Ella B. Jasper (jaspering) wrote in _fracture_, @ 2014-01-28 00:07:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | adam, chapter 1, ella, the regent hotel |
Got You In the Zone
Who: Adam and Ella
Where: The Throne Room
When: Evening
After Ella spoke with Lindsey she felt she needed a drink badly. All of this was too overwhelming for her and it still didn't make any sense. She returned to her room to look through her bag and see if anything useful had been packed in there. The more she looked through the bag the more she realized she didn't remember packing it, yet another strange thing to add to the list of things she couldn't explain. Unfortunately there was nothing in her bag that could help her get out of the hotel. In fact she didn't even have her laptop in her bag, which she chalked up to her forgetfulness. She was always leaving it behind in different places and so it made sense that she wouldn't have packed it.
Luckily she had her iPhone on her and she proceeded to call her job to explain her situation, but the phone just kept ringing. Why was no one picking up her call? After a minute or two she gave up and dialed her parents. The same thing happened. She ended up calling two more before she realized there was something wrong with her phone or maybe it was the place she was in; either way she felt frustrated and so she proceeded to explore the hotel some more. It didn't take her long to stumble upon the ballroom and more importantly the bar within. She didn't see anyone around so she proceeded to make herself a sex on the beach. She usually drank cape cods but she was in the mood for a change in drink choice.
Adam had tried sitting in his room. He really had. But there were only so many lives he had on his cell phone games and only so many time he could consider leaving before he realized that the longer he sat there trying hard not to leave, the more he wanted to head right back to Kyle’s room and spend the night kissing him, just to see what would happen.
So he found a hoodie in his suitcase, something else a bit too big like all his clothes, and he headed back to exploring the hotel. It was easier to do when he was less confused, less worried about Kyle. Once he got to the lobby he wandered through it, though his steps slowed when he found the ballroom. “Whoa.” He’d not been in a room like that. Not with his voice echoing through it like it was.
Ella looked up from the bar and saw Adam. She wondered for a moment if this was the cute guy that Lindsey had asked about, but decided he wasn’t because Adam didn’t look scruffy enough to be the aforementioned guy. Ella took a big sip of her drink and said, “I take it you haven’t been in here before, have you? It’s my first time in this room too. I have no idea how I came across it. I just started walking and my feet sort of brought me here on their own, not that I’m surprised.” She smiled to herself. Ella had a habit of stumbling across bars all the time. You would think she knew where all the bars in town where, but alas she didn’t go out exploring as much as she wanted to or thought she should.
“Do you want me to make you something?” she inquired as she started drinking her beverage more eagerly. She had forgotten how delicious this mixture was, but it still wasn’t her favorite. She finished her drink faster than usual but she chalked this up to how stressed she was. She continued to pray this was a dream, hope for a sudden awakening but knew it wouldn’t come. All she was left with was acceptance and just because you accepted something didn’t mean you had to take it lightly.
Adam jerked in the general direction of the voice, startled. He’d thought he was alone. “I..well if you’re offering, sure. Jack and coke is fine,” he said heading towards the bar. “And no. I’ve not been in here. Or anywhere like it. Ever. I don’t think I fit in in fancy places.” It looked like something out of an old movie, almost more so than the rest of the place. He’d lived with an elderly foster mother for a while, she’d loved old movies. He’d seen Casablanca more times than he could count. The ballroom took him back there.
Ella shook her head. “You’re making it too easy,” she replied. It took her only a minute to make Adam his drink, which filled her with a sense of pride. She remembered how she was back when she started bartending. She wasn’t as quick as she is now, but then again it can be difficult to keep up with fifteen to twenty different orders. All those fond memories made her miss home.
She handed Adam his drink once she was done and said, “Here you go and for the record I don’t work here. I didn’t see anyone manning the bar so I figured I’d make myself at home. What makes you say you don’t fit in in fancy places?” She made herself another drink as she waited for his reply but this time it was a margarita. She was going to continue to practice her skills even if she was missing work. She wasn’t going to let the evening go to waste. The only part that sucked other than being stuck at the hotel was not being paid to make the drinks.
“I’m not all that exciting,” Adam said, watching her make the drink before he took it from her. He started with a sip, wondering why he drank something he didn’t really like the flavor of, but he supposed it was what Jeffrey had always ordered for him. And Adam just liked that his friend ordered him drinks. “You didn’t seem creepy enough to work here,” Adam said, thinking of the woman behind the front desk. “And nothing about me is fancy. I’m just kind of..me.” He gestured to himself, but didn’t seem upset about it. “To really hang out somewhere like here you’d have to be dressed up right. I don’t think I’ve worn a tie more than a few times in my life.” One in particular being his parents’ funeral. Then a couple of court dates.
Ella walked around the bar, leaving her post for now because she didn’t intend on being behind the bar all night and sat in the seat beside Adam. “Thanks. I’m glad you don’t consider me creepy. I consider that a compliment,” she said then sipped on her margarita. “You don’t need to be exciting to be in a place like this. I mean, yeah the decor gives you the sense that you should be wearing a suit and tie but to hell with perception and to hell with rules. I am pretty sure anyone can be in here regardless of what they’re wearing. Besides it’s not your clothes that make you exciting, it’s your actions. I’m sure you’ve made plenty of questionable choices that I would be riveted by.”
Adam considered that and even opened his mouth a few times to impress her before it dawned on him that he didn’t have an answer. “I actually didn’t do a lot of the decision making.” Jeffrey had. He’d gotten Adam into plenty of interesting and questionable situations, but they weren’t ever his decisions. “I’ve been there, but I didn’t get myself there,” he clarified. It made him wonder what he was supposed to do with himself if they were stuck here longer than the morning.
Ella nodded her head in understanding. “I’ve been in those types of situations myself. They’re not fun, but shit happens. Eventually we all have to start living for ourselves and not letting other people tell us what we want or what to do.” It dawned on Ella that she was referring to her parents and the high expectations they had of her. She had worked her butt off to make them happy and in the process lost sight of what she wanted to do with her life. Now she understood why she hadn’t started graduate school and instead was taking her time deciding while continuing to work as a bartender. She took another long sip of her drink. “Look we’re obviously stuck here so, why don’t you take this opportunity to start some decision making of your own? What do you have to lose?”
Adam looked at Ella, more than a little offended. “I never said I didn’t have fun. Or that it was bad.” Sure there were the moments more recently where it had been things that Adam worried they’d get in trouble for, but he wasn’t unhappy. “I don’t need to start making decisions, I need to get home.” He felt himself get defensive, but that happened when people threatened his friendship with Jeffrey.
Ella quirked a brow at Adam. She hadn’t expected that response from him and she didn’t know why she had hit a nerve. “Wouldn’t you consider trying to get home making a decision? You could always decide to stay here with the creepy staff that I have yet to see except one, but maybe I’m one of the lucky ones. Maybe I’ll just have a sense of dread for the next week before I finally see more of these people you, Lindsey and whoever else is here have run into. Look I ain’t here to be a shrink. I want to get out of here as much as you do. I’m just saying give yourself credit.” She finished her drink then went to make herself a new one. This time she was going for a cosmopolitan. It had been a while since she made one.
Adam was looking at his drink and not her. “Sure it’s a decision, it’s just not...it’s not bad. I’m fine.” He took a long swig of his drink, sinking into himself more. “They’re barely here, the staff. And it’s worse if you try and go out a door out of here. I think you just wind up somewhere random. But I haven’t tried yet.”
“How do you know if you haven’t tried?” she asked. Ella remembered Lindsey telling her the same thing, but for a while she found it hard to believe. There were so many unanswered questions she had about the hotel and she didn’t know when if ever she’d receive an adequate answer. Once she was done making herself her cosmo she looked over in Adam’s direction. “You want another drink? You seem bummed.”
“I’m fine,” Adam repeated and didn’t say anything else for a long moment. “I’ve tried. It’s just not always in my control.” He looked at his drink, finishing it off and shaking his head. “No I’m fine. I don’t need another.”
Ella shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she said indifferently then proceeded to drink her cocktail. It was going to be her last one. She knew that vodka and tequila didn’t exactly make the best bed mates. She sat next to Adam again and started thinking about work, her relationships and how ridiculous she was for complaining about it all. Now all she wanted was to return to the humdrum of her life. She didn’t want to ask him any questions about himself. She just wanted to enjoy the silence for a free minutes before heading to bed.
Adam should have moved right away, but he didn’t. He just sat there. Going back to his room wasn’t going to solve the problem of trying not to wind up in Kyle’s room. He looked at the empty glass then slide it away from himself. “Thanks for the drink,” he said after a moment, getting up from his seat and fixing his hoodie, pulling at the sleeves so they were over his hands.
Ella noticed that Adam was leaving and she wasn’t going to stop him. She only wanted to ask him one question before he was gone. “Have you seen any other guests around? This girl I ran into said there was a cute guy around here, but I’m curious to know how many people are here total. Between you and me I really need to get laid and so far the only contender is the pretty girl I ran into. She wasn’t bad looking so I’m considering it. Anyways, pardon my bluntness. I lose my filter when I’m tipsy,” she explained.
Another guy might have been upset that he didn’t make the cut, but Adam didn’t really care. He wasn’t interested in anyone but Kyle at the moment, plus he wasn’t the type that others wanted. “I’ve seen at least three other people. Two other guys and a chic. Maybe the same one, but she wasn’t really what most people would call cute.” Not that Monica wasn’t pretty in her own way, she just seemed unconventional. “So I’m sure you’ll find some option.”
“Kudos to you, kind sir. Thank you for the information,” she replied with an air of regal authority. Alcohol had a way of boosting her self-esteem at times to epic proportions. She finished her drink then headed for the door. She would go in search of these people in the morning, but right now what Ella badly needed was some sleep and maybe some water. She didn’t want to wake up with a wicked hangover in the morning.