Photo Made Using Bing AI
June 15th, 2022
1:10 AM
"Ally, Why are you doing this to me," Trish cried as Ally led everyone into the elevator. She had told everyone to get dressed in their worst outfits. They had raided all of the rooms on the 5th floor. She was wearing a janitor's uniform, Trish was in sweats, Dez was in a white t-shirt and jeans, and Austin was in a vintage peach jumper.
"EJ was nice enough to let us stay... we need to get started right now, and she him how thankful we are... if get some work done in 3 hours, then he will be impressed."
"But does it have to be this earl-" Dez complained.
"Guys... aren't you tired of this life? This is our chance... we only get so many in a lifetime. We love this building... if we are going to stay, then we will have to get EJ and Ricky to trust us," Ally snapped, and they all started listening to her. "Are you with me?"
"I'm in, Babe," Austin smiled, hugging her, then Dez and Trish hugged them.
"I'm sorry, Ally, I know... We need to prove ourselves," Trish said.
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2:32 AM
Ricky lay on the couch all night, trying to sleep, but he was so excited. He always wanted to own a hotel. Weirdly enough... he also had never had money before. The first thing Ricky would do with his money would be to buy the house he grew up in back from the bank. His father had fallen back on payments, so they were eviction two years ago.
'You two are cute together,'
The witch lady's words echoed in EJ's mind since they came out of her lips. What made her think that they were together was the curses that Austin and Ally were talking about. Did Alex make the words impact EJ more than Ricky? He looked over to see Ricky smiling at the ceiling with his eyes closed.
"Ricky?" he asked.
"EJ?" Ricky turned over to talk to him.
"Am I making a mistake? Ashlyn is right... we should flip the hotel and not keep it," EJ said.
"No, that's just nerves talking... we should keep it and bring it back to its glory days... I have thought we shouldn't modernize it... the big thing with hotels now is its alluring and odd vintage feel. Like the Hotel Cecil in LA... we should lean into it being haunted and make up stories for Ghost Chasers to come and stay." Ricky rambled, "We should ask Alex if we can have the vintage clothes, she got from the hotel... we can put them on mannequins like a display, and people will be transported back into the 50s.
"You can't sleep either?" EJ smiled, and Ricky giggled. "Come on, let's go to Walmart and get some cleaning supplies. All of the ones that the hotel has been expired," EJ said, and Ricky hopped up to go to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"I... don't have a change of clothes or a toothbrush," Ricky blushed because he made himself look stupid in front of EJ.
"That's alright. We can go by your house-"
"No... I don't want to go there," Ricky said, "My dad and I sort of fought last night..."
"Oh well... that's okay, here" EJ hopped out of bed and walked to the dresser pulling out the money Alex gave him.
"Oh god... I can't take that..." Ricky said after EJ split it in half and handed it to him.
"Hey, we are co-owners, I get half, and you get half," EJ said, and Ricky gaped at him. He doesn't know if he would have done the same if he was in EJ's position. Ricky held the money like it was glass. Everything was in 100-dollar bills, so he pulled out 500 dollars and put the rest in the drawer under EJ's.
"EJ... how much would a down payment on a house be?" Ricky asked as they locked up the room.
"How much is the house?"
"Last time I checked, it was 800 grand," Ricky sighed.
"Well... you probably don't want to spend the money all at once, but you could do 200 grand, which is a 20% down payment. If you wait until you have the full 800 grand, then you wouldn't have to pay the bank mortgage,"
"Oh... okay, I will make that choice. I don't like the bank..."
"What house are you planning on buying?" EJ asked.
"The house I grew up in... my dad messed up, and we were evicted."
"oh yeah... I'm sorry about that. That was when you sang 'The House that Built Me,' by Miranda Lambert," EJ said.
"You remember that? It was like two years ago,"
"Remember? You were amazing in that solo," EJ smiled, and Ricky's lips tugged up.
"Hey... we should start over," They said in unison and laughed nervously, "I would like that," They did it again, and they both blushed. They were interrupted when they walked out of the elevator and heard a buzzing sound sputtering from the lobby.
They opened the grand doors to see that all the furniture that four people could move was in the corners of the room, and big piles of dirt were in the middle. Dez was taking a video of Austin sweeping, Trish was at the concierge desk writing, and Ally was on the floor fixing the floor polisher. The ridable vacuum and mopper were right beside her. She propped herself up and turned off the polisher.
"Looking good, guys," EJ smiled, and they all stood up straight, startled. "I couldn't even get that to turn on earlier... I didn't say 4 o'clock."
"Oh yeah, sorry... we just couldn't sleep and wanted to go ahead and get started." Ally said, "I fixed the sweeper and mop, but I am having a little trouble with the polisher... I need a few parts from the store. I was going to grab some of my emergency money and go to the store when it opened.
"Excuse me. Mr. Caswell, Sir... Ricky, do you mind being on camera?" Dez whispered while filming them.
"My name is EJ," He raised his eyebrow. He didn't know the fear he had instilled in them. "Ricky and I are about to go to Walmart. You can tag along. If you are buying stuff for the Hotel Reno, then I will buy it,"
"Oh, Ally, can we use your emergency money for some of my conditioners? My hair is mad at me for using hotel soap from the 80s.
"Yeah... and I need to bleach my hair. It needs to learn its place... it's being unruly," Austin said, glaring at his bangs.
"And I need some more thread for my pajamas... I need to change my clothes. I would rather die than be caught in an outfit like this," Dez glared down at his shirt and jeans.
"Guys, if we use it, then it will have to be for food," Ally told them.
"I will be buying the food... if we are working, then we will have to have some fuel," Ricky said, and they smiled.
"Alright... give us one second," Ally said, and they ran upstairs to get ready quickly. EJ and Ricky sat on one of the chairs, dust flying everywhere. They both coughed and decided to stand when they saw one of the air vents open. A muscular man in expensive running shorts hopped down on the floor. He looked back to see Ricky and EJ looking at him with wide eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked in a friendlier way in a British accent than his wife.
"Are you the Greyback to Russo-Greyback?" EJ asked, standing in front of Ricky,"
"Um... yeah?"
"I am EJ, the new building owner," EJ said, and Mason widened his eyes. "I already talked to Alex, and you are welcome to stay if you pay rent or help clean this place up..."
"Oh... let me guess, Alex paid," he asked, and they nodded, "I will talk to her, we can help out... this place looks great!" he said.
"Is the way you came in easy to access... or is it a werewolf, I mean... muscular guy thing," Ricky gulped.
"I am the only one who knows how to escape from the vents... I do it to let Alex in and out of the hotel when the door is locked." He explained then Austin and his friends came in. "Hello," He smiled, and they waved back. "Cecilia is usually up this time of night. I will tell Alex we should help out,"
"Thank you. We will be back from the store soon." EJ said, "I will see if I can get spare keys made,"
The six walked out of the front door, and EJ locked it behind him; he noticed lights in the parking lot flash on and off.
"Hey, Eej," Ashlyn said, getting out of the car. Big Red was with her.
"Hey, Ash..."
"I'm sorry I was a little harsh... I was just surprised. Caswell's should stick together, right,"
"It's okay... but since you guys weren't on board this morning, your cuts will be smaller, and you will share,"
"That is fair..." Ashlyn sighed, and she hugged him. "Who is this-" Ashlyn looked at the new people, and then her eyes went wide as saucers. She looked at Ricky, and he nodded, telling her it was real. "Oh my gosh! I loved you guys so much! Ally, I sang 'Finally Me' my first solo in glee! It was my first-ever public performance!" She gleamed as they all headed to the SUV.
As Alex sat at the desk working on her spell book, Mason unlocked the door to find Cecilia in a bouncy chair. "Hey Baby, how was your run? Did you get any nasty squirrels?" She asked.
"Yes... and I just ran into the new owners, Alex... were you nice," Mason asked, and she rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Mason, I was the perfect tenant," She groaned.
"Baby, I love your powers, but you know how I feel when you spell money," She said, ignoring him. He walked over to her and tilted her face to look at him. "The new owners seem nice... we should at least help out if we are going to make this our forever home.
"If they want to evict us, then I will just make the building ours," She said, threatening to spell EJ and Ricky away if they were in trouble.
"Alex..."
"Fine, Mason... I will sweep up floor 12," She smiled with her wand twirling around to vacuum the floor.
"Alex, they seem nice. We need to help them... without magic," He said, and she scoffed at him, "Is this really what you want our daughter to learn... to fix everything with magic?" he asked, and she lulled her head back, annoyed.
"Fine..." She sighed and picked up their daughter, "You know... I will be a saint if you have to do anything with it," Alex booped Cecelia's nose, and Mason smiled, kissing both of them on the head. "Do better," She said, puckered out her lips, and they kissed.
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