The Motel

High By The Beach

Best photo I could find for the friend group^

I woke up to Elizabeth sleeping on my chest. Last time I had slept on the couch I awoke to a stinging sore back that I knew I wouldn't be able to bare once again, so I decided I'd sleep next to her. I put pillows between us and gave her most of the bed. I wouldn't want her to feel odd sleeping next to me, but I noticed the pillows had been thrown across the room and now we were sharing the same blanket. I guess she wanted to be more comfortable, maybe my body was more comfortable than the pillows, seeing that she's basically glued to me right now. I did my best to get off her grip without waking her. She looked drained. I figured she must have had a long day.

I didn't want to leave her all alone while I went downstairs, so I asked Luis instead to bring me 2 breakfast plates to my room and some ibuprofen. I knew he always carried them with him because he would regularly get hungover from time to time. After about 15 minutes he knocked on the door and asked me to open up. I was making my way to the door when I noticed that Elizabeth started to sit up on the side of the bed rubbing her eyes and holding her head in pain. Even in such a state of mess, she looked beautiful. I knew that if I ever got a chance with her, I'd always be there and consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to wake up to such beauty.

As I creaked open the door, I gave Luis a certain look he knows all too well. He glances behind my shoulder and smirks. Without a word he hands me the plates, the bottle of ibuprofen, and with that signals his goodbye. I head towards the small breakfast table by the balcony and set the plates down. I then grab a water bottle from the mini fridge and sit next to Elizabeth. She looks at me and runs to the bathroom while holding one hand on her mouth and the other on her stomach. I run right behind her and hold her hair back while she vomits. This was definitely not the morning I was expecting to have today, but I had to take care of her. As soon as she was done she tells me she'll fix herself up real quick, signaling me to get out. In the mean time, I look for some spare clothes so that she doesn't have to go around with puke on her shirt. I set them on the bed along with the water bottle and ibuprofen. After about 10 mins she comes out and said
"I'm sorry about all this, I shouldn't have come to disturb you, I'll be leaving now."
"No, it's ok really. There's some spare clothes of mine on the bed and some ibuprofen to help with the headache." I said reassuringly.
"Thank you, but I can't. I've bothered you enough. I came here with the intention to getting to know you better and maybe showing you around town, but then my problems got in the way and I got wasted on the way here." She replied.
"Look, it's better if you stay here for a while, you still look a little dizzy. And not to mention you have puke all over your shirt so at least change into some clean clothes, I'm not going to let you leave like that." I stated.
"If you really insist, I'll take a shower too...if that's ok?"
"Yeah, of course. When your out come have breakfast with me." I shot back.
"Ok, thank you" she said.

Once she was out, she looked refreshed and had a lot more balance. I made sure to microwave the now cold breakfast before she sat down to eat. We ate breakfast together while watching the scenery next to us. We didn't talk much, she had a sad expression on her face the whole time, and I didn't want to ask since I'm basically a stranger. She told me that she'd like to stay with me until she felt better and I agreed. After breakfast, I rented some movies we could watch together and tried to make her feel as comfortable as she could. Soon after the first movie ended, she fell asleep on my chest. I got a few texts from the group chat of them planning to go to Black Sands Beach. I told them I wasn't sure I could go, and when they asked why, Elizabeth said
"You should go, don't worry about me. I'll stay here sleeping."
"Are you sure, I'll stay if you want me to." I said.
"No, no, go. I've caused you enough trouble already and besides I'll just order some food and watch the other movies." She said.
"If you're sure, I won't be gone for long. And call me if you need anything." I said.
"Yes, definitely...but I need your number." She giggled.
"Oh, yeah. Here- *hands over a piece of paper with his phone number* -I can stop by the gas station before I come back, if you want anything just shoot a text." I said as I was heading out.
"Will do, thank you." She smiled

I met them all downstairs at the lobby and thankfully Maritza had rented a car yesterday for the rest of the trip. We made our way to a local surf shop for some sunscreen and beach towels along with a cooler, an ice bag, and various drinks. When we got to the beach, it took us over half an hour to find a parking space. Maritza and Loren went to look for a space to set up our things while Vanessa and Sebastian started to unpack the soda boxes and fill up the cooler. Luis and I grabbed the towels and bags. Maritza and Loren text us saying they found a spot by a dead tree. We make our way there and begin to go up the stairs. Once there, we set up our small get together and start to talk about our time here and how it was going so far. After a while, I check to see the time on my phone and notice I have a few messages from an unknown number. I knew who it was, Elizabeth. She had asked if she could order Chinese with my room card. It was unlimited after all so she could use it as much as she wanted, but she had sent the text over 2 hours ago. I told the others I had to make a phone call real quick. They all nodded and I stepped out. I called Elizabeth, but no answer. I called 3 more times, but nothing. I started to get a little worried and that's when Luis came toward me and asked if everything was ok since he saw the worried look on my face. I told him about how I found Elizabeth in my bed last night and how I was taking care of her this morning. He reassured me that she'll be ok and that she must be sleeping and to just leave her a message. With that, I send her a text letting her know that she can order anything she wants and that I'll be back within an hour or so. I also asked her to text or call me back to hear if she's ok.

45 mins later:
By this time it's already a bit past sundown so all of us agreed to pack up and head back. As we're driving around Sebastian and Vanessa asked us if we wanted to eat something. Luis and I said that it'll be our treat since they all paid of us last time. We get to In-N-Out and while we're waiting in line to order, I check to see if Elizabeth is ok. But all she said was "cheeseburger and chocolate shake from In-N-Out". To my luck we were here so I order some animal style fries, a chocolate shake and 2 cheeseburgers for us. At first everyone looked at me with wide eyes and I told them that a friend of mine back at the motel wanted In-N-Out as well. Once we got our food and headed to the car, everyone pointed out that I got flustered and asked who this "friend" was. I didn't notice that I had blushed with the thought of her. I got nervous when I told them that, it was just a friend that I had met recently at the motel. They looked at me with curiosity and their faces said they wanted to know more. But I kept it simple, because I don't like sharing details with others, especially since I just started to get to know them myself. They stopped asking questions when they noticed I wasn't going to give them detailed answers and instead started playing music in the car, which helped ease my nerves.

🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚
I'm sorry for the long wait. Life got in the way and I lost inspiration to write. But I'm determined to finish this story and went back to fix some mistakes I made in previous chapters as well as cut off a lot of irrelevant things. I hope you enjoyed this chapter though! ☺️