It All Started When...

Hotel MothBalls

SERIOUSLY Unedited. There will be changes in the near future. Just can't be bothered right now. Hope y'all like Loopy Liam 😉.
-Hillbilly❤️

"A hypo..... a hypo... patamus?" Liam looks over at me, a question in the drunken set of his eyebrows. "Izzat the right word, Irish?"

I scowl. "I am not a hippopotamus."

Suddenly, I'm yanked backward, nearly falling as I trip over my own feet. The hand I was pulling has come to an abrupt stop. I tug, trying to get Liam to keep moving. I glance back when he doesn't budge.

He's staring at a moth.

"Liam." I say, exhaustion seeping into every corner of my brain. I tug his hand harder and he stumbles into a walk. This was like the time I babysat for my neighbor, something I vowed to never do again.

Liam sticks his lower lip out, pouting. "Can't you judt... tell me what the word is?"

No. It's keeping you preoccupied. "You'll find it eventually."

"You're mean." Liam scowls. "What're we doing anyways?"

I speed up the pace as I glance around. I really do not like the eerie quiet. Don't any of the people have night jobs? I wonder.

"We're looking for a hotel." I say curtly, pulling him back up beside me. "It'll have a sign out front."

"Is that one?" Liam points across the road. I look.

"No, that's a diner. It's closed."

"Is that one?"

"No. That's a salon."

   This goes on far longer than I even want to remember. Again and again, he asks, "Is that one?"

"Is that one?"

"No." I say, barely even sparing the building a glance. "That's a pizza parlor."

   "Is that one?"

   "No... that's a hotel."

Liam gives me a weird look. "Dinnit you say we were looking for one of those?"

"Yep!" I give him a fake smile. "Good job!"

May as well treat him like a toddler, I guess. I sigh into the dark night. Glance at him. Especially if he gives me that smile.

"Thanks." He grins cheesily at me. I shake my head, fighting a smile, and urge him across the road.

A small bell chimes cheerfully as we walk in. It's a spacious lobby with a service desk off to the side. A mixture of fake plants and old furniture dominate the room. My nose wrinkles at the overwhelming smell of mothballs.

"It smells weird." Liam complained, trying to back out of the door. I pulled him back in and make him march up to the counter with me. This was getting real old, real quick.

"Hello." A young woman walked into the room and behind the desk. I'm momentarily floored.

She looked like one of the models out of the magazine back at Louis's. Perfect, wavy blond hair. High cheeks bones. Soft, full lips. A body most girls would kill for.

She bats her eyelashes at Liam. "How can I help you, sir?"

I clear my throat and lean against the counter, letting go of Liam's hand. "We're looking for a room."

She blinks at me. Looks from me to Liam. Back and forth. Back and forth. "One bed?" She says, like she can't believe I could possibly be rooming with the beautiful boy beside me.