Do not let me Kiss him!

            Phil didn’t call that night. In fact, two weeks had gone by and I still hadn’t heard from him. I had been checking both my cell phone and my email at 10 minute intervals throughout my days, and still nothing. I had spent roughly $50 on internet access in the hotel lobby before I realized that my master key opened the door to an empty office where we could go check our schedules and sit down at break time. It took a few attempts to figure out the internet password on the computer in there, but luckily we managed to log on to the front-desk server and connect with the password Luke had given it to us. The only tricky part of it was that we couldn’t be in the office for too long or people would become suspicious. So Kat and I had worked out a system where we would each go sporadically and only for short periods of time. There were surveillance cameras close to the office so  sometimes we would walk past the cameras with a mop, broom, or basically any piece of cleaning equipment, depending who was on camera surveillance duty. Kat and I were becoming pros at it and at first it was quite exciting. I had finally got around to reading the emails from Audrey and was happy to know that Paddy-Cakes was doing superbly; though, in the beginning, I did feel a bit of a sting when I found out she was doing so well without me around.

            I jumped at the sound of a knock on the door. I sat still in the grey swivel chair - practically holding my breath to avoid making any sounds. Then I heard the other two knocks and immediately knew it was Kat doing out secret knock sequence that we had come up with. I reached my arm over and unlocked the door.

“Did you clean in here?” Kat said as she walked in and looked around the tiny office.

“I figured I might as well clean while I’m in here.” I shrugged my shoulders and Kat rolled her eyes.

“Any news from Philly?” She said looking over at the computer screen.

“I was just about to check.” I said matter-of-factly and I typed in my email password.

The page loaded and Kat sat down on the desk. My inbox read 1 new message and I looked up at Kat who was peeking over at the screen. I clicked on inbox and we both crossed our fingers.

Hello beautiful! How is the west coast treating you? Well, I hope. I haven’t heard from you in weeks so I figured I would write to you and give you a quick update. Did you know I met someone? We’ve been dating for about a week and it’s going pretty well. Oh and speaking of boys, I’m sorry about Phil – I know how much you liked him and I feel bad for ever introducing you to him. But if it makes you feel any better, his new girlfriend fat and butch. J Seriously, I’m not just saying that to make you feel better – and her hair is awful! Not that it matters, I’m sure you have tons of boys after you over there.

Well, give me an update soon. I miss you and can’t wait to hear from you.

Mal xo

I sat there with my hand over my mouth like it would prevent me from screaming or throwing up. I felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks and my entire body was numb. So many thoughts were rushing through my head, but yet my mind was blank. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel; I didn’t know what I was entitled to feel because after all, Phil didn’t owe me anything.

“Are you...are you okay?” Kat managed.

I shook my head no and she hopped off the desk to hug me.

“I’m sorry your prince turned out to be...”

“A wanker!” I cut her off and wiped my tears.

“Yeah exactly...a wanker!” She laughed. “Come on” she grabbed the mouse to close the internet browser “let’s go hide out in a room and watch Ellen.”

It was the end of the day, and finally the weekend. After a good cry with Kat and a good laugh with Ellen DeGeneres, I felt better. A bunch of us were going for supper and I was excited for a night out. I was in my room putting the final touches on my hair when James passed by my open door.

“Looking good, Jojo!” He shouted.

“Hey, you can’t call me that.” I shouted back to him. “That’s Luke’s thing!” I pointed out.

“So what am I supposed to call you?” He was standing in the doorway smiling at me and the thought that James was quite good looking crossed my mind at that moment. Earlier that week, Kat told me that she thought James had a little crush on me.  I had confided in her that I thought he was incredibly cute, but could not get past the fact that he shared my father’s name to which Kat agreed that it would feel kind of odd to yell out your own father’s name in bed. But, as he stood in the doorway, I couldn’t help but notice how cute he looked in the Dazed and Confused red t-shirt I had found in the lost & found and given to him.

 “I don’t know, I guess you’ll just have to find me another nickname.” I smiled back at him. Gosh, am I flirting with him? I wondered as I quickly turned away feeling hot in the face.

He walked in my room and sat down on my bed. Okay this is awkward. I thought as I straightened my hair.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Kat in the common room a while ago.” He said trying to sound nonchalant.

“Oh ya?” I prayed he would change the subject. I hadn’t thought about Phil in at least an hour and was determined to never think of him again.

“So this bloke screwed you over pretty badly, ay?” He continued. I nodded and avoided making eye contact with him.

“Well, it’s his loss...” he paused and continued “Lisa.”  I turned to find him holding my Driver’s licence which I had left on the bed. I hadn’t heard anyone call me Lisa since my father when I was a little girl. This is quite eerie I thought as I turned back to face the mirror and finish straightening my hair.

“Joyel Lisa, ay.” He smiled. “Nice name.” I looked back over at him, but jumped startled at the site of my father’s face on James’ body. I blinked my eyes a few times and finally saw James’ smiling face again.

“You alright there, Lisa?” He laughed.

“Yeah, errr, thanks!” I managed. “Just errr...a hair... in my eye.” I said pointing to my eye. “OK, I’m ready!” I nervously smiled at him.

“Let’s go!” He was sitting on my bed, extending his hand to me. Oh god!

I awkwardly grabbed his hand and pulled him up as you would when helping a child or elderly person, and immediately pulled my hand away from his as soon as he stood up. This is sooo awkward.

I shut my door behind me and saw Kat walking down the hallway. I ran up to her and swung my arm under hers to lean is close to her.

“No matter how drunk I get tonight, do not let me kiss him!” I instructed her as I whispered into her ear.

“Got it!” She laughed.