I'm dreading seeing anyone this morning because I know I'm going to get lectured big time. I entered into the hotel lobby and smiled at the staff as they smiled and greeted me. I swear they must have pictures up on the wall letting everyone know what we look like so they are certain not to miss us when we walk by.
Two girls were coming towards the elevator and I pushed the button for the tenth floor and smiled at them as they boarded. The whole ride was complete silence until I noticed they hadn�t selected a floor,
�What floor?� They looked at each other and one of them quickly looked at the panel before answering,
�Um, twelve thanks.� I nodded and pushed the number twelve. The ride up was in silence and when the door opened I stepped out,
�Goodbye ladies.� They stumbled for something to say and all I got in return was,
�Bye�Nick.� I smiled as the door closed then got pushed the button to go down on the other elevator. I was staying on the eighth floor and even though I was leaving in a couple of hours that was more than enough time for them to dial every room on the floor and find me. This was not the morning for games and I wasn�t going to deal with it.
I made it to my room I looked to see my suitcase was packed, everything except a change of clothes and my toiletry bag. On top of my suitcase was a note from Colleen. She packed my bag and hoped that everything was ok. I would feel better if she had trashed my room. I sat down on the bed and pulled out my cell phone. If I didn�t let Carl know I was back already he would probably get fired. I�m sure someone somewhere is already incensed that I was missing for eight hours. Wow, now that I think about it what I did was really bad. Let�s not even mention the Colleen element, which was evident. For me to just disappear on my security like that was dumb and irresponsible. There is no telling what they thought had happened to me.
�Yes.� He was still pissed; he had every right to be mad.
�Uh yeah, I just wanted you to know that um, I�m back. At the hotel.� He didn�t skip a beat,
�Ok, we leave for the airport in an hour and fifteen minutes. I�ll be there to get you when we�re ready. You need anything?� He probably hates me now more than ever. We�ve had some disagreements on how I felt he should do his job before and even though he never showed emotion I�m sure a punk like me telling him how to do his job was infuriating,
�No man, that�s all. Thanks.� He hung up and I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes with Colleen still on my mind. I knew she wasn�t home but I called and left a message on her answering machine,
�Hey Colleen. It�s Nick. I just wanted to let you know that I�m sorry for last night. Sorry that I couldn�t take you to the airport. Um, I had a good time hope you did too. I�ll call you soon. Bye.� I knew her roommate would probably hear it but I didn�t really care, I just wanted to apologize for being stupid. Before I could close my eyes again someone was banging, and loudly may I say, at my door. I reluctantly answered and was bowled over by Kevin,
�What the hell is wrong with you? No one knew where you were. Your cell phone was off.� I closed the door. Good ole Carl, he couldn�t rip me a new one so he called the one person who wouldn�t hesitate to jump in my ass knee deep,
�Kevin, look I know and I�m sorry. I should have called and I didn�t.� Kevin shook his head,
�No, you should have let someone know where you were going.� He was right and I let him know,
�I know, you�re right, it won�t happen again.� In my younger days I would have yelled back at him. I would have known he was right back then too but I would have argued just because I didn�t want to agree and admit I was wrong. It was the attitude of the young, or more accurately the immature. I�ve done a lot of growing up in the past couple of years, more than anyone would believe. Hell, I never even thought I could be as mature as I am now. I don�t sit by a fire in a smoking jacket with a pipe reading Moby Dick but I wasn�t running around in the middle of the night looking for aliens anymore either.
�Not to mention the fact that we called the damn police.� The police were called to look for me? I hope they didn�t think I was kidnapped and being held for ransom. All they had to do was call my mother who would have gladly told them that any kidnapper would bring me back within an hour,
�The police? You didn�t have to do that.� He stretched out his arms,
�How did we know that? If you had let someone know what was going on we wouldn�t have had to call.� Point taken,
�You�re right.� Kevin was itching for a fight and I know, from previous experience, that agreeing with him made him angrier than fighting with him. He sighed and rolled his eyes at me, he loved to do that, let�s you know that he really wasn�t happy and you�ve subjected him to acting like a thirteen-year-old girl to express it,
�Carl used to work for NYPD so he knew a few people and they kept it low.� I nodded, what was I supposed to say? Thank you? I didn't tell them to call the police. He walked over towards the bed and saw the note that Colleen left for me. I wished he hadn�t seen it, hoped he would have forgot to yell at me about her but who am I to think I was going to get off easy in this situation. He shook his head at me,
�You don�t deserve this girl. She�s way too nice for you. I don�t know how all these nice girls get caught up in your trap then end up getting screwed over.� That wasn't fair,
�I�m not the same person I was. You know I�ve changed. Besides, I�ve had my share of bitches. It�s not like some of them haven�t screwed me over royally.� He held the note out to me,
�Have you read this? She packed your stuff while you were out�� He frowned,
�Where the hell were you anyway?� You know, I was waiting for him to get around to asking that. Now that he had, I didn�t want to answer. It was bad enough I was gone, left Colleen alone, but to go to another girl was worse. Anything other than a night in the hospital or caught up in some hostage situation wasn�t going to get me out of looking like pond scum. I looked over at him and his eyes were stretched wide open anticipating my answer,
�I was with Brehan.� I didn�t realize it but as I answered my eyes were closed. When I opened them I saw him looking at me in amazement. He opened his mouth to speak, shut it quickly, then spoke slowly and way too calmly,
�You left Colleen, without telling anyone where you were going, to spend the night with Brehan?� I nodded and his voice rose,
�What the? You left a girl in your bed to go sleep with another girl?� I shook my head,
�I didn�t sleep with Brehan. Well, I did but�nothing happened.� He frowned at me,
�Nothing happened? And I�m supposed to believe that? You may have changed but your love of women is still the same.� Fair, I may not handle girls the same but my sex life hadn�t slowed down any,
�I�m not sleeping with Colleen. We�re just friends.� He nodded,
�And Brehan?� I rolled my eyes,
�Just friends. She�s not into me and I�m not into her.� He nodded and walked towards the door and I can�t help but feel I came out on top in this situation,
�Be ready to go.� He glanced at my suitcase,
�You�re already packed so that shouldn�t be a problem.� He closed the door and I walked over to the mirror turning my back to it,
�Still got a little ass left.�
Chapter 53
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
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