Chapter 2 The motel
A guest
I am in the shower, I was checked in at the counter, by a very uninterested, spotted teenager who handed me a card, that was the key, without taking his eyes off his Nintendo and cursing under his breath. I hovered around the plain room aimlessly for a while and decided to take a shower, to calm my heated nerves, I would go to sleep and be happy with myself tomorrow.
I wash slowly and try to think of nothing. I resist the temptation to turn myself on and I actually start to like it. I am warm and calm when I turn the water off. I dry my body and my hair and I am just wrapping a new towel around me when there is a soft but distinct little knock on my door. Three times.
What? Who? The receptionist...I left my pouch at his counter..no, my pouch is right there on the bed. I walk to the door slowly. I am hardly dressed but I am not worried. There is a strange calm upon me. I open the door and it is you. In your full glory. To add to your elven-queen appearance, you are not only wearing your many silky white cloth, but also a silvery cloak, with a hood, for Christ's sake! You walk straight out of Rivendel. You take the hood down, your hair falls down, wavy and very blond. It doesn't make you any closer to human. You smile, your expression of joy looks quite genuine.
"Here we are, meeting under different circumstances already !"
I stare at you, the doorknob in my hand, I am still calm but utterly indecisive.
"Can I come in?"
I step aside and you brush past me, remove your cloak and you sweep it over the only chair the motel room possesses. You turn and make a move towards me, as if you want to take me into your arms, but you hold back when you see I have not moved, the door is still open and in my hand. I push it closed. You hands fall by your side, you look a little deflated, your eyes flash uncertain trough the room.
" I am free, here on my own accord. Not paid."
I still stare at you. You are a ray of light in this shabby room. I have no idea how you found me but here you are, renewing your offer of spending bedtime with me. I don't know why I am resisting, maybe I am suspicious of your motives because I can't think for the life of me why you, who could get princes and movie stars to pay fortunes for your company, would pursue me. A shabby (not if I put in effort, but mostly I don't) rather second rate detective with dubious erotic tastes. Maybe that is what attracts you, my sexual adventurousness...You await an answer, standing there in the middle of the room. You wait for my decision. There is nothing seductive about you, now. You even look a little sad. Suddenly I believe you are genuine, you sneaked out of the party, as soon as you could, to be with me. Maybe you are lonely.
"How did you find me?" I eventually ask, I walk over to the bed and sit on it. I am looking around the room for a mini-bar but of course this motel is too cheap to have something as fancy as a mini-bar.
"I have a spidey-sense, it tingled." you say rather seriously. I am intrigued,
" how does that work? I have a spidey-sense myself sometimes, I call it intuition." You smile at me,
"I stood on the driveway and the motel just blinked at me."
"Did the receptionist tell you which room to go to?'' I was suddenly worried, we were still at the wrong side of the law, weren't we? This could easily be interpreted as 'accepting the Gift after all', couldn't it? Apparently you read my mind, because you come closer, sit next to me on the bed and look at me intently,
"No one saw me. I did not walk over the main road, I took the path by the canal. I did not go past the receptionist, he has no idea I am here."
"You did not go past the reception? How did you enter the motel, do you have other spidey-talents as well? I raised my voice without noticing it.
"Shuhs." you are grinning, "let's not make it common knowledge the motel has a stowaway, shall we?"
I lower my voice, " how did you enter the motel?" I am totally sobered up and very entertained, what the heck?!
"Number 16 had his window open." I hear suppressed amusement in your voice, you are entertained too.
" Are you kidding me? You sneaked in through a sleeping person's room?"
"I very much did that." you say and we laugh together.
"Oh lord, what if he'd woken up?"
" I would have offered him my body and I would have had some delay getting to you." You say, matter-of-factly. I let that sink in for a minute.
"You fuck your way out of anything.." I don't know if I am asking a question or drawing a conclusion.
"Yeah...pretty much." you say, you look at your hands that are in your lap, the fingers entwined. You shot me a glance and suddenly you look old and tired and cynical. I don't know what to say. Even an expensive, very exclusive whore is a whore, after all.
" Why are you here, Aias?" I say your name deliberately, I think you like hearing it.
"I don't know, to tell you the truth. I like you, sergeant detective, I like you the most of anybody I met tonight.