Chapter Nine
Bethany
Just as the dinner was wrapping up, the president of the class stood and came onto the PA system that the cafeteria maintained.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but according to a report from the airport, they’ve gotten a weather advisory for this weekend,” she said.
“What’s wrong?” Someone--I thought it sounded a bit like John Hill, one of the class clowns from when we’d been in school--called out from across the room.
“We may need to make some changes to the events schedule, and we all might be trapped here for an extra day or two. According to the National Weather Service, we’re going to be snowed in with extremely low temperatures through the weekend.”
Groans echoed all around the cafeteria.
“What does that mean for the events? And why are we going to be trapped?” someone asked.
“If the temperatures get too low, it’s actually dangerous to fly, apparently, and the snow is going to be thick--they’re saying that they can clear the streets within the town, but roads out might be blocked, and the airport will be snowed in,” Madison explained. “So, we’ll move some of the events inside, and we might have to stay an extra day or two--all of us--until they’re able to clear the roads out of town.”
There were grumbles throughout the cafeteria, but I wasn’t all that worried. I’d driven into town, and I could work from home if I had to. Madison finished by telling us that the snow was supposed to start in a few hours--earlier than they’d originally expected--and that we should all probably get back to our hotels or whatever houses we were staying in, to settle in for the night before the weather got too bad.
Ransom and I gathered up my purse and keys and said our goodbyes, and headed out with the rest of the people who weren’t staying within blocks of the school. Some of the people at the dinner were staying behind to help clean up and make sure the cafeteria was closed down properly, but I didn’t have any responsibility or obligation.
“Here, take my jacket,” Ransom suggested as I shivered in the cold. The temperature was really dropping fast, and I thought it had to be below freezing already--it would definitely be frigid in a few hours, and not worth even wanting to go outside by morning. Ransom draped his jacket over me and I huddled in it until we got to my car.
“You drive,” I suggested, handing him the keys from my purse. It would--I thought--look more couple-like for him to drive us, even if the thought of someone else taking the wheel of my precious car was enough to put me on edge.
“You’re really committed to looking like we’re together, aren’t you?” Ransom didn’t argue with me though, and in a moment or two we were in the car, the heat turned up as high as it would go.
“How do you think we did?” I asked.
“I think we did fine,” Ransom replied. “We had to improvise a couple of times, but like I said before, even people who have dated for years don’t know some things about each other.”
“We need to work more on your cover,” I pointed out. “And I almost slipped once or twice and called you Ransom instead of James.”
“We can cover for that if it happens again,” Ransom said.
I frowned. “I don’t know. It just...I want it to be airtight.”
Ransom looked at me from the driver’s seat and shrugged. “I mean, if you really want to show off, we could get a hotel room where the rest of the class is staying--the people who don’t have houses here--and that way we’d be on display pretty constantly.”
I thought about that. “We’d have to share a room,” I countered. “And we’d have to get a one-bed suite.”
Ransom laughed. “Do you really think people would check?”
“At some point, if we’re staying in the same hotel as other people in the class, they’re going to come visit me,” I told him. “If they see us sharing a room that has two beds in it, they’re going to suspect something.”
“Not everyone is staying at the same hotel,” Ransom observed. “We could just pick one that doesn’t have a lot of people at it.”
“I don’t know,” I said. I thought about it for a long moment. If they were going to make changes to the program for the reunion weekend, it might actually be better overall to be close to some of my classmates; that way I’d know what was happening. “Fine--let’s go to the Clairmont,” I suggested.
“The Clairmont? Oooh la la,” Ransom said, turning the car around to head in that direction. “Fancy.”
“It’s where they’re supposed to be having the big dance on Sunday,” I said. “I figure there’s probably a handful of people staying there, and at least a few of them are probably the people in charge.”
“And that way we can flaunt what a good couple we are for the people most likely to gossip about it,” Ransom added.
I grinned; I couldn’t help myself. “If I’m going to have a big phony boyfriend with me at the events and stuff, I might as well make the most of it.”
“We’ll get the room and then--if you’re okay with it--I’ll go back to your place and get our stuff,” Ransom suggested.
“I didn’t unpack very much,” I said, more thinking out loud than actually saying anything meaningful. The thought of Ransom going up to my room and gathering up my things gave me a combination of thrills and worry. There was something about him that I couldn’t quite shake--something that had actually deepened on seeing how he danced to the beat of the social atmosphere at the dinner. He’d been everything a girl could want in a boyfriend, and I had to admit that if I’d had any interest in actually dating anyone, it would probably be someone like him.
“I promise I won’t snoop in your underwear drawer,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just see if the Clairmont has a room for us. If they do, we’ll figure out how to get our stuff there. If not, then we’ll just go home and it won’t matter,” I said.
Ransom nodded his agreement and we passed by the school again. I could see that more and more people were leaving, heading in different directions.
“You’re sure you want to try this?” As Ransom pulled into the parking lot for the Clairmont Hotel, he almost seemed to want to stop the car before we even made it to a space.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked.
Ransom looked over at me and held my gaze for a long moment. “Because if we get a room here, and your classmates are in the hotel, too, we’re going to have to be ‘on’ constantly.”
I took a deep breath. “As long as we’re alone in the room it won’t be a problem--will it?”
“We should be fine there,” he admitted.
“And I’m guessing that we won’t constantly be surrounded by people from the school. There’s bound to be some time when we’re at breakfast or whatever that there’s hardly anyone,” I pointed out.
“As long as you’re sure you want to go this route, I’m down for it,” Ransom said. “Just wanted to make sure you were one hundred percent.” I looked at the entrance to the hotel, and spotted two of my classmates going in. It would increase the pressure, but I’d always worked well in stressful situations.
“Let’s do it,” I said. “Even beyond everything else, it’s going to be so cold I’m not going to want to deal with running around in this weather--we might as well be at the center of things.”
Ransom nodded again, and pulled into a spot, and I mentally set myself to put the show back on. It couldn’t be that much harder, after all, and it would--hopefully--make the point even more strongly, that Ransom and I were staying in a room together. We could work out the details as we went along.