LOVER TO LOVER ━ AHS Hotel

SIX

CHAPTER 6
1998

HADLEY didn't come back to Room 66 all night. She debated on it for hours: if it was wise to sleep in the same bed as him, if she should sleep on the couch, if she should stay outside the room and watch the door. For a while, she ended up doing the latter, until she eventually got too sleepy and retreated to the unoccupied room across from 66. She feared her presence would make him uncomfortable, and Hadley wanted anything but that. She wanted him to stay.

How wrong she was. Percy slept, but he tossed and turned all night. He waited for her to come back. He wondered if she would sleep in the same bed as him, if she'd let him throw his arm around her waist like he absentmindedly did to his pillow every night, or if she'd sleep on the couch, just far enough that he could still feel the chill of her body. Percy didn't get any of that. Instead, he had restless dreams and enticing thoughts, all consumed by her face.

It seemed to him that, perhaps, monsters weren't supposed to be ugly. That was just an artistic lie created by Hollywood movies. No, monsters could be the prettiest of all.

She wasn't there by morning. Seven, eight, nine o'clock ticked on by, and still, she let him sleep to his heart's content. Hadley didn't want to wake him, even though she was up bright and early by six AM. She had four hours of sleep. A side effect of her virus was that she never got tired, and it came in handy most of the time.

Hadley scoured the kitchen with Liz in order to find something edible for Percy's breakfast. She wanted to make a good impression. Pancakes were always a staple for a good breakfast, but they had no batter. Maybe an omelet, but they had no eggs. It had been an hour of searching and she had gotten so pissed that she began throwing bowls on the ground. "Are you serious?" She exclaimed. "There's hardly anything in this fucking fridge besides alcohol and meat!"

"Hey!" Liz scoffed. "Those are my favorites."

Hadley rolled her eyes. "Well, those aren't going to impress him to stay."

Liz arched a brow. "Why are you interested in impressing this boy anyways?" She grinned big, eyes crinkling at the edges. "Do we have a crush? I haven't seen you with a boy since you tried stealing one of the Countess' ex-lovers right under her nose. Oh, she's going to be even more pissed than she was then when she finds out what you're doing –"

"And that's why she won't find out, right?" Hadley edged on, causing Liz to snort and turn away. "Now, keep looking."

Liz exhaled heavily, pushing through the fridge's contents. She began searching through multiple drawers and eventually found where Iris kept the best fruit. Liz pursed her lips. "There's nothing here besides apples and pomegranates. You might want to think of some other way to impress him."

Hadley was about to argue with her point, but then Donovan's voice echoed in her head: "Pomegranates are the gateway to conversation. Some hate them, some love them –"