Page 34 of Room Service

12

Jessi

I worked through the day, half in a daze. By the time my shift had finished, I’d decided there was no way I was going back to my apartment. Trent would know where it was, and the last thing I needed at that moment was to risk running into him again.

So once my shift was over, I moved to the staff room and called for Laura, who must have also finished her shift. Sure enough, minutes after my call, she walked into the room. I jumped a little, still worked up from that day Trent had walked in here with absolutely no warning. I did not need a repeat of that.

I didn’t need to see Trent, period. There was no way I could face him.

“Hey there, Jessi,” Laura said, practically skipping into the room.

I frowned at her. “Hey, Laura. You’re in a good mood today.”

She sighed then plopped down on the couch beside me. Her legs stretched out as she laid her arms on the back of the couch, head tilted back with a smile on her lips as she closed her eyes.

“Well, I woke up this morning feeling wonderful, and it’s just been the same through the day. I caught sight of Mason around earlier, but there were no parties today! That’s enough for me to want to have my own party.”

I watched her with a skeptical eyebrow arched, one she didn’t see because she was busy giggling to herself. I pursed my lips, feeling a little annoyed that she was this happy when it felt like my world was crumbling around me. That wasn’t fair, so I kept my bad mood to myself.

She seemed to sense it anyway, a small frown appearing on her face as she peered at me out the corner of her eyes.

“Why are you so quiet?” she wondered.

I rolled my eyes and then laughed. “Maybe because not all of us had sunshine and rainbows through the whole day? We were drinking together last night; how did you not wake up with a hangover like me?”

She blinked. “Well, what happened was this. I had a bit of water before I left, and the taxi let me off a block away from my place.”

Immediately, I sat up, eyes wide with worry. “Did something happen?”

Laura giggled again, waving a hand at me. “Don’t worry so much, silly. I can look after myself, don’t you know. But I did stop by somewhere to have a bite to eat, just some pasta with some really good sauce. Then I had more water, and I walked the rest of the way back to my apartment in the chilly night air. I was pretty much sobered up by the time I got home.”

I sighed, slumping back into my side of the couch. “Then I guess I should have gone with you last night. It would have been the best-case scenario for me.”

So much better than what did happen. Well, maybe not better, but it would have been the best thing to happen. Not that I could regret what happened between Trent and me completely. I just needed to avoid him now and act like nothing had happened in the first place.

“Did something happen?” Laura asked, sitting up suddenly now and frowning at me. “I wanted to talk to you this morning, see how you were, but I was running a bit late for my shift, and I didn’t have the time to come see you all day. Was your hangover this morning really bad?”

I grimaced. “You have no idea, Laura. It was terrible.” Even if it wasn’t necessarily the hangover, but waking up somewhere unexpected, and having thoughts that were more like dreams that would never come true, no matter how much I wished. “I’m not drinking wine for some time after last night.”

“Did you replace the wine bottles already?”

I nodded. I’d found some time in the middle of the day to make an order for the exact same bottles to be brought in. They’d cost just as much as I’d feared, an extra cost added on top of the delivery. At least it was one less thing for me to worry about, and anyway, I saved most of my salary since my parents didn’t need it. Most of my costs were only food and a few clothes and shoes a month, so there was a nice cushion in my bank account.

“Yeah, I don’t think anybody noticed they were missing anyway. We don’t break out the wine for that many occasions, do we?”

Laura tilted her head slightly to the side. “Then why is there so much of it just lying around?”

I shrugged. “Wine doesn’t have an expiration date, remember? No one’s gonna care how long it’s lying around. Most of the bottles in storage I’ve never even tasted in all the time I’ve been working here.”

“Me either,” she admitted. She’d already been at the hotel when I was transferred, so she’d been there longer than me. “Oh! You called me down for something. Did you want to do something else again tonight?”

I slowly nodded. “Actually, yeah. Nothing to do with alcohol,” I said quickly. “Dealing with a hangover is annoying, it’s also why I rarely drink at all. But I was thinking, I could maybe come over to your place tonight for a sleepover? I’ll cook,” I added.

Her eyes lit up at that last bit. “If you’ll cook for me, I don’t mind taking you home with me. You’d be the most useful thing I ever dragged back to my house.”

“Uh-huh,” I muttered, giving her a wide-eyed look, full of teasing censure. “Just how many guys do you drag to your home then, huh?”

She giggled. “I don’t drag them, they come willingly. And I’ve been too busy with work to bring anyone home anyway, so don’t be so freaked out, I was just kidding. Do you want to stop by your apartment and get something to wear for tomorrow?”