Page 25 of Best Vacation Ever

He raises an eyebrow. “You know you can get another one from the front desk, right?”

My eyes go wide. Of course I know that. Why couldn’t he have accepted that answer and gone to his room?

“Yeah . . . but you have to change all the cards and prove it’s your room, and it’s a whole process. I’ll wait.”

I smile to reassure him and resist the urge to glance at the room door.Come on, Adam. Stop interrogating me and go to bed.

He studies me, as if considering something. He looks around the hall again and then sighs, decision made. To my complete surprise and horror, he slides down the wall to sit beside me.

I can only imagine what facial expression I’m making, because he says, “What? I’ll wait with you until she comes.”

Hecan’twait with me until she comes. She’s not coming.

I glance at the door. Well,actually. . . never mind.

But the only way I can get into my room is if Kellan walks out of it, and Adamcannotbe here to see that.

“Oh, no! You don’t have to do that! Honestly!” I try to sound as confident as I can to make him go away, but for some reason he wants to be all chivalrous.

He rests his arms on his knees and leans his head back on the wall. “It’s two a.m. I can’t leave you out here for who knows how long. It would be on my conscience if something happened to you.”

My mouth opens and closes uselessly, unable to form words.

Clearly, he’s not going to leave me alone, but we cannot be here singing kumbaya and having a campout when Kellan walks out of that door.

Think, Lori!

I scramble to stand up and grab my towel, holding it self-consciously in front of me.

“Actually, I—uh—I have to pee! Mind if I wait in your room?”

Before he can say anything, I stride to the other end of the hall where his group of rooms are, praying he’ll follow without more questions.

To my utter relief, he does, moving to stand in front of me to swipe his key card. I try to stop glancing at my room door so I don’t give Faye away, and once he opens the door, I all but shove him through and slam it behind us.

Once we’re in the safety of the room, I relax a bit. Their room looks exactly like ours, but with a different color scheme.

There are clothes thrown all over the dresser and their suitcases are wide open on the floor.

“The bathroom’s right there.” Adam gestures.

I know where the bathroom is. Why is he telling me?

When I stand there looking confused, he continues. “I thought you had to pee?”

Oh yeah!

“Yes! I totally do.” I scramble into the bathroom and close the door behind me. I don’t have to go, so I run the water for some noise and wait a couple seconds, then flush the toilet and wash my hands.

Once I’m done, I open the door and stand in the room, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. Adam’s sitting on one bed and flipping through television channels.

It hits me that I’m alone in a room—a bedroom—with Adam Murray, the boy I’ve had a crush on for the longest time.

I’ve never actually been alone with him; Faye or one of his friends are always there too. But now we’re alone, together.

And we’re both half-naked.

I sit down on the other bed, wrapping my towel tighter around myself and shivering.