Chapter 65
“When he said afternoon, he wasn’t kidding!”
Gen lay sprawled out on the bed at the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, listening to a voice message left for them before they even arrived. John was in the shower trying to make up for his lost morning. Like Gen, he thought when he’d been told they arrived in the afternoon that it meant somewhere around four o’clock. Much to his surprise, when he woke up ungodly early this morning and offhandedly glanced at their itinerary, he found that afternoon actually meant that they arrived at 12:05 p.m….central time, no less! That left them with little more than an hour until their flight departed. In their haste, showers were omitted, clothes went unironed, makeup was uncustomarily done without. But now that they found themselves in The Big Easy, they had more time than they knew what to do with.
Amazingly, with her hours of internet research on the New Orleans flight topic, Stace seemed to be aware of their early flight even before they were. She’d phoned the hotel first thing this morning to leave a message for the inadvertent early morning travelers. At her request, Gennie returned her call.
“Hey, Stace! What’s up?”
An audible sigh could be heard on the other end. “I gotta say, it’s not looking too good.”
“What?” Gen bellowed. “What now?”
“Don’t get mad, Ok?” Stacey began sheepishly. She listened patiently for Gen’s tell tale groan. “See, I have my ticket switched over and everything…”
“Then I don’t see what the problem is.”
“Well, the problem is, that try as I might, I can’t seem to be able to get a room at that stinkin’ hotel. I searched the internet and it turned up booked up. Then Josh suggested we go through his travel agent at work,” she let loose an exasperated sigh. “Lots of times that woman can pull strings you didn’t know existed. But by five o’clock yesterday she still couldn’t turn up anything.”
“But…” Gen tried to interrupt.
“Then she suggested I call the hotel myself and check on cancellations… I tried last night… and I tried again this morning. No luck. Now I don’t know what to do.”
“But Stace, I’m tryin’ to tell ya….”
“I know things always get screwed up for us. It just sucks that it had to be on New Years, y’know,” she pondered glumly.
“It’s fine. As long as you can get here, you’re fine. Stace, you can stay in our room.”
“Ha!” Stacey laughed. “I somehow don’t think that would meet with resounding approval. I say we plan a trip down there, just the two of us… maybe over Mardi Gras?”
“No, I’m telling ya, Stace, you can stay here. We’ve got a suite. It’ll be fine. The couch has a hide-a-bed. It’s Ok… really!”
“That just isn’t fair… not to John. He wouldn’t appreciate it.”
“Arrgh!” Gen grunted through her clenched teeth. Sometimes Stace could be too much like her mother. She knew she was dying to say yes to the proposal; she just wished she’d go ahead and do it! As she tried to think of the perfect thing to say to convince her, John stepped out of the steamy bathroom. “Here.” She handed him the phone. “You tell her she can stay with us. I’m gonna take a shower.” And with that, she disappeared into the bathroom.
Bewildered, John took the receiver. “Hello?”
“John?” Stace asked curiously.
“Yeah. Is this Stacey?” he inquired as he stretched out on the bed, clad only in a towel.
“Yeah. Where’d she go?”
“She went to take a shower. I’m supposed to tell you to stay with us?” He was truly clueless at the moment.
“Very nice. But I know it would be a pain in the ass.”
“What? Why?” What he really meant was ‘why should you stay with us?’ rather than ‘why would it be a pain in the ass?’.
“Oh c’mon. I know you don’t want your girlfriend’s best friend crashing your New Year’s… um… celebrations.”
“What? You mean tomorrow night? You can stay here if you want to. Doesn’t bother me.”
Stacey shook her head as if the phone could communicate body language. “Thanks, but it’s kinda uncomfortable, you know. I’ve known her a long time… I know she kinda has a… well… a ‘tradition’ on New Year’s, if ya know what I mean.”
His enthusiastic grin and eager chuckle said this was news to him. “Really? Cool!”
“Yeah.”
“Well, um, you want me to get you a room here? It’s no problem.”
“Thanks but no can do. They’re booked. That’s why she’s offering your room.”
“Ooohhhh!” It all made sense now. “Well shit, Stace, you can stay here. I really don’t care. I mean, where else ya gonna go, y’know?”
“I’m thinking we’ll come back some other time and show New Orleans how to have a good time.”
“Don’t be stupid. Just sleep here. I honestly don’t care. Sleep on the couch, on the floor, in the tub… doesn’t matter to me!”
“Just not in the bed,” she giggled.
“Well, I may be a gentleman, but…” he laughed. “You’ve got me curious about this tradition now. Does it involve any...”
“You’ll have to ask her,” she laughed, abruptly cutting him off.
“I will! And… we’re cool with you stayin’ here, right?”
“If you don’t care, then it’s fine with me.”
“Cool,” he smiled. “So you get in when?”
“Tomorrow around five.”
“Ok… well, catch a cab over here, and we’ll head out after that sometime. Um, I’ll make sure there’s a key for you at check in.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Listen, I’ve gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow.” He replaced the receiver and went in search of Gen, whom he found wrapping herself in a plush white bathrobe, hair still dripping wet. “So what’s this I hear about a New Year’s tradition?”
“Huh?” she asked as she dragged a comb through her damp locks.
“Stace said you have a tradition. Is there something I should know about?” he smiled mischievously.
“What? That we have way too much to drink every year?” She gave him a crooked smile. “Cause, I don’t think that really qualifies as a tradition. I mean, everybody does it, y’know.”
“No,” he shook his head. “Something that you, specifically, do. She implied that it might embarrass her…”
She shook her head. “You mean the sparkly clothes? Or maybe the silly hats? She loves that shit as much as I do,” she shrugged with a roll of her eyes. She cocked her head to the side, deep in thought and was hit by a sudden burst of inspiration. “You know, it’s been a really long time since we’ve done the silly hats. I think I’m gonna try to find us some today.”
He sighed. “No, I don’t think that’s it. It sounded much more interesting than that... and I think it involved me.”
“Hmm… no idea.”
“Really?” he asked a bit disappointedly.
“Well… there is this theory we have… I wouldn’t say it’s a tradition, exactly. No more mine than hers though. It certainly hasn’t been lately. Not for me anyway.”
He nodded, licking his lips. “Yeah…. And?”
“Well, we have this theory that if you’re gonna have a good year, you gotta start it out right, y’know… with, like, a good, all-American, mind blowing, screamin’ and leavin’ ya breathless and sweaty… well… fuck, actually.”
“Oh!” he grinned slyly. He had to admit this turned him on.
She went about her grooming ritual while she talked about this in such a blasé manner that it was like she was discussing doing the dishes. “If you consider my track record for the last year… no, two… then Stace should be the one with the great life.”
“Is she?”
She smiled in that way she had that he found so charming. “You know, I don’t really think so. I think my life is pretty good.” Sighing, she put down the comb. “So what’s for lunch? Let’s go to the French Quarter. Maybe I’ll find a silly hat.”
“If that’s what you want,” he shrugged. “But tell me, how silly are these hats gonna be anyway?”
A flirty giggle erupted from her. “You’re just gonna have to wait and see!”
It was true. He would have to wait and see because she was so unpredictable that he never knew what to expect from her. That’s what made them such a great pair he thought. She always kept him wondering- she would do or say anything. Nothing she did would surprise him. It made his life more interesting. Among other things, it was her vibrant, fun loving nature that had drawn him to her in the first place. He vowed to himself that her next year would be the best one ever… if there were anything he could do about it!