Fame (Except Not) [GxG Fanfic]

Nineteen

The lift stops. We've reached the right floor. The doorman or security guy or whatever he is steps out of the lift first, and looks around, and then goes down the corridor and opens a door.

"Can't you carry a room key like normal people?" I say to Anna quietly.

"Nope," she says. That's all, just no. And then she grins.

She's looking at me, waiting, and I'm pretty sure she's hoping I'll be impressed. She has this manner about her, a particular kind of delighted smugness as she watches me noticing the lifts and security and everything else, which makes me think so. She's not showing off, not exactly, more just sharing it all with me in a gently amused kind of a way. Like she finds it funny how her life is, and sometimes forgets, and needs me to see it too so she's reminded.

I think that's what it is, anyway.

And I am impressed, so that's all right. I'm looking around, really impressed. It's a big hotel, and a quiet floor, and she has a private lift and a security guy. And even the lift lobby, where we're standing, a lobby for what's apparently a delivery lift when famous people aren't using it, is fancier than I'm used to. There's a mirror in front of us, and a small table with a vase of flowers, and the lighting is perfect and the flowers smell nice. And there are two chairs on either side of the table, just in case someone needs to sit down while they wait for the lift, I suppose.

Not the maids and room service people, I assume.

I look at that little arrangement of flowers and tables and chairs and think of the effort they've made just for a delivery lift. It's kind of perfectionisty, in a careful way. Like I shouldn't move either of the chairs, or bump the flowers, and that if I do someone will appear from somewhere and straighten everything up again.

I think about that. About that care. I mean, I suppose this is the special celebrity floor and that's the special celebrity lift, so probably they would bother making the lobby look nice, but still. It's a little overwhelming. It's all very new to me.

Anna watches me looking around for a moment, grinning, then says, "Come on," and follows the security guy down the hall.

I nod, and follow her, and we go to the door he's holding open. We go in, but the security guy stays out in the hall. He pulls the door closed after us.

"Does he just wait there?" I say, surprised.

Anna nods. "To make sure no-one tries to bother me."

"Oh," I say. "Okay."

I still feel a bit overwhelmed, and a bit subdued. I look around some more.