Rolling with Dice

Chapter 2

I took the elevator up to the eighth floor, and pushed the luggage cart down the hallway. It had a balcony on the left side of it which gave a pleasant view of all the floors below and the chandelier of the main lobby. While pushing my cart down the hall, I came across the girl of my dreams: Tawny Mavis.

She's this really cute girl I go to school with, who also works as a maid at the hotel. She has red streaks in her curly honey blonde hair, and wore matching red mascara that brought out her sparkling hazelnut eyes. She's the captain of our high-school's cheerleading squad and has the lead role of Juliet in our school's production of Romeo and Juliet. She broke up with her boyfriend Sean exactly a month ago. I've been counting down the days ever since I heard the news of their split.

I needed at least one month clearance for her to get back on her feet after the break-up to make sure she'd be well enough to start a relationship with me without thinking too much about Sean. Today was officially the end of the month, which meant that if I was ever going to ask Tawny out, it was now or never. I swerved my cart around in her direction.

Be cool, Milo. Be cool.

"Hey, Tawny," I said in a confident tone.

At least I hoped it sounded confident.

Tawny looked up from her trolley of bathroom appliances to face me. Her hazelnut eyes confused.

"Oh hey ...Mark?"

"It's Milo, actually," I lightly corrected.

Ok, Milo, you got her attention, ask her now! Ask now before you wimp out!

"So..." I started nervously scratching the back of my neck, "I was wondering ... because you know we've known each other for a while now...we've even been in the same class since kindergarten so ..."

Quit babbling you idiot! Say it already!

"Tawny, will you go out with me?" I blurted.

Tawny sucked both her lips inside her mouth. I counted ten whole seconds before she breathed them out and said awkwardly, "Um, Milo – I'm les."

"What?"

"Lesbian."

It took all the will in my body to keep my jaw from hitting the floor in shock.

"O-Oh ..." I stammered unsure of what to say.

"Yeah..." Tawny trailed off, "and I'm kind of with somebody too ..."

"Oh, lucky guy."

"Girl."

"Right," I said, staring at the floor. "Well Tawny I'm – I guess I'll ... I'm just gonna – bye."

I turned my cart away from her as fast as I could and pushed it down the hallway without daring a backward glance.

That did not just happen. That did not just happen. That did not just happen. That did not just happen!

Suddenly a hand grabbed me hard from behind and spun me around. I was staring right into the dark eyes of a burly man wearing a thick black bandana covering his nose and mouth. The man took a gun out of his pocket and put its nozzle on my heart which was already beating a mile a minute in terror.

"Mroo, mroo mrave, Mr. Mrores mrags?" he demanded.

I blinked at him incomprehensibly.

"W-What?" I stuttered.

"Mroo, mroo mrave, Mr. Mrores mrags?" he repeated with much more emphasis.

"Come again?"

The robber furiously tore off his bandana from his mouth.