Patient Twelve

Chapter Twenty-Eight

He got out of the car and hurried over to my side. I was already climbing out of the car when he grabbed my hand. He squeezed my hand as walked over to the lobby. I could see through the large windows that there was a young woman sitting behind a desk. She had a book open in her hands, and was chewing loudly on a piece of gum. Two little bells clanged together when Ben opened the door. The woman looked up, and closed her book.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey." Ben spread his lips into a charming smile. "We wanted a room for the night."

"Okay." She turned around and looked at the series of keys hanging from the corkboard behind her.

"Is room sixteen available?" Ben asked.

"Sorry, it's not," she said. "I'll give you room twenty. It will be eighty dollars for the night."

Ben let go of my hand. I curled my fingers into a ball to fight the temptation to rip off my glasses. If I pulled off my glasses Ben would kill this girl. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket. When he opened it, I saw a pile of green bills. Ben took out a few and handed them to the girl.

"Perfect," the girl said, putting the money into the register. "Can you just sign the register? The owner is pretty old school and stuck in his ways."

She turned a large book around to face us. Ben picked up a pen and signed the book. I squinted and tried to read what Ben wrote. I could not make it out through these thick black lenses, but I knew Ben was not dumb enough to write his real name.

"Come on, Courtney," Ben said as he picked the key up off of the desk. "Let's get our bags."

He pulled me out of the lobby before I could say anything. His calling me Courtney confirmed my suspicion that he was using fake names. We got our bags out of the trunk and walked up the metal staircase to our room. Ben unlocked the door and flipped on the lights.

The room was a collection of mismatched furniture. The bed had a large wooden frame and was covered with a red floral pattern. A green lamp sat on the nightstand. A small table sat in the corner with a chair on either side. The brown carpet had spots where it faded to grey. Ben dropped his duffel bag on the table.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Ben asked.

I nodded. Ben slipped the backpack off of my shoulders. He slid his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. I kept my hands up against his chest to keep some distance between us. He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my head so that his lips brushed against my cheek. His fingers curled into my waist.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"I want to go home," I said.

"I told you that we can't go visit your family," he said. "But we are going to start our own home together."

Ben leaned down again and pressed his lips against my cheek. He let his lips linger for a few extra seconds. My stomach flipped and I bit down on my lip.

"Are you good for a burger?" he asked.

I nodded, and Ben's grip eased up on me.

He held my hand and I stayed quiet as we walked away from the motel and down the street. We stopped at the first fast food place we came across. Ben ordered our food and paid with cash. As we were eating, I watched the sunset through the window. By the time we left it was dark outside. I was expecting Ben to start walking back to the motel, but he kept on walking down the street. I followed him as he walked into a gas station. Ben bought a handful of snacks and a map.

When we got back to the hotel room, Ben spread the map open across the small table. He searched through the backpack and grabbed a pen. He sat down on the chair and his eyes were glued to the map.