The Catalyst (GirlXGirl)

Chp. 37 "Phase 1"

I looked at him through the rearview mirror, wondering why he was worrying about that, of all things. The trip was the least of our concerns, it was avoiding coming into contact with an infected person that was carrying the BD3. If any of them caught it... I honestly wouldn't know what to do.

Thinking about losing even one of them would devastate me, and I knew they were at risk of contracting the disease. The BD3 was getting really bad up north, and we were heading right into that direction.

~ ~ ~ ~

"I'm starving."

"Max, you're always 'starving'," Gage retorted, glancing at the GPS and seeing how much longer we had to go. "Not much farther, just a couple more miles to go."

I leaned back in my chair, I was restless. We had been in this car since 12:00 and it was now almost 6:00. I was never the one for long car rides either, and sleep refused to relieve me the entire way.

Gage turned off of the highway and I saw a sign that read, "Welcome to Columbia, South Carolina!" and instantly felt relieved that we were almost there. Avery was still sleeping but soon I would wake her up, knowing we would have to unload and get ready for our meeting.

I saw the tall buildings that were lit up in the distance, it looked quite magnificent. The sun was starting to set but it was still day light, and I wondered where our hotel would be.

We continued making our way to the hotel and finally I saw it come into view. I had never been so excited to see a hotel but let me tell you, I was ready to be out of this car.

Gage pulled into a parking spot and I nudged Avery awake, smiling lightly as her eyes took me in. She stretched her arms and legs, "Are we here already?"

I nodded, "Yes."

She smiled at me and then let herself out of the car, following the rest of us to the back of the Tahoe to retrieve our travel bags. We followed Gage into the hotel that was actually pretty nice. They had a lounge room and what looked to be a bar, two sets of elevators and a coffee shop.

Gage spoke, "I have two room reservations under Gage Davidson."

The petite woman typed away on her computer, her tiny framed glasses sitting on the edge of her nose. She was older, maybe in her early 50s, and then she handed us our room keys, "There you go Mr. Davidson."

He turned to us and handed me our room key and we walked to the elevator. Our rooms were on the third floor, which wasn't too bad, and we waited inside the elevator patiently. Max spoke, "Is anyone else semi-nervous about this meeting?"

Gage responded, "I think we're all a little nervous about this meeting, Max."

The doors opened, allowing us to walk out of the elevator and down the narrow hallway of the hotel. We soon found our rooms that were adjacent with each other and Gage spoke, "You're gonna come get us right?"

I nodded, "Yea, just kind of freshen up, he's going to call us once he's made it."

The two boys nodded and made their way into their room and disappeared. I slid the key in and waited for the little red light to turn green, and then pushed the door open eagerly. The bed was white and fluffy, just like every other hotel seemed to have. I dropped my bag on the ground and turned to Avery, who was all too eager to try out our bed for the night.

Soon her plush, pink lips sealed mine, which tasted of fresh mint gum. My butt came into contact with the bed first, and then Avery continued to push me down onto the white bed spread. She climbed on top of me, wedging her legs underneath mine as her kisses trailed along my jaw.