Bargain Break

“Bargain holiday,” the light from Isabelle’s laptop illuminated her face as she mumbled to herself, her gaze flitting across the screen as she read. Her eyes widened and a small smile crept onto her face. She turned the screen in my direction. “Look!” She exclaimed, her voice dripping with excitement.

I drew my attention away from my phone. “What is it?”

She jabbed her finger at the top of the page. In bold letters, it read: 

‘Bargain holiday to Arnhem, Netherlands. Limited time deal. Get it while you can.’

“It’s perfect!” She squealed. The blue light returned to her face as she scanned across the words once again, an eager glint in her eyes resembling that of a ravenous predator stalking its prey.

I shook my head with a smile and returned my attention to my own screen. “Go ahead,” I said as I scrolled through my seemingly endless list of emails. “It’s a limited time deal, you should go for it.”

Her head snapped up, her brows furrowed and her head cocked to the side. A toothy grin spread across her face. “It’s not for me, silly,” the corners of her eyes creased with amusement. “It’s for you.”

“Me?” I shot her a confused look. “Why would I possibly need to go to Arramm?”

“It’s Arnhem. And you need to go because it’s about time for you to try and relax,” she jumped up from her seat, leant across the table between us and snatched my phone from my hands.

“Hey!”

“You need a break from this,” she leans back into her chair, waving the glowing device in her hand. “I haven’t seen you stop working since you got here.”

I folded my arms across my chest, a pout on my face.

“You know I’m right,” a smug look crossed her features.

I kept my expression neutral.

She sighs. “Come on Hannah,” her tone dripped with desperation. “You need to take a break, you’re always working. Anyone would agree with me. Besides, it’s 50 quid for a few nights plus the flight and Arnhem is such a beautiful place. What have you got to lose?”

“God damnit Isabelle,” I muttered under my breath as I stood in the doorway of my hotel room, luggage in hand. 

The room resembled a bombsite. Clothes strewn everywhere, curtains drawn leaving the room dingy and sprawled across one of the unmade twin beds lay a young man, sound asleep and drooling. His clothes were creased and limited to a colour palette darker than his dyed hair. Loud snores erupted from his open mouth alongside a trail of drool.

My nose crinkled in disgust as a pungent waft drifted through the hallway and into my nostrils. I clicked the door shut and dragged my suitcase hurriedly down the stairs to the reception desk.

“I think there’s been a mix-up or something,” I said, breathless, as I slammed the room keys onto the desk. “There’s someone in the room you gave me.”

The receptionist raised an eyebrow. He took the key, scanned his eyes across the label and typed something into his computer. With a bored look on his face, he pushed the key back to me. “There’s no mix-up,” he said in a dull tone, “you booked a room share.”

I stared back at him, my mouth agape. “What do you mean I booked a room share?” Disbelief laced my words.

His grey eyes locked onto mine, his face expressionless. “You booked a shared room,” he said in a slow voice as if he were talking to a child. “That means you’re sharing a room. It’s all in the small print.” Without another word, he turned his back to me and busied himself with a row of keys hung behind him.

I heaved a sigh and stared daggers into his back before turning on my heel and storming off, my suitcase dragging behind me. 

I found myself stood at the door once again, staring at flaking white paint and rusted room numbers. My hand gripped at the handle of my suitcase, the other advanced, slowly, shakily, towards the body of the door, hovering centimetres away from the doorknob. I hesitated, squeezed my eyes shut and let out a steady breath. Before I could talk myself out of it my palm collided with the handle sending the door swinging open, revealing the mess behind.

The stench of musty air and pungent body spray filled my nostrils. I resisted the urge to gag and stepped purposefully over the threshold, into the murky depths of the room. A splashing sound came from the direction of the bathroom. 

My teeth gritted as I snuck past the locked door. He must be in there. The wheels on my suitcase made a small squeak as they rolled across the carpet towards the spare bed. I dumped my bags next to the mattress. The duvet was clean and neatly tucked but a layer of clutter was dotted across the bright white cotton. In an instant, my forearm swept the mess away. It landed in a heap on the floor.

One mess down, I glanced across the dimly lit room, a deflated pit forming in my stomach as I locked onto the mess of stuff cluttering every surface. And a lot more to go.

I strode across the beige carpet stained with various coloured patches that I could only assume was the fault of the mysterious room sharing stranger. My fingers gripped the material of the curtains and forced them apart, sending bright sun rays into the room. I squinted my eyes against the light, my palm held up to shadow my face as I swept the coloured fabrics away from the glass, one by one. Shining dust particles floated through the air, catching the light that inhabited every corner of the once dingy room. I shooed the dust away with a hand and opened the window, taking in a deep inhale of fresh air through my nose and exhaling with a content smile.

That’ll do.

The bedsprings creaked beneath me as I lay back onto the mattress. I reached into my bag, pulled out a hardcover book and flipped through the pages until I found where I’d left off on the plane journey here. My body sank into the soft duvet surrounding me and I drifted into the world between the pages as my eyes skimmed across the words.

“What the hell?” A deep, startled voice tore me away from dreamland.

I jumped up, the pages of my book folding closed as it hit the floor.

The man stood in the doorway of the bathroom, his dark hair sent droplets onto the carpet and a shocked expression plastered his face. His eyes widened as they locked onto the open windows and slowly scanned across the brightened room, his hands gripping tighter onto the towel secured around his waist.

My hands sprung to shield my eyes as I turned away. 

“Oh,” he exclaimed in a surprised tone. “Hi.”

My fingers parted slightly allowing an obscured view of the man stood awkwardly across the room, his eyes on me. He looked me up and down and furrowed his brow.

“You’re older than I expected.”

I frowned and uncovered my eyes, planting my hands on my hips. My mouth opened to object. I hesitated, casting my gaze across his features. Immediately, my hands flew to cover my eyes again. “Are you a teenager?” I yelled, squeezing my eyes shut. “They’re making me share with a teenager? Is that even legal?”

“I dunno,” his tone sounded like it should have been accompanied by a shrug. Maybe it was. “Probably not.”

A light rustling came from the corner of the room followed by the clicking of the bathroom door. I peered from behind my hands to find the room empty. I heaved a sigh and ran a hand through my hair.

“This is a disaster,” I mumbled, bundling a handful of belongings into a shoulder bag and striding into the hallway. I didn’t know where I was going, I just knew I couldn’t stay in that room for a moment longer.

My legs sent me weaving through corridors and down stairs until they halted in front of a large pane of glass on my left. A strong odour of chlorine tickled my nose as I stared into the hypnotic blue water beyond the glass. Only a handful of people were bobbing around in the pool and loungers dotted the perimeter.

Perfect. Nice and quiet.

I made a beeline for a reclined lounger tucked into the corner, far away from any other people. I slumped onto its plastic surface, my legs stretching in front of me, and dumped my bag onto the seat beside me to avoid the damp tiles below. My phone rang.

“Hello?”

“How is your holiday?” An enthusiastic voice greeted me from the other end. “Are you having the time of your life yet? Do you want to thank me for encouraging you? How is it? Tell me everything!”

“Hello to you too,” I chuckled. “And it could be better.”

Isabelle paused. “Could be better? Like, you haven’t had enough time to check out just how amazing everything is?”

“Not exactly,” I wiped a hand across my face, my eyes aching with fatigue. “For starters, I have to share a room with a guy about half my age and three times as messy. Not to mention the hotel is far from what it was on the website.”

“You have to share a room?” Isabelle’s voice dripped with shock. “No wonder it was so cheap. It’s a shame he’s not a bit older, it could’ve been the start of your very own romantic adventure. We need to find you a partner soon or you’ll be lonely forever.”

I scoffed. “Sure I will. Happy and alone with a little army of cats.” I rolled my eyes.

She sighed. “Anyway, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just a room. You’re in the Netherlands for Pete’s sake. Enjoy yourself. And whatever you do, you need to find a way to relax.” Her tone was stern. “Ignore the room share guy, this is your holiday.”

I hesitated for a moment. “Thanks, Issy,” I said, surprise evident in my voice. “I’m at the pool as we speak. I couldn’t spend another moment in that room with a total stranger who lives like a bloody raccoon.”

A giggle travelled down the line. “Well, don’t let me distract you from your relaxing holiday. You go have fun. I’ll be here when you come back.”

She hung up.

I let out a sigh, buried my phone into the fabric of my bag and, before long, my mind was flooded with words from the pages of my book, my eyes gliding across the lines as I drifted into the world of fiction. The tension in my shoulders melted away. My body relaxed into the seat beneath me as I read on and on, the words flowing over me.

A scraping noise snapped me out of it. I glared over the top of my book to see a figure stood with his back to me, dragging a large, plastic lounger across the tiles in my direction. Familiar dark hair fell around his shoulders in tattered waves, like rat tails.

Seriously? I buried my nose in the book, willing him to not come any closer. The scraping stopped.

“Hello again.”

I jumped. A shadow fell over my lounger.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he slumped onto his own seat, closed his eyes and rested his hands behind his head. “I didn’t catch your name earlier. If we’re going to share a room we may as well get to know each other.”

I stared daggers at him, my teeth gritted. “I suppose.”

“I’m Jim,” he opened one eye and reached an open hand towards with the promise of a handshake. “And you are?”

I looked down at his hand and back up at him. “I’m Hannah.” My hands remained safely gripped on my book.

His hand returned to its position as a pillow and his eyes closed again as he nestled into his lounger. “Nice to meet you, Hannah.”

Silence fell over him for a moment. I took the opportunity to lean back in my seat and dive back into the pages.

“So what brings you to Arnhem?”

I resisted the urge to let out a frustrated groan and put a sweet smile on my face, even though his eyes were firmly closed. “I just needed a break and some time to myself.”

If that’s not a big enough hint for you to leave me the hell alone I don’t know what is.

“Yeah.” His voice was slow and came out in a drawl. “I get that. Alone time is important. I’m just here for a cheap getaway.”

I hummed in response.

“Sometimes I just need to let loose every now and again. Go wild for a bit and return to my boring life when I step off the plane.”

My eyes rolled so far back I could almost see my skull. I let out a silent huff of breath and slammed my book shut. I’d had enough. “I need to hurry off,” I said, stuffing my belongings back into my bag. “It’s getting late. Long flight. I’m going to bed.” I hauled the bag strap over my shoulder and hurried away, calling over my shoulder. “It was nice meeting you, Jim! See you later!”

With any luck, that’ll keep him off my tail for a little while.

The soft thud of footsteps sounded behind me and before long Jim was striding beside me, his feet stepping in time with mine.

“I’ve had a long day too,” he said, oblivious to the deep frown etched onto my face. “Time to hit the sack.”

I nodded, my teeth gritted.

Great. There goes my alone time. Again.

We walked back to the room in silence, our footsteps in sync with one another’s. The room was just as messy as it had been before, a pile of dirty clothes piled in a heap next to his bed, the setting sun glistened on the dust particles dancing through the air and an overpowering stench emanated from the open bathroom door.

I walked swiftly to my bed, bundled my pyjamas in my arms and made a beeline for the bathroom, holding my breath as I clicked the lock shut behind me. I leant my back against the door, revelling in my moment of silence before I dragged myself upright and pulled my pyjamas on.

Loud snores resonated through the room as I stepped through the door. Jim lay amongst his untidy sheets, his clothes and shoes from the day still on as he slept soundly.

I threw my clothes down in frustration, buried myself under the duvet and covered my ears with the pillow.

This is going to be a long night.

And I was right.

I woke up the next morning groggy and even more exhausted than I had been the night before. Jim’s snores didn’t cease for the whole night and additional, irritating sounds were added to his remix of nightmares as the night drew on.

When the morning sun shone through the curtains he was still sound asleep and, in a moment of spontaneity, I bundled my luggage into a suitcase, returned my key to the front desk and strode out of the hotel in search of another place to stay. Preferably as far away as I could get.

To hell with this cheap holiday. If I’m ever going to relax, I need a better roommate.

But little did I know, I wasn’t rid of Jim. Not yet.

Our paths collided once more when I was nestled in the window seat of a plane, book in hand and mind in the clouds. I’d almost forgotten all about him until-

“Hey,” he said, slumping into the seat next to me. “It looks like we’re plane neighbours for a little while.”

“Yeah,” my voice laced with irritation. “It looks like we are.”