Kurt offers an alternative

“Well, given the number of people here, I don’t think that it’s fair, seeing as it would only overcrowd another room,” Lisa piped in. “And besides, what if two more people happen to hook up? Someone else gets kicked out of a room?”

Brandon shrugged. “I don’t mind sharing with a third person, I just don’t know if that third person would like to share with us,” he grinned.

“I’m not sure about it,” Ashley said with a frown.

“Ash, I think it’d be okay if it comes to it,” Brandon tried to placate his girlfriend. “We can sleep cuddled on a small bed, that’ll be just as great.”

“I didn’t need that mental picture, thank you very much.” Madison piped in, earning a sheepish look from her twin brother.

“What about the couches?” Zack asked. “Seems to me there’s plenty to not make people uncomfortable.”

“Trust me, you don’t wanna sleep on the couch, it usually gets really hot here in the living room at night,” Heather replied. “No, let’s put Ashley and Brandon in the lake room and then work things out from there.”

Ashley shot her friend a grateful look as Victoria sidled up to the brunette. “Still, ten people over three rooms is a really tight fit, how are we even going to decide who goes where?”

“I was thinking about doing a drawing from a hat to decide,” Heather offered.

There were murmurs of approval before Kurt stepped forward. “If you allow me to make a suggestion, dear cousin,” the blonde young man said it as if he was a scholar about to share his wisdom with the others. “How about this, the couple in the lake room, the other two guys and myself in the master room and the rest of you girls can divide yourselves as you see fit between the two smaller rooms?”

“You’re three guys, why’d you share just one bed?” Lisa frowned, earning a few nods of agreement from the other girls. “It makes more sense for the three of you to get one of the small rooms.”

Kurt held up his index finger, a wicked grin on his face. “First of all, there’s an assortment of cots, futons and sleeping bags in here, and as to why I suggested it, the bathroom, ladies,” he answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That way us men will share one bathroom and you women get the other, unless you all are fine with dealing with the mess we’ll most certainly make in the bathroom.”

Victoria, Ashley, Lisa, Madison and Taylor all scrunched up their faces in disgust. “Ewww! He’s right, Heather,” the green-eyed blonde said. “I don’t want to go in there and find towels and underwear on the floor or worse, hair on the soap.”

Heather sighed, that wasn’t how she was planning things at all. She wanted to mix boys and girls equally in the three remaining rooms, but Kurt seemingly won the other girls over with his idea, and even she had to admit it kind of made sense somehow. “Alright, let’s do as Kurt says,” she agreed. “Everyone okay with it?”

Zack, Chloe, Hannah, Brandon and Gavin just shrugged in response, although the latter’s face took on a thoughtful expression. Eight girls sharing just one bathroom? I have a bad feeling about this, Gavin thought, but kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know Kurt and guessed it would not be a good idea to point flaws in his idea and antagonize his roommate on the very first day of the trip.

After the girls decided that Taylor and Hannah would get a room to themselves and the other five girls would share the last one, Hannah whistled loudly to get everyone’s attention before they scattered to unpack. “Okay, you guys, I know almost all of you don’t want to talk about this, but Lisa raised a really good point earlier,” she said, earning curious glances from the younger ones. “What do we do if another couple besides Ash and Brandon needs some private time?”

“They’re the only couple here,” Zack stated in a very matter-of-fact way.

The older blonde raised an amused eyebrow at her best friend’s younger brother. “Oh, you’d be surprised at how surprising things can get in a trip like this one, Zacky,” she shot back. “I’m just gonna make a suggestion, like we do in college, borrow a room and tie a sock on the doorknob.”

“Of course, don’t hog said room,” Taylor added absentmindedly as she picked up her bags. “And, well, it goes without saying, but don’t mess it up too much either.”

“They have a point,” Kurt grinned and Heather, for once, agreed with her cousin, even if she never hooked up with a friend before, no one could predict what was in store for them over the next few weeks. She glanced at her other friends. “Guys?”

It seemed everyone found it interesting to stare at their own feet, no one really wanted to discuss such an embarrassing issue, so the whole discussion never even started and kind of ended in an unspoken agreement that no one would stand in the way of an eventual new couple needing some alone time together.

After that, everyone started heading to their respective assigned rooms. Kurt showed Zack and Gavin a spiral staircase in a corner of the kitchen that led to the storage area and laundry room. “To get us a couple of cots,” he said. When the cots were ready in their room, the older guy swung an arm around each of the younger boys’ shoulders. “Alright, you two!” he said, a little too cheerfully in Zack’s opinion. “We’ve got a lot to talk about!"