I tried to cautiously open the door, but my plan was immediately foiled by the loud beep of the card scanner. After opening the door I hesitantly waited in the door opening, scanning the room quickly while putting my dark blue suitcase against the wall. The room was surprisingly large and light and white with glass doors opposite of where I was standing leading to a small balcony. 

Joey had buried himself in a sweater and was sitting on one of the two comfy, red chairs on the left side of the room. In between them a small, glass coffee table had been placed, adorned with an empty ashtray. Luckily, I do not think Joey smokes, which would have made my stay with him slightly more unbearable. It is the small victories that count, right? Next to the bed a door was visible and I assumed that door led to our bathroom. Wait... There was only one bed... 

“O no,” I muttered.

“I facking know right,” Joey grunted from under his sweater. He did not look as mad as a few minutes ago. “Yeah, forget it, I’m not gonna do that. I’d rather sleep on the goddamn ground.”

I walked across the room and opened the doors to the balcony. A cold, freezy wind immediately greeted us and I shivered ever so slightly but decided to walk onto the balcony anyway. The yellowed stones had been wiped clean of any snow by the personnel. “What’d you do that for?” Joey asked while wrapping his arms around himself. “It’s bloody cold outside.”

“To let you know why it would not be a good idea to sleep on the floor,” I answered while looking at the scenery.

 Our hotel had once been the villa of some rich old fuck from the eighteen hundreds and he had spared no expense. Not only was it placed near a lake, which was now completely frozen over and would make for a great ice skating rink (I had actually brought my ice skates, so I would love to try that out later), but the snowy landscape also had a gorgeous backdrop of a dark and mysterious forest. 

The hotel itself was massive and had been painted pearly white. Not a great choice for a hotel located in a snowy area, but I had to admit that it looked classy. “I mean, if you want to sleep on the floor while it's 10 degrees below Celsius, be my guest, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” I shrugged.

Joey stood up from his spot and walked over to me. I tried not to look at him and kept my gaze on the beautiful winter wonderland below. He huffed and I could not help but stare at his soft, pink lips as a puff of hot steam left his mouth. God, he was gorgeous, but I did not want to be a weirdo for staring, so I looked away again. He turned around with his face towards the room and leaned back against the railing of the balcony. 

“Alright, you have a point there, but don’t you fucking dare touch me or I’ll throw you right out of the window.” He cast a look of contempt down upon me. I did not have to look up to know that his eyes were just as dark and mysterious as the forest below.

Joey looked at me a bit too long and sighed. “Guess we’ll be stuck together in this room for now, but don’t expect me to treat you any differently than I normally do. However, we’ll need to set up some rules…”