Motel life

"Hello could we please have four rooms"

Quinn asked the receptionist

"Sure here are your keys. The rooms are 104, 105, 106, 107. Have a nice night."

"Thanks you too"

Quinn smiled and grabbed the keys"

"So how are we going to split up rooms."

Beth asked. Becca and Quinn looked at each other and laughed.

"Well I'm going to share a room with Quinn, I'm sure Melania and Sage want to share, so I guess Beth and Nathaniel can share a room"

Becca laughed

"I'll share a room with Beth!"

Daniel said. Becca and Quinn stared at him meanly, mouthing:

"No, don't you dare"

"You know on second thought Beth you take up to much bed room, I'd rather my own room"

Daniel quickly spat out to please Quinn and Becca.

"What, no Daniel you're meant to be my best friend"

Beth looked at Daniel sadly, she mouthed:

"I hate you"

At Daniel.

"So I guess it's set Daniel gets his own room and Beth and Nathaniel together."

Becca smiled and Beth knew what was going to happen next. Quinn threw one person from each room a key. Beth turned hers over and saw the numbers: 107.

"I hate you, all of you"

She screamed walking towards her room.

"You guys are all horrible, Daniel I could have shared a room with you."

Nathaniel complained before everyone walked over to their rooms telling each other:

"Goodnight"

Nathaniel walked into the open door of room 107 with Beth screaming:

"There's only one bed"

At this point it had been an hour since they got into their rooms. It was 7:30pm and Becca had figured out their next steps, Quinn had done a bit of studying for the school she did not attend anymore. Daniel had only laid in his bed throwing a ball that he had picked up along the way up and down. Sage had been reading the whole time, while Melania had been talking to her. Beth had taken a shower while Nathaniel went on a jog around the city waiting for Beth to finish her shower.

"Are you finally done love, I've been gone for fifty minutes and you're still not done with your shower."

Nathaniel yelled trying to get into the locked bathroom

"No, so fuck off. I'll be done in like 15 minutes"

Beth yelled, she had just hopped out of the shower and now all she had to do was rub some healing cream over her body. She had bruises everywhere, some more recent some older, she also needed to put a new band-aid on her foot which had been cut by the glass that her father had thrown.

"What will I do, I mean he can't see me with bruises all over my body, at least Daniel knows that Chad bruised me so I could use that excuse, but Nathaniel"

She said quietly.

"I don't have makeup to cover them, please let the owner of that store put in long sleeve PJ's."

"Fuck!"

Beth screamed

"Love hurry up, I would like to shower"

Nathaniel yelled back. Beth groaned and put on the longest PJ's she could make, she opened up the door and bolted past Nathaniel to the bed to get under the covers.

"Umm ok thanks I guess Love."

There was a knock on the door so Beth grabbed a robe on her side table and opened the door.

"Yeah, come in won't you"

Beth welcomed as Daniel waltzed into the room.

"Where's ..."

"Shower"

"Ok well could I please talk to you"

"Sure let's go to your room, not in here I'm sure Nathaniel will over hear it and tell other people, I mean he did it to me and I was his best friend, and I don't think he likes you."

"Ok but let's go outside"

"Yeah let me get changed first."

Beth went over to her bag and grabbed some leggings and an old shirt. Asked Daniel to turn around and put them on.

"Nathaniel I'm going out with Daniel if you go to sleep leave me some room."

Beth screamed before shutting the front door and leaving with Daniel.

After sitting down on a bench by a pond Beth asked him:

"What's wrong"

"Why does anything need to be wrong for me to talk to you"

"Nothing, it's just that you ran into my room asking if you could talk to me, mind you that was worryingly. Plus I've known you for long enough to know you're thinking about something important. You have been quiet the whole ride, I've barely heard you speak."

"You know me to well"

"So what did you want to tell me"

"Well it's I don't know, we'll there's a friend back home and he thinks that he might like boys, what do you think?"

"Well what do you want me to think? I mean your friend if he thinks that he likes boys, so maybe he should try it out. Is that an alright answer."

"Yes it is"

Daniel let out a smile.

"Beth, I saw the bruises"

"What"

"Well there's one on your neck, it seems very new. I also saw the cut on your foot. I'm not stupid, I know it can't have been Chad. Was it Nathaniel I swear if it was I will..."

"My dad"

"Beat. Beth are you ok, I always thought your dad was abusive but never physically. How long?"

"Physically 12 but emotionally 9 since we moved here."

"Why did you never tell me"

"You have your own problems, I didn't want to burden you with mine plus I enjoy listening to your problems not telling you about mine."

"I'm sorry"

He hugged me and we just sat there, on a bench in Colorado, 800 miles away from home.

"Well it looks late I'm going to go to sleep, I'm super tired"

"Ok night Beth, come I'll bring you too your room"

He walked Beth back to her room, and then left to go to Becca and Quinn's room.

"Hey Daniel come in"

"Hi Becca"

"So what brings you to our humble abode."

Daniel walked in and sat on the bed

"So I went over to Beth's room and it looked like she had just come out from the shower, her hair was wet. She also took a long time to open the door, now when I asked her where Nathaniel was, she said shower. Now I'm not stupid I heard what you two were whispering about."

Becca and Quinn looked at each other, Daniel continued:

"I don't like Nathaniel especially what he did to Beth, I also don't like that you two are meddling in their relationship... without me. Please I am her best friend. How dare you do that without me."

"I thought you were going to scream at us for doing that"

Quinn chuckled

"Why would I, I mean please I read and they would have the perfect childhood best friends to enemies to lovers."

"Wait yes, your right. "

Becca screamed. They spent the next hour laughing about how to bring Nathaniel and Beth together. Then Daniel went back to his room to sleep, as did Becca and Quinn.

"You know Sage, I always used to think about what happened on that one day where we were brought into our parents' work. I always laugh remembering how you cried"

"I always try to forget that memory"

Melania looked disappointed

"No no no, I mean the fact that I cried because of I don't even know. That day I would never want to forget"

"Good, I thought you didn't like me or something"

"If I didn't like you I wouldn't have spent the last day talking to just you."

"Well that's good, now Sage go to bed we need to leave early tomorrow"

"Ok night Melania"

"Night"

Both of the girls then went to sleep.

At midnight Daniel got up and quietly knocked on Sage and Melania's. Sage opened the door ever so slightly.

"Who is, oh it's you Daniel what are you doing here?"

Sage whispered.

"I need help with something"

"Ok, well let's go out here Melania is still sleeping."

Sage walked out and shut the door.

"How did you know you were lesbian?"

"Oh right into it, well I realised I couldn't imagine marrying a man, and I kissed a boy and it felt disgusting, so I kissed a girl and it felt like heaven. But it's what I feel comfortable labeling myself."

"Are you not going to ask why I asked?"

"Well you are wondering if you are gay, and so you're asking me how I knew. Believe me many people ask people of the LGBTQ+ how they knew when they were questioning.Now I don't mean to be rude but I'm super tired and would love to sleep as we are leaving tomorrow or today at 6am"

"Ok well thanks for answering, night."

"Night"

They both went into their rooms and got to sleeping.

Becca groaned and rolled over again.

"I just want to sleep. I'm just going to go outside"

So Beth stepped outside in her robe, she walked over to the bench where she and Daniel had talked a few hours before. She sat there in her own thoughts and didn't realise that someone had sat down next to her.

"Couldn't sleep, love"

She flinched to the side

"God Nathaniel you scared me"

She quickly took a breath

"Nah, you to"

"No you woke me up, you are very loud when you're getting ready, you also slammed the door shut"

"Oh, sorry"

"It's good otherwise I wouldn't have seen you fall on your way here."

Nathaniel laughed. Beth let out a chuckle.

"How horrible that must have been not to see me fall"

"World changing"

"Yeah, if you hadn't followed me your whole life would be different"

"Definitely"

"Ok love I was just seeing if you're ok, I'm going back to bed, you should go to sleep soon to we're going in 5 hours."

"Ok, and could you please stop calling me love"

"Never"

"Why do you even call me love?"

"I will never tell"

Nathaniel yelled back. Beth stayed there for another hour before going to bed.