An orgy, almost definitely. Out loud, I said, “Book club, maybe.”
She tossed me a dubious look. “Yeah, okay. Let’s all go read smut in the dark.”
“Don’t say ‘smut.’?”
Dex appeared at my side, the dark half-moons beneath his eyes draining the life out of him. “You go ahead. I’ll get the bags.”
“We can help with the bags,” Phoebe chirped, posture straightening. “We’re not helpless ladies with brittle bones.”
“Speak for yourself,” I muttered, resisting the urge to massage my lower back. Every part of my body ached after spending half the day exploring Coney Island and the other half in a car. The free hotel room was certainly enticing, but the more selfish truth was I couldn’t force myself back into the car. Besides, Phoebe loved it here. We could survive a night in lovey-dovey hell.
The three of us collected our bags and headed up to the room, admiring framed vintage photographs of various weddings. It was my favorite detail thus far, even before Phoebe gasped and snapped a Polaroid of vintage lesbians.
Dex stopped in front of a lilac door and offered my sister the room key adorned with a pink leather heart, leaning his shoulder against the jamb to watch her struggle before reaching over to flip it the right way. She laughed. Something in my chest constricted, pulling tight. Any semblance of good feelings disappeared upon entering our room to find mirrored ceilings and a heart-shaped bed. Our horrified expressions bounced right back at us.
“Oh my god,” I said, letting my bags tumble to the floor. Phoebe’s sunburned cheeks flushed a deep maroon.
“Okay, this isn’t funny anymore.”
“Who wants to sleep in a heart-shaped bed?” I looked to Dex, who’d had a lot of answers thus far. He came up short this time. “Shape-wise. It doesn’t make sense.”
“No one is disagreeing with you,” Dex said. He shut his eyes, exhaustion emanating from his very being. “You guys can take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Yeah, I’m not sleeping in a heart-shaped bed under a mirror ceiling with my sister,” Phoebe replied. I nodded.
“Uncrossable lines.”
He heaved a huge sigh, shoulders sagging. “I’ll get blankets.”
I watched him slump out of the room, something pinching deep beneath my rib cage. Guilting the woman at the front desk into giving us a free room wasn’t my most shining moment. The next closest hotel was probably a short drive, and then Dex and I wouldn’t be sentenced to a night on the floor.
“Can I shower first?” Phoebe asked, snapping me out of my daze. She’d dumped the contents of her bag across the bed, the vibrant red duvet overwhelmed by black. “Someone puked on Zenobia and they didn’t get any on me but itfeelslike it’s on me, you know?”
I waved her off. “Go ahead.”
She grabbed a handful of black from the bed and darted into the bathroom. “Oooh! A heart-shaped tub!”
I smiled, sinking onto the edge of the bed. Sitting didn’t help the ache in my back or the exhaustion plucking at me like strings of a marionette, but it gave the illusion of rest. I drew my phone out for the first time since Coney Island. Forty-three unread texts from Arden. Mustering whatever energy I had left, I called her.
“Hey!” she shouted mid-ring. I winced.
“Ow.”
“Sorry. Hey. Hi.” She cleared her throat, gathering herself. “I’ve been losing my mind, a little bit. You’ve been MIA.”
“I sent you pictures from Coney Island.”
“But you didn’t reply to any of my texts. Yousaidnothing. And that, my friend, sayseverything.”
I rubbed my stinging eyes. “Does it?”
“Obviously not,” she said. “I have no idea what’s going on. You cut me out of the loop.”
“We’ve been gone for like twelve hours,” I said, prompting ahuff. “We go longer without contact when you and Noah take your anniversary trips.”
“That is so not the same thing. Just tell me how it’s going. I’m dying, Vi.”
“It’s fine.” I paused, glancing at the mirrored ceiling. My lifeless eyes stared back, complete with flat hair and sunburned cheeks. “I mean, it’s exhausting and my back is fucked from driving for so long. I got whiplash from a roller coaster. And we’re spending the night in a couples hotel that may or may not be hosting an orgy.”
