Illuminate by Aimee Agresti Read Free Book Online Page B

logical to think that I might be paired with one of them. I didn’t completely love that idea. On one hand, it could be a quick way to make friends; but on the other, none of them had been especially warm so far, and I got the impression that those barriers might not be broken down no matter how much time we spent together. I hoped I was wrong about that, but my instincts were generally pretty good, even when I didn’t want them to be.
    The door to my room was located at the very end of the wide, dim hallway. Along the wall to the left was Dante and Lance’s room. I was glad to have them so close. I swiped my keycard, quick and sharp, in the lock. Just in case, I knocked softly as I pushed open the door. Nothing. I peeked inside to find my duffel bags and coat sitting on a twin bed—the only bed in the room. Relief washed over me and I exhaled: I would be bunking alone. I plopped down on the bed, which was pushed lengthways against the near wall, and slipped my battered feet out of the torture traps of my shoes, wiggling my toes to regain feeling.
    My back against the wall, I surveyed my kingdom. I certainly hadn’t expected anything palatial like the guest rooms we had viewed on our tour, so this place seemed just fine. Joan liked to say that much of finding joy in life lay in keeping expectations in check. I didn’t always believe that—because I do have a tendency to dream—but in this case she was right. Mine was a slim shoebox of a room, long, narrow, and windowless, but in addition to the bed there was enough space for a desk like those that studded the library (though this one was slightly nicked around the edges), a delicate lavender velvet-cushioned chair, and a wooden four-drawer dresser with those animal-like feet you sometimes see on old furniture. At the far end of the room was a closet the size of a phone booth, and at the opposite end, a bathroom not much larger than the closet.
    The color scheme mimicked that of the larger suites we had seen: lavender and green, from the wallpaper and the worn carpet—which also bore the hotel insignia—to the floral comforter and the curtains covering a blank, windowless spot on the wall. (I couldn’t imagine why anyone would have gone to such trouble.) Aurelia had informed us this was the original color scheme of the Lexington, but that now only one room per floor retained this pairing—the rest were done in the more opulent burgundy, black, and gold. It was nice to feel a bit of history in my room, even if it wasn’t as posh as the renovated rooms in the rest of the place. The basement itself wasn’t as bad as it sounded either. It had those same colors in the carpeting and in the faded striped wallpaper on the top half of the wall; the bottom half was a mahogany wood paneling. Very speakeasy.
    I looped the duffel bag strap around my leg and dragged it across the bed to me. It seemed as good a time as any to start unpacking. I had just begun taking out sweaters, jeans, rolled-up socks, when a few quick knocks made me jump and then the door burst open. Dante breezed in and plopped down next to me.
    “I can’t believe you’ve got your own bachelorette pad and Lance and I have to share,” he said with an exaggerated pout.
    “Sorry . . . but not that sorry.” I smiled.
    “You know that dude got almost twenty-four hundred on his SATs?”
    “Why is that always the first question you ask people? If you weren’t so cute, people would really hate you.”
    “Let it go, fifteen hundred.”
    “I don’t test well. You’re mean.”
    “Please, you love me. Just saw a bunch of the glamazons in the hall. Can we please revisit our discussion about how everyone is, like, drop-dead gorgeous around here?”
    “Must be something in the water.”
    “Let’s hope. Drink up, sister.”
    “You said it. Seriously though, what’s the deal with them?”
    “Got me. Sexy, but a total snooze. I feel like there’s no personality under their perfect shells.”
    “I guess