Chapter One

Ariana

I don't think I can take this anymore. I am starting to feel sickly because of all the alcohol. My body is not used to the liquor but I had made up my mind to get loose tonight and have fun with my friends. Today was our last day of college and we are celebrating but I feel more regretful than excited. 

Even the Adonis I was stealing glances at decided to leave. What am I doing here? Heather and Julie have already disappeared into thin air. The last time I saw Julie, she was dancing wildly with a blonde hunk. Heather was having shots with a tattooed guy wearing a white t-shirt. Liza and her boyfriend, Mark have already got themselves a room in this hotel and they are probably already in some heavy romance.

Here I am, all alone. I feel like an uninvited guest who sneaked into a party of unknown people. I feel sleepy, yet drunk. I can't drive myself home. I came with Liza in Mark's car and now I can't even find them. I don't even think my interference would be welcomed. 

I am feeling cold and bored. Jeez... How did I end up like this? At first, I was excited to do this. I was ready to have a good time, let loose, and have the night of my life. I have finally finished college and I have a bright future to look forward to. With my part-time job and Taste's Home restaurant, I can start looking for an intern job somewhere else so that I can start building my career. 

I look around me and I don't recognize any faces around me. This hotel is a good distance from home and I can't even drive in this state. I feel so helpless and I hate it! I try to get on top of my feet but my head starts spinning, and the room seems upside down. I immediately slump my butt back onto the chair and let out a frustrated sigh. 

A slim guy with messy hair walks toward me and I frown in displeasure. I know that he is obviously not going to help me out of my situation and he is just going to bother me.

"Hey, beautiful. You here alone?" he inquires with a devilish grin on his face. It's too early to judge the devil in someone before you even establish a conversation. I just don't want to speak to him. I want to go home. 

I just nod and look around me once again. You never know, one of the girls could still be around. That's what you get for being single!

"You don't want to talk, do you?" he says while cocking his head to one side to study my face. Well, isn't that obvious? I look back at the place where the hot guy was sitting on the stool before he left. My stupid head thought that he could have come back but he is probably already gone. Even the one who was sitting beside him is already gone. I would have felt better if he was the one who had approached me instead of this guy. 

"You don't talk so much, do you?" he asks me, his eyes narrowed at me. I mentally roll my eyes at him and then scramble to my feet once again. The spinning doesn't stop. I see him getting up hastily to help me stand upright.

"Are you alright?" he inquires me. Maybe he is not a total jerk. 

"I am fine. I just had a lot more drinks than I should have," I respond while pinching my eyes shut and rubbing my forehead. I want to regain my balance and think of what to do next.

Maybe I should call father. It would be embarrassing to calm him at this hour to come and pick me up but it would be better than getting myself in any kind of trouble that I won't be able. get myself out of it easily. Father's home is in this part of town. I had told him about the wild girl's night we were having tonight to celebrate the end of college. I am a twenty-three-year-old woman and I should be able to handle such a situation. The problem is that I have never been through such kind of situation so I don't even know where to begin from.

I could call Devis to come and pick me up. I know it is so late right now but he is a good friend and he wouldn't hesitate to come and help me. I reluctantly touch my sides but it is all empty.

What? My mind is now wide awake. My purse! My phone! Dung it! I search around my sir and the entire table, scrambling like a mad woman. Oh, god! Could this night get any worse?

"Are you looking for something?" the guy beside me asks and I am startled. I had even forgotten that he was still there. Can't he see that I am not interested?

My phone! I need my phone. I care less about all the other things in the purse. How am I supposed to get out of here? I don't even have the money to get a room in this damn expensive hotel. I don't have the stamina to get out of here and look for a taxi to take me to my father's house. Who knows what could happen to the girl with a half-conscious mind in a taxi at the night?

One of the girls might have mistakenly taken it with her, but who? I can't go around the entire hotel looking for each one of them. Okay, I have to reduce the number of suspects so that I don't lose my mind knocking on all the hotel doors. 

Liza and Mark left earlier than the others and I still had my purse with me. That leaves Heather and Julie as the suspects. How am I supposed to find them?

I heard Julie say something like room 1024 or was it room 2400? Oh, god! This is frustrating! Wait! She said one thousand so the twenty-four is probably what follows. I have never felt so helpless in my life, but I can't just remain here looking helpless. I have to get myself out of this.

I gather the remaining pieces of my composure and walk out of the club, leaving the guy standing there with a confused look on his face. Well, he should have known that it was all a total waste of time.

I get into the elevator and I don't know whether to panic or feel relieved to be in the elevator by myself. I don't know which floor I am supposed to ride to so I just stand there studying the number of floors in the building.

The elevator opens again and a grey-haired man in a blue suit walks in and stands beside me. I try to look sober in front of this man because he looks so responsible and he would probably question my dignity. He puts in the number of the floor her is going to and the elevator rides up to the tenth floor. I get out behind him and start looking around like a lost ghost.

I promise myself that if this night ends successfully, then I will never go out on such nights out without a solution of going back home. 

Room 1010, Room 1015, Room 1020... 

I keep going through the corridor while reading carefully the numbers on the doors. 

Room 1024! Relief momentarily washes over me and takes in a deep breath before knocking on the door. I pray in my mind that Julie is in here. I know again and the door opens, revealing a hairy bearded man with a bathrobe. He looks very annoyed at first but then a wild disgusting grin spreads on his face making me shudder.

"Hey," he slobbers and I immediately frown in disgust.

"Sorry, wrong room," I hastily say and then turn in my heels. I don't even know where I am supposed to go now. I walk back into the elevator and pinch my eyes shut. 

I ride up to the next two floors and get out. This is the worst night of my life and I don't think it could get any worse.

The rooms on this floor are arranged much differently. There is much more space from one room to the other. I walk through the corridor, my heart hammering in my chest, I knock on the first door I see. What the hell am I doing? I must be too drunk to even think. I hate alcohol and I am never taking it again! Should I knock again? I am not even sure if one of the girls is in here but my heart tells me to knock again, and I do it. My eyelids have started giving up on me and they are dropping sleepily. I am so tired, so confused, so drunk and so stupid! I should have just stayed at home and watched movies with overcooked popcorn throughout the entire night. I lean my head on the wall beside the door and start regretting all the details of this night. My feet are killing me in these heels. I remove them and hold them in my hand. At least now I have some tiny bit of relief.

The door opens and I lift my head from the wall and look up. A familiar face? A handsome, confused but sexy face! God! I must be much drunker than I thought! I blink twice and realize that I saw this face back in the club. The Adonis. A silly grin spreads on my face that I have seen here much earlier than I thought. I never even expected to see him again.

"What are you doing here?" he asks me with a concerned look on his face. I stop grinning and try again to remember why I am here. My phone!

"Um... I am looking for Julie," I respond and then try to rephrase. "My phone! Someone took my purse and my phone was in it." Silly girl! What am I even saying? It is none of his business that I am a lost sheep!

A smile spreads on his face and then I realize that I just said all that out loud. I immediately cover my mouth with my hand but it is the one with the heels so they clatter on the floor in front of him. Could this get any more embarrassing? Haven't I been through enough already? Someone hit me with a hammer on my head because I can't stand any more of this night!