the recap: Abbie arrives at Room 2222

"Okay," Abbie said. "What was the first thing that happened?"

Ben and Carter exchanged looks, and then both faced Abbie. Ben spoke. "We met you downstairs, and invited you up for a cocktail."

"Right!" Abbie agreed. "Did you want to go all the way back to that?"

"No," said Carter. "But ... maybe just the hallway."

Ben chuckled. "Right, I remember, you looked incredible, prancing down the hallway toward our room."

"Room 2222," Abbie said, smiling, picturing the number on the door.

Carter nodded. "So just for ... you know, re-creating the original, how about you come back down the hall toward the rom?"

Abbie smiled, but with a curious expression in her eyes. "Hm, okay." She hopped up off the bed and walked through the room, searching.

"What do you need?" asked Ben.

"My dress. You want me to go back into the hallway, right?"

Carter looked at Ben. "Sorry, I don't remember a dress. Were you wearing a dress?"

"Yes!"

Ben shook his head. "No, I don't remember a dress either."

"Ben!" Abbie exclaimed, giggling. "You want me to go back into the hallway like this?" She gestured to herself to indicate her nudity.

"Since you asked -- yeah!" Ben replied.

Abbie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, boys. Whatever you say." Slowly, she tiptoed across the room and toward the door. "Now listen up. I like you all, and we're having a wonderful time. Don't do some kind of prank and lock me out of the room. Pranks are mean."

"You don't want to be stuck in the hallway with no clothes?"

Abbie sighed. "I don't want to stop fucking around with all of you, so if you do something stupid like lock me out, I'm just going to go back to my own room and you'll probably never see me again." She made eyes at each of them, one by one, like a teacher surveying her naughty students. "And just think how silly you'll all feel, standing here naked with each other while I'm back in my own room getting fucked by my boyfriend instead of you."

When she said 'boyfriend,' Abbie felt a different kind of tingle through her, this one giving her heart a bit of a flutter. He's not my boyfriend, he's just ... Jake, she thought. But even imagining his name in her mind gave her cheeks a bit of a flush.

Tuk nodded. "Yeah, okay, that's right."

"No pranks," agreed Cory.

"Just you," said Ben. "Naked. In the hall. And we'll be here, and you can come back in just like you did before."

Abbie gave them all another chastising look, and then turned her back to them and walked toward the door, her hips swaying, knowing that they were all staring at her ass. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder. "You better hope I come back."

Carter chuckled. "I do." He looked around. "I'm sure we all do."

Abbie turned the handle of the door, slipped through, and let it close behind her.

The hallway was extremely bright, especially compared to the calmer atmosphere of the room inside. Abbie couldn't recall if lights were even on. Maybe just the wall fixtures? Maybe it was just ambient light from the ... I don't remember! She giggled at herself as she realized that she had been so fixated on the men and on the sex that she barely even noticed the look of the room. It was different from mine and Jake's, that's all I can remember.

She looked up and down the hallway. It bore enough resemblance to her own floor -- same carpet, same door decor, same art on the walls. Is it the same art? It's the same frame, same position. But I think the one on my floor is a watercolor of a fish? As she stood outside Room 2222, staring at the framed art across the hall, she heard the unmistakable sound of a door latch clicking. Finally, the boys are letting me back in.

She turned, ready to re-enter the room ... except it wasn't Room 2222 that was opening -- it was 2225, across the hallway, and on the other side of the art she had been eyeballing. The door opened, and a woman stepped out.

The woman wore a purple silk robe over a white cotton nightie with white fluffy slippers. Her clothes were somewhat plain -- even more exaggeratedly so, considering Abbie was standing opposite her, completely naked. To Abbie's surprise, the woman didn't react much, other than to stand there and look. Her eyes moved up and down, obviously taking in the full sight of Abbie's body. Through it all, Abbie just stared back, not making any effort to cover up, but not making a performance of it either.

"Not what I expected," the woman in Room 2225 said.

Abbie chuckled. "No? What did you expect?"

The woman smiled. "I was just going to get ice. Have you been standing there long?"

"About a minute or two. I'm ..." Abbie stopped to consider how much to describe. "I'm playing a game with my friends in there." She gestured to the door behind her.

"Some game." The woman leaned back into her own room. "Oh, darling!" she called out in a sing-song voice. She resumed her stance in the doorway, her arms folded, watching Abbie.

A few seconds later, a man's voice emerged from within Room 2225. "You forgot the ice bucket." He poked his head out from inside, and leaned over the woman's shoulder. "What's going on, is there a ..." He stopped as he looked up and saw Abbie. "Oh." He stopped in stunned silence and stared. "Oh!" he said a second time. "This is ... who is this?"

The woman shook her head. "No idea. Just found her out here."

"Interesting," said her friend.

Just then, the door behind Abbie cracked open. Abbie turned toward the door and saw Ben peeking out.

"We realized there was no plan for re-enacting your arrival," he said.

Abbie grinned. "Nope."

"So you've just been standing there?"

"Yup."

Ben looked out into the hallway and saw the couple across the way. "Making new friends?"

"Yup."

Ben nodded at the other couple as he pushed the door a little further open, though not enough to reveal his own naked lower half. "You want to come back in?" he said to Abbie.

Abbie laughed. "Yup."

"Shame," said the woman in Room 2225. "We were just about to offer you the same invitation."

Abbie turned back to them. "Another time, I suppose."

"I suppose so," said the woman with a playful shrug. "I'm off to get ice. I hope you all have a nice night."

Abbie gave her a smile and a wave, and followed Ben back into his room, closing the door behind her.