The Opposition

Chapter 13: Sadie

"'The suite is the same size' my ass," I grumble, hanging up the room's phone.

After discovering that this room possesses only one bed and one bathroom, instead of the two we were promised, I called the front desk to get us moved to another room. Apparently Jill doesn't understand the problems that arise from this situation because she just went on and on about how there are no available rooms left and how she's just so sorry. Correction: there are rooms left, but no doubles. And it seems that fancy ass hotels don't keep spare mattresses.

I'm trying not to freakout. I don't like surprises, and this is one helluva surprise. It's fine, I assure myself. You don't mind sleeping on the floor.

Carter plopped down onto the edge of the bed after rolling back out luggage cart, and he now stares at me with an uncertain look painted on his face.

"Well, I guess I'll take the floor," I say, collapsing onto the floor and leaning my back against the side of the bed frame.

I hear a rustle of noise before Carter is sinking in beside me. "You're not sleeping on the fucking floor."

I turn to look at him. "Would you like to?"

He huffs out a breath. "No. I'm going to sleep in the bed and you're going to sleep in it with me."

I stare at him with my eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "We are not sleeping in the same bed."

"Well you're not sleeping on the floor and neither am I, so it appears that we are." His mouth tilts up into a cocky smirk and I want to slap it off his face.

"That's against school rules," I try to reason with him.

"First, I know you snuck into the boys' dorms more than once. Second, we're not at school." He reaches for my hand–I try to ignore the sparks that shoot across my skin at the contact–and pulls me up to my feet.

"And look at the bed. It's definitely a king. We won't even be near each other."

"Fine," I say, but an uneasiness settles in the pit of my stomach at the idea of being in such close proximity to Carter.

"Good," he says, kicking his feet off the bed. "Now, what do we have planned for the day, partner?"

The competition officially starts tomorrow and the rest of the schools are supposed to arrive later tonight. Ms. Davenport urged us to leave early to get well settled and rested before the competitions. I could tell by her tone that our being here is important to her. She thinks we can win.

"I say we check out that all-day breakfast bar and then go grocery shopping to fill up this fridge." I have a plan, and while this one bed situation has thrown it off a little, I'm still sticking to the rest of my itinerary.

"Sounds perfect," Carter smiles, and we head back down twenty stories.

I'm a sucker for hotel waffles. During Maddie's brief soccer career at the age of ten, they would have one tournament per year that required staying overnight at a hotel. She would jump onto my bed at 6 am, shaking my shoulders until I was dizzy, and we would head off to breakfast together. Mom would sleepily follow, but she'd abandon us for the coffee machine as soon as we arrived at the buffet tables. Maddie grinned the whole time–flashing gaps of missing teeth–as she poured chocolate sauce, caramel, and whipped cream onto her lopsided waffle. Then she would make one for me, and we would sit together inhaling our dessert waffles until the paper plates were clean and our lips were stained with chocolate.

Carter is simple with his breakfast and settles on a piece of toast with butter and jam and a side of hash browns. He tells me that he's going to get us coffee and apple juice while I go to prepare my waffle. I've never done it myself because Maddie was always there to do it for me. I pour the batter into the waffle maker and wait for the timer to beep before flipping it. My waffle comes out in a perfect circle, and I top it with Maddie's three toppings of choice. I spot Carter sitting at a table in the furthest corner of the room. I sigh before strolling over toward him and dumping my plate on the spot across from him. He's left me a cup overflowing with apple juice and a small mug of coffee.