As Lovely As You (George Shelley Fanfic)

Chapter 3 - The Corinthia Hotel

Flooded. Yes, flooded.

According to the firefighters there was a huge leak on the 4th floor of the flat, an amount of water so large that left the 3rd and 2nd floors also flooded, only the 1st floor escaped. Lucky bastards.

We rushed from the museum to flat 255 to find an enormous crew of people and firefighters around it. I even saw a news crew talking about how the pipe begun to leak. My aunt was devastated, all her stuff was in there and everything was wrecked.

When we arrived at the flat Amelia went to talk to a firefighter and I waited by the car. 15 minutes later she called me, “Laura oh my god I can’t believe this happened!” she said “And when you’re here!” I hugged her, poor aunt Amelia, it seemed like I brought bad luck. 2 days in London and her place was already flooded.

“But oh I don’t mean it was your fault sweetie of course not!” she said as if she had read my thoughts and hugged me back “I have some good news though!”  this time a smiled appeared “I forgot about my flood insurance, they already arranged a great hotel for us to stay and will personally take care of our stuff, my furniture and everything we need!”

“Seriously?” I was surprised, I could never imagine my aunt paying for flood insurance, or anyone in  fact.

“Well that’s great” I smiled, “Yes, it’s something!” she agreed “But most of all I’m happy because this hotel it’s a special one, really fancy, always wanted to stay there but never imagined I would in this situation” she said looking at the flat  “Yet, I need to get some papers signed, call the insurance company and have some other things figured out, but our reservations are ready so we have a place to stay” she told me while looking for her phone “Then I’ll stay here for just an hour or so to be with our stuff and have everything in place for when we get back. So if you want you can get something from your bags now, they are there” she pointed out a pile of wet baggage “Stay at the hotel while I sort this out, here’s the money just tell the driver you want to go to the Corinthia Hotel"

 “But Amelia, I can stay here with you, I want to help.” I told her “That’s very sweet of you Laura but I can handle it, seriously. I don’t want you to be worried, wait for me at the hotel and call me when you get there" she said hugging me and handing the money, “Okay” I sighed “Oh, dear I don’t want you to feel bad, at least nothing is lost we can always use a couple of dryers!” we laughed and hugged for the 4th time then she went with the firefighters and I went to the pile of bags.

Pink, printed, black and many other colors of bags were soaking in the middle of the street, I had brought 2 bags but they were too big for me to get both and anyway they were already unpacked, so I knew exactly which baggage to get, my small black suitcase, it was sealed since I knew there was important stuff in there like passports, money, make-up and books, so it wasn’t that wet thanks god. But most importantly, there was a card inside that suitcase that had a number which I knew I could call for a ride.

-

“Wow, I still can’t believe it.” Marcus said “Flooded? Bloody flooded?” “Yep.” I said, after finding my suitcase, inside it there was Marcus number, I called the cab and he came right away, not believing me when I said flooded flat. “But well, you’re lucky you got to stay in such an expensive hotel like the Corinthia!” he smiled “It’s where the X factor contestants are, did you know that?” “X factor huh? Cool” I said not paying attention. Well don’t get me wrong, we have singing competitions in Brazil, the voice, American idol, etc,  but X factor Brazil? Nope. So I didn’t know what that was. I was still so sad about the flooding situation that I wasn’t really interested on asking more about it either.

When we arrived at the hotel Marcus helped with the suitcase, it was wet and kind of heavy and I was tired and kind of wet too “Great” I thought as I was getting out of the cab “Heavy, tired and wet. That’s a great combination.” I thanked Marcus and gave him the money “No Laura, you don’t need to give me anything" he said returning it “Today’s on me, a flooded flat is not an easy thing, so keep your money" “Are you sure?” I asked “Yes, I just hope you don’t flood this hotel too!” he joked “I’ll try” we both laughed, said goodbye and then the cab left.

When I turned around I saw 2 things I wasn’t expecting; first, the hotel was fancy like Amelia and Marcus had told me, but I wasn’t expecting to be this fancy. Giant white marble columns, many well-constructed  windows and really big black letters spelling “Corinthia Hotel”.

The second thing I wasn’t expecting was a crowd of screaming girls right in front of the entrance and a bunch of security guards trying to contain them.

I was shocked. What were those girls doing there? And why would they scream? I heard “Josh marry me!” “Jaymi oh my god!” “George have my kids!” “JJ I want to touch your bum!” seriously what the fuck? Jaymi, George, Josh, JJ? Who were those? I tried to stay calm, took a deep breath and went to the nearest security guard “Excuse me sir, I am staying at this hotel, how can I get in?” I shouted “Are you really staying at this hotel miss?” he shouted back, girls can really make loud noises don’t test them, it was impossible to talk, we had to shout “Yes of course!” I answered back showing him my suitcase. Why would I lie about staying at a hotel? He paused, looked at me, at the suitcase, at the screaming girls and looked at what I was able to see now.

4 guys standing near to the hotel’s door; they were about 5 meters away from me and the other girls, they were the center of attention. Why would they stand there? They were blocking the passage! “Okay" the guard sighed “Just try to pass through the screaming girls, they are harmless, tell them you are staying at the hotel if they ask you” “Why would they scream at me?” I asked “Aren’t you a fan?” he asked back “Why would I be?” I shouted with another question, he laughed and tried to help me with my suitcase but there were too many girls, “Just enter in the hotel, the manager will help you” he shouted, I thanked him and climbed the stairs, or should I say, tried to. My attemps needed a lot of effort, I was being pushed and thrown between so many girls and screams that it was almost impossible to take a step without being yelled at. All I could her was boy’s names that I didn’t even know.

I was getting really pissed off. My patience was at the edge, so I gathered all my strength and pushed every girl back using the suitcase as a shield. Try to imagine, it was a mess, it seemed like the French revolution, I was a simple worker trying to get to the palace to do my job while the peasants were all mad, screaming after the king Louis XVI, wanting his head, but in this case Louis XVI would be 4 boys that from far looked pretty much attractive, but I tried to ignore that and my ridiculous history comparations about the XVIII century and concentrate on getting to the entrance.

I finally arrived at the doorsteps, more sweaty and exhausted than ever. Snorting of tiredness I looked up and saw the 4 boys right in front of me, they we’re all pretty cute, but I was still pissed off to try to look at them directly so I just went through them.

Suddenly one of them stopped me, he was really attractive, brunette hair that looked just like that guy from one direction and big brown chocolate eyes. “Hi! I’m George, would like a photo? Or a hug?” he smiled.

What? Why would I want a picture with him? I mean, yes he’s pretty but who is he? I was so tired. I felt the sweat dripping off my face “Shit I must be looking awful!”  I thought, I was about to answer the boy when I heard a girl’s shout “Hey what are you doing there you slut? George is mine! Get your filthy paws from him!” And that was it for me. I dropped my bag and screamed back “Shut up, who do you think you are?!” I wanted to say worse things to her but that was all I could do now. I was really really angry, I turned to the boy and said “No I don’t want a hug, no I don’t want a photo, I just want to enter in  my goddamn hotel!” and picked up my suitcase, went through him and accidentally bumped on him too. But I didn’t look back, I didn’t apologize. I was so fucking angry. I crossed the hotel’s door leaving the pretty boy in shock and with no words. Yes I was rude, but I wasn’t in the mood for being nice, I had a shitty day, floods and screaming girls aren’t exactly a piece of pie.

The soft temperature of the air conditioning inside the Corinthia hit me, it was a breeze, I felt ten times better. I just stood there for 30 seconds, feeling the fresh air, appreciating it, then I thought of how rude I was with that boy, I looked back at the door, he was still standing outside with the other 3, posing for the flashing lights and screaming girls.

“Of course!” I thought, face palming myself “They must be famous"  and I was so rude…I left my suitcase on the floor and went outside again, I tapped on the brunette boy’s shoulder and he turned around looking surprised.

“I’m sorry…I was really rude, I didn’t mean to say that.” I apologized. He was looking at me, still surprised we stayed like that, staring at each other’s face for like 5 seconds, when I broke the staring.

“Again, I’m sorry…George" and then I left, crossing the hotel’s door one more time.