Page 6 of A Series of Rooms
As he made his way back down the hall, drafting mental apologies for the shortage, a bleak possibility dawned on him: What if Leo had nowhere else to sleep tonight? What if this overnight job, this hotel room purchased as a joke at Liam’s expense, was his only opportunity for shelter? It was early October, and the night-time temperatures in Chicago were beginning to drop. He thought about the clothes Leo had been wearing. Short-sleeved cotton and ripped jeans. Not a jacket in sight.
The more he considered it, the more the fragmented pieces of the evening came together to form a clearer picture. He didn’t want to project his own assumptions onto this stranger, but it was obvious something was off. Whatever questions Liam had, whatever pieces of the story were missing, he didn’t need all the information to understand what was right in front of him: that this person was indesperate need of a break, and Liam was in a unique position to grant him one.
He knocked when he got back to the room, waiting on the uncertain call of approval before keying himself in. Leo was waiting right where he’d left him, hunched over at the foot of the bed. His posture stiffened when Liam entered.
“It’s a little short,” Liam prefaced as he held out the wad of cash. Leo unfolded the bills and began counting as soon as they were in his hands. “My friends went out, and this was all they left behind. We can go to an ATM for the rest if you want. Or I can transfer you the money. Do you take—?”
“Cash only,” he said without looking up.
“No problem. We’ll sort it out.” Liam rocked back on his heels, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. “Um, so listen. About tonight—and please, feel free to tell me if I’m overstepping or whatever—but, would you... maybe like to stay?”
Leo’s hand stuttered midway through tucking the money into his front pocket. He looked up at him slowly, wary once again.
“I know I said you should just take the money and go,” Liam said, eager as ever to fill the silence with nervous rambling. “But I was just thinking, the room is already paid for, and not on my dime. Why let it go to waste?”
Leo narrowed his eyes, searching. “You want me to stay?”
“Yes? I mean, yes. Only if you want to, though.”
After another beat of silence, Leo nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Liam echoed on the exhale, grateful for some silver lining to this disaster of a night.
Leo stood and pulled the wad of cash out of his pocket again, depositing it onto the nightstand. This was probably Liam’s cue to excuse himself, slip out, and let this guy enjoy his night, but the idea of slinking back to his empty hotel room and waiting to be woken up in the middle of the night—again—by a drunk Nate and Ben wasn’t exactly appealing. It was his fuckingbirthday, after all, and Liam didn’t deserve to be miserable either.
He was about to pitch the idea of a joint room service dinner on Nate’s tab, but Leo turned back to him and spoke before he had the chance.
“How do you want to do this?” he asked.
Liam stared at him. Leo stared back with the resolve of a man on a gallows march. Then it clicked.
“No!” Liam blurted. “Sorry. No, that...I promise, that was not intended as a proposition. I’m still not... I don’t want to...” For a lack of words, he gestured vaguely toward Leo’s body, which, justifiably, earned him a blank look. Liam closed his eyes, took a breath, and started again. “I just meant that you could stay here tonight, keep the money, and everybody keeps their hands to themselves. Thoughts?”
“Why?” The word slipped out of Leo like he had been holding it back and couldn’t anymore, putting into a single word every suspicious glance and weighted silence.
“Because I know a thing or two about having a terrible day.” Liam tried for a smile. “If you don’t mind the company, maybe we could both hide out here for a while?”
“And do what?”
Liam crossed the room to the desk in the corner and picked up a laminated menu.
“This could be a good start,” he offered. “Are you hungry?”
“I don’t have any money,” he said, then winced. “I mean, I can’t spend.. .” He gestured vaguely toward the cash on the nightstand.
“It’s on the room,” Liam interrupted before he felt the need to explain further. “They owe us dinner, I think.”
Despite his reassurance, Leo ordered the cheapest item on the menu. In turn, Liam ordered a few extra appetizers and hoped his intentions wouldn’t be so obvious as to embarrass him.
When the food arrived, they each claimed a separate bed. Liam turned on the TV and tossed the remote to Leo, hoping that a little background noise might lessen the self-consciousness of eating with a stranger. Still, he couldn’t help but notice the way Leo shoveled spoonsful of his chicken noodle soup into his mouth, as if it would be snatched out from under him any moment. He felt guilty when Leo caught him staring and slowed his pace.
“Sorry,” they said at the same time.
Liam cleared his throat. “When was the last time you ate?”
Leo shrugged one shoulder as he took another bite, slowly this time, keeping his eyes trained on his food. Wordlessly, Liam reached for the platter of wings and fries he had left on the nightstand and held it out. Leo took a single fry from the end of the plate with shaky fingers.
“It’s yours,” Liam said, leaning forward to place the whole platter on the bed beside Leo.
