Page 8 of Floored By Love

“Thanks for that mental image.”

“What?! Shane’s cute.”

“You like ‘em older now? I thought you were into ‘Zeph’?”

“A boy can look!”

“Mm-hmm.”

"And Zeph is older.”

At the fourth stop, Colton told me it was time to go, so I stepped off and waited for the driver to get my bag from the back. I turned to Colton to ask, “Where to?” and looked around, awestruck by all the gleaming white towers around the central green space.

“The big one to the left,” he said, gesturing to one of the taller buildings. “It’s mostly Americans, but there’s a few smaller countries mixed in with us as well. Not many people are here yet, though. We’re on the seventh floor.”

“That’s the floor I was on last time!”

Colton smiled. “Orion and Alex are on the third.”

“Where’s Luke staying?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“Uh...I think he’s staying at a hotel with his coach.”

Of course he was. “Why wasn’t she hovering around in the locker room then?”

“She can’t go in there. Something about a lawsuit last year.”

“Hm.”

“Gotta be happy about that.”

“What?”

“She can’t go into the locker room. It’s the one place y’all can be alone.”

I sighed. “I don’t even know what happened. Why should I care this much still? He ghosted me.”

“You know there’s more to the story, sugar. I’ve already seen how he acts around you. You need to talk to him. Even if you don’t want to be with him, it’ll give you closure.”

Colton was right. I’d have to try, or I’d never be able to focus.

Our room was a lot bigger than I expected, with the bathroom on the left immediately upon entering. The first bed was next to that and separated from the living room by a short wall, offering a little more privacy than last time. The other bed was behind a second short wall on the other side of the living room by an enormous window. There wasn’t a kitchen this time, but there was a mini fridge next to the couch.

The whole thing was quite charming, actually. Not that Brisbane hadn’t been, but this window overlooked the central courtyard below, which was beautifully landscaped, and instead of white and grey, our room had some blue and green accents. They had also added a room darkening shade, which would come in handy when trying to catch up on sleep. Not that I had too much trouble with that, but I knew Colton did.

“I took the bed away from the window, but we can switch if you want.”

“No, that’s fine,” I answered. “I’ll take the bed with the view.”

I dropped my bag on the bed and turned to Colton. “I’m starving. Take me to the food.”

I hadn’t looked at the map yet, so I was happy to have Colton there to help. Everything seemed similar to Brisbane, but it was just a little different. It was like my first visit to Disneyland when all I knew growing up was Disney World. I could feel the magic, but the castle wasn’t as big and everything felt just a little off. I laughed at my silly comparison.

“What?” Colton asked as we walked across the courtyard, heading towards a large white building opposite the dorms.

“Just thinking about the last games. It’s crazy to be back.”

“You deserve it, Cam.”