In a love hotel with Grace (part 1).

We went back to Grace’s car with full impunity for our actions. She put her bra back on on the third and last turn and we got off the Ferris wheel like nothing had happened. Then, as we sat in her car still in the parking lot, Grace looked through her phone.

“Mila said the hotel you went to was called ‘Intimacy’, right? Was it good?”

“It was clean and they kept everything private.”

“Then let’s go there. Better pick something proven than risk a shitty hotel. I’ll make reservations now.” She started tapping on her phone, going into the hotel’s website. Then, something seemed to catch her eye. “Ooooh! Oliver, look at this!”

She showed me her phone screen with a few pictures of particularly fancy hotel rooms. They had hot tubs, huge beds, fuzzy carpets… and the one Grace was pointing me to had a private terrace.

And it was pretty damn expensive.

“I… I don’t think I can pay for that, even if we split the bill.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that! I’m paying,” she said, setting the GPS and starting the car. “I’m not making you pay for a luxury room that I want to go to on a whim.”

“B-But…”

“Oliver, I don’t say this to brag, but… My monthly allowance is pretty big.”

“R-Really?”

“It’s the deal I have with my dad. I’ll focus on school and get perfect grades, but in return for not letting me have a part-time job, he gives me a pretty big allowance. Money’s not an issue, and I can think of worse ways to spend it. Please let me do this.”

“…If you’re sure.” It wasn’t that I was one to be offended by letting a girl pay, but the thought of not being able to reciprocate on the same level made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t invite Grace to such an expensive room, or treat Mila to expensive cafes.

I’d have to get a part-time job soon.

We arrived at the hotel, parked the car, confirmed and paid for the five hour reservation. We got there at around 4:00 pm, meaning we’d be leaving at around 9:00. Five whole hours with Grace…

Being the most expensive, luxurious room, it was on the very top floor. Going in, we immediately felt the faint smell of roses. The walls of the ample room were wine-colored, matching the carpets that contrasted against a dark floor. On a corner of the room was a hot tub with rose petals around it and a tall mirror next to it. Close to the tub was a black table and two chairs lined in red satin. Artsy paintings of naked couples adorned the room along with tall, potted plants. The king-sized bed had grayish covers and a pile of purple and black pillows on it. Across from it were a loveseat and a huge TV hooked to the wall, two mirrors at each side of the bed, plus a ridiculously huge one on the ceiling, right on top of it.

Grace whistled, impressed. “They don’t skimp on anything, do they? This is about what I’d expect for the price. Come on, I want to see the terrace!” She held my hand and dragged me to the glass door at one of the room’s ends. She slid it open and we stepped out to something like a walled balcony, adorned with small, potted palm trees and with a glass roof. There was another hot tub there, plus a set of wicker chairs and a small wooden table. Being on the top floor, there was little worry of anyone peeking from above, and the walls around the balcony were of smooth concrete with a coat of gray paint.

Grace giggled. “I like the glass roof.” She turned to me and asked. “We’re here now, and we have five whole hours to play. Do you want to make a mess out of the bed already or would you like to take it slow?”

My body was begging for the former, but if there was a single thing I regretted from my time with Mila, it was that I was too hasty. The sex had been amazing, but it all went by so quickly. Before I knew it, our time was up and we had to leave. Now we had five hours, but I knew that I ran the risk of getting just as caught up in this that my time with Grace would be gone in the blink of an eye.

“I… I don’t mind taking it slow,” I told her.

She nodded at me. “I really want to jump you right now, you know? But if all I wanted was your dick inside me, we could’ve gotten a cheaper room, or even done it in my car.” She calmly started taking off my shirt, leaving me only with my T-shirt. “I want us to enjoy this thoroughly, all the way from a relaxed dip in the tub to getting hot and sweaty in the bed.”

“This still feels so surreal,” I told her. “I know we’ve done it already, but even so… I never expected things like these to happen in my life.”

“All sorts of things can happen when you’re willing to open up to other people. Sometimes you hit a jackpot and find yourself an attractive, yet awkward guy who happens to be really good in bed and is actually a real sweetheart.”

Or, you know, you hit an even bigger jackpot and find three amazing girls who somehow don’t find it weird to share that one guy and have sex with him like they’ve know each other for way longer.

I chuckled. “Sarah said something similar the other day.”

“Who do you think I learned that lesson from?” She laughed with me. “Now strip. I want to jump in the tub.”

“Which one?”

“This one!” She pointed to the one in the balcony. “It almost feels like we’re outside, doesn’t it?”

“It’s as close as we’ll get.”

We both started undressing, and though I’d seen Grace naked already, I still turned my back to her as she took off her clothes. Why? Because I’m dumb and felt like I should give her some privacy, I guess? I think the time it took to get here from the amusement park cooled me down. At least enough to not princess-carry Grace to the bed like I had with Mila.

“It was still really exciting to make out in the Ferris wheel. You surprised me when you pulled down my top, but it turned me on even more.”

“I was on autopilot. Wasn’t the brightest idea, but… I didn’t expect you to double down.”

“I was a little afraid you’d stop and tell me to put my bra back on.” She chuckled. “You know, like you did the other day at school with my panties?”

I flinched. “Oh. That. W-Was that… really lame of me?”

“No, it was the right choice. If I’d been caught and word got to my dad, I would’ve been in trouble. At that moment I THOUGHT it was lame, because it brought me down back to reality from the excitement I was feeling, but in hindsight I’m grateful you stopped me. You make me want to get daring and naughty, and it’s a little dangerous.” She giggled.

Mila had said the same thing, hadn’t she? What was it about me? Was I truly… special in some way? Was this all stuff Grace had really never done with another guy? It was something I tried to keep out of my mind as best I could. Grace wasn’t shy to admit she’d had sex with other guys before, so it made me wonder if I wasn’t just… one more of those. Even if I was, this was still an amazing experience, but… Well, either my old crush on her was being rekindled or it had never actually gone away.

I continued to undress in silence while that thought kept circling my mind. At one point I even stopped moving, keeping my hands on my belt.

I couldn’t deny that I had strong feelings for Grace, Mila and Sarah. Very strong feelings. I also had a hunch that they felt just as strongly for me, too, but it was nothing more than that: a hunch. Everything they’d told me could be a lie for all I knew, and I would believe every word due to my own naïveté and my desire to be with them.

Shit. Self-destructive ideas sparked from nothing but a passing thought. Something all too common for me, but not any better for it. How I wished I could just kick my doubts to the curb and focus on the moment, but a ‘what if’ never fails to pop up, and it’s always the worst-case scenario.

“Oliver, hurry up!” Grace called. “The water’s amazing!”

That woke me up. I had to finish undressing and get in the tub with Grace. I would never forgive myself if I screwed up the mood with my stupid overthinking.