“No way!” I protested loudly at the check-in counter.
“This day just got better,” Jason commented, in contrast of my mood.
“I’m not staying in a room with you!” I declared with a ‘non-negotiable’ note in my voice.
“Well, you don’t have much of a choice, do you?”
It appeared that when Rob said ‘we’re meeting the girls there’ he meant his and Dan’s girlfriends. Mila wasn’t coming and it was just me, Jason, Rob, Dan, Sylvia and Nadia. And naturally, Rob was staying with Nadia and Dan with Sylvia, which left me with Jason.
“Are you sure there are no single rooms available?” I turned to the receptionist, hopeful. He was a middle-aged guy with greyish hair and blue short-sleeved shirt with a name tag pinned above his heart. The tag read Lionel.
“We’re all booked, I’m sorry. This is the only available room we have at the moment.”
“That’s okay. We’ll take it.” Jason grabbed the keys from Lionel’s hand before I could object any further. He started for the room and I stayed in my place. He must have noticed I wasn’t following because he stopped and swung back. “Are you coming?”
I shifted my pleading eyes to the receptionist again. “I wouldn’t mind the attic. Do you have an attic?”
“I’m sorry, miss. This room is the only one we can offer you. I would suggest that you try another hotel, but since it’s the last days of the active season, chances are you won’t find anything last minute.”
I stared at his face for another moment. I refused to accept what he was telling me.
“A janitor’s closet!” I exclaimed. “Anything! Just put a bed and a shower somewhere and I’ll be fine.”
“Miss,” Lionel started again but was interrupted by Jason, who walked back to my side.
“Please excuse my girlfriend. We had a fight on the way here and now she’s acting like a child. Come on, honey,” - he placed his hands on my shoulders from behind and immediately had my attention. Actually, he’d had it on ‘my girlfriend’ - “let’s just go to our room and I promise I’ll reconsider having you tie me up to the bed.”
What? I swear my eyes bulged out of their sockets! I opened my mouth to say something – anything, but I was too shocked. I just gaped.
“Come now.” Jason guided my body away from the desk. “We’ve wasted enough of the man’s time,” he said in a mellow voice. The fakeness in it somehow pierced through my initial shock and I broke out of his grasp and turned back to the counter. Where Lionel was giving me a weird look.
“He’s joking,” I blurted quickly. I wasn’t letting the man get such a wrong impression about me. His expression, however, didn’t change. “I swear, he really is,” I said as convincingly as possible. “I’m not even his girlfriend!”
“Now, now. One little fight doesn’t mean we’re broken up,” Jason kept the act up. He sent the receptionist an apologetic look. “So sorry about this. She’s usually less cranky in the morning.”
“What? Stop that!” I snapped at Jason and turned back to Lionel. “Don’t believe anything he says. I’m nothing like that.”
Jason threw another pretended innocent look at the man and lowered his voice, but still loud enough for me to hear. “I better shut up before she decides to spank me.”
“What?” I looked incredulous at his not-so well hidden smirk. With every word he uttered, he dug me deeper. “No!” I shook my head. “I’m not…” I made another feeble attempt. But the more I stayed here and tried to defend myself, the worse it got. I gave one frustrated surrendering groan and stormed off to the stairs with the little dignity I still had.
YOU ARE READING
Secret Rulebook of Cheating
Humor"Cheating is like casting. You need a lot of candidates to find the right person for the role of your soul mate. And you don't stop at your first selection, because someone more suitable for the part might come along. But you'll never know unless yo...
