Where I Was Before You

62. baller

"Excuse me, is there a bar anywhere around here?" I ask the seemingly oblivious desk attendant. She looks up at me and her eyes widen with what I can only imagine is a ballsy concoction of confusion and wonder. Yes I know, I know, I'm Freddie Mercury, alright now please just tell me where I can get a f*cking drink around here I'm beyond parched.

"T-the bar doesn't open until 4, sir." Her weak and confused voice says to me. I take off my sunglasses and lean against the desk with my arm.

"Yes, but the pamphlet says u can order wine through room service, can't I just get one here now?" I ask, and throw in a wink for good measure. The girl blushed and nodded her head, she picked up the phone and ordered a bottle for me. Not taking her eyes off of me the entire time.

"Red or white?" She chokes up.

"Red, love," I say back, and she smiles and turns back to her note pad, not jotting down anything, but just to distract herself. I didn't blame her, I was wearing quite literally nothing but a pair of rather short looking shorts. I was planning on going to the pool after this for another dip, a laze. I had to do something until Mandy got back. Knowing her she could be gone for hours, the ghastly thing.

"Oh and one more thing," I lean in closer and the girl leans closer to. "can I drink it near the pool? I promise I'll be very very careful." The girl looked hesitant, but I smiled back at her and she nodded her head.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure that's fine." I know the strength of my power, I know I am attractive, I don't like to think myself self-centred, but more I'm just self-aware. Mandy was the complete opposite, Jesus, that woman was so unfair to herself. She was so...

"Here you go, sir." The woman says sweetly as she hands me a bucket of ice with a bottle of red. I would have requested something more specific, but I just needed wine, any wine.

"Thanks love." I wink at her again and tell her to put it on our room tab. Which she nods to excitedly and pulls out her pen to start writing as I walk away. What a cutie. I had my powers under control by now, I could make anyone do what I wanted whenever I wanted. I always thought that had something to do with me being Freddie Mercury, but it turns out, all I needed was my face. God knows that never f*cking worked on Mandy though. Not for one goddamn second. She could see right through me, through the rouge and the mask, the lies, the persona. She sees through it all. It was so annoying but so captivating. Not even I could look past my mask sometimes.

I jump into the elevator and hit level 10, hoping it would be somewhat occupied so I could eavesdrop on everyone else's conversations. What do you expect? I'm a man from the 70s who's hanging around a hotel alone in 2018. What else am I going to do? Make a twitter on my phone? No, obviously, I don't have one. But of course, it's completely empty.

A hand stops the elevator door from closing and in steps a man who is a good couple of inches taller than me. He's lanky but fit. He has curly, short hair and nice cheekbones. A nice looking guy. Very nice looking.

"Thanks mate, sorry."

"No problem at all." He steps on and goes to click and button, but pauses.

"Oh, we're on the same floor."

"Hmm." I reply. I find myself continuously staring at the man. I don't know why. God, he's pretty. I look up at his face and he catches me, I quickly turn away and pretend like nothing happened, but oh god I can feel, it coming-

"So, is that wine a party favour?" He asks me. I look back at him and see his smile is so much more friendly than I thought it would be.

"Uh no, actually. Just for me. Hanging out by the pool while the Mrs is out." He looks even more intrigued.