Golden Boy

F I F T H - T E E N

A light knocking on my door woke me up. "Room service," a male voice sounded. The room was bright, with sunlight peeking through the curtains. 

My body flew up, sitting straight on the bed, wondering where I was before I remembered that I was in a hotel in Manhattan. I opened the curtains to let more light in, basking in the sun with my eyes closed. The moment was ruined by the knocking sound again. In my confusion, I had forgotten that someone was at my door. 

I quickly put on some pants and brushed my hair down, checking the peephole before opening the door. There was a bellhop with a tray of food in his arms, raising his hand to knock again. I pulled open the door before he could. 

"Goodmorning, ma'am. The breakfast ordered for you," he said, handing me the tray. I thanked him, turning my back to set the tray down on the bed since there wasn't any other surface for me to eat on. I made the mistake of not immediately closing the door, thus allowing Jace to saunter in uninvited. 

"Did you order this?" I asked, catching him entering my room through his reflection in the mirror. 

"Yea, I wanted to wake you up without directly waking you up."

"Aw, you're finally using your brain. I'm so proud." 

"Thank you," he said, settling down in the armchair. 

The tray consisted of a breakfast burrito, a chocolate chip muffin, and a bowl of fruit. The food distracted me from the fact that Jace was comfortably sitting in my room, waiting for me to give him attention. 

His gaze finally got to me, so I turned to face him, muffin crumbs on my face. "What do you want?"

"We have some things to do today, so I'm here to debrief you as you wanted."

"I only care about going home. When are we leaving to go back?"

"You'll be home around 9 pm if that works for you?"

I watched him, wondering why he suddenly wanted to involve me in his plans. "That works. I'll probably have to call my parents again."

"We'll be spending the day in Central Park, so make sure you dress warmly." 

"Are we still trying to fix me, or did we give up on that?"

"No, we have some errands to run in the park not related to your current situation," he said, finally getting up. "Although, I'll never give up trying to reverse this, Elliot."

"Why?"

He stopped in his tracks, five feet from the door, glancing at me over his shoulder. "What do you mean why?"

"Why are you putting all of this effort to reverse this?" I asked. "What's so bad about me knowing?"

"Do you honestly want to be apart of it?" His head cocked to the side. "After yesterday, after everything, you want to be apart of this?"

"I would love my life back, but I also like to be realistic. You've tried quite a few different things in the last two days, and none have work. At this point, I'm preparing myself for the worst."

"I'm not done just yet. Hopefully, you'll be back to your regular life soon, but in the meantime, I'm trying my best to keep you safe."

"I'm curious to know exactly what efforts you have been putting in for my safety?" I blinked up at him. 

"That's a conversation for later. Be ready by noon," he said, exiting my room. The clock read 11:27 am, which meant I had slept seven hours and had thirty minutes to get ready.