“Hey.” Bernadette gasps loudly. “No hanky-panky between roommates, remember?”
“Go to bed, Bernadette,” Christopher snaps impatiently.
Basil goes to climb the ladder into his bed and falls spectacularly on the floor to the sound of everyone hysterically laughing.
Bodie tries to shush everyone. “Shh.”
I open my sleepy eyes to see that it’s daylight. “What time is it?”
Christopher picks up his phone. “Nine a.m.”
“Where have you guys been all night?” I frown.
“Beach party.”
“I fucked in the ocean,” Bodie slurs.
“With a sea monster,” Basil adds. They all burst out laughing again.
I focus enough to realize I have something hard in my back, and I frown.
“Dick. Out. Of. Back,” I grumble. “Now.”
“Sorry.” Christopher moves back from me. “It’s morning.”
We lie for a while. “I’m hungry,” I say. “If we don’t eat now, we will miss the free breakfast.”
“Hmm.” Christopher moans.
“Come on.” I get out of bed and put my hair up. I walk out the door to get my clothes from my locker, and Eduardo is standing patiently in the corridor.
He smiles. “Hello.”
“Hi.” I frown. “What . . .” I look around. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help Mr. Christo.”
“Oh.” I smile. My god, he’s so cute. “I’ll get him. Wait here.”
I walk back in the room and drop to my knees on the bed. “You have a little friend waiting out there for you.”
Christopher frowns. “Huh?”
“Eduardo is out there waiting to help Mr. Christo.”
He screws up his face. “He is not.”
“He is. Get up.”
Christopher climbs out of bed and walks into the corridor. His hair is all disheveled, and he’s wearing only boxer shorts. “Hey, buddy.” He frowns. “What’s going on?”
“I’m here to help you,” Eduardo replies eagerly. “What would you like me to do today?”
I smile as I watch. Cuteness overload.
“Oh,” Christopher replies as he scratches his head. “Umm . . . okay.” He looks over to me as if confused what to say next.
“Why don’t you give us ten minutes to get ready, and then we can talk about it?” I reply.
“All right.”
“Meet you in the restaurant?” I ask him.
He nods and happily trots off.
Christopher watches him disappear. “I’ve got no fucking jobs for this kid to do,” he whispers.
“Then you better make some up.”
An hour later, we walk down the street, in search of coffee.
Just the three of us.
“So we go to San Sebastián tomorrow until Thursday,” Christopher tells Eduardo. “We will be back then for four days. It would be great if you could try and find us a job for weekends. I mean, no pressure or anything.”
“Okay.” He listens intently as he walks along. “Can you do waiter?”