Soft love

The congress

The seatbelt lights above my seat light up as the intercom asks everyone to prepare for landing. I sigh, I almost finished my slides for the department presentation next week. It will have to wait. When I exited the plane, I saw Andreas waiting for me. He was tapping his foot nervously while scanning the people coming off the plane. He motioned for me to walk quicker. I sighed but quickened my pace. Always in a hurry.

"Hurry up Elena, due to that delay, we're probably going be super late. We can't miss check-in times at the hotel!" He grabbed my suitcase and speed walked towards the exit. Is he seriously going to take off with my stuff?

When I had finally catched up, he was already loading the luggage in the trunk of a taxi. He held open the door for me while shouting the address at the driver. Quick and efficient as always. At the rate he was going, he would finish his PhD in half a year.

When the hotel came into view, I forgot to stress over Andreas' behavior or all the stuff I still had to do. Like finish my presentation. For once, it seemed like the research group booked a pretty hotel. It held a more traditional style in earth toned stones and rounded windows through which warm yellow lights show the wooden interior.

"It's beautiful", I said.

Andreas looked up from his laptop and nodded. "It is", he said softly, as if returning from an alternate world. He blinked and put away his laptop while the taxi came to a stop. I put away my stuff while he pulled open my door and paid the driver.

When we walked through the revolving door, a lone person behind the desk greeted us.

"I'm so sorry we're late, our flight was delayed. Can we still check in? Our professor Alaric Smith booked accommodations for us for the congress."

Or tried to greet us. Andreas was too quick for her too, I smiled.

"Give me a second to check please... Yes, I see. Hmm, I think there was a problem with your booking. We have unfortunately had a double booking and have only one room left", she said.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. I looked at Andreas.

"We could go check if there is space in another hotel or something?", I proposed.

He sighed. "It's the most popular oncology research congress, Elena, we booked this place a year in advance and it was close to full."

"Are there twin beds?", I asked the girl.

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, there's only one bed." Spectacular.

Andreas sighed. "Well, we should get settled in and get some rest before the big day tomorrow..."

And with that, he took the key and called the elevator. Defeated, I walked behind him.

The room was nice and cozy and the bathroom even had a bathtub. Not that I would be using it while sharing a room with Andreas though.

And then there was the bed. I had hoped it would be an extremely big king-sized bed where the chances of accidental touching were almost zero but my luck had once again left me. I don't think it is even a queen size.

"I think I'm gonna finish some work before I go to sleep if that's alright with you", I said.

"Sure, I'm just gonna go for a quick run I think", he answered.

He changed into his running clothes while I set up my laptop with the hotel Wi-Fi and then I can finally finish my presentation for the next department meeting. After debating my layout color palette for fifteen minutes, I decide to take the final decision later and practice my poster presentation for tomorrow one last time. When I was halfway through, Andreas returned.