Blind Date (7/10)
A few hours later, they'd made their way through most of the cd's.
Donna sang along with the songs and Josh pretended he knew the
lyrics. He'd rather just listen to her. She sang softly under her
breath, but that made her voice all the more tantalizing. It had a
breathy quality to it that made Josh want to put his lips next to
hers just so her could feel her breath on him.
They finally pulled into the only hotel in the small town outside of
Richmond where Senator Axelrod was vacationing.
Josh and Donna both stared at the garish neon sign promoting the
Hotel Oasis. The hotel was a two-level cinder-block structure. It
didn't look rundown, but it didn't look like it had been updated
since the late 60s. "You always take me to the nicest places,
Joshua," quipped Donna, getting out of the car.
"Only the best for you, my dear," answered Josh, grabbing his bag
out from the backseat and heading towards the office.
As Josh went in to get their rooms, Donna put her bag down on a bench
outside the door and walked to the edge of the covered porch to look
at the stars. They were obscured by the pink and orange hotel sign.
Sighing, longing for a hot shower and a clean bed, she headed back
towards her bag, only to meet Josh on his way out of the office. He
shouldered her bag. "Okay, don't kill me."
Donna stopped in her tracks. "Don't kill you why?"
"Um. They only had one room left."
"What?" she fairly screamed. "You did make a reservation, right?"
Josh fiddled with the room key bashfully. "Well, I meant to, but I
was busy today."
Donna sighed again, closing her eyes and rubbing the back of her
neck. "Okay. So, we share," she said resignedly. "As long as you
didn't bring your footed pajamas, we should be okay."
"Actually..."
"What now?"
"It's not a double."
Donna sighed again and narrowed her eyes. "One bed?"
"Yes," said Josh, holding up a hand to stop her before she
commented. "And you can have it. I'll sleep on the floor."
Donna was all prepared with a smart comment, but was stopped by
Josh's gracious offer. Not wanting to argue about this all night in a
parking lot, she threw her arm out. "Alright, lead on."
Josh smiled meekly at her, glad that she had taken this well, an dled
her up the stairs. When he found room 214, he opened the door and let
her go in first. The room was surprisingly clean and comfortable. The
decor was definitely early 70s, but without the garish colors usually
associated with the decade. The bed was covered by the green and
white bedspread with a swirled design and a huge gold lamp fixture
hung from the ceiling over a small table and two green chairs.
Josh put the bags down on the bed. "See, it's not that bad," but he
stopped short when Donna shot him a look.
She wandered into the bathroom and was surprised to find a completely
renovated bathroom with a jacuzzi tub. Smiling softly to her self,
she stuck her head around the bathroom door. "This will do."
Josh smiled back at her, already looking for the remote. He wanted to
check CNN, just in case something had happened on the planet during
their drive down. He sat at the edge of the bed, in front of the TV,
flipping channels. Donna flopped down on the bed behind him. It was
soft and comfortable. Donna sighed.
"You okay, Donnatella?" asked Josh, eyes riveted to the screen.
Donna sat up on her knees. "Mind if I shower first?" she asked.
"Well, since I'm going to be sleeping in the tub, you'd think you'd
let me go first, but okay," said Josh, scooting back onto the bed
she'd just vacated.
Donna grabbed her bag and headed towards the bathroom. "Just for
that, I'm not leaving you any hot water," she said, shutting the door
behind her.
Josh brought him arm up and rubbed his eyes. Not only was the room
too small for him, but having Donna so near was going to test his
self-control. They were already walking on think ice, both parrying
and thrusting, but both basically too afraid to take their
relationship to the next level. Josh had a feeling that if anything
were to push him over the edge, it would be spending the night in
close quarters with Donna.
He studied the TV for a few more minutes until the bathroom door
opened and a puff of steam came out followed by Donna, wearing boxer
shorts and a gray t-shirt with Northwestern in purple written across
it. She was towel drying her hair. Josh was speechless.
"I left you some hot water, but not much," she said, sitting down on
one of the chairs and pulling a comb through her hair.
"Um, thanks," said Josh, quickly grabbing his bag and heading through
the door, hoping to prevent himself from grabbing her and burying his
hands in her hair while professing his love.
As she heard the door shut, Donna smiled. It wasa dangerous game she
was playing, but there was no way she was going to be the first one
to cross the line they'd drawn in the sand. She knew Josh's track
record with women, and she wanted him to be really sure. She knew hot
she felt, and she was pretty sure she knew how Josh felt, but when
things started to get serious, Josh tended to run. Donna was pretty
sure Josh was the 'the one' she had so recently lamented to Margaret
about, but she wondered if Josh thought she was his 'one.' She didn't
want to get hurt, so she'd continue to play her cards close to her
chest until he forced her hand.
Meanwhile, Josh was standing at the sink, head lowered between his
shoulders, breathing in great gasps of vanilla scented shampoo. Damn.
He'd escaped Donna, only to find his senses overwhelmed with her
scent. Reaching into the shower, and turning the nozzle to cold, Josh
shed his clothes and stepped in.