Chapter Two
"I got locked out." She thought some more on what to say as she mumbled the statements. "I locked myself out?" No, that would admit to total stupidity. "I forgot my key." Just the same, she thought as she shook her head in her own disappointment.
Suddenly the door opened and she just stared at him. A plain white t-shirt had never looked so good, in her own opinion. Then the pin striped white and blue pajama pants. She just had something stir within at the site of him and she was speechless. He looked back at her wondering what she was doing at his door in the middle of the night. After a few moments of silence
"Aloha," he said frankly.
She wrinkled up her face and became confused. "Excuse me?"
He repeated, "Aloha," while pointing at her chest.
She swung at his arm, pushing it away from her body and asked again with a slight shriek, "Excuse me?!"
"Aloha. On your shirt?" and he pointed again, this time waggling his finger in the direction of her breasts.
"My shirt," she thought to herself. Beginning to glance downward, she noticed the decal on her shirt. That was why it was her favorite; it had a hula dancer and the word "Aloha" on it. Completely embarrassed she felt her face warm up to the reddening of her cheeks. "Oh yeah," she muttered, followed with half a laugh. "Aloha."
Furrowing his dark brows, "What'd you think I meant?"
"Didn't know what you meant," she gave a small shrug, trying to dismiss the oddness of the situation.
"Oh. Okay." They shared another uncomfortable silence; meanwhile Nicole lost track of why she was at Kevin's door. "So?" he asked her.
"So," she responded.
In a plain voice, "Buttons."
"Huh?" She glanced down at her shirt wondering if this was another clothes reference.
"Buttons?"
"Sew buttons. Ya know, s-e-w buttons," spelling out the word.
Nicole laughed half-embarrassed, now understanding. She repeated, mumbling, "Sew buttons," with a slight smirk.
He asked her again, "So?" Her only thought was, "I am not saying buttons!"
With it occurring to her that she came by his room for a reason, "Oh, yeah," she said. "Ok, so the heat doesn't work in my room. I walked around the hotel and to the front desk, telling the clerk about it and he won't do anything. Came back up here and guess what?"
She didn't intend for him to answer, but he did; "Snobby clerk guy kicks you out?"
Confused for the moment, she thought, then responded, "No, good call though. He was a snob."
"Then what?"
"Yeah, I was just getting to that." While patting at her hips near her pockets she continued frankly, "No key."
"No key, eh?"
"Yep, no key."
"What about Jess-"
Cutting him off, she answered, "No one home, well, no one else is awake. You're the only one. Well, besides me."
"Is that so?" Nicole's only response this time was a nod of her head. Wondering what he would do for her, she shifted her weight to the left, placing her hands on the back of her hips. "Well let's get you a key so you can get to sleep for tomorrow."
She was glad he was going to help her, but the way he answered she felt like he just wanted to get her going to make sure she didn't screw up tomorrow if she didn’t get to sleep soon. She was always self-conscience about what other people said to her, and always wondered what exactly they meant.
He went looking around his room and picked up a key that was on his nightstand. "I don't know who's this is, but it's not mine," he told her as he walked through the doorway and to her room.
She stood behind him hoping it would work. If it did, she would owe him, and she liked that idea. Although, she thought, if it didn't work, she would be stuck with him to help her. She liked that idea just as well. The key slid into place in the knob.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, it did not turn. "Not yours either, eh?"
Nicole replied disappointedly, "Yeah, I guess not." She sighed then uttered, "Damn key!" She began pacing the hallway, continuing with the anger, "God damn it. My fucking luck." Kevin winced when he heard her.
He jumped at the verbage and inflections of her tone. He couldn't remember ever hearing her get that upset and voice it.
She noticed him and began to wonder what was wrong. "What?"
"Nothing." His voice was flat and she noticed that also. Getting upset, once again, she leaned against the wall and took her customary position outside her locked room on the floor. She rested elbows against her bent up knees and her face at the palms of her hands. He looked down at her as she looked upset and he began to feel bad for her. Walking over to his door, wide open with the TV loud enough to be heard in the hallway, he began to close it but put a shoe in the doorway so it wouldn't close. He took her same position, just right outside his room. Kevin heard her muttering words and looked up to her. "What?"
"Huh?" Her head shot up. Nicole hadn't realized until that moment that he was still in the hallway. She heard him go at his door, and with hearing it closed she figured he went back inside.
"Oh. Just that the hallway seems pretty comfortable tonight." She let out a short and soft laugh then shook her head, "Just my luck."
Scooting across the hallway he came and sat next to her. "Nah. Truth be told I did this before." Kevin started laughing at himself.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she answered, "Yeah, you're just saying that."
He shrugged lightly with a small smile, "Actually it was the guys. They swapped keys on me and I had no idea." She began to smile and chuckle at the thought of him sitting out in the hallway all alone, like she had just before she knocked on his door. "What?"
"I bet it was Nick." He began to nod and chuckled. "That's kinda funny. At least it was a joke though. This isn’t. This is helpless." Something clicked in Kevin and his eyes widened. As he picked himself up off the floor and walked to his room, Nicole began to wonder. "What?"
"Hang on a minute." He walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver pushing the 0 button. She could faintly hear his voice, but couldn't understand the words. He came walking out a few minutes later, looking happy with himself. "Come on," he told her and he grabbed for her hands and helped her to her feet.
They began to walk down the hall; she was a step behind him when she inquired about the phone call. "What are we doing?"
"Just going to the front desk." She slowed her walking, still not understanding what they were doing and then came to a complete stop. He stopped, turning to her, and could see she was still confused. "They'll give you a key with your ID." She wrinkled her face in question, tilting her head forward. "Your ID."
"My ID? My ID is back there," she pointed down the hallway.
"Well, I'll be damned." She couldn't believe he was treating this like a game. Her shoulders drooped as she dropped her arms to her sides. "You are right."
"Yeah, for once I wish I wasn't." He turned and headed back to his room. She followed but quickly argued, "Why can't you get the key?"
"The guy said whatever name the room is under, that's whose ID they need. They actually asked for Jessica's but your name is listed too."
"Your name isn't listed?"
With a bit of attitude, "Now, why would we put our names down on a hotel list? Do you know how many of the people who were in the lobby today are fans alone? They could just call up, asking for our names and call our rooms."
Getting frustrated, she replied raising her hand to her face, brushing her hair out of the way, "Yeah, yeah I know." She spoke quietly but he could still tell she was frustrated in her tone. She looked at her watch and it was now 2:55. She sighed and looked around the hallway. "You guys are celebrities. Aren't you supposed to party all night and be trashing hotel rooms? You guys could at least be up."
He laughed at her remarks, "Are you sure no one else is up?" raising a hand towards the doors of the other rooms.
She wished they were, but she kind of liked the idea that he was her only hope. "Yeah, no lights."
"Come on," he said as he turned down the hallway. She remained in the same spot of the area, watching him walk away. He stopped, then turned back and looked at her. Nicole continued to stare at him. "Coming?"
She began walking, but questioned what he was doing, "The last time you said that, we only made it half way down the hall."
With a cock of his head, "Yeah?"
Staying in one place she asked, "Well, do I need my ID for this?" Nicole smirked at her remark as he began to smile.
"Last time I checked no one needed an ID to enter my room." He continued down the hallway and entered the doorway. Checking back to see if she were coming, which she wasn't, he looked at her.
She began to think, "He just invited me to his room." Once the thought connected to the side of her brain that dealt with common sense, she walked towards his room.