Zoe generally thought of herself as a rule follower. She liked guidelines. She liked navigating between the lines to get what she wanted in a way that was fair and maybe, on a good day, a little clever. She understood why they were necessary. Why there were warning signs when there was danger and procedures to avoid them. She wasn’t the type to flout them.
However, she was the type who thought that, as long as there was a clear understanding of personal responsibility and the risks involved, taking steps across those boundaries was okay. As long as it was for a good reason. And entering the wing where her brother and all of his friends had stayed was reasonable. If someone from the hotel caught her, what were they going to do? Throw out a mourning relative of the Blackwood 30 for trying to visit the last place their family member had lived out their days? The optics were just bad.
Even if she thought the blonde was up to something unreasonable, Zoe would have kept that in mind. She didn’t get that sense of from the other young woman, though. And, well, when she crossed the threshold, she figured that they were firmly in this together.
Taking the flashlight when it was handed to her, she threw a quick, grateful smile at the girl. She hummed in understanding when she narrowed down her timeline and there was a hint of laughter in her voice when she said, “I didn’t think that I was going to meet a cat burglar tonight, but that’s cool. Not to make assumptions or anything. I’m curious about the walls and the places, though, absolutely.”
The light heartedness of her tone masked her shaky inhale when she turned to look down the abandoned hall, the flashlight creating shadows in an already dark space. Her expression softened a bit when the other woman explained what she was doing there. “Oh. Yeah. I get that. That's kind of what I'm doing here, too.”
Zoe’s eyes widened a bit at the introduction, though, and she threw a quick glance at the other woman. “Wait. Cubb? Sydney Cubb? I’m Zoe.”