another day • wroetostar

II

Josh was stressed.  How had they managed to miscalculate this so badly? Two rooms and two Eurostar tickets were missing. This was a nightmare, an absolute nightmare. And nobody at the hotel would pick up.

He drummed his hands on the side of the taxi. He was squished in the far right, but Josh was honestly thankful as nobody was expecting him to talk, or pay attention to anything. Ethan was making small talk with the driver up front, and to his left Harry and Vik flickered gently between whispers and giggles, heads bent together. It meant he could be left to his own devices, to try and formulate a plan.

He had spoken to TP just before they got into the taxis. She said she had it on good authority that the hotel wasn't booked up, so his main hope was that upon arrival they should be able to book a last minute room. If not, TP was currently scouring the web for any alternatives nearby. As for the Eurostar tickets, well that was a problem for Josh of 30 minutes in the future. Yikes. It would all be okay, surely?

It wasn't long until they arrived, Vik and Harry were still engrossed in themselves but Ethan had sat back in his seat and was now texting Faith. It was still dark outside, but Josh's ears were zoned in to the crunch of the gravel drive so he knew exactly when they were about to arrive. His fingers stilled, then curled and flexed slowly as the taxi prowled towards the building. Things would work out. Things would work out

Vik and Harry barely had time to turn their heads before Josh was out of eyeshot when they arrived. As soon as the taxi stopped he had rushed out of the door and shot up the stairs to the lobby before anyone could even protest or ask what was going on. He was on the hunt for a solution.

It turned out there was one. Ish. The people on the reception were very helpful, they had tried the best they could. Surely it could work for a couple of people?

Josh returned to the group who stood lazily in the lobby, having being updated by Simon and Kon on what was happening. He needed to break the news: they had managed to fix a room, a very nice one in fact, as a compensation for the booking error.

There was just one small problem, one room was all that they had been offered. And the group was two rooms short. They needed two more beds, but all they had been provided was a single King-sized mattress.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Josh's phone rang abruptly. It was TP. She had news of the Eurostar, and it wasn't good. There was no availability for the next day. Only for the day after. Whoever stayed in the penthouse would need to stay an extra day too. Brilliant.

He announced it to the group, and silence fell as everyone avoided eye contact. C'mon, anyone? Then quietly, Harry volunteered. Josh noticed the way he peeled his eyes slowly from those of Vik's, who was stood with a hesitant frown upon his face.

Harry said he was in the mood for a penthouse, apparently. It was odd, everyone knew that he of all people never particularly cared. But it was one less person, and one less chance of being the one who had to share so nobody protested.

That just left one more person to take the fall, and once more eyes scattered distractedly around the room. Only Tobi's and Harry's were unmoving, and Josh followed them to Vik. He wondered something. But he didn't voice it. That was a question for another day.

Just as Ethan was getting restless, the muttering under his breath getting louder, Vik raised his head and dragged his eyes from off of the ground to meet Josh's own. It was only in that moment that Josh noticed the pink on his cheeks and the way an arm of Harry's was snaked around the small of Vik's back. It was clear who else was going to share the room.

But Tobi spoke up before anyone else could, a question on his sleeve. "Vik, you said you wanted to stay another day when we were in the bar, didn't you?"

A genial smile spread across Harry's face as the group came to the conclusion that has to share. Everyone argued for it without him even needing to let them know he wanted to.

Because Vik had a grin too, but he was better at hiding it. Yet his surface composure did not change the way that on the inside his lips were tingling and his heart was swimming. It seemed that once again they were doing this. History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.