Chapter Eleven
For our final rest stop of the day, with the hotel only an hour and a half away from this gas station, we refill the tanks and I rejoin Amelia in our car, offering to drive the next stretch.
The only other thing at this off-ramp is the golden arches, so Grady walks into the adjoining parking lot to grab some burgers for the road, but Amelia and I are fine to dig into our shared snack stash.
Though it’s not too exciting driving with my sister again, because Amelia falls asleep almost immediately as we pull back onto the highway, leaning against the headrest with her mouth wide open and drool dribbling down her chin.
The road stretches ahead, miles and miles of sameness where the view has truly only been changed by the passage of time, the sun now disappearing behind the tree line and a jarring ultra-religious billboard.
In the distance, there are red lights, high in the sky, flashing in sync.
My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, but on the vast horizon, beyond the glow of nearby traffic, I can’t detect the source of this eerie sight. It’s so out of place. Daunting and widespread, like some sort of alien invasion.
“Whoa,” I say. “Uh, Lee?”
My sister mumbles something but doesn’t open her eyes.
Even as we’re flying down the road at seventy miles per hour, the lights are still all encompassing, but now there are some closer, and I can truly get a sense of their height.
Then I remember exactly what they are: safety lights to alert airplanes to the windmills.
That doesn’t make this scene any less fascinating. They’re so bright and flashing in such rhythm. Maybe this is the unique angle that a road trip game would require.
Aliens.
I’m almost sad when we pass the last of the windmills and the light show that’s kept me company for a long stretch of road.
Off the highway, it’s another seven minutes until we arrive at the hotel. A streetlamp illuminates the parking lot, which isn’t crowded but not empty, either, making it unclear for sure if there’ll be rooms available.
I park the car and nudge Amelia awake, lifting the collar of her shirt to wipe her chin. In a silly, creepy voice, I say, “You look pretty when you sleep.”
Her eyes blink open as she swats me away. “We’re here?”
“Yeah.”
I jump out of the car and stretch. Despite it being evening, it’s warmer than I expected outside, since we’ve been blasting the air-conditioning.
I try to prepare myself for fake pleasantries when I see Declan, tamping down the confusing emotions, but the smile that sprouts on my face at the sight of him is still genuine.
Undeniably, which is beyond confusing to reconcile with our present awkward circumstances.
Though how much of that awkwardness is all in my own head?
Declan must’ve fallen asleep on the latest drive, too, because there’s the indent of a seat belt line across his cheek.
“Good morning,” he croaks, his vocal cords still half-asleep.
“Not quite,” I say. “Still a whole night ahead. If you can get a hotel room.”
He grins, running a hand down his face as he yawns. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?”
I reach into the back seat and grab my bag for the night, tossing Amelia’s hers, as well, before realizing that might be a mistake because her laptop is inside. She catches it no problem, but with urgency, as if her life depends on it.
“If there aren’t any rooms, I’m always down to crash on a couch,” Grady says.
“I don’t know where you’ll find a couch, because it won’t be ours,” Amelia says in a voice that might only be teasing, but it’s still very unclear.
Grady hits the lock button, and the SUV beeps. Amelia does the same, twice, to be extra sure it’s locked. “I’ve slept on the floor before,” Grady says. “Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last.”
“I hope the back seat of your car is comfy,” she says.
“For any particular reason?” Grady teases her back.
This is definitely veering toward flirting. I grab Amelia’s arm, and we walk ahead toward the entry.
“Are you into Grady?” I whisper, glancing over my shoulder to make sure the guys aren’t close enough behind us to overhear.
“We aren’t compatible in the slightest.” Amelia says this as if it’s obvious.
Through the automatic doors is a narrow lobby, with the check-in situated at the entrance. Ahead there’s a sign with arrows to the right for the breakfast area and stairs, and to the left for the pool and elevators.
“But he’s trying to flirt with you?” I ask my sister as I lead her over to the counter.
“And sometimes, if I’m feeling game, I’ll flirt back. It can just be an extra level of fun friendliness if you’re not leading someone on, and trust me, I’m not.”
“If you say so.”
Amelia greets the worker to check us in.
I let her be the big sister who has to deal with the logistics.
She approaches it with confidence, our reservation number already pulled up on her phone to confirm our booking without much hassle.
I spin on my heels to see the guys as they walk through the glass doors.
“In a rush?” Declan asks.
I shake my head. “Did you see those windmills?” I change the subject. “I was thinking, for the road trip game, maybe this is a stretch, but what if there’s aliens? Like, you play as an alien, trying to gain experience points and blend in with humanity, so that’s where the pitfalls come in.”
Declan is immediately game with this plan. “And something silly, like how filling up a gas tank is a thrilling prospect rather than a chore.”
“So we’re actually throwing together a team submission?”
“We could work on it tonight.”
There’s not really a rush since we’ll have a couple days when we get back home before the submission deadline, and I could use some space from Declan tonight, actually. “I think Amelia and I might want to check out the pool later.”
“Oh, okay. Yeah, no hurry. No reason to pass up a pool.”
The clerk slides the key cards over the counter and then we go stand off to the side, waiting for the guys since there’s just the one employee working this area right now.
Grady and Declan fall into easy conversation with the guy behind the desk, and while there’s a prolonged moment of typing on the computer, Declan turns and gives us a thumbs-up shortly after.
“Looks like they got a room,” I tell Amelia, both relieved they won’t be sharing a sleeping space with us and mildly irritated that it all went so smoothly, even though I’m glad Declan got the favorable outcome rather than having to scramble to figure something else out.
It’s just somewhat annoying at the same time. “We’re all good. We can head upstairs.”
Amelia wiggles in place. “Good, I need to pee.”
We hurry down the hall with patterned carpeting and generic paintings on the walls, past large windows that look into the empty swimming pool, and find the elevators in the far corner near the emergency exit.
On our way up to the fourth floor, I ask, “You have more than one swimsuit, right? That we put in the garbage bags.”
“Yeah, I have a couple.” My sister answers as if this is a general question and not one with another suggestion hidden behind it. She must be too focused on rushing to the bathroom, dancing in place.
As the elevator doors open, I step back and let her bolt out first, but she stops at the divide, waiting for me to read the sign and direct us the correct way down the hall.
“To the right,” I call out, and without missing another step, she races down the hall.
I struggle to keep up. “Why do you have multiple swimsuits?”
She walks tight against the wall, pausing briefly to read one room plaque more closely and deducing that ours is two doors down. “From that one-credit swim class.”
“When did you take a swim class?”
She tilts her head back in an I already told you this sort of way as she taps the room key against the door reader. It flashes red. “This is our room, right?” she asks.
I reach forward and take the key, trying it again with a little more patience, and it registers as green, the mechanism unlocking and granting us entrance.
Amelia pushes past me, drops her things on the desk, and makes it to the bathroom.
Leaving the door slightly ajar, she calls out from the toilet, “Why do you need a swimsuit? You want to go swimming?”
It seems like a better idea than sitting around this hotel room stuck in my thoughts. I’d rather float around, weightless and unbothered—if that’s even a state that would be possible for me to achieve tonight.
“The pool was empty,” I shout to her, also setting my stuff down and turning the key card over in my hands. Without waiting for another response, I add, “I’ll go back to the car and find us the swimsuits.”
The reverse course feels longer than our arrival, like the hallway has elongated now that I’m making this trek on my own, and the parking lot seems creepier.
Declan and Grady weren’t still in the lobby, so they must be up in a room already.
It’s probably not the same floor as ours or I would’ve passed them, but I really have no idea.
I’m sure we’ll touch base at some point tonight, to make plans for tomorrow, at least, so although I’m conflicted, I get ahead of the evening and send Declan a text from the parking lot.
Iris: Hey, yeah, so me and my sister are going to swim in a bit
It’s more of an update than an invitation.
Hopefully, Declan doesn’t have a swimsuit and decides to sit this out, but if not, I can’t wear my hearing aids in the water, so it’s not like we’ll have to spend much time talking.
I could splash around on the opposite end of a rather large indoor pool from him and not have to say much of anything until tomorrow.
There’s still nine hours on the road back to Omaha.
.....