Two Weeks With Chelsea

Chapter 37

Trevor and Chelsea returned to the hotel after roaming the city. The room they now shared was a regular hotel room with two twin beds separated by a night table. Trevor removed his computer from his backpack and turned it on.

"I'm going to get started on posting things on my Stone Wall. Can I get the memory card from your camera so I can copy your photos?"

Chelsea removed the card and handed it to Trevor then lifted her suitcase onto one of the twin beds. Trevor quickly did the same then opened it and removed the items Chelsea had left behind in Marseille.

"Here's your bikini top, charger, and your book," Trevor said before slapping his palm against his forehead. "What was I thinking? I should have left the bikini top in Marseille!"

"Thanks," Chelsea laughed as she gently placed the book on the night table.

"What's the deal with that book? It's not really your grade level and you've dragged it around and I haven't seen you open it, once."

Chelsea sank onto the bed and retrieved the book. Her fingers traced the golden letters as she contemplated how to answer Trevor's question.

"My mom helped me pick this book out of the library at Well Stone. She made me promise to take care of it and not lose it and she promised that she would read it to me," she said softly as Trevor sat himself on the other bed directly opposite her. "That was the night she... they—"

Trevor knelt on the floor at her feet then placed a hand on her knee. She remained silent, gazing at the book for a moment.

"I didn't understand what happened. Everyone just kept saying they were gone. I kept carrying the book around, waiting for them to come back. Waiting for someone to read it to me," Chelsea paused to wipe her eyes. "I've never read it. Never opened it. It's kind of stupid, really. Don't you think? Carrying around a reminder of the worst day of my life."

Trevor moved to the bed beside her and wrapped her in his arms. She wept for a moment.

"Kids used to tease me about carrying it with me, so I stopped," she said softly. "I started carrying it again for a while at the beginning of the year."

"I don't think it's stupid. That's not why you carry it. Not to remember that day. Not the bad part. It's to remind you of the last time you saw her. You promised her you would take care of it and that's what you're doing."

After a few moments of silence, comforted in Trevor's embrace, Chelsea collected herself and placed the book back on the night table. "Thanks."

Trevor moved back to the seat at his computer while Chelsea unpacked her clothing. She occasionally stopped to peek over his shoulder to see what he was working on.

"I have all of our photos sorted out. Now, it's time to log in and start posting stuff. Are you going to post anything on your account?" Trevor asked. "Do you even have one?"

"I didn't setup one. Do you think I can still do it?" she asked.

"Sure, just give me a few minutes to post a bunch of stuff and we'll get you started."

When Chelsea returned to look over his shoulder a few minutes later, he had already posted several photos from Barcelona and their first stop in Béziers, and was adding a few from Marseille."

"What's that say? 'Mas cervesas por favor' That's what you called your page."

"Yeah. I was planning to post a lot of beers and babes pictures."

"Did you post anything from the beach, the day we rented the bikes?"

"I will, if you don't mind. Maybe I should try to keep them in order. Put the Marseille ones in later. Where's the one you took along the path. The one of me falling over my bike. We'll put the one you took of the bridge on your account," he said as he clicked on the photo he wanted. "How about this one from the beach. You don't mind if I post this one of you in your bikini, I hope. I don't have many 'beers' pictures, at least let me post a babe picture."

Chelsea inspected the photo as Trevor's finger hovered over the 'post' button on the screen. She looked at him then nodded.

"You look... hot... I'd bet you money, nobody is going to believe it's really you," he said. "Ok, that's enough for my wall, I'll add more later. Let's get started on yours."

"Cool. I have some from the airport in Portland and New York, so I'll start with those first. Or I guess I'll start with setting up the account."

"Why didn't you setup an account before?"

"It's an optional thing and I didn't think anybody wanted to see my vacation in Auburn. Besides, I'm already at an eighty-three in the class so I didn't need the extra marks."

"Ha... my mark has the same numbers, just in a different order. I gotta get, like, one hundred percent on this and the exam to pull myself out of the toilet. That's the only reason I'm doing it. Or was the only reason... Everyone seemed to think it was a lame idea, so I'm actually surprised how many people are posting stuff."

"Do you think I should post stuff from Barcelona too?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure... Maybe just post some different stuff than what I put so it's not repetitive. Give me a second to get the account setup," Trevor said as he poked at the keys. "Crap! Mullens has to approve the new account. Doesn't look like you can start to post anything 'til he does."

Chelsea was disappointed that her start at sharing her adventure with people from school was delayed by an administrative roadblock. She hadn't planned to participate in the project because her original plans of staying in Auburn and Lewiston didn't seem worth sharing with the few people that might bother to look. A smile returned to her face as she recalled the photos Trevor had posted to his page. More than half included her, and he had mentioned her name in every post. There might not be many people that would have looked at her page, but she was sure Trevor's was on everyone's must-see list.

"So, everyone's asking me how we ended up on this trip together," Trevor said. "Do I tell them it was all a secret plan or what?"

"I don't know," Chelsea said quietly. "People already think I'm a weirdo loser; tell them I followed you to Barcelona and they'll, well, think I'm even a bigger loser. But nobody would believe we planned this, either."

"I'll call Emily," Trevor said. "She'll take care of it."

"Are you sure? I don't know—"

"I'm sure. She told me about her secret."

"Secret?" Chelsea said while twisting her face into a confused expression.

"Yeah, she and Trish are a little more than just roommates. And I know that you're the only other person that knows."

"Oh..." Chelsea whispered. "Yeah, Trish was my roommate a few years ago so I walked in and I saw them kissing once."

"They've kept it hidden for a long time. Now, I didn't get a good picture of you in that nice dress. Maybe we should get dressed up again and go out for dinner."

"Sure!" she said happily. "I'd like that."

"Okay, while you're getting ready, I'm going to do a little more work on my account."

"What are you doing now?" she asked as she looked over his shoulder.

"Nothing. Don't look," Trevor said as he tried to hide the screen from Chelsea's view.

"Why? What are you doing?" she said as he minimized the browser window.

"Nothing! You'll see once you get your account going," Trevor said as he looked at Chelsea's furrowed brow. "Honest, I think you'll like it. It's a surprise. And not a topless pic of you kind of surprise."

Chelsea turned and walked towards the bathroom, "Fine! I'm just going to wash my face and... Wait, topless?"

"Relax... You haven't gone topless so how could there be pictures? I was thinking, we should go back to the aqueduct tomorrow. I took a picture of you sitting on the wall there and I'd kind of like to do a sketch from there."

"Sounds good."