"Umm…about our room," Jordan said as she looked away. "Well, this is only if you're okay with it, but I was thinking of spending the night with Dylan. It's just…geez Lucky, look at this place. We'd never be able to afford anything like this on our ownandwell..."
"You don't have to tell me, I get it," Lucky said with asmile.
Hearing the sound of Jude's boots thudding on the marble floor echo throughout the lobby, she turned to watch him walk by. The muscles on his one arm bulged as he carried his duffel bag past them. Just like every time she saw him, her heart skippedabeat.
"Since you guys have the night off, Dylan and I are going to have a real date. You have no idea how excitedIam."
"I forgot how easy you were, putting out on the first date," sheteased.
"You're just jealous, you big virgin," Jordan said,laughing.
Shewasjealous. Not because Jordan had done it before or that she and Dylan would be together tonight. Lucky was jealous of that duffel bag Jude carried, of that notebook he wrote in, anything he touched. She knew it was stupid, but she wouldn't have minded being an inanimate object for once if it meant she could spend more timewithhim.
Opening the door to the hotel room, Lucky dropped her bags by the door. The suite was huge. Easily the size of a small apartment and much larger than any hotel room they had stayed insofar.
She and Jordan began turning on lights as they walked through. The main living space had a large flat screen TV, stereo surround sound, and a large, comfortable looking couch. When Lucky sat on a burgundy chair in the corner of the room by the window, she was surprised to find that itreclined.
Each of the bedrooms had a huge king-sized bed with a dark blue comforter and white sheets. The bed looked fluffy and comfortable and Lucky knew she'd get the good night's rest she so desperatelyneeded.
"I can't wait to see the bathroom," Jordan said excitedly as she ran into the bathroom that separated the bedrooms. "Ooh Lucky, getinhere!"
Lucky entered the largest bathroom she had ever seen. Bone-colored ceramic tile covered the floor. Garnet-colored granite topped the two sink areas with long mirrors that covered the wall above them. In the corner of the room was a deep triangularwhirlpooltub.
"Guess what I'm doing tonight,"Luckysaid.
"Hmm…I wonder if Dylan has one inhisroom."
As Jordan started going through her clothing, Lucky left the room planning to explore. She wanted to look around more and figured she could stop in the restaurant to bring food to her room later instead of waiting for roomservice.
The restaurant was a traditional steakhouse, dark wood walls with white linen tablecloths. Lucky couldn’t remember the last time she had a steak. It wasn’t a normal thing in her house to go out for steak, or really to go out muchatall.
While the hostess, dressed in black slacks, a pleated white button-down shirt, and a black vest seated a couple, Lucky glanced over at the bar where Kat, Ross, and Mark were doing shots. She heard Kat hoot then heard their laughter. She never understood the fascination with drinking and now that she had her first drink and felt its effects, she didn’t care for it. Lucky preferred being in control. She could embarrass herself easily enough withoutalcohol.
As the hostess headed back, Lucky wondered if her sour expression was caused by her brown hair being pulled back too tight by her ponytail. She didn’t look pleased to be working, but suddenly her scowl shifted into the biggest smile and her eyesopenedwide.
"Oh my goodness, it's you! Table for two?" the hostessasked.
Confused, Lucky turned around and saw Jude behind her wearing a dark red button-down shirt, the first couple of buttons open at the top, giving her a view of his silver chain. Sticking out of the bottom of his dark blue jeans were a different pair of black boots that looked less worn. Lucky wished she had changed clothes too as she suddenly realized she smelled like stalebusair.
"Hi. I'm surprised to see you,"Luckysaid.
"I just got here. Care tojoinme?"
"I was just going to bring some food back to the room. I didn't evenchange."
"You look beautiful. Like always. Join me, I hate eatingalone."
She couldn't say no. She didn't want to. Jude took her hand and held it between his, engulfing it between his large hands as they followed the hostess to a curved cornerbooth.
A waiter, a short man with slicked-back black hair, came over with a clear unopened bottle with a blue and white label and asked what kind of water they'd like. Lucky looked at Jude. As far as she knew, there was one kind ofwater--wet.
"We'll just have tap," Jude told the waiter before turning to her. "Isthatokay?"
"There are other waters?" shewhispered.
"They offer a few different types," he said as he shrugged. "Frankly, Iprefertap."
The waiter returned with a carafe of ice water and poured it into two long stemmed glasses. Lucky looked around, glad to see the restaurant was fairly empty. She felt uncomfortable enough as it was, she didn't need a lot of people watching and she knew that all eyes were alwaysonJude.