It only took me a few minutes to finally make it up to the sixth floor. A convenient sign hung on the wall by the door, depicting a large ’6’.
Finally, made it. I should take a shower...
Just as my hand touched the door knob, I suddenly heard some soft, muffled sobs coming from directly above me.
Is someone crying?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I turned around and walked up another flight of stairs.
Leslie?!
Sure enough, my eye landed on a small figure leaning against the wall, sobbing continuously. Her cries were so intense that she didn’t notice that I was standing just a few steps below her.
My heart tightened inside my chest. She looked like an angel, but her face was streaked with tears instead of her usual bright smile.
I immediately took a step upwards, leaning over to gently touch her arm. "Leslie, what’s wrong? Did something happen?"
The last time I saw her look so upset was at Sunday Mass when I took her to the park.
She finally lifted her face and looked at me. Her eyes were red and puffy from all of the crying.
"Lucas?" she asked quietly, tears still rolling down her cheeks.
I couldn’t stand to see her so upset, but I didn’t want to force her to tell me what was wrong. I looked around and realized that a dirty stairwell was not a good place to sit and cry.
"Come, let’s get you out of this dirty stairwell. You need some water too," I said with concern. Her lips were slightly cracked, which told me she was slightly dehydrated from all of the crying.
I leaned over and extended my arms so that she could use them to get up off the ground. She looked up at me for a few moments before she finally reached out and tried lifting herself off the stairs.
However, the moment she stood up, her legs gave way, and she collapsed directly into my arms.
"I’m sorry, my legs are numb from sitting in that position for so long," she said softly in between sobs.
My chest tightened.
Just how long was she crying in this stairwell for?
I wrapped my arms around her before lifting her off the ground. "It’s okay. I’m here. I’ll bring you to my room. You’ll be safe there."
I continued to whisper softly into her ear as I carried her back down the stairs to the entrance of the sixth floor. She tightened her grip around my neck and cried into my shoulder.
From our close proximity, I could smell her sweet perfume along with the natural scent of her body. Her body felt so dainty and small in my arms that I had to continue looking down to make sure she was still there.
While the circumstances were not ideal, I was very happy that she trusted me enough to carry her to my hotel room.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the very end of the sixth-floor hall, in front of my room. Still holding her, I pulled my keycard out of my pocket and opened the door. It was a large room with many windows, overlooking the city.
I gently sat her down on the edge of the bed and turned to grab a new water bottle from the counter.
"Here, drink this," I said softly, handing her the water bottle.
She accepted the water with shaky hands, spilling some of it on top of her in the process. I quickly ran over to the bathroom to find a clean towel, handing it to her instead of taking the liberty of drying her off myself.
"Thank you," she said shakily and dabbed the wet spot on her lap a few times.
She was still crying, but it was already a lot less intense than back in the stairwell.
"No problem at all. We’re friends, right?" I smiled, doing my best to cheer her up with my lighthearted comment.
It worked, and her lips finally curved up into a small smile. She kept her eyes lowered, hesitating to look up at me.
I immediately knelt on the floor in front of her, looking up into her eyes. "Leslie. You don’t have to explain anything if you don’t want to. Just know that I’m here for you."
I couldn’t begin to imagine what had caused her to cry so painfully, but I didn’t plan on forcing her to tell me if she didn’t want to. What was important now was to get her to stop crying.
A look of relief washed over her, and she finally took the initiative to look at me. I could immediately tell that my words relaxed her as she took a deep breath.
"Thank you, Lucas. I really appreciate you letting me hide here for a little," she said.
"It’s not a problem at all. Stay for as long as you like," I smiled back.
My father used to tell me that laughter was the best medicine for anything. I always took his words to heart and did my best to smile and laugh whenever I could. Though I wasn’t aware of what was wrong, I only hoped that my smile could ease her suffering, even if just a little.
Her lips curved up ever so slightly as she looked back at me.
"What were you doing before you ran into me? You look like you ran a marathon," she said teasingly. Her small smile left me breathless. I was so happy that she stopped crying.
I looked down at my white dress shirt, noticing a few sweat stains.
"It was basically a marathon," I laughed, "I ran up the stairs since the elevators were busy."
Her eyes widened. "You ran up six floors of stairs?!"
I nodded, "Well, I did take a small breather on floor four."
"Wow, I could barely tolerate walking up one floor. I couldn’t imagine six..."
I stood up, taking a step back from her. Though I couldn’t smell anything, I didn’t want Leslie to think that I smelled bad.
"I was planning on taking a quick shower. Would that make you uncomfortable?" I asked, looking for any signs of discomfort on her face.
She quickly shook her head. "Not at all. Please, go ahead. I’ll be right here."
"Very well then. Please excuse me for a few minutes. I’ll be right back," I said as I walked over to the bathroom.
-
In the bathroom, I took my time taking off my clothes. My heart was racing from everything that had happened. I dreamed of holding Leslie in my arms again after the coffee incident, but now she was even sitting on the bed in my hotel room.
I looked down to see my erection growing from the thought.
Fuck. Not now!
Sometimes I couldn’t understand myself. Leslie was just crying her heart out, and here I was, stiff at the thought of her sitting in my hotel room.
I reached into the shower, pulling the handle so that it was only cold water flowing, and hopped in.
Whoever said cold water helps with cooling off is a liar.
My heart was still racing even though my body was freezing from the cold shower. I could still smell her faint scent around me, making things even more difficult.
No, Lucas. This isn’t right. She doesn’t see you that way!
I gritted my teeth, but the erection still stood strong. It was only when I turned to look at the bathroom door did I noticed that I forgot to close the door fully, leaving a small crack.
Oh no...
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