Lisa pulled the door shut behind her and leaned against it heavily. She peered into the hotel living room and blinked her eyes as they adjusted to the dim light. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so utterly exhausted. Right now, she could barely summon the strength to stand.
Her head had been pounding for hours, ever since she cracked it against the low airplane ceiling on the runway in New York. She must have exacerbated her concussion from last week. And her stomach was still reeling from the motion sickness of the return flight - slightly less bumpy than the hellacious flight out, but not by much.
Of course, her car hadn't been there when she finally landed at LAX. Long since towed away to some impound lot. But there was no way she had the energy to worry about it tonight. Lisa had reached for her phone to let her assistant know, only to be reminded that her bat phone was gone too. She hadn't planned on coming back. Hadn't looked before she leapt. Just took a flying jump off the edge of the precipice. And now here she was at the bottom - bruised and battered, but still breathing.
Lisa ran her eyes around the room. It was pitch black but for the flickering light of the television screen. Had Jennie forgotten to turn it off before she went to bed? Lisa took a few steps forward before he realised that Jennie was lying there on the couch beneath a tousled blanket. She was slumped over with her head resting on the armrest, fast asleep.
There was an unfinished slice of pizza on a plate at her elbow. Her cell phone lay on the floor just beneath her hand. Jennie must have been holding it, waiting for a call, when sleep had overtaken her. Jennie must have been waiting up for her.
Lisa moved across the room to the television and stood watching the screen for a moment before she knelt to turn it off. The Princess Bride. It was just about at the end. The part where the hero goes back for the girl, but he's so broken down that he can't even move. He's completely paralysed from head to toe. The love of his life throws herself into his arms at long last, and he doesn't even have the strength to lift his head.
"Trust me, I know the feeling." Lisa said to the man on the screen.
She switched the TV off, casting the room into total darkness. There was a rustle of movement behind her, and she turned back once again toward the sleeping figure on the couch.
"Lisa?" Jennie whispered.
Lisa didn't answer. She crossed the room in two steps and slid onto the couch beside Jennie. Lisa pulled Jennie into her arms and rolled over, so that she lay flat on her back with Jennie's body resting on top of her. It was too dark to see Jennie's face, but she felt Jennie put her hands on each of her shoulders and arch her back to peer down at Lisa.
"Is that you?" Jennie whispered, her voice still thick with sleep.
Lisa smiled at the question. "Were you expecting someone else?"
Jennie lowered her head and nuzzled her face into the side of Lisa's neck. "Maybe I was."
"Who?"
"Mmmm..." Jennie murmured, shrugging her shoulders and running her hands over Lisa's chest. "I don't know. Maybe the bellmen?"
"Which one?"
"All of them." Jennie whispered.
Lisa let her eyes drift closed as Jennie slipped her hands beneath the fabric of Lisa's t-shirt. Jennie tugged at it, attempting to pull it up over Lisa's head. Lisa remained motionless, flat on her back, but Jennie was kneeling now. Her knees straddled Lisa's thighs as she got Lisa's shirt up over her head. Jennie traced her fingers downward and began working on Lisa's belt buckle.
"All of them." Lisa muttered, her eyes still closed. "Guess I should I get out of your way then."
"You can stay." Jennie answered.
