Worth It

Lost in New York

Here's Nate's little bro.

--------------------------

The light from the window was bright and blinding. The sheet splitting the room in half reflected the light and made it even brighter. I blinked hard against the harsh light and sat up rubbing my eyes. I yawned so loud the people in the lobby could heard me.

"To rise or not to rise? That is the question." I said in the middle of another yawn.

"Is that a question?"

"I never asked your opinion." I saw the curtain rustle. "If you dare to come over here you won't live to see another day. I'm not decent."

"If you mean that your hair is a mess and you don't have make-up on, you're decent."

"I don't wear make-up." I said defiantly. "But honestly, i'm not dressed." It was quiet so I assumed Nate had either left or he was standing in stunned silence. I saw my reflection in my mirror and almost laughed at the irony. "The fact that my hair is a mess is true too."

"You don't wear make-up?"

"No. Do you?" I was about to remind Nate of not being stereotypical when he spoke again.

"No. I didn't know that some girls decided not to wear make-up when they live in a society that tells them it's wrong not to." He turned away from the curtain and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth. I sat in stunned silence as I heard the water run.

I got up and put on my outfit from the previous day since I was going to take a shower anyway. I was combing my messy hair out when Nate walked out of the bathroom and tripped over something. At least, that was what I assumed had happened since I couldn't see.

"You better be dressed!" I yelled as I pulled aside the curtain. Nate stared up at me with a look of pain, or maybe it was embarrassment. "What..."

"I tripped."

"I can see that. What did you trip over?"

"The garbage can, then my suitcase, and then I landed in a pile of my dirty clothes." I suppressed my laughter long enough to help him up, then I fell onto his bed giggling. "It's not that funny."

"Yes it is." He flopped onto the bed beside me and sighed.

"Okay, it was a little funny." He laughed.

"Anyways, I have to get ready."

"Why don't you use this moment to show that girls can get ready fast?" He suggested randomly.

"Okay, then I guess this will be step one of that lesson."

"Cool. Double the chance that something will work." I smiled.

"Yeah, sure." I knew that he was worn down. The lesson didn't need two steps; I didn't even really have to teach him anything else. I knew that he respected girls more because of me. I saw the old Nate become the new one. And that's why I just smiled.

"I'll start timing." I got in the shower and finished dressing in under fifteen minutes. Then Nate had his turn cleaning up while I blow-dried my hair and styled it into a very quick ponytail. It took me a total of thirty minutes, the same time it took Nate to get ready.

"Okay, I admit defeat on that one. Now let's go wake up the kids for some fun." I smiled and nodded.

We tip-toed out of our room and to our neighboring one. I leaned close to the door and listened hard until I concluded that nobody was moving. Nate carefully opened their door with the key card that we had to their room, and gestured for me to go in.