Choices. . .

The Hotel

The walk up the steps was demanding but they took their time and admired the view several times looking back at the darkening sky. The clouds continued to glow like embers as the sun retreated farther beyond the horizon.  The wind had died down so that their physical activity overcame the cooling air. They both had a slight sheen of sweat by the time they made it to the top.

They walked to his car and he put the backpack and cooler in the trunk. They got in, he started the car, and they drove out of the parking lot into the city of La Jolla. Soon they were on the highway to her hotel downtown. He started playing music on the car system streaming from his phone. The display said it was Cowboys and Angels by George Michael. She didn't know his music so much but she knew who he was and had remembered when he died. It was a nice song. Soothing and sexy. His car had a roof made entirely of glass. She looked up at the dark sky overhead while listening to the music. She hadn't been paying much attention to the lyrics until the last verse when she heard:

Take this man to your bed
Maybe his hands will help you forget
Please be stronger than your past
The future may still you give you. . . . . .a chance

The words echoed in her head while the jazzy instrumental finished out the song. It had to have been written a long time ago considering when George Michael was a star, yet it spoke to her across all that time from someone she had never met who was now gone. The bitter sweetness of it pulled at her heart in a way she hadn't felt in, well, she couldn't remember when. She thought about the decent man sitting next to her and how his hands had felt on her. The mistakes she had made in the past and how they could sometimes drag her down like wearing a heavy wet blanket. Her dreams for the future. But she found that the future could be like a dark road, twisting and turning, leading her. . . .somewhere. Maybe toward her dreams, maybe somewhere else.
But the last line of the song gave her hope. A chance, she thought. She could only hope. He had said something to her once when she was feeling down, quoting someone she didn't remember, ". . .hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. . . . " She had always remembered that. She hadn't always taken it to heart, but she had remembered the weight of truth behind those words.

She almost didn't notice when they got to her hotel. Her reverie lifted as he parked in a spot around the back where they were less likely to be seen. He was looking at the back door of the hotel quizzically and asked, "What's your room number?"
"303," she said.
"3rd floor. Hmm. I think we can make it," he said with that sly smile she was already getting to know well.
"Well, did you think it would be that hard?" she asked not sure what he was getting at.
"I meant I think we can make it. . . .naked."
"Naked??" she laughed.
"Yea! I bet the stairs are right there by the door. We just need to get from here to the door, into the stairwell, where we probably won't see anyone, and then to your room. Get your key ready!"
"Are we really doing this?" she asked, still laughing.
"Yes," he said definitively. "It'll be fun. I promise."

He opened his door and got out, looked around to make sure it was clear, and like before, was naked very quickly. Her heart was racing. She looked at him and saw that he was undoubtedly hard. Her gaze broke as he said, "Let's go!" She opened her door and also stripped. It was also quick for her because she had only put on her shorts and t-shirt when they dressed on the beach. He was walking toward the hotel and she followed him carrying her clothes, both of them clad only in their shoes. She looked around expecting to get busted any second as they moved quickly toward the hotel entrance. They reached the door and pulled. Locked! And the key was in her shorts! They stood there, naked, completely out in the open under the bright lights of the hotel while she dug around in her shorts looking for the key card, both laughing hysterically. Finally she got the key out and opened the door. Just as he said, the door to the stairs was right off the entrance. They pushed inside laughing and catching their breath now that they were a little safer from being caught. The thrill was making her wet. And he was definitely harder than he was a minute ago. They walked up the 3 flights to her floor and slowly opened the stairwell door checking if there were anyone around. It appeared deserted so they took off toward her room.
As they approached a hallway that T'd off from the one her room was in, an older man and woman came around the corner and met them face to face.
"Hi!" he said to them not breaking stride in the least.
Hello!" she said and giggled. They walked past as the elderly couple looked at each other with an expression that said, Did that just happen?
They got to her room and this time there was no waiting to get in since she still had the key in her hand. They were both laughing as they entered the suite she had splurged on for herself.