By the time the buses started pulling into the lot behind the Omni Corpus Christi Hotel, the three of us had well and truly had enough of one another. Lenny and Ellie had been bickering since the moment I'd woken up and there was no signs of it stopping.
They had argued over what movies we could or couldn't watch, Ellie couldn't stand the smell of Lennys feet after she'd kicked off her shoes, Lenny couldn't handle the sound of Ellie chewing, Ellie was threatening violence because Lenny kept making over exaggerated gagging noises every time she picked up a chip, and all the while, I had to be the mediator. It felt like I was back home in Myrtle Beach standing between Max and Simi while they threw punches at each other over my shoulders.
The only reprieve I seemed to get was when Ellie had to excuse herself to the front area for an hour to have a conference call with Morgans manager; Phil.
We were going to be staying in Corpus Christi for a whole four days before the first show was scheduled, so Ellie and Phil had booked us all rooms at a hotel. Ellie had a few radio interviews and a guest appearance on a country music podcast lined up for me, with an appointment for new in-ear monitors stacked in at some point too.
"Alrighty," Ellie exclaimed, suddenly less of a sibling vibe and more tour manager. "Emme, Phil just let me know there are a couple fans around outside the hotel... So when we pull up, Jimmy is going to be waiting for you and he'll take you straight inside where Phil and Morgan will be waiting for you. Do not stop to talk to anyone." She tapped her phone screen a few times before continuing. "Lenny will grab your duffle and Jimmy will come back for your bags." She stood up and headed towards the front area again, yelling over her shoulder; "Be ready in two!"
The bus came to a grounding halt a little while later and I had barely enough time to shrug my jacket back on and grab my phone before Ellie was all but shoving me towards the front door.
"Straight inside!" She reminded me as the door swung open.
As I suspected, Jimmy was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps. There were a few girls standing a couple of feet behind him but none of them had noticed the doors opening yet.
"Come with me sweetheart, Phil and Morgan are already inside." Jimmy helped me step down onto the concrete just before the girls behind him looked up and spotted me. They started to scream and rush forward, all of them shouting things at me that I couldn't quite make sense of. "Sorry girls, Emme has to get inside!" Jimmy yelled over them.
"Jimmy-" I started but was cut off.
"Don't talk, just walk," Jimmy muttered quietly into my ear. He wrapped his arm around me and basically frog-marched me across the lot to the hotel doors where Phil was waiting for me.
When we got to the door, Jimmy pushed me under his arm while Phil quickly ushered me inside. He put his hand on my back and gently guided me across the floor to the front desk where Morgan was already waiting for us.
"But what about Jim-"
"Jimmy's okay," Phil assured me. He pointed over his shoulder to where Jimmy was now standing with his arms crossed between the hotel doors and the growing throngs of girls outside trying to get in.
Morgan hummed beside me and leant back against the counter with his arms crossed. He looked at ease and I noticed he had changed his clothes since I'd seen him this morning. Before, he had been wearing a pair of shorts and a singlet with flip-flops, but now he had changed into a pair of white wash jeans, boots, a white t-shirt with a backwards cap pushed down over his mullet. I watched him watching the crowd, his lips twitching up at the sides.
"They here for you or me?" He chuckled, giving me a sidewards glance.
I looked from him to the crowd of girls and back again, taking my time before I answered. "I think they're here for you, baby."
Morgan hummed a laugh and casually shrugged his shoulder.
"Them girls out there just want a piece of this big ol' Tennessee boy," I laughed, wiggling my eyebrows at him suggestively.
Morgan let out a hearty laugh and over-exaggerated a shimmy. "Oh yeah, they do!"
While Phil ignored us and turned to speak with the woman manning the desk behind us, Morgan and I fell silent. We watching Jimmy as he continued turning girls away from the door and denying them entry, and we watched as Ellie and Lenny suddenly appeared. Ellie expertly manoeuvred herself around Jimmy and pushed her way through the door, while Jimmy stopped Lenny. She threw her hands up angrily, glaring back at him. Eventually she slapped at his shoulder and pushed passed him to follow Ellie inside.
Once she had stomped her way over to us and shoved my duffle into my arms, I dared to ask her. "What was that about?"
Lenny glared over her shoulder before looking back at me with a loud huff. "He was pretending I was one of them and wouldn't let me come inside." Ellie bopped her on the head while Morgan and I tried and failed to keep from laughing. "Hey! It's not funny! Those girls out there are savages!"
"Oh, he's just playin' with you, Len!"
"I don't care," she grumbled.
Finally, Phil had organised the rooms for our stay and Ellie was pushing a hotel key each into mine and Morgans hands.
"Alright, both of you have suites on the 17th floor, here are your keys..." She said quickly. "I didn't bother booking anything for dinner because it's so late, so if you're hungry just order room service." She handed both of us two pieces of paper, one was a menu and the other with a schedule on it. "I've booked breakfast for every day we're here, opens at 9AM." She looked out to where the buses were and then back at me. "Emme, Jimmy will bring you your bags once the craziness outside dies down."
"And me?" Morgan asked, scanning the schedule.
"I have no idea," Ellie told him, looking down at her phone. "You're not mine so you'll have to ask Phil." Morgan pouted at her so without looking up from her phone, she jokingly smacked his cheek a few times. "Sorry, baby."
Morgan put a hand to his heart and laughed. "Shot to the heart, Ellie."
"You'll live," she fired back.
Phil finished up his conversation with the woman behind the desk, thanking her for all of her help and taking the box of hotel room key cards when she passed them over to him. He didn't speak, instead he nodded at the elevators and motioned for the four of us to follow him.
Lenny linked her arm through mine and we followed behind Phil and Ellie towards the elevators with Morgan bringing up the rear.
Ellie pressed the call button and waited for the elevator doors to open before leaning in and pressing the button for the 17th floor, pulling me away from Lenny and pushing me inside. Phil nodded for Morgan to follow me inside.
"Morgan, I'll be up with your bags soon."
"Ditto," Ellie followed up. "But not for Morgan, for Emme."
"Wounding me again, Ellie," Morgan sighed, his hand over his heart again.
Ellie rolled her eyes and gave him the finger as the doors closed and she disappeared from sight.
I couldn't help but to laugh at them. I hadn't really noticed before, probably because I had only just met Morgan this morning, but Ellie and Morgan had some kind of a sibling type relationship going on. They reminded me of how I was with my brother. A relationship where we constantly bickered and bullied one another, but we loved each other more than anything.
Morgan was busy leaning against the wall and typing on his phone so I cleared my throat to catch his attention.
"You and Ellie have a really interesting relationship," I noted.
"Jealous?" He looked up with raised eyebrows.
"What?" I scoffed out a gasp before I could stop myself. "Morgan, no. I just mean that y'all act just like me and my brother act... And it's cute!"
"Jealous," he nodded.
"Morgan I am not jealous," I whacked at his chest with the back of my hand and then crossed my arms with a sniff. "It's just nice to see is all."
The elevator came to a stop on the 17th floor with a ding. We waited for the doors to open and Morgan motioned for me to step out before him and then followed me out. A true gentlemanly gesture.
"It's nice that you don't see Ellie as competition," He said to himself, though just loud enough for me to hear him. I glared at him and he gave me a smug smile in return. "It's nice."
"Morgan, I'm no-" I started. "Oh, never mind. You know you're a real jackass, right?" I wanted to make a stand and show him he wasn't annoying me by stalking ahead, but then I realised that I had no idea where I was going, so I stopped. Morgan watched me with interest. "I don't know where I'm going."
He laughed. "What's your room number?"
From what I could tell, the key-card I was holding wasn't numbered. I turned it over in my hand with my brows furrowed until finally Morgans finger came into view, pointing out the tiniest little number printed in the middle of the bottom. I didn't even have the energy to be embarrassed.
"Right. 17-E. Whats yours?"
He checked his own key-card.
"17-D." He spun on the spot and went back to the elevators to check the sign, then whistled at me and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to the hallway in the opposite direction. Of course we were going the wrong way. "This way."
He waited for me to come back to him and then placed his hand at the small of my back to walk down the hallway, while I checked each number on each door. Room 17-D was the first room we came to and I half expected him to say goodnight and disappear inside, so I was a little surprised when he dropped his bag down at the door and nodded for me to keep walking.
"Where are you going? Thats your room?"
He pursed his lips at me. "Emme, my mama raised me better than leaving a pretty girl to walk to her room by herself."
"Oh." Well, that felt nice.
My door couldn't have been more than a few meters down the hallway past his room, but true to his word, he walked me all the way up to it and even waited for me to scan my card and open the door.
He scruffed my hair and began to step backwards back towards his room.
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight, Morgan. Sleep well."
"Yes ma'am!" And he was gone.