Chapter two
The hotel had been swamped with customers these past few weeks - both famous and not, but with the Proms slowly drawing to its conclusion, so were the customers.
Whereas the Barclay brothers beforehand feared the staff would be shorthanded because of the recent, but lengthy event, more staff had been hired to compromise for the sudden and extensive flow of foreign tourists. With that flow now abruptly decreasing in size, the huge amount of staff was no longer required, but as one can't breach a contract, they were here to stay for the whole, long run. In result, instead of being extremely shorthanded, some of us were boring ourselves to death with no available work to do.
And it was getting on people's nerves.
"Hey.. Liz…?", a faint voice mutters beside me as I approach the front desk. For all to view, colleague or customer, Karen's upper body is draped all over said desk, completely stretched, with her head resting on its wooden surface. Her eyes are firmly shut.
I raise a single eyebrow and bite my lip in anticipation, afraid of what is going to come, "Yes?".
Karen had been one of the newly-hired staff members who had to make up for the increased flood of customers. Sadly, most of them were quickly selected, without a proper background or credentials check. And in Karen's case, I couldn't help but think they'd simply hired her because of her great looks and nice rack - they were huge and so was Karen's mouth. The most disastrous you could do to ruin a 5 star hotel is employing a loud and obnoxious 21-year old girl, um - secretary, I mean.
"It's nearly 11 pm."
"So?"
I've almost managed to survive five hours…
… of doing absolutely nothing.
"Mr. Peng is about to arrive."
"….What?", I frown deeply. Surely, the lack of stimulation must be getting to her. Even though I wonder if her brain gets any kind of stimulation at all.
"There's this customer who checks in every evening at 11", she pauses to get off of the desk and stand upright onto her highheels as I motion her to continue - customers checking in late wasn't that strange or unheard of, "And the lad's fit as fuck!".
I remain silent, feeling slightly offended and confused as I feel the need to grab a dictionary that's specifically directed at people trying to understand the British language and different kinds of slang.
"You haven't seen him, have you?", she casually asks as she straightens her clothes. I simply give her a stern look.
"Oh boy, you're missing out", she says before grabbing a little mirror from one of the cabinets behind her, which she apparently hid there, and starts to re-do her eyeshadow, mascara and lipgloss, right behind the main front desk.
Very professional.
Maybe, just maybe, I can't help but wonder if she chased the customers away with her immature behavior.
"Wait," I look at her, eyebrows frown even deeper - if that's possible, but she never meets my gaze, still busy applying her make-up, "How come you know he always checks in at 11?"
She stops but doesn't say a word. It takes a few minutes, but then a light bulb hits me right in the face. "Oh, God, no. Have you been stalking him?!", I whisper into her ear, almost giving into the urge to rip the black pencil out of her hand and throw it into the trash, along with the rest of her attributes, but with every little fiber in my body, I manage to resist this, what seems completely and perfectly at this moment, human reaction.
"Well, I wouldn't really call it as much as stalking," she continues her activity, "I simply have a good eye. He checks in every day, around the same time. It's like a routine".
I suspiciously glance at her, afraid of what other information she might've discovered about our customer and hope that she did not gain it on such a way that's against our hotel's policy. Even if I do imagine her doing a full sweep of his room and thereby invading his privacy. Or maybe she bribed one of the maids.
I closely watch how she quite skillfully applies the make-up,"You're making yourself look pretty for him, aren't you?"
"I was actually going for smoking hot", she finishes refreshing herself by putting a pink lipgloss on, "But I'll settle for sexy". The mirror and the make-up has disappeared in a flash and she looks up at me, smiling widely.
"He's really, really good-looking".
She looks at her watch.
"10:50", Karen mumbles and licks her lips, pre-tasting her lipgloss, "He should be here soon".
"Who should be here soon?", a voice from behind us questions, making us jump up. We turn around to face James.
"Apparently this reallyhandsome man, according to Karen", I reply, looking quite sarcastically. James looks at Karen and she shrugs in defense, "He really is"
All of the sudden, the glass-paneled doors open and a few men walk through. They seem in deep conversation, but they definitely catch our attention. At least, James' and Karen's.
Karen bites her lip and places her elbow on the desk, letting her head rest upon her hand. She sighs lightly, "It's the left one. Isn't he just tasty?".
Both James and I immediately shift our gazes to the left man, intrigued.
Our target is a fairly tall man with jet black hair and it's mainly done in a straight manner, but with a gelled-up duck tail in the middle, standing proud. He seems to have dark eyes and he obviously hasn't shaven today, as a little scruff is clearly present. His ears are oddly shaped, probably from surgery to remove his floppy ears. He's tan, though. I can't really decide whether or not his chin has been implanted, as it has the most unusual shape. He walks in a slightly hunched manner and he seems to take the dress code a little to serious - he's wearing an onyx silk suit, with a white dress shirt underneath it. To top it off, he's wearing a jet black bowtie.
I'm lightly disappointed to find out that our Mr. Peng isn't Asian, but more likely either a posh business man or a Hollywood snob, judging by his American accent. I can clearly see why Karen likes him so much - he's just like her: fake. And most likely gay.
"He's a beast!," James suddenly says, licking his lips, "If given the chance, I'd ride his flagpole".
"But not before I take it for a spin", Karen beams, eyeing the man and obviously trying to undress him with her eyes. Peng and his posse slowly disappear to our right, where the hotel's bar is located, but not before looking around and giving many, including us, either a slow nod of the head or a smile, acknowledging us and other staff members.
I scoff and immediately have four eyes staring at me, "What?"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that", James says, looking away.
"Why?"
"Because you're either blind or just really, really conflicted if he just didn't make you soaking wet".
"I know it did for me", Karen says, waving a hand in front of her face as if it should cool her down. She lets out a sigh and smiles ever so endearing as she stares at the spot where our Peng has dropped out of sight.
"Or maybe I'm the only sane, professional person in this place", I say angrily before turning around and nearly storming off, leaving two perplexed gossipmongers behind.
"What just happened?", James ask, blinking a couple of times as he's still progressing what just occurred.
Please, pleasedon't bite my head off for criticizing Seth like that.
But yes, our main character doesn't quite like Seth just yet.
I'm just really curious, though. Did you guys expected James to be gay? Did I hint it out too much in chapter one?
Anyways, let me know what you thought, if you have any questions, any remarks, maybe any hints or improvement, all is welcome!
Thank you for reading. See you in the next one!
