Abbie meets her lobby admirers

Abbie turned around to discover that not only were the two men from the lobby still there, but that they were still watching her. Her gaze met theirs, and she realized that if they had been watching, they had seen Jake and Michelle leave, and that for the last minute or so, they'd been looking at her from behind. Okay, so they like what they see, Abbie thought. That's a good start.

She slowly began to walk across the lobby toward the men. As she did, they both straightened up and faced her. It felt like a scene from a movie, where the rest of the world gets a little blurry and the focus is solely on the main characters -- in this case, Abbie, the blonde in the gray suit, and the darker man in the blue.

As she got closer, the blonde took a step toward her, and nodded knowingly. "I told him you were looking at us," he said. His voice was slow and raspy, sounding like he had screamed too much at a concert, perhaps.

"Mm, perhaps I was," said Abbie, pausing in front of them. Both men were taller than she had imagined they'd be, having seen them only from across the room. The blonde was probably about six feet tall, the other an inch or two more. Now that Abbie was closer, she took in more details of their looks. The blonde had freckles across his face, and blue eyes. The other had about two days worth of stubble, dark eyes, and when he smiled, a dimple appeared on one cheek.

"I'm Ben," the blonde said, extending his hand. He had a tattoo on the back of his hand that disappeared into his sleeve. "This is Carter."

Abbie shook hands with each of them. Carter held her hand longer than a simple handshake, though Abbie didn't resist.

"I'm Abbie. It's good to meet you both," she said. Carter was still holding her hand.

"Pleasure," he said. He rubbed the back of her hand with his other before finally letting go.

"So ... what was that before?" Ben asked.

"What was what?" Abbie replied innocently.

Ben chuckled. "You're going to tell me you don't know what you were doing?"

Abbie bit her lip and smiled. "I could tell you that," she said. "Might be more fun that way."

"Should I tell you what I think you're doing?" Ben asked.

"Sure."

Ben laughed again. He wasn't expecting Abbie to be this direct. "I think you wanted to make sure we noticed you."

"Did you?"

"I would say so."

Carter overtly looked Abbie up and down, with no attempt at subtlety, no effort to disguise his actions. "I guess I don't know what I'm doing either." He waiting, looking Abbie in the eyes, smiling just enough for his dimple to show. "You want to tell me what you think I'm doing now?"

Abbie tilted her head a bit, but didn't shift her gaze from Carter's eyes. "Eye-fucking me?" As soon as she said it, she broke into a broad smile and giggled. The laughter was infectious, as both Ben and Carter began to laugh as well. "Oh my god, I've never said that phrase before. Eye-fucking."

"I don't think I've ever heard it before," Carter replied. "But I think you're right. That's exactly what I was doing."

"Can you blame him?" Ben said, indicating his friend.

Carter, clearly not one to waste time with too much small talk, took things further. "So is there reason to imagine anything beyond casual hotel lobby eye-fucking?"

Abbie's smile widened. "I imagine a lot of things."

"Good," said Carter calmly. "How'd you like to imagine some things upstairs? We can order up some food, some champagne ... you know ..." He trailed off, implying that the rest was obvious.

"Oh," said Abbie playfully. "So the level beyond eye-fucking is champagne and appetizers?"

Carter laughed. "Point taken."

"And what about your friend?" Abbie turned to size up Ben, who seemed pleased with the way things were going.

"The appetizers are mine. I'm just coming along for the food." Ben smirked as he joined the banter. Then he furrowed his brow and looked around the lobby. "My only question is where are Cory and Tuk?"

Carter shrugged. "We've waited long enough. Why don't you text them." Focusing his attention back on Abbie, he offered his arm. "Would you like to come up for some unnecessary appetizers?"

Abbie accepted Carter's arm and looked up at him. "Sounds great. Thanks for the invite."

Carter escorted Abbie toward the elevator, with Ben trailing a bit behind them, tapping on his phone. Abbie couldn't help but think about Jake, wondering what he'd think about this -- and then realizing that she didn't even know what 'this' was going to be. She glanced back up at Carter again, eager and curious, looking forward to the unknown adventure ahead.