For Once In My Life (Stevens Book 2)

Chapter 18

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Lizzy laughed as Caleb and Dana half carried, half dragged, her towards her hotel room door. Caleb was not as far gone as Lizzy was, but he had had one too many to drive so Dana had driven them back to their hotel in their truck.

"It's OK Dana; the dent is hardly noticeable, Quinn won't even notice," Lizzy whispered in a less than quiet voice.

Dana, never having driven a truck before, had backed into the mailbox at her house.  It was a mailbox that was surrounded in brick and had been built to last. The bumper on Quinn's truck had been left with a nice dent after the collision.

Lizzy had not been able to stop laughing.

Now that it was over Dana could see the amusing side to it.  They had piled into the front seat with Dana behind the wheel, and as soon as they heard the crunch and felt the jerk, they had all worn the same expression of shock. Lizzy recovered first and fell into peals of laughter as Dana and Caleb had gotten out of the truck to inspect the damage.

"Are you sure you didn't have a few too many Dana?" Lizzy eyed her as she leaned against the wall next to her door. "Caleb you should have driven." Lizzy just about shouted the last statement

"Shhhhhhhhhhh..." Caleb said trying to fit her keycard into the slot.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh..." Lizzy hissed back. "Quinn's gonna be pissed."

There was silence as Caleb worked on the key.

"You're lucky that Dana's not pissed at you. You did try to steal her boyfriend after all."

"I did not!" Lizzy sounded belligerent.

"I'll say I did it." Caleb offered as the door finally swung open, completely changing the subject again

"Did what?" They heard behind them.

The looks on Caleb and Lizzy's face were comical; as if they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar before dinner.

Dana just closed her eyes at the sound of his voice. She slowly turned to look at him, and he looked as if he had just returned from dinner. He was still wearing his long duster coat to keep off the rain that had been falling steadily all night.

The door on their other side opened, and Davis stepped out into the hall yawning, his eyes half opened. He took in their little group shook his head and then retreated into his room, apparently not impressed with the scene. Lizzy stumbled into her room and fell backward onto the bed groaning.  "I'm getting too old for this. It is the last time I party with you Caleb; you're a bad influence on your big sister."

"Promises promises..." he muttered moving to the room that Davis had disappeared into, forgetting completely about the previous conversation and Quinn's truck as the door slammed behind him.

Quinn looked at Lizzy sprawled on the bed and then at Dana, his eyebrow raised in question.

"Oh don't look at her like that brother. It is just a small dent."

Lizzy crawled up the bed and pushed down the covers before pulling her boots off in a less than ladylike fashion. "Go away and get the light as you leave. Dana, I'm sorry about Matt, but since you're in love with Quinn I figured it didn't really matter, and I've always had a thing for musicians."

Dana watched fascinated as she crawled under the covers and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"Maybe I should start drinking," Dana muttered wishing the floor would open and swallow her whole.

"Don't worry, she'll pay for it tomorrow," Quinn said ignoring the love comment. He looked at his watch. "She has to make a flight in five hours."

Dana realized that they were alone in the hallway. There was an uncomfortable silence.