Life As I Know It (Completed)

Chapter Nineteen - Stuck in a Lift

          We were sharing a suite. I couldn't believe our luck. Were Mum and Jack so preoccupied with themselves, that they didn't realise that they were letting two hormonal teenagers share a living space for the next week? Granted, we had our own rooms, but there was a combined living area and we would be by ourselves seeing as Mum and Jack's suite was on a separate floor.

          When the lift stopped at Mum and Jack's floor and they moved to step out, I think it kind of hit Mum that she was leaving me with Drew. Alone. Without any parental supervision. Okay, she had done that before, but it wasn't in a hotel room.

          "You will be okay by yourselves, won't you?" she asked, worriedly. "Maybe we should have tried another hotel and got us all on the same floor." She bit her lip. In separate rooms, was the hidden meaning behind her words. When we'd arrived, we'd found out that there were only two possible places to book for the night; a room and a suite. Mum and Jack had taken the room, and Drew and I took the suite, which had two bedrooms. The woman working the reception area had given Jack a really good deal too, and so he'd ended up booking the rooms for the whole week.

          "It's okay. We're just going to sleep now and we'll meet you for breakfast in the morning." I tried to placate her.

          "I'll call down and arrange a morning call for you guys," Mum suggested.

          "Ah. No. That's okay," I said, panicking a little. Mum was usually up at some ungodly hour and for me to actually enjoy this holiday, I would need sufficient sleep. "I'll just set up an alarm on my phone for say, twelve?" I bit my lip, hopefully.

          "Ten o'clock," she chastised. "No later than that. We're on holiday. You don't want to spend all day sleeping in bed do you?"

          "Of course she doesn't." Drew smiled angelically at Mum. Suck up.

          "Okay." She still looked reluctant to leave though. I think the most prominent reason for her reluctance was the man beside her who had been in a brooding silence for the past hour as we drove here. It was strange, but Jack was one of the most jovial people I knew and he had been really sullen after he and Mum had returned to the cabin on the ferry. I'd probably try and get Mum alone at some point to ask if everything was okay.

          Once the door of the lift closed after they left, I leaned in to Drew and relaxed as his arm came around me. "I'm not all that tired," I told him. I mean, we'd just arrived in Paris; there was no way I'd be able to sleep right now. I was surprised Mum had bought my lie earlier on. "Do you want to do something?" I asked.

          "Midnight swim?" he suggested.

          My eyes lit up at that prospect. Apparently there was a pool on the roof of the hotel. I really wanted to go check it out. I nodded enthusiastically, as we got off on our floor and found our suite number.

          Wow.

          Jack had outdone himself. The place was gorgeous. There were two sofas across from one another and an armchair. The flat screen mounted on the wall was huge and the decor was really grand. There were three other doors excluding the one that led to the outside hallway. I threw my purse on a sofa and sighed when it bounced off of it and landed on the floor.

          I ignored Drew's chuckles and opened the door closest to me, curiously. Inside was a bathroom. I shut that door and went to the next one. It was quite a normal room compared to the joined living area, but the long chiffon curtains that trailed all the way down to the floor were blowing slightly in the breeze, leading to a balcony. This would be my room, I decided, not even looking at the next one. The balcony had sealed the deal. Well that, and the fact that the staff had already left my suitcase in this room.