Down But Not Out

Chapter 31

"Hey Liz, we're here" Josh whispered in my ear, shaking me slightly. I opened my eyes, feeling a little bit groggy before removing my head from his shoulder. I blinked up at him before nodding and yawning.

Josh climbed out of the car while I gathered myself, still feeling a little bit sleepy. I heard my door open and looked up to see that Josh had opened it for me. I smiled and rubbed my eyes before sliding over the seat to the door before stepping out. I heard Josh slam the door behind me and then the sound of something clicking as Dan locked the car. Frowning I saw that our suitcases had already been pulled out of the boot.

I grabbed the handle and pulled my suitcase along beside me as I hurried after my group of friends. I quickly caught up to Josh who smiled at me. I licked my lips as they felt a little dry before glancing at the hotel where we would be staying this weekend.

It was a painted white brick building with double doors which had a curved silver handle running along the middle. Dan opened the door for us to walk through, which we did and I saw that the reception was large. We walked a few metres to the desk where the receptionist was sitting. There were two computers and the receptionist was sitting behind the one on the right. The desk itself was long with the top being a dark walnut colour and the rest black, speckled with white dots of white and light grey. The receptionist smiled at us and I glanced around to see clusters of seats around the reception on both sides. There was a door with tinted windows set back to the right of the desk, and I squinted to see that it looked like the doors led to a garden.

We waited in that area for the rest of the group to arrive and I realised that to my right, past the seating area there, were two elevators which stood side by side. Of course these led up to the rooms on the upper floors.

"Sorry I fell asleep on you" I whispered to Josh who was standing on my left. He smiled at me.

"It's fine, you were more tired than what you thought you were" he shrugged before remembering something. He dug around in his pocket and produced my iPod.

"Here. I forgot about it. I hope you don't mind, I carried on listening to it after you fell asleep" he shrugged, handing it to me and I nodded before placing it in my bag and zipping my bag shut. I heard movement behind us and smiled as I saw the six people in our group arrive. I nudged Josh and we walked up to the counter to sign in and receive our room keys.

There was only one key for each room, even though these rooms were designed specifically for two people. I held back a sigh but carefully took the key before following Summer to the elevators. Josh and Dan followed us while the others climbed into the other elevator. For some reason we were on different levels. Summer, Dan, Josh and I were on the same floor with neighbouring rooms, while Chris, Max, Matt and their girlfriends had neighbouring rooms on the floor above us. Whoever had booked these rooms had done a poor job, although I was happy to say that I had enough money to cover the room charge, which Summer and I had split between us.

The elevator stopped at our floor and we stepped out to see that the flooring was a dark wooden floor and shone with the detergent that I could smell. There were pretty lights positioned along the walls in between the doors to every room. I walked halfway down the corridor until I came to room 101, which was the room Summer and I were sharing. Josh and Dan stopped after us at room 102 and I inserted the key into the lock and turned. I grabbed the circular door handle and twisted, the door swung inwards and Summer and I stepped inside.

The room was spacious enough. The two double beds were facing me as I stepped inside, each had their own bedside table with a lamp mounted on top that had a blue lampshade. A set of drawers stood on either side of the beds. Summer hurried over to the bed on the right, since it had a window next to the headboard. I rolled my eyes and wheeled my case over to the other bed before sitting on the edge. On the wall opposite the beds was a television attached to the wall, with a small cupboard underneath, which I estimated would be about the same height as my hips. On this cupboard stood a kettle and things to make tea and coffee with, along with a few boxes of chocolates. In the corner of the room stood a small fridge which Summer said held milk and a few other products, since she'd gone to investigate.