"Arkansas, wake up! I want to get my hands on that complimentary hotel breakfast!" Paige said, with an excitement that could only be described as that of a little kid in a candy store.
Sienna slowly opened her eyes, forgetting where she was but quickly grabbed one of the extra pillows and covered her face with it. "Just go without me Paige, we've got four hours before checkout time and I want to sleep." Sienna replied, lying to Paige. She was still feeling upset from the night before and was hoping that a few minutes apart would be all she needed to get over it.
"Alrighty then." Paige responded, sounding disappointed. "You want me to bring you something back? A bagel or something?" She asked, you could tell she was trying to feel out what was wrong but she didn't want to overstep.
"No thanks." Sienna replied, as she waited for the hotel room door to close.
Sienna sprang out of bed and into the shower. Although she had showered the previous night, she figured the shower was a good place to let out a good cry. Maybe that would help her get through the next few hours of the trip and hopefully the next two weeks. If she was unable to shake this feeling off, it would ruin the whole trip.
After letting it all out in the shower, the anger, the frustration and the confusion about her feelings towards Paige, Sienna brushed her teeth and got ready for the day. She felt a little better and felt ready to be around Paige without feeling upset. The temperature had changed since they left Florida and she found a warm outfit to wear. Sienna threw on a pair of jeans, a black thermal, a puffy vest and a pom hat. The weather had gone from fair to really cold overnight and she wanted to make sure she'd be comfortable during her trip.
She walked over to the breakfast bar to find Paige chatting it up with an older lady. As she approached them, Sienna noticed how much of a stunner Paige was. She stopped those thoughts dead on their tracks, she refused to go down that road again but boy did she look beautiful. She noticed Paige was wearing a pair of tortoise shell glasses when she got closer to her.
"Hi!" Sienna said, hoping that if she faked enthusiasm it would somehow become a real thing.
"Hey Sienna," Paige replied, matching her enthusiasm. "This is Gail, she was telling me all about her bookstore that she owns back in Florida. She's also on a road trip!"
"Nice to meet you," Sienna responded politely. "You definitely have to give us the bookstore information. We'd love to stop by and check it out." She said, smiling at Gail.
After a polite exchange with their new friend Gail, Sienna and Paige made their way toward the breakfast bar.
"That was sweet. The way you were interacting with her, it was nice to see you talking to a woman you weren't actively trying to pick up." Sienna said, using her snarkiest tone. "Didn't you already eat?" Sienna asked Paige, making sure to draw away some attention from the jab she had just taken but letting Paige know she was aware of her shenanigans.
"Who says I wasn't trying to pick her up?" Paige asked, a mischievous look on her face. Paige chuckled after a brief moment.
Sienna gave her an unamused look. Her joke hadn't landed. Paige panicked and began nervously talking. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't hit on everything with a pulse. Although, usually they hit on me first. It's like they can't help themselves." Paige grinned, searching Sienna's face for some sort of sign or reaction from Sienna but she gave her nothing. Sienna just let her keep talking and Paige took that as a sign to keep doing so. She finally gave up and answered Sienna's other question. "No, I was waiting for you. What do you take me for? Some sort of animal without any manners? It would have been super rude to eat without. I don't know, I figured I'd hang out here and eventually you'd make your way down. You seemed like you needed space or something." Paige said, walking down the breakfast buffet and making her way toward the hashbrowns. She felt self conscious, as if she had already said too much.
Sienna finally said something, making it a point not to address Paige's comment on women apparently finding themselves unable to control themselves around Paige. "So, you're not a jerk. You just pretend to be one." Sienna replied, still a little upset at Paige. "Thanks for waiting for me," Sienna said. She was starting to get in a better mood just by being in Paige's presence. Seeing Paige be so kind to someone had also earned her a ton of extra points. Sienna couldn't help herself, whatever she felt for this girl was starting to grow.
"No. Don't get me wrong. I'm a jerk by nature, that I cannot help but every once in a while I take it easy. You know, cut the world some slack." She responded, giving Sienna a mischievous smile.
"I see," Sienna replied, trying hard to hide her amusement. Everytime Paige smiled at her Sienna had to fight the urge to kiss her. "And what's up with the glasses?" Sienna asked, taking notice of Paige's features with the new accessory that was residing on her face. She had a perfect face for glasses. Then again, the girl could be wearing one of those fake glasses, with the funny nose and fuzzy mustache and she'd still manage to look gorgeous.
"I couldn't find my contacts this morning, luckily I always carry a pair of glasses for situations like this." She responded, shrugging.
"They look good." Sienna replied, hoping the compliment didn't come off as if she was overstepping.
They loaded their trays with delicious breakfast foods and took a seat at one of the tables in the room.
Sienna needed to know more about who Paige had been texting but she didn't want to appear as if she knew anything.
"So...how do you plan on going two whole weeks without all of your fans?" Sienna asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"What do you mean?" Paige asked in return, unphased while taking a bite out of a blueberry muffin.
"You know what I mean. All those girls who follow you around campus trying to get you to sleep with them." She replied, hoping she wasn't being offensive.
"Yeah, Sienna. About that...I'm really sorry. I've never meant any disrespect. I was really selfish and in a dark place. I'd never intentionally make you feel uncomfortable, unless of course, there was an itching powder scenario, then you'd' find me making plans to murder you." She responded, giving Sienna a smile that made her nervous.
It was nice that Paige was apologizing for her indiscretions but it didn't answer her question. Was she seeing someone? Was she lining up her prospects two weeks in advance?
"It's fine," Sienna replied, trying to play it cool.
"I'm making an effort to cool that shit down, anyway." Paige responded, running her fingers through her hair.
She was lying. Sienna felt a little bit of rage inside her. She wasn't trying to cool it down, she had seen the text message last night.
"Is that so? I didn't think you'd be able to keep it in your pants. Let's see how long you make it last." Sienna said, winking at Paige.
"Oh. I can make it last. Are you interested in finding out?" Paige asked, clearly unable to miss a beat.
Sienna felt the heat of her embarrassment show itself on her face. She knew she was blushing and looked away in hopes to save herself from being mocked endlessly by Paige.
"You're cute." Paige said, breaking the silence. "I love watching you react to the things I say. You always do this thing where you crinkle your nose and look slightly panicked in the most adorable way."
That did it for Sienna, she was back on board and unable to stop the butterflies inside her chest. How was Paige able to draw her back in so easily? She needed to know what the situation was with those texts and why Paige had lied to her about talking to anyone. For now, she decided she was going to enjoy the moment.
When the girls finished their breakfast they went back upstairs to the hotel room. Their room was nice and tidy, and ready for their departure.
"Arkansas, do you really carry an actual planner? It's a road trip, it's winter break, we're done with school, why are you planning things?!" Paige asked, ready to start laughing. She began shaking her head as she looked through it. "You need to loosen up, go with the flow and have some fun!"
Sienna went up to Paige determined to grab the planner. Paige snatched it away and raised it up over her head leaving Sienna at a slight disadvantage due to their height difference. Then, Sienna surprised Paige by making a jump and grabbing the planner from her. Unable to keep her balance she fell on the bed, bringing Paige down with her. They began to laugh as soon as they hit the bed, Paige's face was only a few inches away from Sienna's. The laughter stopped suddenly, the upper half of Paige's body was propped up with her arms, while the rest of her body was pressed against Sienna's. She could feel Paige's warm breath against her skin, and she could feel her chest rising up and down against hers. Sienna couldn't stop herself from staring into Paige's crystal blue eyes. They held each other's gaze for a second and then Paige licked her lips and glanced back at Sienna, who was waiting for Paige to close the gap between them.
"Shoot. Don't we have to check out?" Paige asked, jumping off Sienna.
Sienna could still feel Paige's body over hers, her heart was still racing and it took her a moment to snap out of it. Paige's question echoed in the back of her mind and it wasn't until Paige asked again about check out that she realized what she was being asked.
"Yeah, let's get going." Sienna said, while still laying on the bed unable to move, it was like she was frozen, just like she wished that moment was. The idea of Paige kissing her was exhilarating but also terrifying but it was the type of terrifying she was willing to endure if it meant getting some clarification on what she was feeling.