Celestial Worlds

Chapter Thirty-three

The room is big and elegant.

    The bed is king sized and is occupied with white sheets and a white duvet. They have four pillows and a sofa, which you can turn into beds. There’s also a television that’s not small but is neither big, it’s playing some new channel that also contains shiny headed people.

    The bedside tables are wooden and the closets are wooden.

    Everything in this hotel is either wooden or marbled.

    We settle our bags at the foot of the bed and Daniel plops down on the bed, his face buried in the pillows. He groans a loud and long groan.

   “Finally,” he exhales. His voice muffled by the pillows. I sit beside him and rest my head on his back. He rolls over and my head shifts from his back to his stomach. “We’re eating lunch. Or dinner. On in between. Kind of like brunch, but later.” He takes a deep breath, his stomach sucking in and he lets it out in a big gust. “Dunch,” he says. We laugh and I say, “Linner.”

    He laughs but he drops it abruptly, like he’s realized he shouldn’t be laughing. “That’s worse,” he states flatly. And we’re laughing again.

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The Dining Hall is big and fancy, as much as the other parts of the hotel. It has bright orange lights and marble pillars on the doors. They have circular tables with nice ceramic plates and wine glasses.

    And the food is free.

    We’re currently eating while Nick talks about his party tomorrow at the Suite. The Suite is another part of the hotel and it’s a party place, where you’re allowed to drink and smoke and some other crazy stuff. I don’t plan on drinking or smoking or anything, I just want to sit and smell the damp air near the docks. There’s a pier near the hotel overlooking the sea, it’s calm and dark and salty smelling. I can leave Daniel alone for a while and let him have fun. Nick’s talking about some stuff like the food, drinks and some bartender show. I’m not really listening, I’m just leaning my head on the heel of my hand, looking at things. My eyes run along the Hall, voluminous and strong.

    Kind of like Nick’s ego.

    I scan our new friends, who are Hanna and Tyler. They’re not together. Hanna is Stacy’s friend and Tyler’s Nick’s roommate. I travel my eyes around, my hand grab a fork, twirling it.

     My eyes lock on Jonathan’s.  

   For some reason, they were already looking at me. His eyes are intent and focusing like he’s searching for something in my eyes, like there’s some sort of hidden answer there.

    He looks away.

    I look distractedly back at my plate, which is empty and clean. Why was he looking at me that way? But he looked back down immediately like he’s embarrassed that I even caught him looking at me. He’s confusing like that.

    If he explained everything to me that night, I could’ve had understood him and we could’ve been dating now. I close my eyes and pry that thought away.

   That night, that night when we fought in the lawn, he was talking about a sacrifice. A sacrifice I wouldn’t and could never understand. What’s that and what does he mean by that? He said I didn’t know anything.

    But what do I not know?

    This is making my brain hurt. I push Jonathan away from my head and think about the party. Tomorrow is Daniel’s birthday and they’re going to party.

    I just hope Daniel isn’t the kind of guy who passes out when drinking.