"RISE AND SHINE GRACE WE GOTTA GET GOING!" Oliver shouted in my ear, waking me up. I looked around the room in confusion realizing that I was no longer under the bed but in the bed. "How did I get here?" I asked Oliver while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "I put you there, I went into the kitchen to grab some snacks and when I got back you were under the bed," he said gently pushing me off the bed so he could make it up.
"Huh?" I questioned as I got my feet settled on the cold wooden floor, confused about what he was saying. "You..Grace..was under the bed when I got back. So I put you in the bed and slept on the couch," he said, pausing to explain it to me. "So..you didn't see-" "I didn't see anything but you under the bed fast asleep," he interrupted.
"Oh, okay," I smiled realizing what he was doing for me. I still felt awkward about it, but Oliver pretending it didn't happen made me feel a little better.
"What time is it?" I asked him while I helped fix the corner on my side. "6:30," he responded. "In the morning?" I asked trying to make dramatic eye contact with him but he wasn't meeting my gaze. "..yes," he said with his eyes closed as if it hurt for him to admit it. "Sir," I smiled. "Why did you wake me up at 6 in the morning?" I questioned. It's summer and he got me up before the are even birds out.
"It's a beautiful day Grace," he smiled, roughly fluffing the pillows back into their original shape. "And it would've still been a beautiful day at 12 in the afternoon," I sassed, folding my arms across my chest as dramatically as I could. "Go look in the closet for a pair of sweatpants or shorts that you can fit," Oliver smiled, ignoring my sassy remark. "Okay, but we've already been through this," I replied, walking towards the closet. "We're going straight over to your house. So if it doesn't fit, no one will know but us," he said, raising his voice slightly so that I could hear while I was in the closet.
I looked around but there was nothing on the hangers or on the shelves. There was only a single suitcase in the middle of the floor. I walked over to it and opened it up. Searching through the suitcase, I found a pair of black Nike shorts with a neon green drawstring. I slipped them on and they fit once I adjusted it to my waist.
"You done?" Oliver called from outside the closet. "Yep and guess what," I answered back with the dumbest smile on my face. "They fit didn't they?" He asked. I quickly tied the drawstring into a bunny ears and hopped out of the closet with my arms in the air and shouting, "SURPRISE!" As if me showing him a pair shorts fitting was a magnificent gift or surprise of some kind I had for him.
"I knew I had something that would fit," he grinned as I did my supermodel walk. "So I'm ready to go, what about you?" I asked after all the fuss over the shorts dialed down.
"Yeah I'm finished making up the bed and everything, I just need to grab my paperwork and suitcase and we can leave. I already paid for the time we've been here so we're good to go," he explained, standing up and stretching his arms.
He's so tall and strong looking. The way his t-shirt framed his chest was flattering. His biceps stretching the arms of his shirt made my cheeks hot. I didn't realize how fit he was until I really looked at him. I could very faintly see his abs through his shirt, but from what I saw they looked too good to be on a 40 year old man. "grace..grace..GRACE!" Oliver called, snapping me out of whatever I was in. "Yes? huh?" I spluttered feeling a little embarrassed that he caught me lacking.
"You ready hun?" He smiled, showing off his beautiful perfect white teeth. "Mmh hm," I hummed unable to respond with actual words. "What's the matter? Cat caught your tongue?" He chuckled. I shook my head and walked past him, grabbing my shoes off the floor and heading out of the room to the door leading to the main hotel hallway.
Oliver came to where I stood shortly after I had put my shoes on with his suitcase in one hand and his briefcase in another. "Alright let's go," he said nodding his head towards the door, signaling for me to open it.
~
We walked out into the hallway and got into an elevator that took us to the lobby. "Do you remember what we used to do whenever we left a hotel when you were little?" Oliver asked as we walked past the front desk. "No, what?" I asked not knowing what he was talking about.
"I used to sit you up on my shoulders and we would pretend to be one big person," he smiled looking over at me as we walked through the big doors leading to the parking lot. "Bruh," I laughed slightly as the memories of us doing that came back. People thought it was so cute my little head on top of some big hairy legs. "What?" He smiled. "I'm not doing that Oliver," I dismissed. "You know you want to," he laughed as we parted to different sides of his truck.
He unlocked the doors and I jumped up into the passenger seat ignoring his last comment. I did want to but I'm way too old for that now. "Do you have your house key?" He asked, cranking up the car. "Yep," I sighed. If I'm being honest I don't wanna go back home, even if it's for a second to just grab some clothes. It's too painful to be there. I didn't like it when she was there and I really don't like it now that I know she's gone. "Alright, let's go," Oliver announced as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Yeah, let's go," I sighed placing my head on the hot window.