HI!

Before we get started, here are some healthy reminders!

- Consent is always key!

-And even though this situation will be later explained as a miscommunication, I want to make sure you all are always safe and comfortable when reading my books, so this is a TW heads up. (there is nothing bad, I promise, it's only a few sentences of barely anything; but just in case !!) xoxo <3

kingdombyers

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Y/N

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"WE SHOULD STOP FOR THE NIGHT," I yawned, the back of my hand covering my mouth.

I didn't know how long we had been driving for, but the sky was already starting to become pitch black. We were long gone from New York. Five nodded his head, squinting his eyes to see the road ahead of him.

"Are you sure?" He questioned, "the motels out here are sketchy as hell."

"What other option do we have?"

"None."

"I guess could sleep in the car..."

He gave me an annoyed look, as if to say 'are you kidding me?'. He was right; there was barely enough room to fit half a person in the trunk. Pressing on the pedal, he began to speed up the car as we raced down the empty country road. This place was desolate.

I swear I saw a deer somewhere off to the right, or some kind of creature.

It felt like we were never going to find a place to stay, until the tiny twinkling lights of a motel appeared through the branches of the forest around us. I looked at Five, who murmured something in agreement.

As we approached, a busted up sign became more visible, flashing LITTLE SEAS MOTEL dimly.

"You're right," I said nervously, staring at the seemingly abandoned place, "this place is really sketchy."

Five didn't respond, but instead unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to look at me. His face had become serious.

"Here's what's going to happen," he said, "I need you to listen carefully."

I frowned, wrinkling my nose at him, "why are you acting like you know everything about this place?"

"Because I've been to more motels than you'd think," he explained, "and you've rarely left the academy."

I hated that his point was right. Gah! He was being so overprotective, and a world-class know-it-all, so it was starting to annoy me....but I knew I couldn't be. He was right.

"Fine," I sighed, "what's the plan?"

"We look like middle schoolers," he said with distaste, "so they're going to try to either sell us short, kick us out, or give us some unreasonable excuse so we'll leave."

"Then let's just find somewhere else!"

"Unless you want to drive for another hour, this is all we have. Whatever they throw at us, we have to do everything we can to get a room."

"Two rooms."

"Does it really matter?" He pressed, raising an eyebrow, "we've been in worse situations than sharing the same room."

"Unfortunately."

"But if you want two rooms, I'll ask."

"Thank you."

"Last thing," he said, popping open his car door, "if something goes wrong, I'll tap you two times."

"What?"

"It's my way of saying 'are you okay?'. Tap back twice to let me know you're alright, and once to say you're not."

"I doubt we'll need that," I laughed, "whatever's in this motel can't be that bad."

...

Maybe I should have taken that back.

Not even two minutes later, Five and I found ourselves being stared down by a creepy old man who clearly didn't like us, and who probably hadn't showered in weeks. His stringy red hair was thrown into a lopsided ponytail, and his blue t-shirt had coffee stains all around the collar. Gross.

I gave Five a sideways glance, but he seemed more focused on the plan than the actual creepy dude.

"We'd like two rooms, please," the boy said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Apparently Five was right when he said the guy would try to cheat us out of our money. Shaking his head, the man pointed at the door.

"Sorry," he said slimily, "I'm not going to give you both two rooms."

Five scoffed, "why not?"

"Because I have few rooms," the man shot back, "and I don't want rowdy teenagers like yourselves creating nonsense all over my motel."

"We aren't rowdy teenagers," I spat out, "and who the hell else would be here to take those rooms in the first--"

Five cut me off, nudging me in the shoulder, "then how about one room?"

The creepy man let out a horrible laugh, "you think I'm going to be fooled that easily?"

"We aren't fooling you."

"You two don't even look like you're old enough to drive a car! Why would you need a room at my motel?"

"Because we're traveling?" I shot back sarcastically, "and, I don't know, we need a place to stay?"

"And how am I supposed to believe you're not here to cause trouble?"

"Because we're on our way somewhere," Five stated, clapping his hands together, "we only need a room for a few hours, because we've been on a road trip all day."

The man cocked a brow, sinking into the back of his worn out chair. At least Five's explanation seemed to get a little past the manager, but he still didn't believe us yet. If I could punch him, I would. The manager, not Five.

"On your way, where?" he sneered, as if he wanted to see if we were lying.

I opened my mouth to say something back, but I was cut off again. Jeez. Would Five ever let me say something?

"I'm meeting her parents," the boy said bluntly, "for the first time, you know. Thought we'd better get it over with before our....third anniversary."

Excuse me? Where was he going with this?

"So you're telling me," the manager said skeptically, gesturing between the two of us, "that you're a couple?"

Five nodded, "why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because she looks like she wants to kill you."

My bad. I was so thrown off by Five's abrupt words, that I forgot to hide my glaring expression. It's true, I really did want to kill him at that moment. He didn't say fake dating was one of the requirements before walking in here.

"Hah!" Five laughed, subtly widening his eyes at me, "you don't want to kill me, right [y/n]?"

I would have probably said something snarky, but the sake of finding a place to stay was more important than my own problems.

"Of course not," I said, plastering a fake smile on my face, "darling."

Apparently my resistant pet names (or my horrible acting skills) weren't enough, because the man just pointed at the door again. I was about ready to throw some hands at this point.

"Yeah, if I wanted to be lied to," he growled, "I would pretend to actually believe your little stunt."

"It's not a stunt," Five said, clenching his jaw.

"The only proof you punks have given me is a bunch of pretend acting."

Before I had a chance to mouth him off, I felt an arm slide around my waist, and I was pulled off of my feet. As my hips collided with Five, I felt him press twice against my back. Frick, what did he say about the taps? Was it one for okay? Or two?

Panicking, I tapped back twice, trying to figure out what the hell he was tapping for--

Then he kissed me.

Five kissed me.

In front of the creepy man.

Before I knew it, I felt Five's palm on my cheek, and he had pulled me into whatever a kiss was supposed to be. How would I know how to describe it? I'd never kissed someone before, and now I was in too much shock to actually process any of the emotions crashing down my veins.

Pulling away, Five wiped the saliva off of his mouth with a grin on his face.

Who's freaking saliva was that? Mine or his? For Pogo's sake, I SWEAR TO--

"There," the boy said bluntly, as if nothing happened, "was that proof enough for you?"

I blinked, unable to move, watching as the manager rolled his eyes in sudden agreement. Snatching up a ring of rusty keys from the desk in front of him, he slid one across the desk.

"Fine," he said, nodding to the hallway, "room 6."