She slipped out of bed, walked quietly across the room, trying to suppress the intense urge to be as loud as humanly possible to give her roomie- a girl she’d been randomly assigned to share a room with- a taste of having difficulty sleeping. She found her shoes, slipped them on, and grabbed her room key and cell phone, with the intention of playing a game or checking her e-mail, and not caring she was wearing her pajamas, left the room.
She walked down the hotel hallway to the elevator, debating going up to the rooftop or trying to find a game room or arcade. As the elevator doors opened, she noticed a sign that said rooftop access was only allowed between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., so she stepped in and pushed the button that would take her to the rec floor- with the swimming pool, arcade, and a multitude of vending machines.
Walking into the well-lit room, she looked around, then flopped into a chair near a window that overlooked the city- still bright with lights despite the early hour. She began flipping through the options on her phone, trying to find something to occupy herself for a little while. When nothing appealed to her, she got back up and began to check out the games- a couple of pinball machines, an old-school Ms. PacMan, a few mini-slot machines… she walked into the next room, seeing a gym one way, and then another room with a ping pong table and a pool table. She went into the room with the pool table, thinking maybe she’d practice a bit- she hadn’t gotten the chance to play since she’d moved and she missed it. She went to take one of the cues off the wall and noticed a fee sign- $5.00/half hour and the balls were available at the front desk. Never mind.
She hopped up on the pool table and just sat on the edge, swinging her dangling feet. She flipped her phone open again, scrolled through the phone numbers stored in her directory, and hit the ‘dial’ option when she found the one she wanted. She lay back on the table, and waited as the phone began to ring.
Several rings later she heard a very tired, just awakened voice say, “Hello?”
“Hey Nick…”
“Desi? Why the hell are you calling now?”
She could hear the mattresses as he sat up, probably to look at the clock. “I can’t sleep…”
“Where are you?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“New York City… the office sent me up here for a training conference.”
“Oh…”
“And I can’t sleep… because the chic that’s my roommate snores… she sounds like a fucking coffeemaker… you know when the water is percolating through the machine? That’s what she sounds like.”
Nick laughed a little at her comparison, “I know… you need total silence to sleep… I’m sure it’s driving you insane.”
“It totally is! I should have brought ear plugs or something.”
“Next time.” Nick said. “You know, this is funny… it’s like a role reversal… you calling me from a hotel in the middle of the night, instead of me calling you.”
Desiree laughed a little, “Yeah, it is, isn’t it? I just had to leave the room… so I came up to the rec area… wandered around a little and ended up here in this room with a pool table… I was sitting on it.. and it just kinda… made me think of you.”
“And how you always whipped my ass at pool, right?” he asked, chuckling.
“It’s not my fault.. you’re the one who taught me to play… you shouldn’t have told me all your secrets.” she said.
“I didn’t expect you to turn out to be so good at it!”
Desiree laughed a little, then tried to stifle a yawn that snuck up on her.
“You need to sleep.” Nick told her.
“I know… I just don’t want to go back in there with that woman and her sinus issues!” Desi complained.
“Sorry. Just pull the pillow over your head and try to think of something else.” Nick instructed.
“It’s not just the noise, though…” Desiree started to say.
“You can’t sleep naked and it’s driving you nuts, isn’t it?”
“It totally is… you get used to sleeping naked and then pajamas just feel… all… constrictive and just… wrong.” she said, totally unsurprised by his observation.
“I know… I’d hate it, too.” he said. “Oh, hey… that reminds me… I found that pair of purple pajama pants you were looking for… they were buried under some of my shit in the closet….” he paused for a second, “You, uh… want me to mail them to you or something?”
Desiree tried to ignore the sharp pain that accompanied his question, and mumbled, “Yes, please” softly into the phone.
There was silence for a few moments, as if Nick either knew what she was feeling, or was feeling the same. “Desi… please… let’s not do this… I can’t do this… I just finally started being able to make it through the day without almost crying because I miss you so much…”
Desiree squeezed hers eyes shut tight, trying to avoid the tears that she suddenly felt springing up. “I just don’t understand it, Nick… I still don’t… We had everything… and we gave it up over something neither one of us wanted.”
Nick took a deep breath, “Desi… not now… I can’t have this conversation. Go to bed, okay? You need to sleep.”
“I hate sleeping without you.”
“I know… I can’t…” He stopped talking, knowing if he let himself get started, they’d be on the phone for at least the rest of the night. “Get some sleep, alright? You probably have a long day ahead of you. Good night…”
Desiree listened to his breathing as he waited for her response, but she couldn’t say anything else to him just then, and flipped the phone shut, abruptly ending their conversation. She didn’t even try to stop the tears that began slipping from her eyes, and dripping down over her cheeks, dropping onto the felt of the pool table she was laying on.