simmer down // a.i. [ON HOLD]

[5] spiderman tricks

Yuck. 

I stood infront of the bathroom mirror, carefully examining myself. The alarm clock woke me up 10 minutes ago, and I'd practically thrown myself into the shower, in order to get my eyes open properly. 

Now I looked like a drowned rat - my hair was slightly dry and the tips were still dripping. 

I had slightly wavy, slightly straight dark brown hair that fell down to my collarbones. I spent a lot of time swimming, so my skin was tanned and my shoulders were wide. I had light brown eyes and dark lashes that Ciara had complimented me on, but I couldn't see the appeal. I wasn't extremely tall or skinny, and personally I thought Ciara was much prettier than I was. 

I shook my hair back and began to untwist the little knots. After untangling the mess, I finished brushing it and lent over to grab the little tube of mascara. Being a non-believer of makeup, I wore very little, and because I knew Cee would be wearing foundation, I applied a few strokes to my eyelashes. 

I sighed again as I pulled on the tight uniform. I wasn't sure where I was going to be working today, but then again, if my luck continued, I'd probably find myself back at the reception desk - the place with a high chance of me meeting Ashton again -  not a good thing. 

I headed downstairs and logged onto the computer. Ciara was nowhere to be found, but she had already registered at the reception, like I had predicted, so I just added my name next to hers. The second I pressed 'ENTER' the phone rang. 

I jumped and swore loudly.   

Where the hell is Ciara? What if it's Ashton?

The phone kept ringing and I sat staring at it like a downright idiot, internally battling myself. Just before I reached forward to pick it up, it fell silent. 

Phew. I fell backwards into the chair, really unprofessionally. Luckily, the foyer was empty - right?

The next second, the lift bell pinged, and two guys came tumbling out. I sat up straight, and flattened my shirt and hair.  Ummm, Emma, you look like you're doing nothing. Pulling the mouse towards me, I clicked on something random and pretended to be fully interested in whatever was on the screen. 

I saw the guys coming out of the corner of my eye, and my breath hitched. 

Ciara, if you're coming, now would be a good time. 

'Excuse me?'

I looked up at the faces of Luke Hemmings and Michael Clifford. They were both looking back, smiling a bit cautiously. I relaxed a bit, remembering what Cee taught me last night. They're normal people - act normal. I sent them a grin. 

'Hi - what can I do for you?'

They both seemed to relax too, easy smiles spreading across their faces. Luke placed his hands on the counter and drummed his fingers. 

'We called, like, 3 minutes ago? And no one answered-'

Oooops. 

'Sorry, that was kind of my fault.'

Michael waved a hand. 

'Hey, no problem. We needed to get out anyway.'

Luke grinned playfully, and whacked Michael's chest. 

'The breakfast buffet at this hotel is too good. We needed the exercise,' he laughed, 'You should give our compliments to the chef - this is the first hotel we've stayed at that serves pizza for breakfast, and it's amazing!'

I giggled, and nodded. 

'I'll pass on the message. So, what were you guys after?'

'Oh! Yeah, sorry, um, we were wondering if we could get the keys for the auditorium on level 5. We booked it and everything, but we couldn't get in.'