AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Brinkley!” I heard a voice call from across the lobby, and a harried-looking mom came running up. I didn’t know if she was talking to the kid or the dog; both seemed possible. I used this commotion to edge past them, but I could feel eyes on me, and as I glanced back before taking the hallway to the left that Russell had told me about, I saw that the red-haired lady behind the desk was watching me, her eyes narrowed. I looked away quickly, and kept my head down as I pushed open the door to the bathroom.
When I was done washing my hands, I dug my tiny toiletry bag out of my canvas tote, beyond glad that it had come with me and hadn’t ended up in my duffel. There wasn’t a ton in there—a foldable hairbrush, mints, a lipstick, lip gloss. Also an emergency tampon, Advil, and liner, because I’d learned the hard way what happened when I didn’t have those things on me at all times.
I quickly brushed the tangles out of my hair, popped in a mint, and then contemplated the lipstick before choosing the gloss and applying it quickly. After all—I was going to be kissing someone imminently, so lipstick probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Just the thought of that was enough to give me that bubbling, fluttering feeling again, and when I met my eyes in the mirror, I could see just how different I looked. This was not the same reflection I’d caught in the WELCOME TO JESSE bus station mirror. My cheeks were flushed (no surprise there) but my eyes were practically sparkling. I looked about a thousand times happier—like I had a secret to tell.
Because things were happening. It felt like my whole life, I’d been listening to songs and watching movies and reading stories about things happening to other people, and now, finally, things were happening to me. This was my Theseus’s Sailboat. My Before Sunrise. My one perfect night.
Go have fun, Katy practically yelled. Why not?
Why not? was the thought rattling around in my brain as I pulled out another paper towel, wiped away the droplets on the sink, and balled it up to throw it away.
Which was when I noticed, lying on top of the tissues and paper towels and chewed-up gum—a plastic key card. Silver Standard Hotel was written in fancy script along the top, and along the bottom—Keep Exploring.
I picked it up out of the trash, wiping it quickly on my jean shorts before pocketing it. This was the kind of souvenir I wanted of this night—especially since neither Russell or I could take any pictures. I’d want something to remember it, something to prove that I was here, that this had happened. Something I could pull out with a flourish when I told the story to Didi and Katy over FaceTime.
This, along with the persistent drumbeat of why not, was echoing in my head as I pushed my way out the door and crossed through the lobby—but I went in the opposite direction this time, not wanting to draw any more attention from the front-desk woman. I figured that there would be a side entrance somewhere. I picked a hallway at random and walked down it, trying not to look suspicious, focusing on the horseshoe pattern on the slightly worn carpet.
I saw the door at the end of the hallway and pushed out—I was now around back, near the parking lot. I figured I’d just walk to the front of the hotel—but then I turned my head and saw it.
And right then, it seemed like it was the thing that absolutely needed to happen now. And given what I’d just taken from the bathroom, it seemed like it absolutely could.
“Why not,” I murmured, making a decision as I hitched my bag over my shoulder and started walking fast, hurrying around to the front of the hotel.
Russell was leaning back against the front entrance, one leg bent, and he smiled and straightened up when he saw me. “Hey. I thought you’d come out the, you know, door. You all set?”
“Uh-huh,” I said, then looked back to where I’d just come from. “But I actually had an idea.”
* * *
It turned out it really wasn’t at all hard to break into the pool of the Silver Standard Hotel. It was located in the fenced-off area I’d noticed when I’d gone out the side door. There was a hot tub, and plastic loungers all around the concrete deck. The pool itself was medium-size, with underwater lights that cast a cool blue glow over everything.
“So I think this is a great idea,” Russell said when I’d led him around the side of the hotel and presented the pool proudly. “There’s just one problem.” He’d pointed to the locked gate that required a key card to get in.
“Ah,” I said. I took the key card out of my back pocket and held it up. “Problem solved.” Russell just looked at me, eyes wide, like I’d pulled off a magic trick, and I laughed. “I found it in the bathroom. I figured someone must have checked out and tossed it. But maybe it’ll still work?” I waved the key card at the sensor, and after a pause, the green light flickered on, and I pushed the pool gate open and we walked through.
We stood there for just a moment in the silence of the pool deck. There was one lone inflatable bobbing in the shallow end—a round red-and-orange float, with handles on the side. I looked at the lights changing as the water in the pool moved, and at the sky above us, huge and dotted with stars.
“It’s nice that there’s nobody here,” Russell said.
I nodded and looked around—and then saw the sign near the door that led back into the hotel. NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY. SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. POOL HOURS 7:30 A.M.–7:30 P.M. POOL FOR HOTEL GUESTS ONLY. TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED. “I think technically it’s closed.”
“And we’re not hotel guests. We’re breaking all kinds of rules.”
I smiled at that as I set my bag down and kicked my Birks off, leaving them under one of the loungers, then dipped a foot in the pool to check the temperature.
“How is it?”
“Nice,” I said, pulling my foot back out. It was a good temperature—maybe a little colder than I would have picked, but in my opinion, that was way better than it being too hot.
Russell sat on one of the loungers and untied his shoelaces, taking off his shoes and socks. He pushed up his jeans and walked over to the deep end. He sat by the edge of the pool and put his legs in the water. I walked over to sit next to him, glad that I was wearing shorts and didn’t have to worry about my jeans getting wet. Russell leaned back on his hands, then looked over and smiled at me. “Well—today is really not going how I was expecting it to.”
I laughed. “Me neither.” I leaned over to look at his watch, and seeing what I wanted, he lifted it up to show me. But even so, I took the opportunity to hold his wrist in mine, turning it so that I could see the watch face, but really so that I could just hold on to his hand, running my fingers lightly over his arm, but then I had to stop. You can only pretend to need to see someone’s watch for so long, after all.
But as though Russell also felt it really had been too long since we’d touched each other, he brushed a lock of hair away from my forehead, tucked it behind my ear, and traced his fingers lightly down my neck. “Are you tired?”
I shook my head—I had never felt less tired in my life. “You know, if things hadn’t gone wrong, our bus would be closing in on California.”
“You mean we would have been on a bus this whole time?” Russell shook his head. “I have to say, I prefer this.”
