Michelle-Note: I need to confess that I haven't been proofreading at all. I have been churning out chapters at a more rapid rate than I can post them, and as I try to proof them I come up with a new chapter idea...soo...excuse any typos (I'm pretty good at avoiding them in the first place). Also, Ren is only 20...I realize that from Merging (the first one) her birthday was in the summer, so...during her junior year of college, she's one of those kiddos that doesn't turn 21 until later...I DO NOT CONDONE UNDERAGE DRINKING. I swear. One more thing, I noticed that I randomly began reversing the way I did the dates for the chapters...I was doing it the European way with the day then the month, and then randomly I stopped doing it, but now (after this recent election), I'm actually proud to be an American, so it's cool, I suppose (no offense to anyone). I'm basically too lazy to go back and fix this. Oh, wait...ONE more thing...London - I cannot write from her POV. I struggle. A lot. Flail wildly. Oh, wait again...thanks for the reviews. I heart you. I am still surprised people read this rubbish. I'm certain I could easily write for Disney provided I cut out the profanity and tone down my homosexual themes mildly. Lolz.
Chapter 4: From London to New York
London: The Tipton Hotel lobby, Boston: 3:30pm: March 15
London gets what London wants. London gets what London wants. I repeated over and over in my head, as I paced the length of the lobby of the Tipton. I glared at the candy stand each time I passed. I hated it here. It wasn't fun anymore.
London…gets…what…London…wants! London gets…
Sighing, I sat down on the sofa and pouted, "London can't have this…"
"Please refrain from talking to yourself, Miss Tipton," Moseby said from behind the reception desk, "Unless you are going to do it in private. Guests dislike it. It makes them uneasy…since that cocaine incident."
I looked over my shoulder, "Your hair is getting more gray. You should really fix that. Guests don't like old people either. Besides…that cocaine wasn't mine. They weren't even my pants."
He cleared his throat, "What is it you want that you can't have, Miss Tipton?" He sighed, "I'm sure your dear daddy can get it for you. Just like the time you wanted a zebra, and the Hybrid Escalade, and everything else you've ever wanted. What has your little brain conceived this time that you believe is out of your grasp?"
I waved my hand in the air to silence him, "Doesn't matter."
"Alright then." He said and looked down at the reservation book.
I watched him then asked, "Do you think there are things money can't buy?"
"Like what, London? Are we talking about friendship again? I thought you learned this lesson already, but you obviously did not, and speaking of which…" He paused, "Where is your friend?" He asked with another sigh.
"My new poor friend?"
"Mmhmm. I don't believe you have another friend here. I need to meet this girl to let your father know whether or not you're hanging out with riff-raff again."
"Oh," I responded, "She's getting my bags."
"You know we have Esteban to do that. He gets paid to, and he is very good at it. He has been doing it for years after all."
I glared at him, "Maddie would have gotten my bags if I told her to."
"Oh, you are still fixated on Maddie, I see…using this new girl to try and replace her, fill that Maddie-shaped hole…"
"Of course, she's my new poor friend."
Moseby smirked and I didn't understand why, "You cannot replace Maddie, so stop trying."
"Wanna bet? Poor people are expendable, and you replaced Maddie."
"I found a replacement for her position at the candy stand, yes. She was my employee. That is completely different."
I pondered the difference…
He continued to ramble, "Maddie didn't work for you."
"She did though." I protested, "I just didn't pay her often. I'm finding a replacement for her position as my poor friend."
"Exactly. She was your fr-"
"London! London!" Ren yelled from behind a luggage cart of my bags, "Why are you bringing all of this stuff home exactly? And why am I bringing it in for you when there's clearly a man standing right here who's job it is to do things like this?"
"After spring break I have to switch out my spring clothes for my summer clothes. New season, dear. I have so much to teach you." I responded. Common sense.
"Are you doing it for free, miss?" Moseby asked her.
"Yes…" She groaned.
Moseby looked at me, "Well done, London. Perhaps you have found a viable Maddie-replacement." He refocused, "Esteban, will you take London's things up to her room," then introduced himself to my new poor friend, "I'm Marion Moseby, General Manager of the Tipton Hotel of Boston."
"Ren Stevens," she shook his hand as my bags were taken to the elevator.
"Stevens…Stevens…related to Senator Stevens from California?"
"Yes, actually. She's my mom."
"London's definition of poor has gotten more broad, I suppose."
"Moseby, shut up." I instructed, "Ren, follow me. I'll give you the grand tour of the Tipton, we'll have dinner in the restaurant, and then we'll have some drinks in the bar. Tomorrow we leave for New York City! Get excited!"
Ren started to say something, "I don't really dr-"
"Come on." I snapped my fingers and stood up.
"London," Moseby began, "I think you may have made a fine choice of your new poor friend. Your father will be pleased. Hopefully, you will not-"
"Daddy doesn't pay you to talk." I snapped.
"Actually…"
"Zip it. Ren, keep up. This is the lobby. It's where people check in and out. They do that at the counter where Moseby is." I started for the elevator and my new poor friend followed obediently. I wanted to get away from Moseby. He talked too much.
"London…" He called after me. He just kept droning on and on, "Are you going to New York for the reason I think you're going to New York?"
I pressed the button for the elevator repeatedly and with much force. I wished that the buttons could sense urgency and send the elevator faster. Hell, I wished the buttons could sense that London Tipton was pressing them and send the elevator faster in general, since this was sort of my hotel.
"So why are we going to New York exactly?" Ren asked.
"For spring break, of course. Right, Moseby?" I shot him a glare as the doors opened.
"Mmhmm," he nodded, and went back to his bookkeeping crap.
"This is the elevator," I said to Ren, "It gets you to other floors of the hotel faster than the stairs."
"Oh, really?" She followed me and humored me. I appreciated it, really.
Hopefully she'd last longer than my previous poor friend. That girl had just used me for some temporary fame, and I dropped her immediately when I realized she was using me. Ren Stevens though, she was different – I could tell. I could tell when I met her, when she somehow had no idea who I was. She wasn't as poor as I preferred, but she was the sort of person I was looking for to be my new poor friend. All hotel heiresses need a poor friend for a project, but since Maddie I couldn't find an adequate poor friend. Ren, though, she listened and pretended to care…for no reason at all that I had thus determined. I found her in the library too, which meant she was smart. Smart poor friends were the best, especially if they dressed really boring and couldn't get boys…just like this Ren Stevens character that I stumbled upon. She reminded me of someone, but I couldn't put my finger on who exactly. Not Maddie. Maddie was blonde.
