SSS 2 - Hiding spot

You open the top drawer of the dresser that the TV sits on and place the textbook inside. Then you open your backpack and pull out a couple of objects to make it seem more believable. You aren’t aware of any truly clever spots because you aren’t a criminal. You could like… cut open the mattress or a pillow and stuff it in there with your multitool, but property destruction is bad. Taytum would do that. You won’t.

With the money stashed, you peel off your clothes and head into the bathroom to join the others.

The bathroom is gross. It’s not overtly dirty, just depressing. The shower stall is tiny, and there’s nothing sexy about three bodies sharing a shower when all they want is the hot water. There’s almost no water pressure and Bian is so pitiful because she’s so short. Instead of jockeying for some water for yourself, you find yourself battling Taytum so that Bian can get some. Taytum fights dirty, so whenever you get some water she just pinches your ass hard enough to make you jump and slides right in.

“Oh, don’t fight over me,” Bian says, and being crammed in here between you like this is probably the happiest that she’s ever been. Attention like this is like meth for her.

Five truly sad minutes later you’re all wrapped in flat, threadbare, scratchy towels that smell like chemicals as you consider your combined provisions:

5x One-shotter bottles of cheap vodka.

5x Bottles of Stella Artois, still… sort of cold.

1x Small pack of peanut butter cups (which you bought for Bian)

1x Clif bar (which you brought)

1x Small bag of Cheez-Its (which you brought)

2x Small wrapped chocolate mints (which you brought)

1x Roll of mints (which you brought)

A piece of gum (which Bian has for some reason)

You’re all shivering. Everyone has wet hair. The AC wheezes like a dying person, going back and forth between spewing warm and cold air. The room is hardly warmer than the storm outside. This motel is so crummy that it doesn’t even have a coffee maker that you could use to generate some properly hot water for… something.

“Well,” Taytum says after a moment, folding her arms. “We’re going to starve to ****. That was how they died.”

“We had snacks and then we had more snacks at the diner,” you remind her, but she’s right. It’s been a stressful night. The only thing worse than being in this motel room is being here and being hungry. “It’s not like we can go to the grocery store.”

“Actually, another car did go by,” Bian says, glancing at the window. “So it’s not completely flooded yet.”

Thunder crashes and the lights flicker. The walls of the motel creak as a gale shoves on them. You cringe.

“We are not driving anywhere else tonight,” you tell her firmly. “I think I saw a vending machine.”

They both turn to you hungrily. Curling up with junk food and cable TV is the best chance of salvaging this terrible night.

“This is the way,” Bian says, beaming up at you.

“Yeah,” Taytum agrees, twisting the top off of a little vodka and downing the contents.

“Why me?” you ask, affronted.

Bian and Taytum exchange a look.

“Oh, you know we have no money,” Bian says with a laugh.

You put your face in your hand. You don’t mind spending money, but going out there means putting your wet clothes back on, if only for a few minutes. You look toward the window and shudder. And there’s something else about it. Maybe it’s what happened at the diner, or even the gas station. It feels… menacing.

“Fine. I’ll buy, but we all go together,” you say firmly, putting your hand on your hip.

“Look at you,” Taytum says, looking you up and down. “Girl boss. Hell no. But very boss.”

“I’ll die of hypothermia,” Bian says, dropping her towel and scrambling into bed. She pulls up the covers around her neck and peers at you.

So it’s like this again.

“I already foraged for food for you,” you remind her, pointing at the peanut butter cups.

“Oh, right. Give me those.”

Taytum tosses them to Bian, and she vanishes under the covers. You hear a wrapper crinkling and take a deep breath for patience.

There’s the rose-tinted part of your relationship and then there’s reality. Bian is very cute, lots of fun, and you love her. She’s also a whiny baby gremlin. Taytum also understands and respects this truth. Babies must be fed.

“Want me to go?” Taytum asks you, a cocky smile on her face. Cocky, and admittedly, very sexy. You don’t have to be a mind reader to know what she has in mind.

“Or do want me to go?” you shoot back.

“Yes. Absolutely,” she replies with a laugh.

It’s unspoken, but Taytum is at least honorable. Whoever makes the ultimate sacrifice to undertake the quest to the vending machine will receive sexual favors. Whoever stays here, snug with Bian, will have to deliver those favors.

Venture out and receive favors later? If so, what favors?

Or stay here with Bian while Taytum goes? If so, make a move with Bian or try to report back to CCL House with the landline?