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Above us, a song from the 80s starts playing, and Maya gasps.
“Oh, God,” she says, flinging her head back. “Ilooovethis song. Come on. Dance with me, Claire.”
“No, I…Maya…”
“Oh,fine. I’ll dance by myself.”
Maya starts to move away from us, her arms up, her hips swaying. When she attempts to do a spin, though, she loses her balance and falls backward.
Before she hits the ground, I jump forward and catch her.
The moment she lands in my arms, she looks up at me and gives me a drunken smile. Then her brows furrow and she groans and shuts her eyes.
“Dizzy,” she mutters.
“I’ve got you,” I assure her. I look over at Claire. “Should we get her back to the hotel? I’m assuming you’re staying at the one by the convention center, too, right?”
Claire nods, giving me a grateful look. She quickly says something to the group of women they came with, then leads the way through the crowd. I hold up Maya and help her walk as we follow behind.
We make it to the hotel and up to the fourth floor without incident. When Claire reaches into Maya’s pocket to get her room key, Maya starts giggling and wiggling her eyebrows. Claire just rolls her eyes and opens the hotel room door.
I get Maya inside and onto the bed. She groans, her eyes closed again, as I set her down.
“I’m going to stay here with her,” Claire says. “Keep an eye on her.”
I nod. “Good idea. Do you need anything?”
“Oh—no. I’m fine. Thank you, though. And thank you so much for helping me with Maya. I swear she’s not always like this.”
“Hey, I’ve been there, too,” I say, smiling and shaking my head as memories from my twenties rush through my mind. “Give me a ring if you do need anything, though, okay? I’m in Room 622.”
“Okay. Thank you again.”
“Just glad I could help, Claire.”
Our eyes meet, and she gives me another one of those sweet little smiles that makes me never want to look away.
But right now isn’t the time to pursue this any further. Not with her drunk friend sleeping it off mere feet away.
“Goodnight,” Claire says.
“Goodnight,” I say.
Chapter Three
Claire
Iwake to the sound of my phone alarm going off.
Which is quickly followed by Maya’s groans.
“Ugh,” Maya moans. “Why is that soloud?”
“It’s not,” I say, laughing as I reach out to turn the alarm off. Yawning, I pull myself out of bed and stretch my arms above my head. “All right. I’m going back to my room to get ready. Meet you downstairs?”
“Uh huh,” Maya mutters, massaging her temples with a grimace.
Thirty minutes later, I’m stepping into the hotel lobby, freshly showered and changed. To my surprise, Maya is already there, two coffees in hand.
