy. I bet he’s happy because he and his lady love are back on good terms.
“Any more of those?” he asks enthusiastically and I look at him in surprise. He doesn’t drink.
“You don’t drink,” the words come out sharper than I intended. His eyes narrow in on mine and he frowns.
“Let me guess, Cal doesn’t drink?” he says, sarcasm creeping into his voice. “I’m not Cal, Lauren.”
Is he serious? I stand up and grab my purse.
“I’m more than aware of that, in case you didn’t know,” I say angrily. I’m sick of him and his snide remarks about Cal. Like he’s the worst person in the world. News flash – his girlfriend doesn’t win any prizes in the personality department.
“Where are you going?” he asks, surprised.
“I need a real drink,” I say before leaving him standing in my room.
“What are you having?” the bartender asks me as I settle onto the plush leather bar seat. At first I was going to ask for a glass of wine but that’s what the old Lauren would have ordered. I need to be a new Lauren. The Lauren who’s bold and gets what she wants.
“Reyka on the rocks,” I say with a smile. There aren’t many people at the bar and he sets me right up without any wait. I grab a straw and take a sip, God, this is disgusting but drinking vodka on the rocks looks a lot better than doing shots as if I were still in my early twenties. I’m halfway through my glass and I’m already starting to feel better. The music that was putting me to sleep initially doesn’t sound all that bad and I start to feel light, warm and tingly. I end up ditching the straw, down the rest and alert the bartender that I want another.
“Lauren Brooks,” I hear a somewhat familiar voice say. I look up and see a tall blonde man in an expensive looking blue suit. I don’t recognize him but he looks like he’s someone important, maybe head of hotel security. Oh gosh, what did I do now?
“I’m sorry. Have we met before?” I ask hesitantly. He’s pretty cute and when he smiles at me I feel myself start to blush.
“Oh don’t break my heart. Was I that forgettable?” he asks flirtatiously taking the seat next to mine. Who is this guy?
“Bartender, rum and coke for me and a Long Island for the lady,” he says turning his body towards me. I survey his face closely and it hits me.