by Mia Wolf
“Oh man, that was a good night,” Jordan said, continuing to stretch. He reached out and ran his fingers through the ends of Emily’s hair down her back.
“Yeah,” she said, scooting herself to the end of the bed and getting up, still holding the covers around her. She carried them to the bathroom and returned with a towel wrapped around her. “I should, um, go get a shower. I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast, okay?”
She began picking up her clothes around the room.
“No way,” Jordan said. “It’s morning walk of shame time.”
I elbowed him.
“What?” he asked. “It’s the morning after the night out. That means we walk for coffee. Come on, Ems. I promise you’ll feel better for it.”
She wasn’t listening. She was already out the door with our towel.
Chapter 7 – Emily
I couldn’t close my hotel door fast enough. I leaned against the door and latched it, clutching the towel around me. I didn’t know why I felt called to lock Max and Jordan out, but my mortification told me to put as much matter between us as possible.
I couldn’t believe it. I had let my guard slip, and I had slept with them. Both of them! How was this professional? How was this going to make the rest of the trip manageable? How did this even happen?
It must have been the alcohol. That’s all there was to it. I had had too much the night before and clearly let my crush take over.
But they had wanted it too. I hadn’t been the only one involved in this. Jordan and Max had been into it too. They started kissing me first, after all.
I blushed as I remembered the feeling of their lips on mine, all over my body. It was an entirely new experience for me. It wasn’t like I was a virgin, but I also wasn’t exactly exciting when it came to my sexual exploits. And even during the more daring hookups I’d encountered, nothing compared to the intensity of last night. I wondered if it was because of how I felt about them, or because it was twice as many men in one bed than I was used to.
I shook my head, realizing I was being silly. I unbolted the door and heard my flip phone chirp in my handbag that was bunched in my hand along with the dress and shoes. I tossed my bundle from the night before on the bed and rummaged in the bag.
I had three text messages.
Andrea: How was your first night in the city?
I planned on ignoring that one for later. My head was already starting to feel a little foggy from the night before. I hated those horrible, delayed hangovers, and I didn’t feel that I could give a comprehensive answer right now. That text could wait.
The other two texts were from the guys, one from each.
Jordan: I really enjoyed last night
Max: We want to take you to that coffee place. Meet us in the lobby in an hour?
I didn’t want to respond to either of them. But they were my travel companions, and I did need to keep an eye on them. Plus, I was the one in charge of the money. I wondered if I could actually deny them their favorite day-after-the-night-before tradition.
“Damnit,” I grumbled.
I responded to Max with a simple, “k,” before putting my phone on the charger and getting into the beautifully hot and abundant shower. As the water washed over me, I thought about Jordan and Max, rolling over everything they had ever said about their college days in San Francisco. I thought about the girls they’d talked about bedding, the parties they’d gone to, the ridiculous antics they’d participated in.
There wasn’t anything to the night before, I realized. I was simply another notch on their bedposts. I was another conquest. I didn’t know if I felt used or if the thought was comforting. If I was just another girl they’d slept with, then maybe the rest of the trip wouldn’t be awkward. But the part of me that liked Max and Jordan was hurt by the idea. Nothing more than a naked body at the end of a night out. That thought made me want to shrink into a ball in the shower and never come out.
I couldn’t go to the coffee shop with them. Not until this hangover passed and I could think clearly. I couldn’t stomach the idea of being alone with them, even if it was for a walk through the city, even if it was to a crowded coffee shop. I just couldn’t quite handle their presence at the minute.
I picked up my phone when I got out of the shower and told them to go on without me. I intended to get breakfast in the lobby and hide from the sunlight for a bit.
I was lying on the bed, still wrapped in a towel with my hair bundled on top of my head when a soft knock sounded on the door.
“Emily?” Jordan’s voice said. “It’s me.”
With the great reluctance of a heavy head, I went to the door and opened it.
I was taken aback for a moment at Jordan standing in front of me. There was nothing different about him, except that everything was different about him. I woke up to him with his arm around me this morning, both of us naked, tangled in sheets, and with Max also added into the mix. I knew what was under his navy polo shirt from which a few stray chest hairs peaked out. I could feel my face go red at the sight of him.
“We’re not going to go all the way to the coffee place,” he said. “We realized what time it is, and that trade fair is going to be opening its doors soon.”
I nodded. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that, though.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s like the whole reason we’re here.”
“I know, but it’ll be on all day. Do you think it’s going to take all day to get all the information we need?”
“Yeah, I do. If Lewis and Alex want upgraded systems on all of Moonstone’s tech, then we will have to make sure we’re thorough. The fair might be smaller than I’m expecting, but we want to give ourselves plenty of time anyway.”
My head was feeling fuzzy, and the idea of thinking about numbers and technological information that I barely understood was a bit overwhelming right now. He was right, though. Of course, we needed to be there all day. Or at least, to give ourselves the best opportunity to ensure we made it through all the vendors.
“We thought that maybe we could just get a quick bite to eat and then head over,” Jordan continued. “There’s a bagel place a few blocks west of here. We could walk there and then make our way to the trade fair.”
“I’m feeling pretty rough,” I said, hiding myself behind the door. “You guys go on ahead. I think I’m just going to have some coffee and see if there’s any fruit with the breakfast downstairs. You can meet me back here, or I can meet you there. Whatever.”
Jordan stuffed his hands in his pocket and bobbed his head. “We can meet you here. I’d rather not run the risk of you getting lost on your way there.”
“Sure. I’ll be in here.” I started to close the door.
“Wait.”
I poked my head back around it. There was something hopeful in the “wait,” though I didn’t know what it was. Wait, I realized I have feelings for you? Wait, last night was stupid, let’s forget it? Wait, you’re beautiful with your clothes off? I waited expectantly.
“Can we take the pack’s card? We kind of need some money for breakfast.”
I huffed a puff of air through my nose and almost scoffed at myself for thinking there could be anything potentially romantic on Jordan’s mind. I’m just a naked body at the end of the night, I reminded myself.
“Sure,” I said. “Let me grab it.”
I rummaged in the purse on the bed and returned with the card. “Don’t make me regret putting this in your hands,” I warned.
He smiled, his teeth shining through his black beard, his eyes equally bright and focused on me. “Who do you think we are?” he joked.
“Animals untethered in the city,” I responded dryly.
He chuckled as he left while I closed the door gently behind him.
***
I was in two minds about how to go about the day. I’d forgotten that my suitcase was filled with nothing but Andrea’s clothes. Thankfully, I still had my boots that I arrived in, which meant I had som
e comfortable shoes to spend the day in after the torture I put my poor toes through the night before. My choice then became whether I went for the more professional looking of Andrea’s outfits with my boots, or if I tried picking some of her shoes she packed for me.
While I debated the matter, I snuck into Max and Jordan’s room to steal a shirt from them long enough for me to go to the lobby for my breakfast in. While they were getting some fancy San Francisco bagels, I was treating myself to the continental breakfast they had downstairs of cold bagels, a raspberry muffin, and a glass of OJ, which I spirited away into my room. I opened the curtains and watched the city below while I tried not to get too many crumbs all over the shirt. It smelled beautifully of Jordan, like his coat did the night before.
I wondered what it would be like to be in this world, where people just went about their business. Surely, there had to be shifters around here. I wondered what they did and where they went when they wanted to be in their Animal form. I wondered what their customs might be like in the city, how their families raised their cubs to balance their nature and their human side. I couldn’t imagine having such restrictions on me.
The fog was beginning to burn off, revealing a golden hue to paint the world outside the window. It created an optimistic feeling for the day. Where at first it was gray, there blossomed the sun, reminding the world that the weather can always change. Things can always get brighter than the gloom.
I began to feel more human after coffee, juice, and breakfast. It was pithy, and while I knew it was all you can eat, what I could have eaten was the entire display, leaving nothing for the other residents. It was enough to make me feel like a living being again, though, and to cut through the hangover, but it wasn’t enough to satiate my hunger. That would have to be put on the backburner. After all, I no longer had the pack’s debit card.
After brushing my teeth and seeing the time, I knew I needed to give the contents of the suitcase another go. I was truly going to hurt Andrea when I saw her next for putting me in this situation.
I picked out a button-up cream-colored blouse and a pair of navy slacks. I don’t know how they did it, but somehow, they hid my ass with their wide legs, while the shirt made my bust look like it was about to float away. I braided my hair and looked in the mirror on the inside of the coat closet door in the entryway. I didn’t look too bad. I did have to hand it to Andrea. The girl had style.
I gave in and went for some slip-on shoes that had just a small heel to them. I gave them a test walk and thought that my still sore toes could probably manage being stuffed in them for the day. Steel-toed hiking boots just wouldn’t quite go with the elegance of the business attire, as much as I wanted them to.
My phone alerted me to Max’s text, saying they were waiting for me downstairs. I looked myself over once more in the mirror before leaving. I kept my eyes firmly to the steps in front of me as I made my way down the master staircase. I didn’t want to see if they were looking at me. I didn’t want to know if anything had changed from the night before. I already knew I was well out of my element, and I didn’t want to be further embarrassed by getting my hopes up that maybe they might actually care about me and that I wasn’t just a lay.
My jacket was still at the lobby desk as far as I knew, and I stopped there first before I met with the guys. They each had a coffee cup in their hand. Jordan held one out to me.
“Figured you could do with the extra caffeine,” he said. “Some of the best.”
I nodded my thanks, smelling the steam that wafted through the drinking hole of the lid.
“You guys know where this place is, right?” I asked.
“Totally,” Max affirmed. “Not far at all, maybe five blocks.”
I wiggled my toes in my shoes, reminding myself they were more comfortable than the last time I went for a walk.
The day felt much more alive than I felt and more alive than the night before. The sidewalks were thick with tourists. Business people were making their way to the Financial District. People gearing up to get on whatever boats might be along the Warf were maneuvering around the crowd. While I didn’t have much to say to Max and Jordan, who pointed out places they thought were of interest to tell me about, I was glad they were there. I would have surely been swallowed by the onslaught of people and overwhelm of smells and sound.
The trade fair was held in the Moscone Center, where booths were set up, producing mini displays and demonstrations of their wares. The noise was almost too much for my sensitive ears, though Max and Jordan didn’t seem to mind at all. This seemed almost natural to them, as if this was where they spent each of their professional days. Perhaps it was. Maybe it was part of their degree, somehow.
“Alright,” I said to them. “Divide and concur or stick together?”
“It looks like there’s a lot here,” Max said after finishing his coffee and tossing the paper cup into the compost bin. “But I think that there’s going to be relatively little that pertains to what we want.”
“What do you mean? I can see five booths right now that have something we want,” I protested.
“If you look,” Max said, pointing to the smaller print on one of the banners. “This one is specifically for commercial buildings. That one over there is for the urban home that’s going to fall under city restrictions.”
“That’s why you’ve got us,” Jordan said. “We can spot the difference a mile off. Don’t worry. We’ll get this done in an afternoon.”
My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”
“We never kid about eco-tech,” Max said.
“I’ve got us booked here for another two days!”
“And they’ll be fun days,” Jordan replied, smiling.
I shook my head, frustrated. I probably should have checked with them before I booked the trip to see what they thought. But I didn’t. I was so convinced I could do this on my own, that the only thing I needed them for was the eco-technology knowledge. Now we were here without anything to do for a full day and part of the next day because these guys knew what was needed too well. I didn’t want to be around them at all. I didn’t really want anything to do with them. Not for a while, at least. I knew what they were like now. I knew that they were just after tail, and I had been stupid enough to fall for their … whatever.
“Whatever,” I huffed. “You guys get the information, the handout sheets. I’ll take them back to the hotel and go over them tonight and put in the orders for the solar panels and anything else that we need.”
We wandered along the blue carpet flooring, and I did my best not to pay attention to anything. I was only physically there. Mentally, I put my focus on the architecture of the room with concave beams, the tiny house that had been brought in for the show, a solar-paneled car on display, and even stopped to listen to a few of the talks in the back.
It wasn’t actually a dull way to spend the day. Once I managed to ignore the sensory overload, I was able to really get into some of the amazing technological advances that were coming around for green energy. I admired the innovation that companies were putting into developing the field. While the Moonstone pack was eco-friendly for the reason of being self-sustaining and thus negating more reasons to be in contact with the human world, many people were searching for a way to obtain a smaller carbon footprint. They wanted to do their part to be the change in the world and keep it moving toward a sustainable future. I had to admire these people. While I knew it was easy for us in Moonstone since it was all we knew, I could easily see how it would be difficult to switch to our lifestyle for people rich in modern conveniences. I’d even seen that difficulty first-hand with Sandra, who was trying to be a good sport about it, but I’d caught her frustration more than once.
With every booth and every demonstration, there was a display in one form or another explaining why it was essential to make the change to their form of technology or lifestyle design that the business was presenting. I’d had moments more than once of thinking it might behoove Sandra to see
these things, that maybe it would help her see how well she was doing since she didn’t need to be convinced. But it was only a moment of affirmation to me that we had it right, and showing Sandra would do little to no good. She was already living it, didn’t have a choice to live any other way if she wanted to stay in the Moonstone pack, and thus it was only something to serve my ego rather than to help her.
I mentally challenged the purpose of having all this information out and available. After all, all the people at the eco-trade fair were likely to already know why they should be going for a green way of living and were actually looking to jump into that field, whatever it meant. The people they needed to be informing were outside, those who didn’t care or just didn’t think it was as essential as it actually was. But I supposed that any chance to change a mind, even if it’s a small chance, is still a chance worth taking when it comes to the state of the natural world.
We stopped at several booths over the next few hours. Max and Jordan asked questions, got the essential information, and with the handout given to them, would circle the important stuff before handing the information over to me. It was thoughtful of them. I certainly didn’t ask them to do it. But it meant that I wouldn’t have to read over it later and try and figure out what it all meant before I priced everything. By the end of the fair, I had a stack of papers that was thick enough to be considered a book. It was mostly on different forms of generators, water pumps, and filtration systems (which was mostly for me), and I had a bag full of organic and eco-friendly fertilizer samples.
“I don’t know what I’m expected to do with these,” I said as we made our way toward the door.
“Use them on your house plants,” Max suggested.
“Yeah, but we have our own stuff created from the worm castings and livestock manure. I don’t think we need to buy any of their growing aids.”
“Actually,” Jordan interjected. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think you’ll be able to get that on a plane.”
