Senior Year Box Set

Chapter 9 – A Hotel of Paris Hiltons Wednesday March 29

I’d woken at four in the morning when Ashley crawled into my bed. So, when I woke up for the day, I wasn’t in the best of moods. It looked like my flat-mates had gone partying last night, once again without me.

I came out of my bedroom to find a guy I didn’t know, walking around clad only in boxers. He was a hirsute beast with shaggy hair and a beer belly. My first conjecture was he was some homeless guy who’d wandered in. Then the smell hit me, a funky mixture of alcohol, rank perspiration, and cigarette smoke. He had tattoos all over his arms and chest and an eyebrow piercing. Not that tattoos and piercings made you a bad person; it just wasn’t something I wanted to wake up to.

“Who are you?” he asked with a heavy Greek accent and a surly attitude as he reached into his boxers to scratch something.

At that, I threw up in my mouth a little.

“The better question is, who are you, and why are you in my kitchen?” I asked.

He said something in Greek that I took as unflattering. He yelped in surprise when I put him in a wristlock and marched him out the door. The dumbass thought he would earn brownie points by pounding on the door and throwing insults. When I opened it, he took a swing at me. I wasn’t impressed when he puked on my front stoop after I buried my fist into his soft gut. I used my foot to roll him far enough away from the door that it could be closed.

Paul picked that moment to rush out.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Some guy broke in, so I had to throw him out,” I said as I checked the refrigerator to see what was in it.

Paul opened the door to survey the wreckage.

“That’s Petros. Megan brought him home last night,” Paul said.

“Don’t you dare let him back in,” I warned.

“But he’s half-naked,” Paul said.

“So, get his clothes and toss them out to him. Just don’t let him back into my house,” I said.

Our commotion drew everyone out of their bedrooms to see what was going on. I glanced over my shoulder and saw they looked confused.

“David found Petros in the kitchen. He said something, so David sent him packing,” Paul shared.

“What do you mean?” Megan asked, worried.

“You might want to grab his clothes and take them out to him. David said he isn’t welcome in his condo,” Paul said.

I was okay with what he said, but the way he said it set me off. Paul knew it as soon as he looked at me.

“I have security for a reason. If you want to spend time with someone who hasn’t been vetted, that’s fine; just go to a hotel. If you don’t like the rules, same answer: go to a hotel,” I said.

They all looked at me like I’d just said I was hearing voices again. I guess their excluding me from all their activities had finally made me mad. Suddenly, I had zero desire to be around any of them for another second. I marched into my room, grabbed a small duffle bag, and threw in any clothes I would possibly need for the various activities we might get up to today.

I walked back in to hushed conversation that stopped when I appeared.

“David!” Scarlet called.

I didn’t stop. I sent a text for Fritz to check the video. If Paul let that guy back in, he was done, as far as I was concerned. I strode out the slider to the pool area and across to the Sandovals’ condo without looking back.

◊◊◊

Camilla answered the door.

“You hungry?”

“I could eat,” I said.

“I made scrambled eggs.”

“Sounds great.”

I followed her to the kitchen, where I found Nat and Alex eating breakfast. Camilla made me a plate.

“There’s a place by the beach that rents all kinds of gear, or you can have them take you out. I want to go tubing,” Nat said hopefully, like I was the one deciding.

“That sounds like fun,” I said.

She turned to Alex.

“See. He wants to go too.”

I figured out what was up right away. Alex had been giving his sister a hard time.

“Well, if David wants to go, I guess we can,” Alex conceded.

“You’re coming with us?” I asked Camilla.

“No, I planned to just read a book by the pool.”

“We’re not leaving you here with all those old creepers running around,” Alex said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“One of the guys from the matchmaking group thought Camilla was fair game. Alex had to go rescue her,” Nat explained.

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“A couple of days before you got here,” Alex said.

“Then, you’ll come?” I asked.

“You sure you want to hang out with me all day?” she asked.

“Well, you are kinda old,” I said doubtfully.

“I’m not sure she can keep up,” Alex added.

“I want her to come,” Nat pleaded.

“You have to be responsible for her, then,” I told Nat.

“If you two comedians are finished, let’s go have some fun,” Camilla said.

◊◊◊

The beach was crowded, full of vacationers sunning themselves and playing in the ocean. The sun beat down, making the white stretch of sandy shoreline appear bleached and bright. After finding parking, we grabbed our things and ducked into the bathroom to change into our swimsuits.