Page 16 of Room Service

6

Jessi

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when I glanced through a window after I arrived at the hotel. I didn’t have anything to do yet, so I was lounging in the staff area out of uniform before my shift started in an hour or so. I was drinking a cup of mocha I’d made myself, with extra chocolate, cream, and sugar, and some whipped cream and marshmallows sprinkled on top. I lightly stirred it before eating some of the whipped cream and marshmallow combo, and then drank some of the mocha as I stared off into space, my thoughts only a few miles away. If the level of whipped cream went down, I’d add some more without thinking, I was enjoying the treat but my mind was a whirlwind.

I was spraying on some more whipped cream when the door to the staff room opened, causing me to look up and accidentally spray more than I’d wanted to.

It was Laura, and she arched an expertly shaped blond eyebrow at me and then at the mug in my hand.

“Are you drowning your sorrows in sugar, Jessi? Because that’s more likely to give you diabetes than anything,” she said, tilting her head at the mug. Her long hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and for a moment it looked like a squirrel dancing on her shoulder. I had to hold back a snort of laughter as she tilted her head the other way quizzically.

I looked down and winced when I saw what was inside my mug. The mocha was about halfway gone, but the whipped cream overflowed the cup.

“More like gain weight,” I muttered, sighing as I licked it. “I do watch my sugar intake with all the pastries I make, I’m just giving myself a desperately needed treat today.”

I stared at my drink, wondering if this wasn’t a little too much of a treat. I did try to keep fit. My body had grown shapelier as I grew out of puberty and my teens, but I didn’t always picture it as a good thing. I didn’t brag about it, but I was a little buxom. As a late-bloomer, I didn’t really grow out until after high school, when I started turning quite a few heads. It had helped slightly with my self-esteem. But only slightly, because being ogled wasn’t something I enjoyed, especially when most men’s eyes fell to my chest instead of looking at my face when I talked to them.

That was only one of the annoying things.

Having a slightly big chest sometimes got in the way of my work. I’d grown used to it, so it no longer got in my way but getting used to the changes in my body had taken me a long time, and sometimes it still annoyed me. I would have rather been slightly smaller, but I couldn’t change the way my body was.

The other thing was my wide hips and my ass. Not to mention all those meals that went to my middle, my thighs, and my hips. It caused me to exercise more than I would have liked, because I was one of those lazy girls in high school that would run a few feet then pause, doubled over, feeling like I was about to pass out and breathing like I’d run a mile.

I needed the exercise, though. I was just a little conscious of my weight and shape.

“If you’re not gonna finish it, can I have it instead?” Laura asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

“Was that the real reason behind your questioning? You just wanted to have it for yourself?”

“I have a feeling you’re drinking a mocha, and yours are always the best. Make me one?”

I shook my head, and she sighed again.

Laura crossed the room to the kitchen area of the staff room. We didn’t eat the same food we made for the guests, more often than not having to make our separate meals. The hotel was awesome in that the kitchen in the staff room was about as well equipped as the kitchen we used to cater to the guests, if a little smaller. Laura got herself a cup of coffee, then came to where I sat in the lounge area and took the couch across from me.

“So,” she started after she’d taken a sip, then held the cup between her hands, looking up at me expectantly. “Do I get to hear why you’re drowning yourself in sugar this early in the morning and won’t share in the hedonism? Something happened?”

I sighed, not really wanting to get into it, but last night was still plaguing me.

Laura and I weren’t just colleagues; we were also friends. I wouldn’t call us so close that I’d told her all the sordid details of my life and how it tied in with the Thompson family. But she was such a nice, happy person that she got along with pretty much anybody and everybody. She worked as a maid and I worked in the kitchens, so we didn’t get to meet all that often, unless we both happened to be in the staffroom at the same time, or if she came looking for me.

After a moment of thinking about it, I figured there was nothing wrong with telling her. She rarely gossiped, so I knew I could trust her.

I took a sip of my mocha, chewed on a slightly soggy marshmallow, then looked over at her.

“I saw Trent Thompson,” I admitted. “You know my mom works over at their place, right? Well, I ran into him yesterday.” Literally.

She tilted her head slightly to the side, confused for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to laugh at her expression or her dancing squirrel more. I breathed my laughter out and waited for her response.

“Oh! The one you have a history with, right? I’ve only ever heard of him, I’ve never had the chance as to even see him. He’s the oldest, right?”

“How do you even know about that? I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it to you…”

She had the grace to look sheepish. “Well, I hear things around. And the rumor mills have been going wild around here the moment people heard the Thompson sons would be coming back.”

I frowned. “I don’t think there are people who know that he and I have history, though…”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “You do realize there are people here you probably went to the same high school with or something? They could just be making rumors for the fun of it, but I’m pretty good at distinguishing what’s true and what’s not.” She grinned. “Like, there’s one that says the two of you had an affair in his last year of high school, so his dad sent him away to keep the two of you apart, and you sticking around here for work is the reason why he’s never been back.”