By The Beach ✔

Part 31. Just Perfect

She shrugged carelessly, "He left earlier with a bag. I don't know what he plans to do or anything, all I know is that I saw him leave," she told me before carrying on with her poodle down the hall.

I stood there in silence in front of his door. My heartfelt heavy as I stared down the hall where the woman had vanished with the dog. I gulped as I looked to the door.

Was it so bad that I didn't catch the signal? Was it bad enough to make him leave? I wonder when he left, what time exactly. Maybe the woman at check-in can help me figure it out. She seemed nice. Right?

As I walked down the hall to the elevator, I realized I would be going down to the lobby without shoes and in pajamas. Who cares though, this was about something I had wanted to forget about.

It was about ... romance.

Feeling weird about that, I stepped on the elevator and pressed the first-floor button. It shot down going past each floor like it knew my heart depended on it getting me there as fast as possible. The elevator dinged, and I stepped out, taking a jog down the hallway.

I reached the check-in desk and saw a brown-haired woman wearing glasses and a low-cut shirt; she was eyeing a blond-haired guy by the snack machine that made me roll my eyes, reminding me how Dinah had looked at the wannabe cowboy at the bar.

I walked up to the desk and smiled, "Hi there. I am looking for a Sawyer Montgomery, is he still in this hotel?" I asked politely. She looked at me and popped her bubblegum with a raised eyebrow.

"How should I know?"

I blinked at her and looked towards the computer, "Please? I need to know if he checked out or not" I told her as I wrung my hands together.

She rolled her eyes, "Let me put this a different way. Why should I care?" She then looked at the computer with disinterest.

I looked off to the side, trying to calm myself from reaching over the desk and grabbing her by the hair on her head. Why was there always a wonderful worker and the one you wanted to strangle? I sighed and tried again with a polite smile.

"Ma'am. I need to know if he is still in the system, I kind of-" the woman cut me off by letting out a loud sigh and turning towards me with a look of disdain.

"Look. I told you, I am not telling you if someone is in our hotel. Honey, if he left it was probably because you weren't good enough in bed the first time," she snapped at me.

I looked at her wide-eyed. As she smirked and started to turn around away from me, I lunged forward and grabbed her by the low-cut shirt she was wearing giving everyone a glimpse at her tan bra and the puppies that were about to fall out.

"No, you look. He is the sweetest and most nice guy I have ever met that wasn't a conceded douche. We both didn't get the other's signals right. And for your information, bitch, he liked me in his bed, can your pimp say the same?" I shouted at her, I could see the shocked faces of the people in the checkout area.

Rats. I looked around and saw Zeke leaning on the wall beside the cafe door, looking like he was trying not to bust out laughing. I let the woman go and put a hand to my head with a sad sigh.

"Thanks for your non-help" I mumbled as I walked towards Zeke. He held open the cafe door with a grin.

I approached him and walked through the door "Shut up" I told him as I collapsed in an empty booth, I noticed the lights were dim and nobody was around. Zeke walked to the counter and flipped a light on.

"You're lucky I wanted a late-night snack. It pays to have a dad who owns a hotel" he said as he fixed two cups of coffee. He walked towards the table and sat them down, he looked at me with his hands on his hips.

"Now, what's wrong with you?"

I sighed as I looked at the coffee, "Nothing. Maybe this vacation should be one of those romantic novels you and Dinah love," I told him, reaching for the cup of coffee.

Zeke's eyes searched my face, "It already looks like one. Why were you trying to murder one of my father's workers?" He questioned me, I gave him a look of annoyance as I sipped my coffee and sat it down on the table with a shrug.

"Sawyer left. The woman in the room a couple of doors over from his told me so," I said, Zeke gave a confused look as he stirred sugar into his coffee.

"Why do you think he left?"

"Why else? Our signals got miscommunicated or something last night before I found y'all at the bar. I didn't want to leave, but I knew that this was the actual world, there is no way we can be together when he wants to be in a band, I am happy for him though, and me going to college. There is no time in between for an interminable distance relationship. Plus, his ex-girlfriend knows he is getting a record deal which means she will want him back," I ranted which resulted in me taking a long drink of coffee.

Zeke looked amused.

He raised and pointed his finger down at the table, "Let me get this straight. You didn't want to leave, and he didn't want you to go. Your scared that Gia will automatically get him back and also of a long-distance relationship?" He raised an eyebrow and shook his head as he poked his finger into the table twice "Lily. He doesn't want her back. All he has talked about is you, it is driving Doug insane. Since he has been with you he hasn't drunk as much as he did, thank God! The dude was worrying me to death!" Zeke said, running a hand through his hair.

I frowned, "He talked about me?"

Zeke grinned in reply. "Yes. A lot, so much that Doug was half tempted to duct tape his mouth so he couldn't. As far as the long-distance relationship, that shouldn't be hard to figure out," he said, sighing as he picked up his cup he looked up at me "I shouldn't be having to explain this to you."

"How isn't it hard to figure out? What do I do? Quit college?" I questioned, putting my hand to my head in frustration.

Zeke cocked his head to the side, "You know that there are college sites online that you can go through, right? If you don't want to go back to college because of your ex, this would also be a suitable option," he said, drinking his coffee.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Online classes. I didn't think about that," I mumbled, making him look to knowing. I gave him a suspicious look "But even so, how are we to see each other if I'm at home in Alabama and he is... far off?"

Zeke looked up from his coffee "You can either stay down here with me and talk about it or go up and talk to him about it," he said, making me frown he sighed "He didn't leave the hotel for good. He went to talk to Art about the band." Zeke rolled his eyes.

That was when I realized that when the woman said left the hotel, she didn't mean checked out of the hotel.

I blinked, "Huh?" I said.

He smirked, "Art, and he was practicing before Art left. The bag he had was a guitar," he told me, he nodded his head to the door "Go get your man, girl."

I laughed at him and stood up before leaving I turned around "So, how would your romance books usually end?" I questioned him with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged, "I don't know. You guys are too damn weird for any book," he said, finishing his coffee, he stood up and winked "But I hope that Dinah and I get a happily ever after!"

I shook my head at him as I went out the door and back up to Sawyer's door to see what we would say to each other.