Day Eight

The entire day felt like I had a knot in my stomach. I barely ate, my stomach rebelling at the idea of food. Kaylee herself acted like she always did. Not for the first time, I wondered what the hell was wrong with me. Why was I putting myself through this ****? There wasn’t a purpose to it. Three times, I almost broke down and canceled the whole thing. Even if Kaylee had gotten word the two, it would have been easy to ghost them. Both of them would be gone tomorrow and neither of them knew what room we were staying in.

Dinner was more of the same. I barely had the stomach to pick at my food. The conversation itself seemed muted and reserved. For a moment, I wondered if Kaylee had told her parents what we had planned. We would need an excuse for our absence, right?

“I have some good news for you two,” Lisa said as we were finishing dessert. “You two will have the room all to yourself tonight.”

“Oh? Where are you two going to be?”

“I met a lovely couple today,” she said with a radiant smile. “Toby and I are going to swap with them.” I glanced over at Mr. Webb and he gave a, ‘what can I do,’ shrug. “So I suggest you two get it all out of your system tonight if you don’t want company watching.” She looked at me and winked.

Kaylee took the announcement in stride. “We’ll do that.” Seeing me staring at her, she smiled. No, she hadn’t forgotten about our plans. With a quivering hand, I **** myself to eat.