I lift my hand and give them a little wave before looking back to my best friend.
“You sure you don’t want to come stay with us instead? Five of you in one room doesn’t sound too comfortable either.”
She takes a step toward me and wraps her arms around my neck. “I’m sure. My brother got a cot so I’ll be sharing a bed with my sister.” She releases me before looking back at her family and smiling. I haven’t seen her this relaxed and happy in a while. She turns back to me and Luke and grabs her bag off the floor. “I’m kind of excited. We used to have slumber parties all the time. I miss her.”
Liv is extremely close with her family and I know the distance is tougher on her than it is with me and my family. I’m happy that she’ll get to spend this time with them, even if it means we aren’t staying together like most of our hockey trips.
“Text me in the morning. We can meet for breakfast.”
“You got it. And Lucas-” She holds her finger up at him, as if she’s scolding a small child. “You better take care of my girl. If you don’t, I have no problem kicking your ass before your curling matches even start.”
She takes off toward her family before Luke can come up with a response.
I laugh to myself and see Luke shake his head. “Is she always like that?”
“Yes. That’s why I love her.”
Luke huffs a laugh under his breath and nods to the door I just came in from. “We should get going. The guys are waiting for us in the hotel lobby. I told them to head to their room but they were pretty adamant about not going up without us. It was kind of weird, actually.”
A feeling of unease settles in my stomach. I’m not sure I like the sounds of that, but I just nod and fall into step with Luke back into the blistering cold.
It’s a short walk to the hotel, thankfully. They weren’t lying when they said the hotel was just outside the Village. It’s literally a stone’s throw away.
Luke gestures for me to go first into the revolving hotel entrance and as soon as I see the look on his teammates’ faces, I know I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear.
“There’s a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
Charlie hangs back near the refreshments in the lobby while I figure out what the heck is going on with my teammates.
Wyatt has a wicked smile on his face, but Brendan looks about as nervous as a kid on his first day of school. He’s fidgeting with his hands and rocking back on his heels like he doesn’t know what to say.
No one says anything and my frustrations get the best of me.
“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?”
Wyatt takes a step forward and clasps his hand on my shoulder. “The hotel does have two rooms available.” His words trail off as if he’s working up to some dramatic reveal.
“Okay. I don’t see a problem then.”
He squeezes my shoulder. “Well, one room has two double beds so it will fit four people easily, but the other room is the issue.”
I’m so fucking confused. There are five guys on the team, but six of us are here needing accommodations if you include Charlie. But that still adds up to plenty of room.
“Spit it out Wyatt.” My words are laced in annoyance and he laughs at my distress.
“The other room only has one bed.”
Fuck.
So maybe there isn’t enough room for everyone to have a bed. I’m not about to make Charlie share a bed with one of my teammates so I offer a quick solution.
“Okay, so Charlie can have her own room. I’ll sleep on a cot or something.”
This time it’s Zack who speaks. “No cots, Skip. Every last one is accounted for with athletes coming here to crash with their families. Apparently everyone is fleeing the Village. Not that I can blame them.”
Damn it.
