Room 702 (44 page)

“He’s obviously not heard of ‘thou shall not steal.’
 
Did he leave a tip?”

“Strangely enough, yes, he did.”

Dawn shrugs and asks, “Maybe he felt guilty about how much effort it was going to take to turn the room?”

“We’ll never know.”
 
Dawn nods and says, “I’ll go downstairs and get started on the paperwork.
 
Do you think we have enough in house to get this suite back to standard before check in?”

Juanita reviews the space again and says, “I can make it work.”
 
Clucking to herself, she goes to the mini bar and shakes her head, “He’s literally taken every single thing from here.”

“Jesus.
 
I’ll let central reservations know, and we’ll keep him out of Winchester properties from now on.”

As a chain, the senior management is willing to overlook any number of strange behavior and illegal activity on the property.
 
The housekeeping staff regularly cleans up vomit and other bodily fluids.
 
They find used condoms, traces of drugs, and other unmentionable details.
 
However, unless a guest verbally or physically assaulted another person on site or steals, management will usually look the other way.

“As much as people steal, more often than not, guests leave things behind,” Juanita comments.
 
“I wish today was that day.”

 
Like any hotel, the Winchester recovers numerous items per week that guests leave behind and have policies and procedures for logging most of these items.
 
The general policy at the Winchester is to keep items for a period of ninety days (a detail covered in the fine print of the information covered in the post on the inside of the closet, on the same page where the rack rates for the room is listed).
 
If at that time, the owner does not claim the items, then the personal effects become property of the hotel.
 
In a bit of a strange cyclical give and take, many patrons visit the front desk needing some charger or adapter.
 
The hotel will look through the outdated lost and found items and be able to quickly provide the gadget to the guest.

 
While the Winchester usually donates (cleaned gently) used clothing to various charities, when a manager is feeling particularly generous, once a quarter or so at an all staff meeting, the items which have not found their way back to specific owners
 
will be turned over to the staff if they want to claim anything.
 
This tradition started early on, and given how little much of the staff makes, the upper management tend to look the other way on the matter.
 

Dawn shakes her head once more and says, “Do you need any help?
 
How many rooms need to be turned?”
 

 
“If Chad or Stephen are around, send them up to help me get some of this furniture back in order.”

 
“You sweet on those boys, Juanita?” Dawn asks.

 
“Let an older lady look at some cute young things for the day.”

 
“Be my guest.
 
I’ll send them your way and let me know if we need to order anything.”

 
“Will do.”

The Virgin Atlantic flight over was an easy one for Bryan Riggs, who still has no idea what he’s actually doing in the States.
 
He physically understands how he got here.
 
Flying Upper Class, getting in the car, checking in at the front desk.
 
The Winchester was to be his home before he moves into a furnished flat later in the week.
 
What Bryan isn’t prepared for is the emotional fallout he feels from being in the United States.

 
Having seen his career come to an end in the British Premiere League, he was shocked when his agent called him and told him of the offer made by the Los Angeles Galaxy.
 
Even though he’s earned more than enough money, he doesn’t want to throw in the proverbial towel just yet.
 
While he knows eventually he can become a pundit, chatting about various matches on SkyNews, or writing up some column for one of the lad magazines, he still loves the game and wants to play.

 
He refuses to admit that he’s running away.
 
From Dane.

 
His boyfriend.

 
There aren’t gay footballers.

 
There are very few gay professional athletes.

There are limited athletes who even support homosexuality.

 
This is a fact.

 
It’s not that he ever planned to be gay, it’s just something he was undeniably born as.
 
Over the years, whatever emotions he might have felt among teammates Bryan has certainly had become adept at squashing any feelings or attractions.
 
Careful to keep up his image, when he was making a name for himself, he maintained a series of girlfriends – various pop stars and actresses.
 
When it came time in the relationship where he was more or less forced to sleep with them, he closed his eyes and fantasized about whoever was his most recent crush.
 
After awhile, the farce became too much and citing not enough time because of commitments to his job, travel and training, it’s been years since he’s shown up to any social event with someone on his arm.

 
Bryan had resigned himself to a life alone.
 
Perhaps when his career was over, he’d be able to act on his attractions, but then, out of nowhere, he met Dane.

 
They met, of all places, in Bryan’s local pub, The Cat and Fiddle.
 
A friend of a friend had introduced them and the chemistry had all but overwhelmed the pair.
 
The first time they had slept together, Dane had been wonderful – calm, attentive – it was making love on a completely different level.

 
From their first night together, with Bryan’s schedule permitting, they had spent as much time as possible together.
 
They had only broached the subject of Bryan’s profession once or twice.
 
In their six months together, it was only when Bryan’s contract had come to an end and none of the other teams were talking to him, that Dane made any indication about taking their relationship public.
 
When the deal came through for LA Galaxy, Dane strongly hinted he would be happy to join him – that in America people were more open-minded, that as foreigners they would not be under the same microscope as others.
 
Bryan had reminded his partner that there were no openly gay athletes and the conversation turned into an argument.
 
They both knew their relationship had an expiry date.
 
Bryan would never ask Dane to join him.
 
Dane, proud man that he was, would never come to Los Angeles without being invited.
 
Their last weeks together were tinged with sadness, and now, sitting alone in this new country, Bryan realizes he’s made a terrible mistake.
 
Perhaps they cannot be openly together, but at least Dane could be in country with him.
 
Bryan has always prided himself on being independent, but now understands how much better his life would be if Dane was regularly a part of it.
 
Is it too late to fix things between them?
 
While Bryan isn’t ready to come out to the world, he is more than ready to grovel to his boyfriend, to plead to be taken back.
 
Bryan pulls his smartphone out and looks at the last text Dane sent through.
 

>> Miss you.
 
xoxo.
 

Bryan hadn’t responded.
 
And now, days later, what can he say that will bridge the gap?
 
If the situation was reversed, he wouldn’t take himself back.
 
Hesitatingly, he types out an answer.
>> I’m here.

As soon as he sends the message, he feels foolish.
 
It’s close to 1 A.M. in the UK, and Dane works at a local college.
 
He’ll have to be up early in the morning.
 
What a terrible place to try and start things again…

>> I’m glad you’re safe.

Bryan’s heart leaps out of his chest.
 
It’s a small token – a tiny olive branch, but he’ll take it.

>> I want you here with me.

>> Do you?

 
>> Skype?

Bryan opens the app and hopes against everything, all the things he never said, that Dane will sign in.
 
When Dane does, Bryan’s heart soars – more than the time he kicked a winning goal in extra time, or when he played on the Welsh national team.
 
With a trembling finger, he makes a video call – desperately hoping to see his lover’s face.
 
“Yes?” a familiar voice asks.
 
Dane has not allowed the video feed from his end to go through.
 
“Puppy, is that you?”
 
“It is.”
 
Suddenly, Bryan has no idea what to say.
 
On the other end of the line is someone he’s shared secrets with, been intimate with and, for one magic weekend, travelled with,
 
“How’s Monkey?”
 
Monkey is Dane’s very cute miniature dachshund who Bryan fell equally in love with.
 
“He’s fine.”
 
“Dane?”
 
“Yes?”
 
“I’m sorry.”
 
“For what?”
 
“For everything.”
 
“Specifically?”
 
“You should be here with me.”
 
“I should?”
 
“On the flight over…there was…everything reminds me of you.
 
This room seems lonely without you in it.”
 
“What are you saying?”
 
“I know I should’ve asked this months ago and I can’t promise much more than just being my partner, but will you move out here with me?”
 
“I’ll have to think about it.”
 
Bryan is a bit let down by not hearing an instant ‘yes,’ but understands what a big ask he’s making.
 
They’ve spoken before of what would happen if Bryan publicly came out.
 
Bryan is comfortable at home, but isn’t ready for the media scrutiny or to be the poster boy for gay rights in professional sports.
 
Still, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to have Dane in his life.
 
He can live with insults, but he cannot live without his boyfriend.
 
“That’s all I’m asking.
 
I’ll let you go back to sleep.”
 
“Thanks for calling.”
 
“I hope you’ll consider joining me.” Bryan says and then regrets his formal words.
 
He wants to beg Dane to get on a plane tonight.
 
He wants to hang up the call and book his boyfriend a ticket.
 
He wants them to buy a place together and decorate it.
 
He wants Dane in his life forever.
 
“Good night.”
 
From his side of the Atlantic, Dane ends the call.

 
“I love you,” Bryan says to the device.

Thalia and Maureen wait until the bellboy leaves the room, then begin jumping up and down excitedly on various pieces of furniture.
 
Friends who have known each other since their junior year at Forrest Hills have been planning the pilgrimage to where Brendan Sullivan met his ultimate demise for months.
 
It was, after all, a shared love of the actor that cemented their friendship so many years ago.
 
While others at their school were interested in various rock stars and sport figures, the pair fell in teenage love with the handsome actor and never looked back.

“I can’t believe we are here!”

“Can you believe he actually
died
in this room?”

Since his unfortunate death earlier in the year, while the Winchester solidly refuses to give out the exact details of where Brendan Sullivan met his untimely demise, for those who know where to look (or how much to pay), the knowledge that Room 702 is where the death took place is available.

What started out as a girls weekend quickly morphed into a cross country road trip.
 
Upon Brendan’s death, the trip had taken a different direction entirely, with always organized Thalia planning out nearly every moment of the trip.
 
Once an up and coming consultant in the advertising industry, Thalia had intentionally gotten off the career track in order to concentrate on raising the two children she and her husband have produced in seven years of marriage.
 
This trip will mark the longest she’s been away from them, and she’s doing much better than she thought she would.
 

 
Although Thalia had been a bit reluctant, wanting instead to fly directly from city to city, as the miles passed she felt better about the choice to make the drive instead.
 
There was something liberating about traveling by car.
 
On the road they weren’t captive, on the road they weren’t trapped by commercial aviation.
 
The friends had travelled together before and easily settled into familiar habits.

Here, at their destination, Thalia is struck by a moment of melancholy.
 
This trip had been something she had been looking forward to for so long and now it was almost halfway over.
“What should we do now?” Maureen asks.