New Beginnings

Chapter 2 : The Girl

Chapter 2

                The three boys pulled up to the grand hotel. Keaton parked close to the hotel entrance, in case Yale had enough bags that they’d have to make more than one trip.

                “Alright, I’m gonna go in and get her. You guys wait here, and Drew I swear to God, if you say anything stupid...” Keaton left his threat unfinished and gave the older boy a steely look. Drew just laughed and looked at him patronizingly.

                “Yeah, yeah, I’ll behave,” Drew promised with a roll of his eyes.

                 Keaton jumped out of his truck and walked into the hotel. He went straight to the elevators. Yale had already given him her room number after school. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. He walked into the lift, pressed the button that said ‘25’ and waited while it went up, up, up. He stepped out onto the twenty-fifth floor as soon as the elevator door opened and continued down the hall. He checked his phone. 5:03pm. He was already three minutes late. Great, he thought, I hope she doesn’t think that this is how I usually am – which really isn’t the case. Keaton was almost never late; he always saw to it that he was at least five minutes early to any appointment. He was usually so strict about it, it was bordering on compulsive.

            2511… 2511… 2511… He looked around for the room number. There, he thought. There was a note stuck to the door. It was written in a neat scrawl with a bright pink pen.

          “Keaton, if you get here and this note is still up, then that would mean I’m still at the pool. Come find me!”

              There was an arrow below the words and it looked like it was pointing at the emergency exit map hung up beside her hotel room door. He looked at the map and spotted the pool on the seventy-fifth floor. Keaton made his way back to the elevators and soon he was stepping out into a big open space. He loved it when rich relatives came to visit and stayed at The Hilton. It gave him a chance to swim in the infinity pool. Keaton loved it up here – it was so open and you were free to think.   

           There was a couple in the hot tub and the pool attendant sat by the counter near the elevators. Aside from them, there was only one other person there. The girl was swimming laps near the far edge of the pool and from where Keaton was standing, it looked like she was close to falling over the edge of a waterfall. She was gliding gracefully across the surface of the water, with her russet-coloured hair flowing sinuously behind her. She reached the end of the pool and she threw her head back to get her hair out of her face. Keaton walked towards her to get her attention.

                “Hey, Yale,” he said. Yale looked up and squinted at him.

               “Keaton?” she looked confused. “Oh, hey! What time is it?” She scrambled up the ladder as Keaton tried not to stare.

               “Uh, 5:11,” Keaton said as he glanced at his phone. He stared at his phone for a lot longer than necessary to avoid looking at her. If he didn’t watch it, he might end up blushing. She was wearing a turquoise-and-white striped bikini and she looked ridiculously good. She walked towards the lawn chairs that were laid out in the sun and grabbed her towel.

            “Sorry, I forgot about the time. I was just planning to swim around for half an hour,” she explained as she patted herself down.

            "It’s fine. I came late, too, anyways,” he countered, still not looking at her. “So, um, do you want me to wait for you downstairs while you change or should I go with you to your room?”

            Awweh, he’s blushing, Yale thought. “No worries, I’ll just change right here.” Yale wrapped her towel around herself and slipped off her bikini bottoms from underneath. She threw it on the lawn chair and took off her bikini top in the same way.

          “Uh, okay…” Keaton murmured, as he looked away. He was still blushing. Yale grabbed some simple white cotton underwear and put them on underneath her towel.

             “So, um, my brother and his friend are waiting downstairs,” Keaton said, just so he wasn’t just standing there awkwardly while she got dressed.

              “Your brother? Awweh, how old is he?” she walked up to him. She was already dressed in maroon shorts and a navy-and-white plaid shirt. Her hair was still wet and it cascaded down way past her shoulders. She stopped in front of Keaton and squinted up at him. He couldn’t help but notice that Yale had a slight spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes. It was the kind of thing you’d notice only if you were standing considerably close to her.

           “Eighteen,” he answered, as he ran a hand messily through his caramel-coloured hair. Keaton tended to do that a lot when he was uncomfortable. He just wanted this to be over; he was acting like such a geek.

                “Oh,” Yale replied with a pout of her baby pink lips. “I thought he’d be, like, six or something – you know, like a cute age. I have a little brother but he’s twelve already so he’s just annoying now.” She chuckled and started walking towards the elevators. She looked back after a couple of steps and realized that Keaton was still rooted to his spot. “You coming?” she asked with her cute little head cocked to the side.

                 “Y-yeah,” Keaton stuttered. God, he was just so awkward sometimes.

              “My bags are already packed so I just need to get them from my room and then check out. Should I just meet you downstairs or do you mind going to my room with me?” Yale asked innocently, as they got onto the elevator. Keaton felt his face getting warm. Again.

              “Uh, yeah, no problem,” he answered, trying to talk smoothly. Yale laughed.

          “That doesn’t really answer my question though. So which one are you saying yes to: downstairs or my room?” she asked with a smirk.

                “Your room,” he clarified. This time, Keaton’s face was actually beet red. Jeez, what did he think was gonna happen in that room? They were just gonna go and get her bags…    

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So here's the second chapter! Sorry it's a little late but I've been busy procrastinating haha 

I should really be doing homework or something but that's no fun, right? :p I guess I'm just gonna fail school and be a bum. Anyone wanna join me?

Enjoy !

Frances