Road Workin' (Part 2)

He didn’t know whether he wanted to stop. But he had said it, and he felt like his words were the reason they were here.

“Let’s look for a hotel or something.” Beth said as she grabbed her purse, and closed the car, and it sort of seemed like she was hoping or thinking everyone would follow. She wasn’t a dictator, or anything. And yet Leo followed, probably because he needed a bed. But not right now. There was time. He tried to think back, to the last time he’d been this independent, so far away from college and family and the city, and he was happy, and he felt the need for party. Gladly, that wasn’t gonna be much of a problem, he was reminded. Because jumpy Trisha was following too. Her excitement was rubbing off on him, it seemed, and on Tracy too, sort of, because she followed both of them, and looked around like some geeky-professional tourist.

Leo had met Beth not so long ago, just in college, because both of them knew Tracy. Because Leo was sure that there was some sort of far away-family relationship between the two, and Tracy just happened to be Beth’s roommate. Trisha was talking Industry and Design too, and Beth knew her, and then the four of them had decided to do this thing together. At the beginning, when he thought it was only he and Tracy, and he saw Beth and Trisha approaching delightfully, he was a bit mad, because of being the only boy. Then, he had convinced himself of it being fun and interesting.

“Hotel Buttercup. What do you say?” Beth stopped and they hadn’t been walking for long. The three followers looked up, and the sign was bright, but small, and not so bright. The corny name was made as to represent an elegant calligraphy, but it wasn’t more than a neon thing, that was about to fall. Beneath the sign, the entrance, it wasn’t big but it wasn’t full. There was a small carpet as to make it more welcoming, but the door was closed, and it wasn’t glass.

“Have the best time of your life. Ok, cool.” Tracy was the one who was always into details and more information. The one that made sure the model was never lacking glue or paint somewhere. The one—the only one—that read these kind of lousy mottos out loud. “You do notice that it’s spelled wrong?” Beth said, mocking rather than laughing. And yet she managed to scare her co-workers just a bit more, as to make them realize what they had gotten themselves into.

Inside the lobby, which looked similar to a janitor’s closet in organization, Beth approached the counter and started talking and asking. Leo stayed with the two others near the door, and it seemed for a second that Beth was their angry y mom, the one that was in charge. Because he was the male, that scared him a bit. Then again, he had always seen Beth as somewhat leader-like, like an independent women, not like any sort of tomboy dominant figure. And so he rested against the wall and closed his eyes for a second and sang a bit of old music.

“You know guys, I have a feeling that Beth hates us.” So Tracy was always focusing on detail, which certainly led her to mention things that didn’t need to be mentioned. Trisha followed, because she had nothing else to talk about. “I thought this project was going to be good. Because I know she works, but she works too hard.” She agreed.

“She’s just a bit stressed out because of the traffic and the staying-over thing.” Leo pointed out. Because who wouldn’t be stressed, right? Wait, he wasn’t. He had actually agreed and said that he wanted to stay. “Most probably. Well, we just go to bed and wake up and we keep going, right? I mean it doesn’t matter much.” Tracy proposed quietly. Tracy’s life was cute and small. She tried to be good, ignoring the fact that it sometimes it was boring to be one.

“Sure we are.” Trisha said it, and smiled, mischievously. Leo smiled back, and understood immediately about their sleepless future.

Beth approached them with a couple of keys dangling from her fingers. “We’ve got ourselves two rooms. I’m going to bed.” She gave this other key to Leo, as if it was up for him to decide who to sleep with. They gathered their bags and went up the stairs.