Lost in You

Chapter 1

Just two more rooms. I sigh and push the cleaning cart forward. The first time I entered the hotel, I was too excited to understand what the long, broad floors would mean for me. Maja pops her head out of a room down the floor and grins at me while dropping a trash bag on her cart. I roll my eyes and enter the next room. There is no need to knock. I know it's empty and the reason I have to get it ready now is also the reason why the next four days would get even more intense. When Maja stormed into our shared flat in Munich, waving her phone in front of me in a way that made it impossible for me to see what she'd found, I'd never thought I'd really end up here. In a hotel in Oberstdorf during our holiday break. The first thing I do in the room is opening all the windows as wide as they'll go. The air is stuffy like these rooms haven't been used in a while. "Done! And first again as I see." Maja stood in the door frame, watching me as I get the bed ready. It's become a battle between us since we've arrived and so far she's always winning it. "Only because you did this before. Once I get the hang of it, you won't stand a chance," I gave back. Maja laughed and entered the room to help me finish it off. I enter the bathroom and scrunch my nose. I don't think I'll ever look at toilets the same way after this week. "Tell me why I let you convince me that this was a good idea again?" "The view! The fresh air here! And don't forget all the skiing we can do once we're done with work. That alone should motivate you to work faster. The money's nice as well of course." Maja stops in front of the bathroom. "Crete in the summer, remember? This is perfect. We get to go on holiday in the mountains, have time to ski and we'll still be able to save money for our trip to Greece in the summer." When Maja smiles, her whole face lights up. The freckles on her face make it look like she already came straight from Greece, not from grey, wet Munich where we spent the last weeks buried in books. Compared to that, this work almost feels good. At least it's a nice change to sitting at the desk all day. And a glance out the window tells me that we'll be able to do an excellent ski tour later. "I know. I just needed the reminder to make it through the last two rooms." Maja groans. "Two? What have you been doing?" She doesn't give me time to answer before I hear her keys jingle and the click of the door next to me unlocking. I have no idea how I would survive this week here without her. I close the bathroom door behind me now, satisfied that everything is sparkling, and smile when I think back to November when Maja demanded I buy us a night of drinks because she's solved all our problems. These problems being that we're both students in an expensive city and still want to travel around Greece in the summer, filled with curiosity about the myths that this country produced. We wanted to see the mountain where Zeus lived, the labyrinth that houses monsters and go diving at the coasts to see if we'd find a trident. The answer seemed to have been long days and little sleep while cramming underpaid work around lectures and study days. Which would have included a very boring Christmas break. Until Maja found out that several hotels are looking for extra workers during the main skiing season which happens to fall right into the time of our holidays later into our semester break. After a Friday night where we might have gotten a little too drunk and a ton of applications, we finally found this hotel that took us both and offered good terms. Including free time for skiing. Which sometimes makes me forget that we came here to work. Even if I complained a lot, I know we could barely have found something better. Little expenses, afternoons that feel like holidays and money to save for the summer.I step out of the room and gladly let the door fall shut. Maja does the same next to me and sighs. "Finally. Now let's get all of this down and change before it gets dark." "Do you think we'll have time for this during the next days as well? It surely will get busier over the weekend won't it?" I pushed the cart forward. At least the hotel didn't have an incline on the corridors. "Sure. But it's only three days and don't you think it's at least a little exciting? Maybe we'll see a little bit of the behind the scenes of ski jumping." I laugh. "We're only the girls cleaning the rooms when everyone is gone. Besides, you don't even watch ski-jumping." Maja shrugs. "Neither do you. But if so many people come here just to watch, I think there's a reason to be excited." "I did watch it sometimes. At home with my parents," I mumble, though I'm glad that Maja doesn't press the matter. I barely remember a name of an athlete, let alone the latest scores. Still, even if I don't admit it to Maja, it is kind of exciting. My parents thought so as well once I told them on the phone last night. Neither of us had realized that this ski jumping event would take place while Maja and I are here, let alone that our hotel would be involved in housing some of the athletes. "Whatever. You'll simply need to get the hang of this a little faster and then we'll still have time to go out and do something with the rest of the day." "If all of these extra rooms are messy after they've lived there, I'm not sure I'll be able to do something when I'm finished. I might be so tired that all I'll want to do is fall into my own, hopefully clean bed and sleep until we have to help with the breakfast in the morning," I said. Another thing that made me dread the next days. Our boss had told us this morning that we were to help with the breakfast during the weekend as well. Cleaning the rooms before had meant that at least we didn't need to get up too early. We could after all, not clean rooms in which the guests still slept."Stop complaining. You know this was our best option. If I ever get sick of taking someone else's trash out, I imagine us with a cocktail on the beach, with a hot waiter to serve us all our wishes." Maja winks at me and I giggle. "That does sound good. I might try it myself." We laugh and the weekend seemed a little less dark with my friend at my side. And of course the ski tour today in reach. Maybe I'll end up getting used to this. Maybe I'll never want to leave and go back to studying.