Michael lowered the seats of the car so we could both rest our backs. There was silence in the car as we both stared at the car roof
"I never really liked the rain" I heard him quietly say still staring at the roof
"Why?" I asked,eyes on the roof, figuring he was just trying to make conversation
"It used to give me nightmares as a teen,I don't have good memories of it" He replied in a soft voice and I turned to him, surprised that he was opening up to me. His eyes were still on the roof .My big sister instinct kicked in.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I cajoled,he shook his head and turned to face me as well.
"I'ld rather not. What about you? Do you like the rain?" He asked, the way he was looking at me,the fact that we were locked together in the small car together,and the sound of the waterdroplets hitting the car from outside made the situation feel so close. I felt close to him in that moment. I wasn't talking to know-it-all Michael,I was talking to Michael Lancaster who didn't like the rain. It was all too close, dangerously close,but I didn't want to turn back to face the roof,cause then he'ld know that he was too close for comfort.
"I don't care about the rain" I replied and he smirked.
"I hope I didn't influence your opinion Lia" He said and my heart started beating.
"Isn't Lia too casual?" I managed to ask
"Can I call you Lia?"
"Yes" I replied and he flashed a delighted smile,he brought his hand closer to my face and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear,I was blushing hard and I was hoping he wouldn't notice,I turned my face back to the roof immediately and he cleared his throat. That's when I realized that the rain had subsided and the water droplets were no longer heavily hitting the car.
"The rain subsided"I said and he nodded.
"It's too late to drive home tonight, let's just take shelter in an hotel for tonight,is that cool?" He asked and I nodded. He raised up the chairs and after checking the internet for a few minutes,he finally found an hotel and started the car. My heart was still raising,Mike was starting to mess up my thinking. I turned to look at him driving, could I be developing a crush?the thought made my heart sting. I had not had a crush in years,and anytime I had one,I just ignored it until it went away,but something about this man made him so hard to ignore. While I was lost in thought,we arrived at the hotel. And something occurred to me. What if they only had one room that we had to share? He would probably offer to sleep on the couch,but I could refuse and tell him to...
"Lia?" He called snapping me out of my thoughts,it turned out he was trying to talk to me.i almost facepalmed myself.
"Did you say something?"
"I was saying that you should take my sweater,I don't want you to catch a cold." He answered
"Oh,sure" I replied and waited as he got out to open my side of the car then he took off his sweater,(A gesture that made me turn my face to the other side) and he handed it to me and I put it on,then I stepped out of the car and he closed the door and led the way into the hotel. I realized how huge the hotel was as we stepped into the reception,people were walking about and I spotted about two different couples and wondered if people would assume mile and I were a couple as well. The thought made me smile,we got to the front of the receptionist and Mike started talking to her,my heart started racing,it was time for us to decide who sleeps on the couch.
"Well?" The receptionist asked snapping me out of my thoughts and I smiled.
"We have no other choice,I guess we can both manage the room together"I replied and she raised her brow in confusion.
"What? No,I was just saying that there are only two luxury rooms left and I wanted to know if you guys would take those and he said to ask you"She replied and I wanted to sink into the ground in embarrassment, I was so busy imagining things that I wasn't listening to the conversation,I didn't even want to look at Michael. He moved closer to me.
"I wanted to be sure you wouldn't get upset about me paying for the luxury rooms,but we can share one of you want" He teased and I nudged him wanting to shoot everyone and myself in that moment,I turned to the smiling receptionist.
"We'll take the rooms"I replied and she nodded and handed us a key each and told someone to direct us to our respective rooms. I didn't talk to Michael until I got to my room and I immediately entered and locked myself in after fake screaming into my palms,I looked around the room and was mindblown. The room had a king sized bed in the middle of it,a freaking sofa,a full length mirror and a flat screen TV,the entire room also smelt like peaches. I wanted to cry in excitement,I ran to the bathroom that just happened to have a bathtub in it,my eyes didn't go to anything else,just the bathtub,I immediately took off my clothes,filled the tub with warm water and got in.And for once I was so happy that I didn't reject the luxury room,I stayed in the tub for about 30 minutes,before getting out and putting on the robe I found in the bathroom feeling better than I ever felt in my entire life. When I got back to the room,I heard a faint knock on the door and I blushed a little,I knew he would come,I took a deep breath and opened the door only to find a waiter holding a tray.
"This was sent by your friend"The waited said with a smiled and passed the tary to me,I nodded in appreciation and closed the door,it was a cup of hot tea, and the tray had a note that said:
"So you don't catch a cold"
-Micheal.
My heart melted and I kicked my feet in excitement as I made my way to the couch,but the couch was so lovely that I didn't want to sit on it,so I sat on the equally clean floor and sipped my very hot tea that was served on a coaster by the way. I switched on the television and flipped through channels,when I started the day,I didn't realize it was going to be one of the best days of my life and even though I knew I would feel incredibly guilty the next day for enjoying all these luxury without my family,it still felt good. It felt really good.