He Was a Friend

/26/ She's knocked-out. /

"Keys, Lou," he demanded, as he held her steady in front of her hotel room, room 923.

They just came back from the bar, because she passed out after he kissed her.

Either that was a coincidence, or one hell of a defense mechanism – I'm not sure.

He was holding her waist in his right hand, as he held her left shoulder with his left. She was grabbing his jacket on the side, as a means to balance herself.

She looked at him with questioning eyes.

"K-K-Kiss?"

He slowly shook his head.

"Keeyyyys, Lou. Keys," he hissed, trying to be patient.

She continued looking at him with a confused face.

"I said open your goddamn door," he commanded impatiently.

I am never gonna let you drink this much again next time, no matter what you say.

Louise finally seemed to pick up what he meant and started moving one of her hands into her coat pockets. She can't seem to find it there so she went ahead and checked in her sling bag.

"Ah."

He raised his eyebrows, as if to ask her "What now?".

She smiled meekly.

"I forgottttt to getttt it backkkk when it felllllll on the toiletttttt floooooor," she bit her lip.

Oh, God. Help me.

He whistled and pressed his temple with his left hand, as he tried to think of how to deal with their situation.

Hah. I can't think properly.

He was also feeling very sleepy now, after all, he was so tired for the whole technical event, and he just drank a total of six beers.

His eyes blinked at the sight of the room with number 926.

Oh, yeah. I forgot I'm on the same floor. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate more on his options.

I can just bring her into my room first. Then I'll call the reception for a spare key. Then I'll sleep.

He snapped his finger and praised himself internally for still being sane and gentleman enough considering that situation.

And my feelings.

He flinched when Louise finally let go of him, and positioned herself to sleep in the floor.

His jaws dropped.

Pulling out his own room key, he opened his room, placed his keys back on his pockets, and went back beside her. He placed both his hands on his waist, and stared at the woman comfortably sleeping on the corridor in front of her room.

You are sooo not gonna get near alcoholic drinks again, honey. At least not without me.

He clenched his jaw as he carried her 'princess style' and kicked the door back to close it. He then gently put her on the right side of his bed.

"Hot," she complained as she tried to remove her winter coat.

Sighing for the Nth time today, he helped her remove the coat and placed it on top of the bedside table.

I need a cold shower, he muttered to himself, while staring at her sleeping face. He pinched her cheeks out of frustration.

First, I have to call the reception – before I end up actually doing 'something'.

He stood up and sat on the right side of the bed, and picked up the phone on the bedside table.

"Yes, hello, good evening. Sorry to disturb, but, can I have the spare key of room 923 delivered to room 926? My friend, the owner of room 923, lost her key and uhh, she's... quite unconscious at the moment," he said to the other line when the call connected. The concierge explained back about needed verification.

"Yes, we can talk about that here," he responded, and ended the call.

Exhausted, he threw his body in the bed, and glanced at Louise's sleeping face.

His eyelids slowly went down, little by little, until it finally closed due to extreme exhaustion.