Twelve

Oscar Awakes the next morning

Oscar woke with a stir. The morning sun beamed into the room through a slit in one of the curtains he had missed the previous night. Lifting his head off the pillow he looked around, remembering why he was on the floor. He looked up to the bed and, although only seeing Lucy’s leg dangling off the side, was able to determine the girl was still asleep. He pulled his wrist to his eye-line and read off the time. 7:53. Not an uncommon time for Oscar to wake. In fact, he had been trained to wake earlier, by about 7:00, but given the stressful day he had had he wasn’t surprised his body had yearned for more. He looked around the spacious room, eyeing the slightly ajar bathroom door, which stood perpendicular to the room’s main door. This was on the opposite side of the room to the bed but Oscar determined he would hold off on using the toilet for fear of waking Lucy with the flush. He was well aware how unreasonable people could be with their sleep interrupted. He rubbed his eyes and threw his blankets off. He slowly lifted his body off the ground and eventually into a standing position. He didn’t bother putting any trousers on but grabbed the nearest T-shirt he could find and flung it over his bare torso, which had started to cool outside the protection of the blankets. He wandered over to his rucksack in which he had kept the laptop he’d found. He made a reasonable effort to minimise the noise of his footsteps, but reasoned that Lucy was in a deep enough sleep not to be woken by his walking. Pulling out the laptop and a set of joggers, he made his way into the other room, which should have been Lucy’s, and sat down at the large oak table stationed by the window. He slid the bottoms over his legs. Looking out he could see the sun had started to rise. He opened the laptop to check the safe houses. He had installed a program on the laptop while Lucy had been knocked out. Its job was to scan through the safe-house file and check for any changes. It notified him there had been none, to his frustration. Oscar had no reason to doubt the software but nonetheless got out a pencil and pen and started combing through the list. There were far too many for him to get through or remember, but cross-referencing it with positions of interest he had been told, he hoped to find something suspicious. With the pen and paper out Oscar decided he would need some sustenance to continue, so picked up the phone. He ordered some croissants with strawberry jam, a coffee and two slices of toast. The thought of the impending arrival took Oscar’s mind completely off what he was trying to do. He had always been distracted by the thought of food, a weakness he was surprised hadn’t been curtailed in his recent years of self-discipline. After a swift twenty minutes the food arrived. One of the reasons Oscar returned to the hotel was their efficiency in everything they did, from turndown service to room service. Oscar gleefully took the food, thanking the man at what should have been Lucy’s door and tipping him for the fast service. He placed the tray, full of everything he had ordered on the table and began to indulge. He interrupted his mouthfuls only to occasionally pencil a note on one of the safe-houses, or to take a sip of the coffee which he hoped would perk him up. Eventually he whittled down his dish to just half a croissant and one slice of toast he had ignored. At that point he realised the girl, still sleeping a few metres away in the other room, may want something when she wakes. Sheepishly Oscar pushed the tray to the other side of the desk, and continued on combing through the list with just his coffee. Suddenly he heard the separating door he had shut creak open and swivelled on his chair to see Lucy standing there. Her hair had become messier through her sleeping but still hugged her body on its way down to her hips with a certain elegance. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked somewhat groggy. The t-shirt she had worn to bed was still just covering her pink shorts, although obviously the girl didn’t feel as awkward about it as Oscar thought she might. He supposed it did the job of covering her up so there was no reason for her to be.

‘Morning’ she struggled the words out whilst rubbing her eyes.

‘Morning. Sleep well?’ she stopped rubbing her eyes and took in the fact that Oscar was working in the other room.

‘How long have you been awake?’

‘Not too long, an hour and a bit maybe?’

‘How comes you came in here?’

‘I thought you could use the sleep so didn’t want to wake you up’, Oscar gave a tactful answer, not what he was thinking; I was worried you’d be a b***h if I woke you up. She smiled at him,

‘Well thanks’ she then looked at the almost empty tray now perched almost embarrassingly on the edge of the desk, noticing the look Oscar pre-empted the question,

‘I ordered some breakfast, there’s not much left, sorry. You want some though?’, Lucy scratched her head, seemingly thinking about it then responded,

‘Sure, yeah’ she wandered over to the bed, and perched on it next to Oscar, reaching over and grabbing the last half of croissant still standing. Taking it in both hands and biting a chunk off, she crossed her legs on the bed. Oscar watched with horror and fascination at this girl who seemed to share his own enthusiasm for consuming food as fast as possible. ‘So what are we doing today then?’ she asked between bites.

‘What?’ Oscar didn’t quite understand the question.

‘What are we doing? Where are we going?’ Oscar shook his head

‘We aren’t doing anything. We’re gonna stay here and ride it out until this thing gives me some results’ Oscar gestured to the computer, ‘The police will be looking for you, and if they find you it won’t end well, trust me. The same goes for me. So we just need to stay here and keep our heads down.’ The girl was obviously dissatisfied.

‘I know all that but that’s stupid. Surely we can do something without attracting attention to ourselves. I mean no-one even knows who we are…’

‘Lucy, it’s unnecessarily dangerous to be going out for anything that isn’t essential’.

‘No’, Lucy stopped chewing ‘No if you’re gonna look after me or whatever that’s fine. But there’s one thing I’m not gonna let happen and that’s to be stuck in here 24/7 for god knows how long. I’m not doing it so you better find something for us to go and do.’ Lucy finished the croissant and walked off into the other room. After a few moments Oscar heard the shower turn on, although he assumed Lucy was letting it warm as the sound’s clarity suggested the bathroom door was still open. Reluctantly putting his pencil down Oscar shouted through to the other room.

‘Well what exactly is it you want to do?’, he waited for the answer tentatively.

‘I don’t know’ the girl paused ‘bowling maybe’. Oscar scoffed, before rubbing his head and turning back to the computer. He remembered his mother joking “happy wife, happy life” and started searching for things to do in his area. Sure enough, staring at him annoyingly from the map was the symbol for a bowling alley. Oscar wondered if the girl had looked this up in advance herself. He listened to the bathroom door close and clicked on the symbol on the map.

 

 

Oscar couldn’t quite fathom how he’d been coaxed into agreeing to such a ridiculous excursion. However, he had compromised for the girl based on three requirements. They would not go out before dark, when they were more likely to be noticed, they would remain inside for as long as possible and they would spend as little time as possible interacting with anyone else. Under these provisions the girl had finally settled that she would be satisfied if they went bowling in the evening. As it was, for the rest of the day Oscar got on with combing through the list for as long as he could stand it, with Lucy flicking through a magazine he had ordered to the room, and gazing emptily at the television screen. There never seemed to be anything on when you actually needed something to watch, Oscar noted. After he had become too frustrated with his task at hand he had stretched his legs by going for a wander around the hotel. Lucy had gleefully joined him, eager to be free of the room which, while relatively spacious, was beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic, even to Oscar. As they paced their way through the hotel’s tired looking hallways they both felt relaxed. Oscar had taken the girl down to the basement where, to her absolute shock, a swimming pool hid, untouched and unadvertised.

‘What the f**k?’ had been Lucy’s initial reaction. Oscar explained that Sanjay didn’t see the swimming pool as a big plus. He kept it clean and maintained it mostly just because it was there, but due to the fact that his regular customers stayed for little more than a night or two it was rarely used. Lucy was visibly furious with Oscar for not mentioning to her that one way to ease her impatience could have been to go for a swim, and his explanation that she had not asked and she didn’t have a swimming kit didn’t do him much good. Instead of returning to the room the two walked to the dining room, on the ground floor, or first floor as Lucy insisted on calling it. The two had completely forgotten to eat lunch in their boredom, so decided to have an early dinner and late lunch combined. Luckily for them the menu differed little so they were easily accommodated. Finally, after filling their stomachs and returning to the room the sun started to make its way toward the horizon, helping Oscar make his mind up that it was time to indulge his guest.