He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Twenty Three

It was two days until the ball. I couldn't think of anything else, especially when Nerissa kept counting down the days until our dresses arrived. Now that they would be arriving tomorrow, she has moved on to counting down the hours. Approximately 19, according to the last time I saw her.

My day had been full of rooms that were dreadfully messy, and needed to be spotless for the new arrivals at 3pm. The only room I didn't have to do on my floor was Zachery's, as he was becoming more of a permanent resident of the hotel, and wasn't near as high maintenance as he looked. I only had one more room to do before I was finished for today, which was when I would retire back to my room, or try to find something to do to take my thoughts somewhere different.

"Are people becoming messier, or am I just becoming less patient?" I asked myself out loud as I began to strip the sheets off of the bed, which looked utterly destroyed. There was rubbish all around the floor, the bathroom was caked in water marks, stains and God knows what else, and for some reason these guests didn't like the standard lay out of the room, so decided to take it upon themselves to move practically each bit of furniture around to make it more to their liking. Why does the positioning of the chest of drawers make such a difference to one's life? These people have too much time on their hands.

It took a good half an hour to completely strip the room and create a clean slate. I was out of breath by the time I had cleaned each surface of the room, eliminating any evidence of the past guests, who I decided must have been gutter rats, which how they made everything smell. I grabbed the clean bed sheets and made up the bed to the best of my standards with the little energy I had left. Once I had done this, I was quite pleased with my work. The before and after comparison was incredible, shame no one ever noticed this other than myself.

Then I realised there was one more thing I had to do before finishing, which was move those blasted drawers back to where they should be. They were solid oak, and was going to be difficult to move in normal circumstances, let alone when I was already panting, with my hair falling out of my bun all across my face as if I had run a marathon. "Right, let's see what you've got. You will not defeat me. And you will stay where I put you." I spoke to the chest of drawers as if I was about to have a fight with them, which wasn't all that far from the truth. I went round to the end of the drawers and held each side tightly, breathing in and out to get ready to lift and drag. It was going to take all of my will power and strength to do this now, and I started cursing under my breath, before counting down to myself.

"Three... Two... One... LIFT!" I strained with all of my might as I tried to lift the solid oak from the ground to drag them across the room. I heaved, sighed, panted, I think I even hissed at one point, but was only getting as far as a couple inches across the room at a time. "Ugh!" I slumped down against the drawers and sat on the floor whilst leaning my head back against the furniture. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself and regain some energy. I couldn't leave them like this.

"Can I be of any assistance, my dear?" The devilish Zachery asked as he waltzed through the door to the room I was cleaning, with not a care in the world outside his own little bubble. I couldn't even muster up the energy to respond, I simply opened my eyes and moved my head to his direction, with more strands of hair dropping down on to my face. I blew out a deep breath, moving the stray hairs, and showing my exhaustion.

"I'll take that dramatic display as a yes then?" He said, with his smirk growing rapidly. He began to walk over to where I was sat on the floor against the chest of drawers, and crouched down to my level with his face close to mine. He looked at me and placed his index finger on my chin to move my head, making my eyes lock onto his. "Let me help. Stop being so independent for just one minute, and allow me to move this ugly dresser to wherever it is meant to be." He didn't break eye contact with me whilst speaking, and I felt my heart race.

"It is a chest of drawers, not a dresser. And it is not ugly, it is... Unique." I uttered back quietly.

"A simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. Now, where does this unique chest of drawers belong, my dear?" He quipped back wittily.

I began to lift myself up off of the floor sluggishly, patting down my skirts and very lazily moving my hair out of my face so that I could see clearly. I could see Zachery already standing there ready for me to direct him. He looked like his usual Duke-like self, wearing lovely deep navy suit trousers and waistcoat, with a bright white shirt underneath, with his regular deep wine coloured tie perfectly wrapped around his collar. He pulled these colours off so well, I could only imagine what he would wear to the ball, and how amazing he would look in it. I showed him where the drawers were meant to be, and he looked from where they currently were, to where they were meant to be, back and forth a couple times, before clapping his hands together and rubbing them together eagerly.

"Right!" He exclaimed. "Piece of cake." He began to crouch down to lift the drawers and pull them as I had done before. I saw the way he hesitated before moving, and once he began moving it was at a snails pace. I went the other end and began to push to help matters, and once I did the drawers slid across the room effortlessly between us, which was brilliant, but made Zachery trip backwards when he was upping his pace. He concealed this blunder very swiftly, so I pretended not to notice. We were both chuckling at ourselves by the time we had got the drawers in the right position. We definitely made that more difficult than what it needed to be, and we weren't as graceful as we thought we would be. We looked at each other from each side of the unit, giggling, and grew silent.

"Thank you for your help, Zachery. You definitely made it more enjoyable, and possible." I wanted to break the silence that lingered in the place of our laughs, but my words fell on deaf ears.

"What dress did you pick from Le Vetement?" Zachery asked, as if I hadn't said anything at all.

"Tisk Tisk... You will have to wait and see, won't you, my dear?" I retaliated, imitating his usual words. I saw his cheeks begin to flush at my words. I couldn't quite get over that sight, it was a picture, and a priceless one due to it being caused by me...

"Must you always tease me like this?" He questioned, pouting out his bottom lip.

Always? I definitely did not. I am usually irritated or awkward, but definitely not teasing. Why is this man making me question myself so much? I couldn't think of a response while my thoughts were whizzing around my head, so I just smiled at him, which I knew would be an adequate enough reply.

"Exhibit A. My very point proven. That mischievous smile haunts me at night, you know that?" He spoke sincerely, whilst over dramatising the whole situation, so it was difficult to tell whether he was being truthful or joking. "I look forward to seeing whatever outfit you have chosen. Nerissa tells me that they will be arriving tomorrow, so I will try to get a quick sneak peak at some point." His eyes were dark, and I couldn't read his expression. But I know that it made me feel giddy. I couldn't wait for him to see the dress to be honest, but I wanted it to be on my terms, to dazzle him completely, not to be walked in on randomly.

"Dreadful man. You will be patient, it will be a surprise!" I scolded him, slapping his arm playfully. My nerves for the ball were now completely replaced with excitement. I was actually excited for this, not quite on the level of Nerissa, but I was still excited. And it seemed as if Zachery was looking forward to it too.