Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
L auren and Eloise had quite the surprise when they reviewed the overnight tapes that morning. When almost everyone else went straight to bed after the night at the Chicken Box, there were a few people in the house that caught a second wind and stayed up. Suzanne, Billy and Noah listened to music in the kitchen and sat around the island enjoying another drink or two and laughing for several more hours. They didn’t head up to bed until almost one. Billy and Noah’s rooms were across the hall from each other and Suzanne’s was on the opposite end. But Suzanne didn’t spend the night in her room.
Katy woke around eight thirty and went downstairs to get a glass of water. On her way, she saw Suzanne walking down the hall to her bedroom. But Suzanne didn’t see her. And Katy didn’t see which bedroom Suzanne came out of. When she went back to her room with her water, Anna was awake and the two of them discussed it and both were unsure which direction Suzanne would have gone—she’d been flirting with both Noah and Billy equally. Much like Billy, Suzanne was an equal opportunity flirt, and it was hard to tell who she was truly interested in.
Lauren waited all day for it to come up in conversation. She was sure that Katy or Anna would ask Suzanne, but it didn’t happen. Suzanne slept late though and kept to herself on the beach—she wore earphones and had her eyes closed while she laid on her back in the sun. And she was quieter than usual at breakfast and lunch.
Lauren didn’t notice anything unusual in the way that Noah or Billy spoke to Suzanne—it was no different from the day before. Both were friendly and chatted about nothing in particular and Suzanne teased both of them good-naturedly. It was perplexing. Lauren usually had a better read in situations like this—body language usually gave it away. But not this time. Although she had seen which room Suzanne came out of—and some of what had happened in that room—everyone today was acting as though nothing had changed.
So, when everyone was settled, Lauren walked over to the table and chatted with the cast about possible conversation topics over dinner. She walked over to where Anna and Katy were sitting and leaned over between them and spoke softly so only they could hear. “At some point, one of you might want to ask Suzanne which room she slept in last night?”
Katy and Anna both looked surprised for a second then nodded, remembering the hidden cameras. “Do you know where she was?” Katy asked.
Lauren smiled. “I do. And if you want to know, too, you should ask. You know that will make great TV.”
Katy nodded. “You’re right. And I am curious.”
Lauren returned to her seat and Eloise raised her eyebrows. “Are they going to bring it up?”
Lauren nodded. “I think Katy will. She wants to know. I’m surprised she didn’t ask her privately today.”
“Maybe she wasn’t ready to hear the answer,” Eloise said.
“It will be good if she asks soon. There’s really no other drama going on at the moment,” Hudson said.
“I agree. I bet she will wait, though until it’s just the two of them,” Lauren said.
The server came to the main table and the cast all ordered drinks and dinner. The food was excellent, and the conversation was lively. They all laughed about Jason falling asleep on the deck and forgetting to put sunscreen on his nose. It was bright red and Suzanne nicknamed him Rudolph.
Over dessert, Honey mentioned that she’d slept horribly the night before.
“I swear if I have more than two drinks, I don’t get a good night’s sleep. I woke up at three and couldn’t get back to sleep. I went and made myself a mug of warm milk and read a book for a half hour before I felt sleepy again.”
Katy glanced toward Lauren and Eloise, then leaned forward. “I woke up early and was super thirsty. I’d forgotten to have water with my drinks the night before. I think it was around eight thirty when I went downstairs to get a glass of water.” She glanced dramatically around the table. “Suzanne, you didn’t see me, but I was surprised to see you walking down the hall toward your room. You were right outside Noah and Billy’s rooms. I wasn’t sure which one you’d walked out of, though.”
The whole table turned and looked Suzanne’s way. Everyone looked surprised, including Noah and Billy, who glanced at each other.A range of expressions flashed across Suzanne’s face from surprise to panic to annoyance.
“It’s really not a big deal. If you must know, I spent the night in Noah’s room.” She lifted her chin. “Though it’s really none of your business.”
Katy looked relieved and almost as if she regretted asking the question.
“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “We were just surprised and curious.”
Suzanne forced a smile. “Well, if it were the other way around, I suppose I would be, too. Get your minds out of the gutter, though—it was totally innocent. Noah wanted to show me a picture of his new apartment and we weren’t tired yet so we decided to watch a few episodes of Friends . But during the second episode, I fell fast asleep.”
Noah nodded. “And I didn’t want to wake her. It was a fun night. We definitely need to go back to the Chicken Box again.”
Suzanne smiled. “It was fun. And I’m up for going back anytime.” They smiled at each other briefly, then Suzanne looked around the table and changed the subject.
“Enough about me. What is everyone getting for dessert? We should order a few things maybe and share?”