That Summer

Welcome to the Room...

"Stevie, I'm SO sorry, I had confirmed with the hotel at least twenty times to make sure you had the biggest suite." Emma was running after Stevie, who was storming down the hallway to her regular sized room at the first hotel of the tour.

The entire trip had been horrible thus far: the plane was delayed due to weather, it was super turbulent to the point where she got ridiculous motion sickness, and all she wanted was to go up to her suite and relax.

However, when they got to the hotel, the front desk informed her that the suite was already booked, and not even Stevie Nicks herself could do anything to get it.

Stevie knew this wasn't entirely Emma's fault, and she hated being a diva about something so trivial, but having a perfect room was her biggest priority besides her actual show, and her entire mood was thrown for a loop because of this mishap.

"Emma, it's whatever. It wasn't your fault, just next time, please confirm over and over again. Get it in writing. Speak to a manager. I don't care what you do, but I need my suite to be perfect if I'm going to be in the best position to do a fantastic show."

She unlocked her door with her keycard, sighing at the classic white hotel bed, mini bar, and desk. Not even an ottoman at the foot of the bed?

Stevie walked in, rolling her suitcase in one hand and carrying Sulamith in the other. "Remember, Sula... no peeing on the carpet! Although I guess this isn't a nice enough room to be too worried..." Stevie set her dog down on the bed, put down a doggy pee pad on the floor, and started to take off her shoes. She looked at Emma standing in the doorway.

"Can I help you?" Stevie asked. Ugh, she was being harsh... but she couldn't help it! Her entire mood was off, and she was going to have to take it out on someone!

"Oh... sorry, I didn't know if I should go or not. I'll get going... give me a call if you need anything." Emma replied.

"WAIT!" Stevie called after her. Emma turned around quickly, walking back into the doorway. "Aren't you going to check if the room is bugged?" Stevie asked.

"Excuse me?" Emma asked, extremely confused.

"Karen usually checks around to make sure there's nothing weird in here. Like any hidden cameras, microphones... you never know what hotels are capable of doing. People are truly sick in the head!" Stevie explained and she plopped down on the bed.

"I don't know what to look for since I don't use technology; I wouldn't know what any of this shit looks like. But since you're young – and I'm sure Karen explained in the binder – I trust that you'll know something suspicious if you see it." Stevie began flipping through the room service menu as she stroked Sula's fur.

Emma slowly entered the room, checking the clock, television, and other nooks and crannies for anything suspicious. She wasn't expecting to play Harriet the Spy, and she truthfully hadn't seen any of this in Karen's instructions, though it was possible she could've overlooked it.

"I don't see anything, Stevie..." Emma reported back.

"Okay, good. Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow. Order whatever you want from room service." Emma stood there for a few seconds. Stevie looked up from her menu.

"What?" She asked. Emma snapped back to reality and shook her head, "Oh, nothing. I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow." She shut the door behind her and walked down the hall to her own room.

Stevie felt bad. She knew she was being hard on her, but the fact that she was currently in some tiny, too-bright room for the night was really a damper on the entire stay. She settled on the steak dinner since it was high in protein and came with vegetables, since Emma forgot to pack her pre-made dinners and only remembered lunch. This was such a mess!