We all get into the room, and Nico sighs dramatically. "I'm 'bout to get to know the Thompson's better than I ever cared to!"
When Kenna clears her throat, Nico smiles at her. "And Kenna...."
I look around the small room, and wonder how this will ever work. Seriously, this is going to be awkward and long..
Nico sets his bags down on the sofa and claps his hands together. "This is mine, and ain't nobody gonna try'n steal it from me.....I'm gonna go stretch my legs for a bit!"
He winks at Holden and leaves, and Holden blows out a breath. "Okay...I guess Tate you're with me in this bed..You girls are there....." he says as he points to the bed closest to the door.
"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you," Tate groans as he slumps down on Nico's "bed".
"Tate, there isn't a choice, dude.... I promise I won't play footsie with ya...." Holden says with a smirk.
Tate rolls his eyes as he get on his phone and ignores us for the next hour.
Nico comes back a while later and brings pizza and soda.
"I knew you were my best friend for a reason," Holden teases as he takes the pizza boxes out of Nico's hands and sets them on a little table.
"Pshhhh......" Nico grins as he hands out drinks, and sits on the couch as he grabs a slice.
"So word on the street is we might have a wee situation," he mumbles around a mouthful of cheese.
"Oh yeah?" Holden groans as he sits on the bed and eats his slice.
"It's movin' off course a bit......"
"Moving off course which way?" Holden asks with an edge to his voice that I don't understand.
"Our way"
Holden closes his eyes and sets the plate of pizza on the bed. "Are you alluding to the fact that I might have just moved these kids into danger, and not away from it?!?!"
When Nico simply nods, Holden curses loudly as he leaves the room slams the door. When the silence around us settles, Nico clears his throat.
"You two don't know how much my boy loves ya. He's the one that wanted to leave to keep you safe...He's feelin' guilty for leavin' his girlfriend and Quinn behind....I hope you know how much you mean to him."
"If he was the one that wanted to leave, why did you?" Tate asks after a moment.
Nico looks Tate dead in the eyes, and for the first time has the most serious expression I've ever seen from him. "'Cause he's my boy, and I'll have his back till the day I die....."
~*~
Holden comes back an hour later and looks sick to his stomach. "You're right, it's turning. That mom next door caught wind and already left to try to go further inland. You can have the room back," he says as he hands Nico the key to the room next door.
"You wanna stay here?" Nico asks quietly.
Holden shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know what the hell to do. The hurricane was supposed to be about to our town by now, and it's not...It's heading for us. If we would have stayed they would've been safe....."
"How much time do we have? Can we get out?" Nico asks.
Holden shakes his head. "Look out the window, dude....."
Nico gets up and moves back the curtain, and curses loudly. When we look out, we see bumper to bumper lights and can hear honking.
"That mom never should've left with those kids...she's not getting out in time."
"When will it be here?" Nico asks as he continues looking out the window.
"Tomorrow morning. It's moving so damn fast."
Nico nods as he blows out a breath and takes the key from Holden. "Let's go to the cars and grab the extra food we brought just'n case...Maybe it'll shift even more by tomorra."
"Maybe......."
~*~
I wake up, and it's still dark outside. I'm not sure what startled me, but suddenly I'm sitting up in bed with my heart thumping out of my chest.
"You okay?" I hear Holden whisper, and I scan the dark room until I see him sitting in a desk chair and looking out the window.
I get out of bed, being careful not to wake Kenna, and walk over to him. His hair is a mess and it doesn't look like he's slept at all, but the white undershirt he's wearing is wrinkled like all he did in bed was toss and turn.
"What's wrong?" I whisper, and he simply shrugs
"Wind is picking up and it's starting to rain."
I see cars still lined up on the freeway down the road. "People are still trying to leave?"
He looks away from the window and simply nods. "Yeah...."
"Is it headed right for us?"
He clears his throat and shrugs. "It's probably going to hit us directly, but it's been downgraded to a category 2. We should be okay as long as the storm surge stays decent..."
"What's a storm surge?"
"How high the water will get above sea level."
"And how high will it get?" I ask as I lean my body against the wall and continue watching the rain hitting the glass.
"Six feet"
"Is that bad?"
He sighs as he grabs my hand and pulls me until I'm sitting on his lap, a position I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with. He runs his fingers through my hair and kisses my head.
"We'll be fine, Annie. I promise I'll keep you guys safe, okay?"
"Holden?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to sit on your lap."
His body goes rigid and he lets go of me immediately. "I'm so sorry...I wasn't thinking..I....."
I get off his lap and he stands up quickly, making the desk chair roll a little. He stares out the window for a long, awkward moment before he turns back to me with an embarrassed half-smile. "I still think of you as my little pal who cuddled with me constantly. I won't do that again, Julianne. Not unless you give me the okay. You're safe with me, I promise."
~*~
As the morning goes on, the wind gets louder and the rain gets harder. Nico and Holden are playing poker on the bed and after Nico throws down his cards, we all look at him.
"Why you playin' me, T?"
"Huh?"
"I've seen ya play at Millie's....You ain't good and your poker face is shit. How the hell did you have a full house? Where ya keepin' your stash of cards?"
Holden laughs as he dramatically stands up and pats his pants and shakes out his t shirt. "The hurricane must be throwing you off and giving me an advantage. Hand over the goldfish crackers!"
"I don't wanna! I was plannin' on throwin' out those fishies and watchin' 'em swim in the ocean when she starts clearin' her throat!"
"Then you shouldn't have raised the stakes. I was perfectly happy to keep betting with the twizzlers!"
Nico pouts as he crosses his arms and sticks out his lower lip. "If I woulda known ya came to play, I woulda kept it with the damn twizzlers. I didn't know you'd take my fish!"
"Pay up, loser!"
Nico scootches the bag of goldfish over to Holden, and Holden dramatically opens the little bag and takes a fist full of crackers, shoving them in his mouth and waggling his eyebrows.
"I don't know why you's gotta do 'em dirty like that," Nico watches in horror as his fish get crunched into millions of yellow pieces in Holden's mouth.
I ignore the two grown men acting insane and look back out the window, the trees starting to bend and the wind starting to screech.
"Holden, can we go outside and watch?" I ask.
Nico and Holden immediately stop laughing and look at me in horror. "No, Julianne," Holden says as he gets off the bed and walks over to me.
"Debris is already starting to fly, and that could kill someone..The eye hasn't even made landfall yet. Eventually we're probably going to have to go into the hurricane area the hotel has...It's kinda like a safe area....Nobody is going outside until the storm is completely over and I give the okay. Understand?"
He looks between me, Tate, and Kenna, and his eyes linger on Tate. "Why are you staring at me? I'm not the one who asked such a stupid question!" Tate snaps as he holds his hands up in defense.
"Probably because you're the only one I've ever met who can do ten stupid things in thirty seconds," Kenna answers, and Holden gives her a look.
"Kenna, you two need to try to get along. We're gonna be together for a while. Have you called your mom lately?"
"No," she shakes her head.
"Okay, go do it now. Jules, did you understand me?" He asks as he turns his attention back to me.
At my nod, he gives me a small smile and looks out the window.
"When is the eye making landfall?" He asks without turning around.
"Last I checked, it's comin' to see us and 4pm." Nico says as he sticks a twizzler in his mouth and chews loudly.
Holden looks at his watch and nods. "Let's play Monopoly, guys."
~*~
We play for about an hour when I've finally had enough. Tate and Kenna keep bickering about who buys what piece of property, and Holden and Nico won't stop goofing off. I feel like I'm rooming with three teenage boys!
"Can I walk around the hotel?" I ask in the middle of the game, and Holden looks at me for a minute.
"Want me to come with you?"
"No, I just need....I just want to go alone"
Holden watches my face before he looks at his watch, and then outside. He nods, and looks back at me. "The eye is supposed to reach landfall in half an hour or so...I want you back here in fifteen minutes or I'm coming to find you. Alright?"
"Okay," I smile as I get up from the little table and grab a room key, walking out into the hall and breathing in a big breath.
Being with all of those people for so long is becoming suffocating.
I walk around and see a lot of people hanging out in the lobby and watching storm coverage. I walk by the pool, wishing I would've thought to bring my suit. That would've been a nice distraction.
I lose track of time as I search this hotel, when something catches my attention.
People are walking toward the door!
I look outside and see that it's gotten completely calm. Is the sky blue right now? The rain has stopped and the wind has died down.
Holy cow the hurricane is over! I can't believe everyone made such a fuss about such a wimpy storm.
I walk to the doors and see several people taking selfies with thumbs up signs. They're all adults! If they're outside it's probably safe!
I follow them out and walk around for a few minutes in the cool air, enjoying the stillness. There are fallen tree branches and some damage to siding on another hotel next door, but the smell of the ocean is intense, and...OMG, does that man have a Conch shell? OMG!!!! Those are hard to find and this one is HUGE! Ahhhh! I LOVE hurricanes!!!
He sees me staring and grins as he walks over to me. "The beach has a ton of cool shells right now. Here, I grabbed several," he says as he hands it to me. "Thank you!" I gasp, and he nods as he runs quickly back toward the beach with a bag full of shells.
If this washed to shore and reached the beach, I can't IMAGINE what else is there. I need to hurry and get them before other people do!!!
As I start walking toward the bridge that leads me to the beach, I'm getting excited.
Maybe I'll even find a Conus Gloriamaris