Chapter 6

Snapping out of her thoughts, she stepped out of the restaurant hoping to get a better look, but he was gone. How was that even possible? She was sure it had not been up to a minute. 

She walked down the path on the left of the entrance to the cute restaurant, but a gush of wind that seemed to pick up speed had her turning in the opposite direction. She blinked a few times trying to rid her eyes of the little bits of sand that had snuck into them. 

God damn it, what am I even doing?

The sand seemed to have cleared from her eyes because she could finally see two women talking in the parking lot. One was a short blonde with a large chest and the other, a thin frail-looking brunette. She scanned the scanty lot and all she saw were a few cars parked close to the fence and the main exit Evander had walked through earlier. Could that be where he went through? But that did not make any sense. The black gate was too far from where she stood to be reachable in less than a minute. Even a taller person would have to brisk walk for at least three minutes to use that gate. 

She looked around for other gates but there were none, just a fence that surrounded the entire school including some shops and restaurants that were not exactly under the school's management. Maybe he ran? But why would he feel the need to? Could he have known what she had seen? More and more questions filled her mind and she knew she would not be getting any answers anytime soon.

She looked around the parking lot for a little longer but eventually gave up. Had she imagined him? No, there was no way she had. The lady behind the counter had seen him too. And what was up with that symbol? It was quite odd considering all she had seen for the past few days were numbers. She must have imagined it. But if so, that would mean she had imagined it in the room with Evander, imagined it the night she had spent celebrating with Jensen and her family at their little home in San Francisco. No, she was sure she had not imagined it and she would not ignore it this time. 

She had to know what those numbers meant and she had to know fast. If she was going crazy and needed help, she needed to know now. But where was she going to find answers? Who was she going to talk to? She could tell Evander but for some reason she still could not fathom, she found it difficult to tell him, even after what had happened in San Francisco. She could have done or said something then but she didn't, she felt ashamed. She was scared of sounding crazy. Nobody would have believed her. She did not even believe herself, until it was too late.

Remembering she still had yet to pay for their breakfast, she moved to get into the restaurant but not before she caught a glimpse of it again. An infinity symbol but on the head of the frail brunette she had seen in the parking lot earlier. Okay, she was convinced now, she was going mad.

She was itching to rush up the final steps needed to close the distance between her and the brunette but stopped herself. Evander would probably start to worry if she did not hurry up and get back to the hotel. Besides, how was she supposed to explain what she saw, or thought she saw. 

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stood for a while to calm herself and her ranging thoughts. She opened her eyes to see the symbol gone and the brunette strolling towards the double doors of the administrative building with the blond not too far behind.

She pushed the glass doors leading to the restaurant open and headed straight for the counter. 

You're going crazy, slowly but surely if you don't stop thinking about it, she chanted to herself.

“I thought you changed your mind when you left and decided to bless me with a loaded credit card,” the lady who she realized must be Beatrice said chuckling. 

“Yeah. Sorry about that. I saw something that piqued my interest and couldn't help myself,” Clara responded playing with the end of a wavy strand of her black hair in her hand. 

“Yeah, I’m sure you did,” the redhead agreed with a knowing smirk. Clara was lost as to what she was referring to until she added, “Mr Snowe always has that effect on ladies here, including the students!” She laughed loudly at that but it ended awkwardly when she realized Clara wasn't laughing along. “I'm sorry, I… Never mind, my mistake. Here's your order.” Beatrice handed her white opaque nylon with Thanks for choosing Beatrice’s restaurant written in pink. 

Clara realized her mistake and let out a laugh hoping it didn’t come out strained. “I do in fact know what you mean,” she smirked at her.

“Thank God, I thought I must have lost a customer there. My mom always tells me to learn to shut up but do I ever listen?” She laughed again and this time Clara joined in.

“Well thanks for the cakes. I’d be sure to come here again once school starts,” she promised hoping the cakes were actually good so she would not have to flake on a promise.

“Sure, I would be on the lookout.” She make an exaggeration of using her thumb and index fingers to form a circle in front of both her eyes making make believe goggles and Clara can’t help but laugh at that. “Thank you for coming in,” She added and for the first time Clara noticed how thick Beatrice’s Spanish accent was and wondered why she didn't notice it from the very beginning.

Clara nodded, walked out the store and out to the parking lot. The hotel was not too far from the restaurant.

She was only a block away from the hotel but was already frustrated from the constant running of her inner thighs. She loved her body but this was the one part of her body that annoyed her the most. Most people she had met had described her as curvy, but she thought she was just a fat girl that got lucky enough to have a big ass and big breasts to go with it.

She got to the motel panting and out of breath. She was so out of shape. Why had she stopped working out again? She stood by the door with a sign that said St Patrick’s hotel, hands on knee drawing air like she just ran a marathon. She used this to look around because she hadn’t really had the time to do so today because they were in a hurry earlier that morning.

It seemed like a popular hotel because cars of different colors and variety were packed on either sides of the narrow road. Aside the hotel, the street was almost empty save for a few house scattered here and there. 

When she felt like her lungs were finally functioning properly, she rose to her full height and headed into the fancy lobby. The walls were decorated with murals of people from different races, all smiling as if saying ‘we’re all together and we are happy to have you here.’ It was immediately relaxing especially since the artist was smart enough to use mild neutral colors as a form of background. She was itching to take a picture but she had left her camera in the room.

Chandeliers hung freely from the ceiling painted an unapologetically bright gold, it almost looked like real gold. She greeted the receptionist at the front desk, not waiting for a response before making a bee line for the elevator. She almost pulled out her hair when she saw the ‘out of service’ sign pasted on both sides of the elevator doors. Letting out a huff of breath, she climbed up the flight of stairs ten steps away from the elevator, huffing and puffing as she went. All that was left was her screaming, ‘little pig, little pig, let me in’ and she would have been a shoe in for the role of big bad fox, but she doubted she could get a word out without fainting. She trudged the final steps leading to the second floor of the fancy hotel, and finally the room she shared with Evander.

She plopped down on the bed immediately she entered the room, not paying any mind to what Evander was doing or the fact that they were not alone in the room.

“I see we don’t get a good morning too,” said a voice she knew all too well.