Opposites Attract

by Michelle M. Pillow

  ‘I’ve been this way a thousand times and I didn’t want to have to follow a map,’ Ethan said. ‘Takes away from the spontaneity of the trip.’

  Great, Alexis thought, a man too good to use directions. He’ll get us lost for sure.

  Pretending to study her manicure, Alexis asked, ‘Still, shouldn’t we be further than this by now?’

  ‘We would be if someone didn’t take an hour each time we stopped,’ Ethan grumbled.

  ‘Well maybe if your piece of junk car didn’t toss me around so much, I wouldn’t need to take such a long break to recover,’ Alexis returned, mimicking his tone.

  ‘And maybe if you weren’t such a spoiled little princess –’ Ethan began.

  ‘Hey, you guys want to stop somewhere for the night? It’s starting to get late anyway,’ Ted said, ending the impending fight. ‘Cleveland is only about an hour’s drive and I saw some signs for hotels. It’s been a long first day and we should maybe stop to relax, eat and perhaps go over a game plan for the trip?’

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ Ethan said, lightening his tone as he spoke to Ted.

  ‘Fine,’ Alexis said, only too happy to get out of the car. ‘We should have some sort of itinerary. If we stick to it we could get to California in a few days.’

  ‘A few days? This isn’t an airplane, doll.’ Ethan laughed.

  ‘Airplanes only take a few hours, doll,’ she said.

  ‘Whatever,’ Ethan dismissed. ‘I am not driving with an itinerary. That takes away from the adventure. I say we go with the flow, whether we get there in two days or fifty.’ Ethan glanced at her, his look challenging. Was he just trying to think of ways to upset her? ‘Do what we feel like doing.’

  ‘Great idea,’ Susan said happily. ‘We don’t have to be there any time soon. We’re free as the wind.’

  ‘Cool,’ Ted added. ‘My accounts are pretty much automatic and I can check on them anywhere, so long as I can plug my computer into a phone line every once and a while.’

  ‘I feel like having an itinerary,’ Alexis said between clenched teeth.

  ‘Then it’s settled,’ Ethan said. ‘No itinerary. If there’s anywhere you feel like detouring to, we’ll take a vote. Majority rules.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Ted said.

  ‘Agreed,’ Susan said.

  ‘Whatever,’ Alexis grumbled. She was clearly outvoted in this. She rested her head back and closed her eyes, keeping her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned towards the door and away from Ethan. The man just bugged her, any way she looked at it, especially because she was attracted to him. To make everything worse, it now seemed their cross-country trip just turned into a cross-country never-ending nightmare.

  4

  Ethan took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to work. He’d be better off cutting his losses and taking Alexis back to New York City. The first day of driving had been horrible. Pennsylvania was a long state to travel through to begin with, then add to that the fact there had been no place to really pull over to escape Alexis’s attitude, he never thought the day would end. When Ted asked to pull over in Cleveland for the night, he couldn’t have been more relieved. They didn’t make very good time, but that didn’t matter. He hadn’t lied when he said he had nowhere to be.

  ‘I’m not sharing a room with that psychopath,’ he heard Alexis say from where she whispered with Susan. Did the woman have a hearing problem? Did she not realise her whispering wasn’t actually quiet?

  The hotel clerk looked at him and smiled. She was young, pretty and was definitely checking him out. Her hair was feathered at the sides in a sort of 70s retro and she wore a brightly knitted sweater under her dark-blue work vest. Her eyes dipped and her voice probed, as she asked, ‘You and the gal-pal in a fight, eh?’

  ‘She is not my girlfriend,’ Ethan said, recoiling in horror at the very idea. ‘She’s just some pain in the ass.’

  The clerk giggled, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. She blinked her big blue eyes at him as she bit her lip. She wore too much green eye-shadow and her cheeks were a bright shade of pink. Ethan didn’t care. He liked seeing people express their individual style, especially when it was a little off from norm.

  ‘So, just the one night?’ the clerk asked.

  Ethan nodded. His attention was again caught by Susan and Alexis talking in the corner of the lobby. The hotel wasn’t a bad one, but surely nothing the rich Alexis was used to. To his surprise, she didn’t complain about the location, even when they stepped into the tiny blue and red lobby with its broken television set and old mismatched couches.

  When Susan suggested they get two rooms instead of three, he should’ve said no. Ethan didn’t know why he agreed to split the cost of the room with Alexis. All day in the car with her had been a real chore. Did he really want to be around her all night as well?

  Maybe it was the look on Alexis’s face as Susan said the words. Ethan chuckled to himself. She looked horrified by the idea. So horrified, in fact, he’d come to the conclusion that whatever pain he suffered in her presence for the night would be well worth watching her suffer alongside him.

  ‘Listen, the trip is young,’ he heard Susan say. ‘You don’t have a lot of money. Sharing a room is the best solution for that.’

  Ethan already guessed the woman was broke. She hadn’t eaten a thing all day. Maybe she should try selling her three hundred dollar designer dress. It only made sense. Many boutiques in New York would’ve given her a good price for it.

  ‘But, we don’t know him,’ Alexis said. ‘What if he tries to rape me?’

  Ethan rolled his eyes. Yeah, like he’d cast his line into that fishing hole. He’d have more fun trying to hump an iceberg on the Titanic.

  ‘You and Ted get your own room,’ Alexis said, sounding panicked. Ethan hid his grin. Oh, yeah, she was already suffering. Usually he wouldn’t take pride in a woman abhorring him, but with Alexis he was willing to make an exception. ‘I don’t want to share with him.’

  ‘Ted is paying for our room tonight,’ Susan answered.

  ‘Must be nice to have a man paying for everything,’ Alexis snapped. ‘What happened to wanting to make it on your own?’

  Susan actually looked guilty at that. Ethan watched them, not even pretending he couldn’t hear them. Since they were speaking loud enough to be heard, who was he not to listen to the conversation?

  Ted walked in the door. He’d been on his cell phone with one of his colleagues from work. ‘All set?’

  ‘Ah, not quite.’ Ethan pointed at Alexis and Susan.

  Susan said, ‘No, go ahead, we’re ready.’

  Ted came up next to him. Under his breath, he said, ‘You sure you want to spend the night in the same room as that barracuda?’

  The clerk giggled. Ted smiled. Ethan shrugged. ‘Yeah, we’ll try it out for a night and see if we can’t play nice. Susan was right about saving money where we can. If by some miracle the sleeping arrangements work, it’s the wisest choice. That is, if I can keep myself from raping her before the night’s over.’

  ‘She didn’t say that, did she?’ Ted asked, appalled. Ethan chuckled and nodded his head. He liked Ted. They’d gotten along almost instantly. ‘Man, she’s such a drama queen.’

  ‘You guys travelling far?’ the blonde clerk asked. Ethan again smiled at her. She was young, twenty perhaps. When she moved her whole body bounced with energy.

  ‘California,’ Ethan said, easing his voice so it dripped honey. She responded just as he knew she would. Her eyes cast down and her lips puckered ever so slightly.

  ‘Man, I wish I could go to California.’ Her sweet voice was almost a pout. Ethan swallowed. Maybe he should get his own room, then again, maybe he could get them a free room.

  ‘Yeah, I’m a tattoo artist,’ Ethan said. ‘I’m going there to open my own shop. You know, tattoo on movie stars.’

  The blonde’s eyes rounded. ‘Really? I so want a tattoo.’

  ‘Do you?’ he asked. Yeah, he really was the rock star with
out the music. Everywhere he went doors just seemed to open with those simple words: I’m a tattoo artist.

  ‘Uh huh.’ She leaned forwards. ‘Do you have your stuff?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Ethan leaned in.

  ‘You, ah, want to trade for the room?’ She leaned closer, glancing around. ‘My boss is gone tonight. So long as you’re out of here by eight tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Very cool,’ Ethan said. ‘What you want?’

  ‘A butterfly on my hip. About this big.’ She rounded her fingers to the size of a quarter.

  Ethan grinned. Two free rooms for a tattoo that would take him about ten minutes to do. Yeah, he’d definitely gotten into the right profession.

  ‘Are you finished flirting or should we just camp out here?’ Alexis asked.

  Ethan closed his eyes. To the clerk, he asked, ‘How much do the rooms usually run?’

  “Forty dollars with the coupon from the phone book,’ the blonde said, handing him two sets of keys.

  ‘Great, thanks,’ he said before turning to Alexis. ‘You owe me twenty bucks.’

  The clerk giggled.

  Cleveland was definitely not her city. So what if Susan said it was known for rock ’n’ roll and Lake Erie? She didn’t care. She didn’t want to be there. And it wasn’t like she had the extra money to go to any of the museums, or the zoo, or to theme parks, or shopping, or anywhere cool. No, all she got was a cheap hotel room so far away from the water it was like Lake Erie wasn’t even there.

  She wasn’t expecting much by the looks of the lobby, but she was expecting more than this. The room was flooded with pastels. She’d seen rooms like this before – in movies about poor people. What was this place? A one-star hotel? A no-star? Well, what did she expect for twenty dollars? At least it looked clean enough.

  There was a round table with a complimentary notepad and pencil on it. A small television set sat in the middle of a long brown dresser. The only piece of artwork was of a Southwestern influence and hung in a mauve plastic frame. It matched the mauve floral pattern of the bedspread. Alexis stared at the queen-size bed in horror. The hotel room only had the one bed. It looked stiff, if the bedspread was any indication. She sighed. It would probably be too much to ask that Ethan be gentleman enough to sleep on the stained mauve carpet.

  ‘Hey, move, this is heavy,’ Ethan said from behind her. ‘The room’s not going to bite you, doll.’

  Alexis sat her camera bag on the table, getting out of his way. She ignored him as she took out the small battery charger and plugged it into the wall. The red light on it blinked, showing the battery was low. She’d probably have to leave it plugged in all night.

  ‘What is that anyway?’ Ethan asked.

  ‘Camera,’ Alexis said, her tone flat. Did the man not know what a camera was?

  ‘Uh, yeah, I see that. What kind?’

  ‘Do you know your cameras?’ Alexis asked.

  ‘I’m an artist,’ was his answer. ‘I’ve seen a few.’

  ‘Oh, do you sculpt? Paint?’ She turned, frowning as he watched him plug in a laptop. Then, some machine she’d never seen before. It was a big square with a digital panel and dials.

  ‘I tattoo.’ He glanced at her. The dim room was lit by a lamp on the dresser, but the light still managed to pick up the colour of his eyes. She had to look away first. There was no way she would allow herself to think any part of this man was cute.

  ‘I thought you said you were an artist.’ Alexis frowned in confusion.

  Ethan shook his head in obvious exasperation. ‘Tattooing is an art form.’

  ‘Art is found in museums,’ Alexis argued. ‘Drawing silly little pictures on people is not art. Little children do that to each other in school.’

  ‘Ever hear of the tattoo museum in Amsterdam? Or the ones here in the US? The one in Oxford?’ he asked, chuckling to himself.

  ‘No,’ she said carefully. ‘Still, art is old, you know. The forms have been around for a long time. When did tattooing start? The 1950s, with biker gangs and sailors?’

  ‘Um, try about thirty eight thousand BC,’ he said. ‘It’s a lot older than some of your so-called art mediums.’

  ‘You’re kidding.’ Alexis stepped closer to him. She looked at his little eclectric box with renewed interest. ‘They didn’t have electricity back then.’

  ‘Not all tattoos are done with electricity.’ Ethan laughed and she had the feeling it was at her expense. Even so, he had an almost adorable charm when he smiled.

  ‘How do you know that?’ she asked.

  ‘I read.’

  She looked up. Ethan was close, maybe a little too close and she smelled the faint trace of cologne. She’d caught whiffs of it in the car, but now it started to curl around her senses. Glancing down, she reasoned that his skin would feel the same in the dark as a non-tattooed man. She’d already hit rock bottom. Could she really get any lower? The strange attraction she’d been trying to deny since first seeing Ethan leapt in her stomach. If they were to find a little mutual release – release she obviously needed – who would ever find out? It’s not like Susan would ever believe it happened. Refusing to back down, she curiously waited to see if he’d make a move to touch her. ‘What’s that box thing?’

  ‘Power supply. I’m going to give the hotel clerk some ink tonight.’

  ‘Is that safe?’

  Ethan stepped closer. His arms crossed over his chest and he said quietly, ‘Are we actually having a conversation that doesn’t include fighting?’

  Alexis blinked, surprised. He was right. How could she have even for one second considered sleeping with the insufferable man? Stiffening at the sardonic look on his face, she said, ‘You know, it’s people like you who spread disease.’

  ‘Oh, here we go.’ He turned his back on her. ‘Save the speech, doll, I don’t want to hear it – not from an uninformed, judgemental priss like you.’

  ‘Ah! You are the rudest . . .’ She took a deep breath. ‘Where are my bags?’

  ‘In the trunk of the car where you left them. Need the keys to go get it?’ He pulled the key ring out of his pocket and held it up. ‘Just push the little button twice. The trunk has electric locks.’

  Alexis couldn’t believe it. She’d seen Ted carrying up Susan’s belongings for her. Now Ted was a gentleman. Was it too much to ask for the same courtsey from Ethan?

  She snatched the keys, stomping from the room. His laughter followed her out the door. Damn him, the barbaric jerk.

  ‘Hey, what ya doing out here?’ Susan asked, coming out of her room. She glanced down at Alexis’s bag on the ground. ‘Did something happen? Did Ethan kick you out already?’

  The evening was a little cool. From her spot she could hear cars travelling over the nearby interstate. The sky was dark and the streetlights shone down on the abandoned parking lot. They were on the second storey, along the back of the hotel. Beneath her, she saw the red dot of a cigarette as an overweight man smoked. His white T-shirt was stained with sweat beneath the underarms. Alexis knew, because he’d offered to help her with her bags. She was still creeped out by it.

  Alexis glanced at the bag by her feet and then to the room she shared with Ethan. ‘No. He didn’t kick me out.’

  ‘Did you lose your room key?’ Susan insisted.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, it’s not like this parking lot is a great view,’ Susan said. ‘Are you pouting?’

  ‘I think Ethan’s in there having sex. I didn’t want to walk in on it.’ Alexis couldn’t meet Susan’s eyes.

  ‘What? You’re kidding,’ Susan said, whispering. The curtains were drawn and she looked at them sideways, trying to see in.

  Alexis shook her head, giggling slightly at Susan’s look. ‘No. I heard buzzing. I think they’re using toys.’

  ‘Oh, my gawd. Gross.’ Susan wrinkled her nose. ‘Come on, let’s listen.’

  ‘Ew, no,’ Alexis said, unable to help herself as she crept to the door.

  Susan leaned her ear to the wood.
‘Shh, listen.’

  Was it wrong of her to be jealous of Ethan right now? How come Mr Bad Ass got some action and she, a perfectly normal woman, couldn’t even find a decent pity lay. Pouting slightly, Alexis said, ‘It’s bad enough I have to go in there afterwards.’

  ‘I don’t hear anything,’ Susan said. Alexis leaned next to her. The buzzing started again and Susan had to hold her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

  ‘Oh, gawd. That hurts,’ a woman’s voice cried. ‘Stop. Stop. It hurts. Are you sure it’s not too big?’

  Too big? OK, even though she hated the man, that comment was intriguing. Alexis widened her eyes as the buzzing stopped. ‘Maybe he’s not doing it right.’

  ‘Maybe the toy’s broken,’ Susan added. ‘I never heard one that sounded like that.’

  ‘What are you two doing?’ Ted whispered from right behind Susan.

  Susan gasped, jumping as she spun around. She gave Alexis a dirty look. ‘Ah, nothing.’

  ‘What’s going on in there?’ Ted asked.

  ‘Nothing.’ Susan playfully stepped in his way when he tried to move towards the door.

  ‘Nothing, eh?’ Ted looked at Alexis.

  Alexis giggled. ‘Ethan’s got himself a little friend.’

  Ted frowned.

  ‘He’s, you know,’ Susan said.

  ‘He’s bumping uglies,’ Alexis answered.

  ‘Gross, Lexy, that’s vulgar,’ Susan scolded, even as she nodded at Ted.

  ‘What? It’s true. I highly doubt any lovemaking is going on.’ Alexis chuckled. ‘Please say I can sleep on your floor tonight, Ted. I’ll owe you for ever if you let me.’

  ‘How do you know he’s in there with someone?’ Ted asked. ‘Did he say?’

  ‘Nope, heard it. Went to the car to get my bag and came back to . . .’ Alexis waved a hand towards the door.

  ‘You mean he didn’t carry your bag up for you?’ Susan asked, frowning slightly.

  Alexis shook her head in denial.

  ‘Hey, did you hear that?’ Susan turned to Ted. ‘He didn’t carry up Lexy’s bag.’