Golden

Room for One More

The bright lights of the hotel lobby surrounded Dan and Phil as they stepped through the automated doors. Phil felt his hand suddenly become empty again, and he frowned instinctively. He looked towards the reception desk, but nobody was there. Phil walked to a waiting bench and motioned for Dan to follow.

The red cusion felt nice and velvety - Phil couldn't help but run his hands over it. Dan laughed a little. As the two waited, small and silent in the large marble room, Phil began to play with the plant next to him. Soon all his attention was on it, green leaves and red stalk, small flowers just budding at the base.
"So I've been replaced by a fern?" Dan scoffed.
"You're wrong," Phil retorted.
"I'm not replaced?"
"That's not a fern. See, it's got little flowers."
"Oh."

Silence fell over the room again. Soon after, however, the click of heels echoed off the tiled floor. A young woman walked up to the check in desk, looking incredibly flustered and tense. Phil cautiously made his way over to her, with Dan in tow.

"Um, excuse me? Are you busy? If you are, we can wait -"
"No, no, I'm fine. What do you two need?" The woman replied, her voice cheerful but also tired.
"Um, do you have two small rooms available? Just one bed each is fine?"
The woman sighed noticeably. "The thing is, we've had a problem with a burst pipe. There's some first floor flooding, and about 20 rooms on each floor have lost all water access. We've managed to give everybody a room, but there's only a few left. Here's the deal: we've got plenty of rooms left, but there's only one single bed. All the rest of the rooms are suites - 2 beds, plus a pull out couch, and £150 more per night."

Dan and Phil glanced anxiously at each other. They couldn't pay for that much, especially not on their own.
"Just one of the small rooms is fine for the two of us, then," Phil stuttered out.
"Alrighty then," said the receptionist, typing at the registry computer. "Room 327, here's your key. Have a great night!"

Phil took the key and turned away, Dan shuffling silently behind him.

"Dan," Phil asked, "Are you sure you're ok with this?"
"Yeah, it's fine," Dan replied. "It's my fault for getting us lost in the first place."

The elevator dinged as the boys reached their floor, and after a quick walk down the hall, they found their room. The key slid through the scanner, and the lock opened with a satisfying click. The boys stepped into the room.

This chapter was pretty short and boring, sorry :(
But I promise the plot will pick up next chapter.