Escaping Reality

Chapter 14: Voluntary Kidnapping

As the sun peeked through the blinds I rolled over in the king-sized bed expecting another handful of covers. Instead, I bumped into a person. I was startled and opened my eyes to find Lola laying next to me.

"What the hell" I muttered under my breath, panicking. Why in the world was she in my bed I thought to myself, hadn't I locked the door when I went to bed. Did I drunkenly get up at some point in the night and approach her. I don't even remember seeing her the last 30 minutes of the party, I thought she had left.

She stirred but didn't wake up as I got out of bed and went to check the damage to the hotel room. I found the majority of the room in decent shape, however, someone did end up hurling in the pool which had now had time to sit there and disintegrate. Nice, I was hoping that the high levels of chlorine would simply disintegrate the throw up before I had to check out.

It was a little bit after nine and a few people were moving around collecting their things and such. Jason and his friend Tyler, who was the starting point guard for the basketball team had spent the night on the couch and were just waking up as I came out.

"Hey man thanks for having us, that was a blast," Jason said.

"Yeah seriously man, most fun I've had in a while," Tyler followed up.

"No problem, I'm glad y'all had fun," I said trying to sound nonchalant.

"Hey man, we have our semi-final match coming up. The turn out is going to be crazy, you should definitely come out" Jason said as he and Tyler walked toward the door.

"Oh fo sho" I shot back, rubbing the eye boogers out of my eyelids, only half processing what they were saying.

It took about fifteen minutes to round up all the empty alcohol bottles and used red solo cups. I don't know how cups had ended up on the ceiling fan and I'm not sure I wanted to know. After bringing out the pillows and fragile decorations from my room the place started to resemble its original condition. I was stopped mid tidying up as Lola sauntered out of the room.

The world seemed to slow and my vision narrowed as she stopped in the doorway doing a little stretch-dance combo. She had on a pair of two-tone frayed jeans and an oversized hoodie, wait, wasn't that my hoodie? Had she gone through my clothes or had I offered it to her at some point last night. My quizzical look must have been noticeable because it seemed like she was staring into my soul. It wasn't even ten in the morning and she was already radiating a sort of aggressive confidence that took me hours of self-hype to channel. Again, she didn't break gaze, giving my flashbacks to her rejection a day earlier.

"You ready," she asked as she walked toward me. I stuttered so badly that no comprehendible words even managed to escape my lips. "Let's go," she said as she planted a soft kiss on my cheek and walked toward the door. I didn't need her to tell me twice, I gave my body a quick pat-down looking for my keys. "Right here" she interrupted with a slight giggle, dangly the keys in the air.

"So many questions," I muttered under my breath in disbelief.

I stood there dumbfounded my cheeks still hot from her gentle kiss. She stood in the doorway momentarily looking at me as my brain sputtered trying to process what was going on. Never had I been left speechless, I was having legitimate troubles trying to deduce what was happening. She turned and walked out the door. That was enough to snap me out of my trance, no way I was letting her get away.

"Where-rr-whe-where are we going" I stammered like a toddler.

No response. She just motioned for me to follow with a single finger.

If it wasn't for her striking beauty and Madeline's short biography this would be quite the creepy situation I thought to myself. She had been watching me at the party, we woke up in the same bed, somehow she is wearing my clothes, she got ahold of my car keys and was requesting I follow her blindly. As we rode down the elevator in silence I sized her up making sure I could take her in a physical fight if this took a dark turn. Eh, I'd manage I concluded after guessing that I had at least 50 pounds on her and a longer reach.

The elevator reached ground level and she gave me a glance and smile before leading the way through the lobby. The same valet boy from yesterday was working and brought the car around giving me a wink when he saw Lola by my side. Jeez, I can't imagine how I exist in this guy's head, I thought to myself. Little did he know I had never had a girlfriend and drove a 2000 Nissan Altima. Sometimes ignorance is bliss I guess.

I fumbled with the door handle but was eventually able to get it opened for her. Sorry, valet boy, I hope he didn't mind me taking over part of his job responsibility. As she sat down she wore her same expression of amusement. I desperately wanted to know what was going on in the head of hers. She seemed unimpressed by the car. I guess that's what happens when everybody at your school wears luxury and driving foreigns.

She smiled at me, pausing for a second.

"Are you hungry"

"I mean I guess," I said, before shaking my head. "Yes, I'm hungry" I reassured correcting myself to seem more enthused.

"I know this rad local breakfast bakery that's just a short drive away," she explained, "I think you'd like it, want to check it out?"

"Sounds great, how do I get there?" I asked pulling up Google Maps.

"Oh don't worry I can direct you" she responded confidently.