When I got home I talked to my mom about going to Albany and after a little bit of convincing I got her to agree. After I thought about it I realized that going away for a few days might be a good break from school and the lab. The thought of having an entire hotel room to myself makes me so excited for tomorrow. I pulled a bag out from the back of my closet and started shoving a bunch of my clothes in. As I was rummaging through my closet I came across a dress I bought a year ago for an event I never went to. It was a knee length form fitting red dress, I fell in love with it on the mannequin and when I tried it on I loved it even more. I never had anywhere I could wear it, may as well impress a bunch of scientists.
I woke up to my phone ringing, I brought it up to my ear and waited for the other person to talk.
“Raelyn? Are you coming or not?” I launched out of bed, oh shit my alarm didn’t go off.
“Uh… ya, are you at my place?” I asked him as I jumped to pull on my jeans that I layed out the night before.
“Yes” I listened to his response as I tried to pull on my LAB TECH shirt. Once I got it on and looked into the mirror my face dropped. Apparently it was put through the dryer and now my oversized comfy tee is completely form fitting and slightly cropped. I looked around my room to see if I could find anything else that was clean and came up empty handed. I was already late so I screamed into the phone.
“I'm coming.. Give me 2 minutes” I hung up the phone and threw it into my back pocket.
I grabbed my bag and tossed it over my shoulder, I stumbled down the stairs and yelled a goodbye at my mom and brother who were sitting in the kitchen. I ran out the front door while trying to comb through my bedhead, I ignored the fact that I left a brunette train of hair behind me as I made my way to Huxleys car.
I spent the majority of last night talking myself out of agreeing to go with him to Albany but I inevitably realized that there will be an entire banquet center filled with scientists who may have access to what I have been looking for. I haven't heard anything back from Carther or Brooks so I fear I may have to cut my losses and look elsewhere. I cautiously open the passenger door of Huxley's truck and climb into the seat that I am getting way too familiar with.
“Hi’ he says, not turning to look at me
“Good Morning Huxley” I respond slightly passive aggressively
Liam huffs as he turns to look at me and says “i thought-”
His voice died in his throat as he looked me up and down, I immediately felt self conscious and wished I had a sweater to cover up. Instead I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at my feet.
“Wow uh I didn’t know they made LAB TECH shirts like that” I took a deep breath in and prepared to look at him, when I did his eyes met mine right away and I saw him clench his jaw.
“Ya well I didn’t know that they were air dry only” I finally said while rolling my eyes
Liam cleared his throat and moved the car into drive. Our car ride to Albany was much more un-eventful than our border trip, it was mostly silent and I just accepted that. For some reason that is starting to be normal for me and Huxley.
The banquet did not start for another couple of hours so Huxley and I decided that we were going to check into the hotel in order for me to shower and change out of the shrunken top. We walked up to the front desk of an incredibly beautiful and expensive looking hotel. Who knew it paid off to work for a huge ass company. Huxley spoke up beside me
“Hey, we are checking into the two rooms set aside for LAB TECH” as he actually smiled at the concierge
“Sure i'll pull that right up for you” she said smiling back, i was trying to tamp down the slight twist in my stomach when thinking about how I have never gotten a smile like that from Huxley when the concierge peeped up again
“Um, I'm sorry but there seems to be only one room booked, a gentleman named Justin Melvirn called this morning saying one of the rooms was no longer needed.” I think I could physically feel my heartbeat stop in my chest as she stood there looking at the two of us.
“Ok well is there anyway we can just re-book the canceled room?” I heard Huxley say though still slightly muffled by my stilled heart
“I am so sorry but if you wanted to re-book the room it would have to be paid in full right now, and even so it looks like it was already snatched up” The concierge is still smiling at us like she didn't just drop a bomb on my entire trip. I am mentally totaling up how many km the hotel is from my home and how much it would cost me to take an uber back when Huxley speaks up again
“Ok we will take the one room, thanks i guess” his smile is no longer there when he looks back at the concierge . His words just register in my mind, did he just say WE will take it? Like him and I? Me and him? I know he didn't just say that because there is no possible way I am spending 3 days in a hotel room with the grumpy Liam Huxley. I think at some point during my panic Liam had started to say something to me but none of it really registered until I felt his hand on my forearm.
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“Are you ok?” Huxley asks concerned, i think i am staring at my feet because he continues to speak
“Raelyn, look at me” my eyes immediately snap up to meet his
“Sorry what?” I ask him finally registering where we were and what was happening
“Let’s just go up to the room and we can figure out what to do from there, you said you wanted to change and shower right?” He said this as he grabbed my duffel that was slipping from my shoulder and put it over his. He then turned around and made his way to the elevator. It took me a second but I begrudgingly followed after him. Now here we are stuck in an elevator again on a ride up to impending doom. We get to the 8th floor and the doors open, he motions for me to follow him out. It feels like a lifetime of walking before we finally get to the room and he swipes the key card to get into the hotel. See when I pictured this weekend I imagined crawling into bed and bindging on room service in a robe and a face mask. Now I am forced to share a room with a bed that is 3 feet away from this irritatingly wishy washy boy that makes me angry and flustered at the same time. I realize I have been standing staring at the inside of the room from just outside the door. Huxley was already halfway in before he realized I didn't follow. How is he being so cool about this, oh I know its just because he sees this for exactly what it is. Two co-workers who are forced to share a confined space. Which I am sure he has done with Dr. Melvirn more than once. I see Huxley stop short and immediate panic floods his face.
“No” is all he says as he turns around and back out the door i have been standing in
“Huxley what are you doing?” I almost yell at him as he is marching back down the hallway to the elevator
“Go shower I will be back” is all I hear him say as he rounds the corner out of view. I'm still not sure what changed but I take a steadying breath and walk into the room. I almost immediately mimic Liam's reaction when I finally see what made him panic. One bed, there is only One singular bed in this entire hotel room. This just got a whole lot worse. I need to sit on the bed to steady myself as I pull out my phone from my jeans pockets and pull up the uber app. I input the address and see how much I am going to have to drop on this drive home. $800, if I want to get back home to manhattan. My next task is pulling up my bank account. I now need to weigh how important it really is for me to flee from this situation. As I am about to make a huge financial decision Huxley storms back in the door.
“Ok, so they can’t do shit downstairs” he says while actively pacing and I can’t help but smile at how flustered he looks
“I will drive you home, I just can’t miss this banquet that starts in a few hours. You can come along if you want and I can take you home after?” he stops pacing and looks at me sitting on the bed staring up at him
“I'm sorry Raelyn”
there's my name again.
“Why are you apologizing? I still get to go to the banquet so that's something” I say only half heartedly, I didn't want him to feel bad since he let me come with him but I was honestly really disappointed in having to go home and not enjoy this break or get to talk to more scientists. He is still just standing there staring at me so I stand up and say “I'm gonna shower” I grab my bag and head to the bathroom.
I am hoping that this shower snaps me out of it and gets me out of my head because now I know I have only one night to impress these scientists and get them to give me free stuff and it's definitely going to take a lot of brain power. I finish my shower and start drying my hair when I remember that I packed just the thing to get these nerds attention. Now, I am not usually used to using my looks to get anyones attention but at this point I am desperate so I finish drying my hair, slip on my nicest bra and underwear and pull on the little red dress I brought. It is form fitting and almost corset-like on the top with a square neck to show just the right amount of cleavage and when it gets to my hips it poofs out just a little bit in order to give the dress some movement. It takes me about 30 minutes to finish doing my makeup and I almost jump when I hear a knock at the door. Shit shit shit I completely forgot that Huxley was here. How could I have forgotten? It just hits me as I realize he is going to see me in this dress. As soon as I open the door I will have to face him.
“One sec” I say too loudly as I prepare myself to open the door.
You know what, this dress is for my research so I am not going to let Huxley get in the way
I walk over to the door and open it while adjusting the straps. I lift my eyes to meet Liams and I register that his eyes are not on mine but scanning down the length of my dress. I smirk and throw his words back at him.
“Like what you see?” I say as I pop my hip out and lean on the side of the door frame. His eyes shoot immediately up to mine and he clears his throat
“ uh” its kinda fun to see him squirm so I work up the nerve to tilt my head and inch towards him just a little
“Hmm?” I say to him smirking
“I think red is my favorite colour” he says as he runs his finger over the very bottom edge of the skirt. Yea I definitely cannot share a room with this man let alone a bed. I blush and look into his green eyes, except they were not green but that dark black color that scared me the night in the elevator. He immediately took a step back and squeezed his eyes closed, when they opened the green had returned.
“Am I too overdressed?” I asked starting to feel slightly self conscious again and crossing my arms over the exposed skin
“No” he said almost too quickly, his hand twitched like he was thinking about undoing my crossed arms but thought otherwise.
“Ehm, it's a bunch of rich scientists so there will be drinks, music, speakers, and some test shows of new products. I think what you're wearing is fine” his words were encouraging so I uncrossed my arms and made my way over to my other bag to grab the only pair of nice shoes that I brought. I watched his eyes follow me all the way to my bag. I'm not sure where all this courage came from but I said “so first red was your favorite colour and now my dress is just fine?” I was no longer facing him so I let a slight smile spread across my face.
“Raelyn” is all he said in response and my confidence disappeared.
“Uh you should go change, we have to be at the banquet in an hour” I said without looking back at him.
“Yes you’re right” I heard him say as he closed the bathroom door behind him. I felt myself let go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding and continued to look for the black pair of 3 inch heels I packed. I was sitting on the bed scrolling through my instagram feed when it was Huxley's turn to come out of the bathroom. Now I was the one who was staring, he was in a black suit jacket and he was wearing an actual tie. I just realized I had never really seen Liam in anything but a lab coat or ratty t shirt and oh my god i know why. No one would ever get any work done; they would be too busy staring at him. I was able to snap myself out of it before Huxley caught me staring. I leaped out of my spot on the bed and headed to the door.
“Ready?” I ask as I lean down to put my shoes on.
“Yep” he says from behind me.