The bass of you

Chapter 14

After twenty-three minutes, and feeling like we've walked around the whole of Cardiff city centre, we finally reach the hotel in which Chase give us the name of. It's not an ordinary hotel at all, like we presumed it to be. It's a six-storey tall building, very stylish and modern. It's glass-fronted and a waterside building, in a great spot right next to the quay. It's really quiet here, the shops and restaurants on the quay aren't open this late so there's barely anyone around. The building appears to  be incredibly expensive- which I should have expected considering that Black Dagger is world-famous rock band. Dumb mistake.

I can feel the tension growing inside of me as we head toward the glass doors, which are automatic, but aren't opening, which only makes me want to turn around and go back to our hotel... or the pub. Layla has her arm linked with mine and I feel like she's walking me more than I'm walking myself. By the time we stop by the automatic doors that still aren't opening, I'm literally on the verge of just heading back to our hotel and dragging Layla with me, whether she likes it or not. There's buttons on the wall to buzz reception, but I feel wary about buzzing reception at this hour of night. 

Layla is squinting at the button but I'm not sure what the point of her doing that is, because surely she doesn't think it's a good idea to be buzzing at this time. Being outside this luxury building, waiting to be buzzed in to go up to a rockstar's hotel room, makes me feel like I'm some sort of stripper or something. I'm hoping nobody can see us standing here, because I'm sure they're going to think the same thing as I am. There's only one thing we can really do if we want to get into the building and to our destination : press the reception buzzer.

Layla presses the buzzer without even saying anything to me first and my eyes widen with anxiety as soon as her finger pushes the button and it begins to give a high-pitch ringing sound. We wait...and wait...and wait, but there's nobody picking up. I'm starting to feel doubtful and my nerves are going crazy. I'm tipsy but that's not enough to make me any less nervous than I was before we left the hotel. It's also freezing and I'm hugging myself, gripping my leather jacket at the sides and clattering my teeth, making noises so that Layla knows I'm cold and might change her mind to go back to the hotel. But nothing is changing this determined Black Dagger fan's mind. She eagerly stands there staring at the button for a while, before turning around and cupping her hands on the glass doors to look inside. I presume she's seen someone because as she continues to look through the door, she takes one hand away to reach for the reception buzzer again.

Layla continues watching through the door and the ringing of the buzzer stops, making my heart jump and I stare at the buzzer as though the receptionist can see me. Layla takes her head away from the door and faces the buzzer. Oh how great it must look for two girls buzzing the reception at this time of night.

"Hello, can I help you?" a polite woman's voice asks.

"Uh, yeah. We've been told to come here by Chase Ryder," Layla responds, which probably sounds like a big fat lie to the receptionist, because why would Chase Ryder invite us here? There's a little silence from the receptionist and then short little noises of hesitation which only confirms that she doesn't believe us and doesn't really know what to say. Layla holds up the paper from Chase to the buzzer as if the receptionist can see it through a camera. "Look, we've got the proof right here. Can't you just check with him and confirm it, or something?"

The receptionist hesitates. "What's your name?" she asks.

"Layla and Monica."

"Okay, please hold."

Silence.

Layla glances over her shoulder at me and I raise my eyebrows at her as I chew on my thumbnail in anxiety. The silence is lasting a little too long for my nerves and I'm starting to panic and think that we're going to look like idiots any moment now. The buzzer suddenly shuts off, the receptionist has ended it. Great, I knew something like this would happen. I'm huffing as I turn around and begin to walk away from the doors, feeling like an absolute idiot. Layla is hovering by the doors, keen for something to happen, but nothing does. She presses her lips together in disappointment as she begins walking towards me.