Two Weeks With Chelsea

Chapter 19

Chelsea pulled open the curtains of the hotel room. Particles of dust glistened in the air. She paused at the window that looked out to a small space between buildings. The room was high enough in the hotel that the window would be bathed in sunlight until after the noon hour. A room a couple floors lower might get a hint of sunlight sometime during the day that would likely only last a few minutes before being reclaimed by shadows.

Trevor hauled Chelsea's suitcase out from the closet and dropped it on the bed closest to the bathroom.

"You might want to hang your stuff again. I'm going to change into my bathing suit," he said as he opened his own suitcase. "Get your stuff out and you can change when I'm done."

Trevor paused as he slid the bathroom door shut and tipped his head through the gap to speak. "In case I didn't say it last night, thanks."

"For what?" Chelsea asked.

"For taking care of me," Trevor replied through the closed door. "My buddies would have just left me to it. I would have slept on the bathroom floor. Stacy's lucky to have you take care of her."

"Oh, ahhh, you're welcome. Stacy has the added challenge of longer hair and is less cooperative, so last night was pretty easy."

Trevor spent a few minutes in the bathroom changing then stepped out wearing a loose-fitting pair of trunks and the same t-shirt he had put on for the morning outing. Chelsea was in and out again in minutes, having only changed out of the slacks and into a pair of shorts.

"That was quick!" Trevor said. "You have your bathing suit on under those?"

She shook her head, "No, I don't have one."

"No bathing suit? Really? That's cool, you can hit the water in your underwear if you like."

"I'll just sit on the beach. It's alright. Really!"

"I'm just saying... If you dropped the shorts and went topless, you probably wouldn't be the only one."

"Topless? I don't think so."

"The option is totally open, just putting it out there for your consideration," Trevor said with a laugh as he slipped his jeans on over his bathing suit. "I always feel like I'm wearing a diaper like this."

Chelsea giggled then asked, "Does Trevor have a beach blankie?"

She was shocked by the way she spoke. She wasn't one that would play off someone else's words and certainly not with babyish tone she applied to the response. She hoped he wouldn't be offended or feel she was being too silly.

"Trevor wants a bottle," he replied in a childish voice. "Stop in liquor store for Trevor, please?"

They giggled as Trevor collected things needed for the beach. He laid everything out on the bed to take inventory before stuffing them into his backpack.

"Sun block, sunglasses, hat, phone," he said as he slipped the items into place in the pack, "beach laundry tote..."

"Beach laundry tote?" Chelsea replied as she looked at the empty clear plastic zipper bag he held, "Wow, you are prepared."

"Well, not completely. We have to stop somewhere for that bottle," he said then held up a large towel. "Beach bubba!"

"I have wipies," Chelsea said as she held up a pack of hand wipes.

Chelsea laughed again as she slipped her new camera into her own backpack. The disappointment from the search for a hotel room had vanished. There was something in the exchange they shared while preparing for the beach that was comforting. It wasn't a dry lifeless or forced exchange. She didn't have to think to come up with her lines in the conversation, they just happened. It all seemed natural. Perfectly natural.

"Wallet! Almost forgot my wallet, can't buy tickets for the Metro without it," Trevor said.

"Or the bottle," Chelsea added. "Mine's in my purse, maybe I should just carry it in my backpack. When we stop for your bottle, I have to get some sunscreen and we probably should get something to eat, like some snacks, and some water too."

"And a bikini!" he added with a hopeful twitch of his eyebrows.