Page 20 of Her Crew

I guess it makes sense to keep the men and women in separate quarters, but we’re adults. Barely, but we are.

Delia pouts as she takes the key from Stacks. She doesn’t say a word to me as I follow her to the room. It’s clear the girl dislikes me, but she has no reason to. I’m not anyone’s competition, least of all hers.

She opens the door and sets her bag on the old wooden dresser. I step in behind her and look around the room before slipping my backpack off and setting it on the chair.

“The rooms are a lot nicer than I expected them to be,” I say, trying to start some kind of dialogue between me and the woman who has done nothing but give me dirty looks since moment one.

“It’s all right, I guess. If we sell better, we get better rooms. This is the worst one we’ve stayed at in a while. Since you came along, actually. Weird, right?”

Yeah, I think I’m already over trying to converse with her.

Delia throws me the biggest eye roll I’ve ever seen and begins to dig through her purse. She pulls a roach from the side pocket, then a lighter from her pocket. Good. Maybe she’ll be nicer once she’s high.

Delia holds the roach to her lips, lights it, and takes several long puffs before gesturing toward me, her pointer finger aimed at my chest. “You know Ace is a player, right? Always has been. Always will be. There’s not a single crew member who hasn’t taken a turn with him.” She puffs again. “Don’t think you’re special or nothing.”

I swallow. I won’t let her words get to me. She seems like a mean girl at heart, but I’ve also seen how she looks at him. She could be telling me lies out of jealousy. Or the boldest truths that I just don’t want to hear. She’s not saying it to protect me, though. That’s for sure. She just wants to rub my nose in the fact that she had him first.

Which is fine. It’s not as if I’ll ever have him at all. Not like that.

Because I’m fat. Fatter than these bitches, at least.

I sit down on the bed, and the room fills with more smoke as she exhales another puff.

“Not that I think he’d go for someone like you,” she adds.

Tears tease the backs of my eyelids, and I will them away. I want to scream in her face that he’s already kissed me, but I don’t bother. Nothing I say will change her mind about me.

Unfortunately, her nastiness sets off anxiety within me, and I only know one way to quiet the nasty voice in my mind.

“I’ll be back,” I say. Not that it matters. I snatch the key from the dresser and exit the room in search of a vending machine. Even dumps like this have to have one.

I turn the corner and follow the alleyway between the two buildings. A few vending machines stand beside a staircase, like bright, boxy guards protecting the path. Stepping closer, I study what each machine has to offer.

Most of the drinks are sold out, and the snack options are just as shitty, but I insert a dollar and select a bag of cookies, followed by another dollar in exchange for a bag of chips. As soon as they pop from the sticky bottom tray, I rip them open and stuff my face.

“Tegan?” someone says behind.

I yelp as one of the bags flies from my hand, and chips spread around my feet.

Ace steps into the light thrown by the vending machine. “Rule number one: don’t go anywhere by yourself in places like these.”

“Well, I needed to get away from the welcoming committee I have to share a room with.”

“Is Delia being . . . Delia?”

“Don’t say it like that. You must have liked her at some point,” I say as I walk past him. “According to her, you liked everyone at some point.”

I clutch my prized cookies to my chest and head toward my room, but I dread going back in there. When the pool catches my eye, I head there instead. I slip past the black-barred fence and the sign that says Closed so I can eat my snack in fucking peace. I plop down on one of the beach chairs and stare at the blue water in front of me. The pool doesn’t look that bad, surprisingly.

The gate opens and closes behind me, and I shake my head because I know exactly who it is.

“Tegan,” Ace begins. “Can we talk?”

“Talk all you want. I’m not stopping you.” I shove another cookie into my mouth.

“What did Delia tell you?”

“Oh, you know, just how man-whoreish you are. It’s a very attractive trait. Really turns me on.”