Lost in You

Chapter 15

The next morning, I'm tired and my muscles ache a little as if to remind me of the cold from last night. Still, the smile won't leave my face and I know it was worth it. Maja keeps grinning when she's looking at me, but she hasn't yet said anything. Her waiting for me to tell her when I'm ready makes me want to tell her everything right away. Especially when I remember how I said that she was my family here for now. But I know I'll have to wait until after work. There are a lot of rooms to go through this morning, especially if we want to have the afternoon off. We count on getting to the competition tonight, something that we hadn't even thought about the first we were here. Now we're both equally fixed to see it, if for different reasons. "I think when we split up, we'll be faster," Maja says when we push our carts out of the lift. I nod eagerly. There is something I want to do aside from cleaning rooms and I'd feel more comfortable doing it without having Maja watching over my shoulder. "Sure. I'll see you in a few hours then," I say and stop while she starts walking faster down the corridor. It's only a few rooms until I come to his and can push an extra set of bedding to the side to expose the few things I could gather in the haste this morning without fearing that I'd get into trouble for taking them. I still gather all of them in my arms and get them in the room right away. When I start cleaning, I try to not look at anything that looks personal. I'm curious to get to know Marius better but at his pace. As long as he doesn't have access to my room, it doesn't seem fair. With everything that I can find out about him on the internet, it already isn't. Only when the room is clean do I turn back to the things I put on the table and start to decorate the small hotel room. When he mentioned how he misses having something personal in his room last night, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I don't know what he would like to have in here and I didn't dare to ask, but I hope the few personal touches I can give the room would cheer him up at least a little when he comes back. It might not be his personal things, but it's something that makes the room look more lived in. I place a bunch of flowers on his table, knowing that I'll be the one who'll have to water them the next few days. Then a few candles on the nightstand and the desk, including matches in case he actually wants to light them. A few books that I found discarded downstairs. I'm not sure he even reads, but it's about the ambiance here, and all I had to work with were things that I was sure no one would miss. Some wintry décor that looked like it had come out of fashion for the hotel, but no one had thrown it away after last season to add the last touch of a home to the room.After I've done my little decorating, I fill up his drawer with a little bit of extra coffee and tea and a bottle of water next to the bed. Lastly, I put a plate with cookies that were leftovers from breakfast on his desk. That only to make sure he knows who was here and that I remember the first time we'd had our first real conversation. Then I step back and look at my work, still praying that I won't get into trouble for it. But it does make the room look better. I can only hope that Marius will see it the same way. If he hates it, I'll have to take it all down tomorrow and would be very embarrassed doing so. "There you are, I've been looking for you. Why are spending so much time in- oh." I turn around and grin at Maja who comes in the room as well and looks around. "You don't think I get into trouble for this, do you?" Maja smiles. "I don't think so. You can still say it was his wish and he'd be an asshole to deny it." I nudge her shoulder. "Do you think he'll like it?" Maja shrugs. "I don't know him, but I'd like it. Besides, it's the thought that counts here, isn't it?" "That's what I've been telling myself as well," I say. "Good, then get out of here, we have a few more rooms and I need more trash bags. Is there anything I should get for you as well?" "No, thanks. Only to get ready and wait for his reaction. I'm not sure I'll be able to focus on anything else for the rest of the day. I'll be waiting for the manager to tell me that I need to bring back the decoration or for Marius to call to tell me that he hates it and how I have the audacity to think I could make his room feel more personal." Maja only grins at my distress. "So that's what you've been talking about last night." I shrug and try to act like last night meant nothing when my hand still warms at the memory of him touching it. "Among other things," I mumble and can feel my cheeks warming. Maja giggles. "Get back to work and you'll get to see him faster." That's all I need to leave the room again and push my cart to the next one while Maja jogs down the long corridor to get to the lift. I can't believe how fast we've fallen back into the routine we've established in January when we first came here. It seems like ages ago and still like we never did anything else.