Try to keep your eyes politely averted

Adopting his best poker face, John calmly anchoring his eyes to his luggage, assembling his nightly items. Around him he heard the sounds of their delicate fabrics swishing enticingly as the two girls unpacked. Kate in particular walked right next to him several times, and his desire to look up and ogle her perfect body was maddening, but he resisted. Finally he retreated to the solitude of the bathroom and shut the door.

After changing out of his clothes and into his sleeping shorts, he eyed himself in the mirror nervously. It wasn't much to wear in such company, but given the precedent they'd just set, he imagined it was enough.

But as he reentered the room, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. Kate was in her bed, head on her pillow, looking distantly out the far window. Her eyes looked red and upset. Ilyana was likewise under her covers with a stern look on her usually serene face.

"Is there something the matt..." he began, but Ilyana shook her head warningly, and he lapsed into silence.

"Goodnight," she intoned flatly, and turned out the light.

John climbed onto his cot between the two in the darkness, bewildered. Had they had a fight while he was in the bathroom? That was certainly unlike them; they had been fast friends for as long as he could remember. It was almost as if they were upset at him, though he couldn't imagine why. Eventually he descended into sleep, his questions unanswered.

The next morning he awoke to find both girls already out---probably for their morning warm up run, which he mercifully did not have to attend. As he prepared himself for the day, there came a knock at the door. He opened it and immediately froze, eyes wide. It was Coach Vanessa. And boy was she angry.

It turned out that she had overhead some private conversation Kate had had with the other girls that morning, and somewhere in the midst of it his lodging situation had been inadvertently disclosed. True to Kate's earlier prediction, Coach Vanessa had "freaked". She declared in no uncertain terms that the board of education would have her throat if they knew anything remotely like this was taking place under her watchful supervision, and that the only responsible solution was to shuttle him directly back to the airport and onto the next flight home, which is exactly what she did.

Later in life, John often looked back on his aborted trip wondering what might have been. Maybe you should rewind the story and find out!

The End