Chapter Six

I stood at the front door of our hotel. I would have stormed out, but the weather was only getting worse. Instead I folded my arms and angrily stared outside. I’d never felt so violated before. To think that another human being had gone through my things as I sat inches away in a death like slumber. It made my skin crawl with discomfort. I couldn’t help and snarl my lips just thinking about it. 

I inhaled a deep breath when I heard Nolan behind me. 

“Harper.” His tone was low as if he were testing the waters. Maybe he thought I would have calmed down by now. I mean he did wait a good fifteen minutes before he came down here. “Look, I know you’re mad, but I didn’t mean to piss you off.”

I spun around with my arms still folded. “You didn’t mean to piss me off?” I growled. “You didn’t have my consent, Nolan.”

“Whoa!” He held up his hands with an uneasy look on his face. A young, slightly chubby, blond woman and a scrawny brown haired man who were sitting nearby in the lobby turned their ears towards us. “You’re making it sound a lot worse.”

The blond woman rose from her seat with furrowed brows and walked towards us. She was wearing a low cut t-shirt over sweat pants that were tucked into her boots. The closer she was walking she no longer looked as young. The harsh spotlights in the lobby shined on her revealing slight wrinkles around her eyes. She grabbed my arm and gently turned me towards her. “Is this man bothering you, miss?”

I was pleasantly surprised to see a woman coming to the side of another woman in distress. I unfolded my arms and grabbed her hand back and with the most sincere look responded, “Thank you for asking, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

She lifted her brows and gave me a good look. I nodded as if we were speaking in some secret silent language. “Okay,” she let go of my hand and began to slowly walk away. “We’re in room 805 if you need anything.” Our eyes were locked for a couple of seconds. “Anything.”

I smiled and nodded again. She went back to sitting in the lobby with her husband. Or at least I assumed he was by the chunky rock on her finger.

“See,” Nolan whispered hoping the couple couldn’t hear us. “I told you you’re making this into a bigger deal.” His anger and frustration was slowly building until we were equally irritated. “I was just trying to help you out. If you can’t see that by now, then I’m sorry. We can just part ways from here.” He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out the hotel room key. 

I never thought I was an emotional person, until Celeste proved to me I was. There were so many times I could have broken down and cried back when I was trying to make it in Los Angeles. Instead, I would roll my eyes and rant about how annoyed I was. “For someone who claims to have a dark soul, you’re pretty emotional.” She said to me one night when I waltzed into her apartment after an interview had gone bad. “You would think it wouldn’t bother you.” I spent the next five minutes explaining that I really didn’t care, that the interviewers were stupid, and their publication wasn’t worthy of my work. They were the ones missing out, not me. Celeste looked at me and smiled. “Think about what you’re saying. Before your interview you were excited and said this was your dream company. Now, they’re the worst people ever? Why? Because they took something away from you and it sparked an emotion. You’re so consumed with it that you can’t think of anything else.” Of course I rolled my eyes. “Just because you aren’t crying or showing your sadness in a more traditional way doesn’t mean being annoyed, irritated, and angry aren’t valid emotions.” This all happened around the time Celeste was reading Dr. Phil’s new book. Let’s just say I got a lot of unsolicited advice. 

Celeste’s words didn’t really resonate until this moment. I was so consumed in my anger and annoyance I hadn’t even realized how our conversation might have sounded. I watched as Nolan pulled out the hotel room key and handed it to me. Maybe he was just helping out like he said he was. Why was it so hard for me to believe that there are good people out there? 

My lungs let out a burst of air that filled my closed mouth and ejected through my nostrils. Nolan’s brows tensed as he looked up at me. I bit my lips to stop them from curling up, but I couldn’t. They quivered rapidly as my cheek muscles spasmed. An unattractive rumbling escaped my mouth. I could feel my face burning with embarrassment. I inhaled sharply as I covered my face with my hands.

“Are you…crying?” Nolan sounded confused.

I really couldn’t help it now. I tried to stop myself, but it backfired. I snorted with laughter until my eyes watered.

Nolan’s confusion turned right into a frightful concern. “Are you laughing? This really isn’t funny.”

I couldn’t answer the question because I didn’t know why I was laughing. Everything that had built up inside of me was finally pouring out. From my eviction notice, to my car breaking down, to being stuck in a hotel room with a complete stranger. This could only be my life.

“I’m sorry.” I gasped for a breath and tried to calm myself down as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I just realized what our conversation must have sounded like.”

Nolan’s fingers ran through his hair as he tried to understand what was going on.

I inhaled a long breath this time and composed myself. It was really taking some distance from Celeste to realize just how much of an affect she had on me. So, I did exactly what I didn’t want to do. I let my frustration go. “I’m sorry, Nolan. I let my anger get the best of me. Even though I still don’t know you that well I’m sure your intentions were good.”

It was Nolan’s turn to start laughing. His was more of an uncomfortable laugh. “Wait, are you being serious?” I forced the corners of my lips up and nodded my head. “You are bat shit crazy, woman! My God, you were just yelling at me five minutes ago, burst into laughter, and now you’re apologizing?”

“I’m trying to be the better person.”

“Well, okay then.” He tensed his lips and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Okay then.” I mimicked his stale expression. “I’m just gonna go to the hotel bar now. I could really use a drink.” I handed the hotel room key back to Nolan and walked away.

By the looks of the empty bar room it was hard to believe the hotel was fully packed with guests. There was a few people scattered around, but the bar itself was empty. There wasn’t even a bartender in sight. I grabbed a stool and sat down anyway.

As I waited to order my drink I pulled out my phone. There weren’t any messages or missed calls. No, “How’s the drive, Harper?” Or, “haven’t heard from you in a while. Is everything okay?” I sighed as I shut the screen off and laid my phone down. This was only the outcome of being antisocial all those years. Putting my career, or lack of, before everything else. Now, when I’m feeling the most vulnerable, I have no one to check up on me. 

“Can we get two Old Fashions over here?” I spun around surprised to see Nolan pulling up a stool next to me. His knuckles knocked the wooden bar so loudly my eyes began to squint from the noise. Just like magic a bartender popped out of the back, “sure thing,” he nodded and proceeded to make our drinks.

“Wow,” I mumbled as I slumped back into my seat, “wish I knew that trick.”

“You learn a thing or two when you have to travel for work from city to city and bar to bar.” He smiled and winked. Nolan must have sipped on the same realization I had earlier. He came here as a completely different person from ten minutes ago. I heard him take a long drag of air in through his nose. “I apologize for going through your things. I was only trying to find something that could help me help you.”

“I know.” I pushed my hair that was falling along my face behind my ears to see him better. “I’m just a hot head. I can't stand to have my privacy invaded. I guess I'm a true Scorpio. I like to do this thing where I explode and then think and rationalize after the damage is done.”

Nolan’s eyes widened as he looked away. “Yeah, no kidding.”

We both laughed. It wasn’t like the forced laughs we’d been sharing. More of a genuine, I’m putting my guard down, type of laugh. 

“So, if you're traveling for work, why drive everywhere?”

A few seconds of silence passed before the bartender handed us our drinks. We clinked our glasses and took a sip. My face cringed as I forced myself to not spit all over the place. 

Nolan laughed at my expression. “What, you’ve never had an Old Fashion before?” 

I grunted. “I usually like my alcohol masked with fruit flavoring.”

“Ah, like most women. I should’ve guessed.” He proceeded to drink as if it were water. His glass was empty by the time he set it back down on the bar. “I grew up in a small town in South Carolina. It’s just like how you hear where every body knows each other. I don’t know much about my birth mother except that she was a beauty queen. Every one in town talks about what a sight she was. She married my dad when they were still pretty young. Anyway, three children and some years later she realized life as a housewife wasn’t for her, so she packed up her stuff and left. I was two at the time and it wasn’t until after my seventh birthday that my dad married someone else. She’s the only mother I’ve known. But, when things around me become too consistent I begin to close myself off and suddenly I understand why my mother did what she did. I’m sure she’s a lovely woman, but it feels like I’m siding with the villain. Like, maybe one day I could do the same.” Nolan waved his hand to catch the bartenders attention and gestured for another round of drinks.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Nolan.”

“I’m not telling you this for your sympathy or anything.” He smiled shyly as he stared down at his empty glass. “I’ve been giving you the short end of my answers for all those random questions you’ve been asking me and it looks like we might be here a while." I shrugged uncomfortably as I realized I wasn't so sly with my investigative skills. "When I travel for work flying from place to place makes things so easy, so routine. I drive because one wrong turn can lead to a new adventure. Something that let’s me appreciate the highs and the lows. I guess, in more cliche terms, I travel to break out of the norm.”

The bartender brought us over a new set of drinks. I knew exactly why Nolan was opening up to me. He knew I would catch on eventually and I did. We were two vulnerable souls sitting in at an empty bar. I held my drink in my hand and looked over at him. Maybe, it was the bourbon, but something made me feel like I was doing this for more than just to test a stupid theory.

We clinked our glasses as I whispered, “to new adventures.”