Chapter 4

The receptionist called her over when the woman behind the desk saw her on her way to the gym. When she came over she saw Mr Grieves beside the desk as well so she turned around and told the guys that they could go on without her and that she’d follow them. She talked to Mr Grieves about finding out when is the busiest time of the hotel and she wants him to hire additional waitress- at least 2 more- for busy times. While talking to the manager the trainer arrived at the reception and they both went to the gym so that they could start their session.

The guys looked up when she and the trainer entered the room. They were doing their own thing; Joey was sitting in the bench between the mat on the floor and the basket ball court. Across the bench is the exercise machine, this is where she can see JC running in the tread mill and Justin lifting weights. Chris on the other hand is sitting beside Justin grunting every time Justin lifts a weight and the younger man giving him an annoyed look but Chris just laugh it off.

The instructor told her to get ready and that to follow him on the mat. He then outlined their session to her which consists of 15 minutes of stretching, around 20 minutes in the punching bag, 30 minutes of sparring and 10 minutes of meditation. This is not new to her, she’s experienced this before. She’d studied martial arts since she was 10 years old and it became one of her sport.

She specifically learned Taekwondo because it helps her develop her capacity. Taekwondo is divided into nineteen ranks - 10 grades (Gups) and nine degrees (Dans.) The former begins with 10th grade (Gup) the lowest and ends at first grade. Degrees begin with the first degree (Dan) and end with the ultimate, ninth degree. She reached her seventh degree Dan. She only reached this stage last year because she has to stop for a while when she was in university because there was no place she could attend her lesson. Now she’s willing to continue and achieve the highest rank in taekwondo because let’s face it she’s competitive.

They began with stretching. First is the leg pull which helps stretch the waist and lower back of the body, then the upper body push up for flexibility and this went on for another 10 minutes. After stretching the instructor asked her to wrap her hands with a cloth and led her to the punching bag. She started punching and kicking the bag with the instructor on the other side coaxing and encouraging her that she could do better or that she could hit better. By this time the guys stopped what they were doing upon hearing her grunts, the instructor and when she makes contact with the bag so they watch the whole thing unfold.

After the bag part of the session it’s time for the sparring part. This is also the hardest part of the exercise because the pain would be real. The guys got up from where they are and went to the bench to watch her with the instructor. Before they started she took off the white t-shirt that was over her baby blue sports bra so that it wouldn’t get in the way. Upon doing so, she heard some cat calls coming from the bench when she turned around to look at them they were laughing so she just shake her head at them and started to spar.

“Did you know that she could do that?” JC was looking at Justin in question.

“No, but that is amazing. I guess she really can stand up for her self”

“That’s kind of intimidating” Chris looked in awe whilst she watched her hit the guy with her palm in the nose then deliver a drop kick.

Joey on the other hand is having fun and he keeps on egging her to ‘punch the guys light out’.

This time the sparing lasted for almost 30 minutes then she did the meditation despite the sounds around her, she was able to tune it out.

When she opened her eyes after meditation, she saw the guys on the court playing basketball. She wanted to join them but she feels really sticky from her work out. She got up and gathered her things in her bag so that she could go back to her room and take a shower, she turned around and said goodbye to the guys and that she’d see them later.

She drew a bubble bath in her room, normally she’s more of a shower girl but it’s the right time. She stayed on her tub for almost 30 minutes then got up so she could attend to some business for the hotel. She changed into a low rise bootleg jeans and a red baby doll tank top. She straightened her hair and applies mascara, a black eye liner and a pale pink lip gloss.

She made her way down to lobby and talk to the receptionist about the other employees, about the hotel work and the management. She assured the woman behind the desk that she only wanted to make sure everything is working properly. The guys saw her behind the desk of the reception when they were coming out of the elevator.

“Lexy, what are you doing there?” Joey was looking at her like she had gone insane and the other guys stopped with their chattering and looked at her as well.

“I’m working guys. What’s up?”

“Where on our way to lunch, do you want to join us?” Chris looked at Justin with what can only describe as a shit eating grin on his face.

“You guys go; I still have some work to do. I’ll just grab something later. Besides, my friends are coming down earlier than we planned instead of them joining me when I found a house, their coming here in the hotel later this afternoon.” She smiled at the guys politely declining their offer. 

“Ok we’ll see you later tonight then” they said goodbye one by one to her and they were off the door.

“You close to them?” the woman behind the reception desk ask her; astounded that she’s talking to the guys from Nsync.

“I met Justin and Trace the first day I was here, and then I met the rest of the guys today.”

“You’re lucky. I heard Justin just broke up with his girlfriend just recently” she continued talking. Lexy doesn’t know what to say so she just smiled at the girl but kept quiet.

After her work in the lobby it was already half past 2 in the afternoon so she decided to grab some lunch in the restaurant. She was also happy to see that the place was a lot less crowded so that the service was also faster than this morning. After lunch she went to her room to grab her purse and check if everything she needed is inside it before she called the front desk and ask for a limo. When she rode the limousine, she was looking inside the interior trying to decide if the car is big enough for at least 9 people- well they just need to squeeze in.

After 25 minutes in the car, the driver started pulling up to the airport parking lot, a few minutes more and she was out walking towards the terminal where she’ll meet her friends. “Flight 1030 from London is now arriving at gate 5” said the woman in the intercom. Lexy made her way to the gate and waited for her friend to get off the plane.

“Lexy” was the first scream she heard among the throngs of people in a very busy airport. A smile broke across her face because she recognised that voice. Then a chorus of “we’re here” followed the first scream. “Hey don’t leave Tiny behind and get trampled by people” was also heard from the group. Yes my friends are really here.

The first person that saw her was Hardeep, followed by Michelle then the rest of her friends. She can see that each of them is carrying big luggages and some carry on. She hugs each and every one of them, happy that there’s a piece of her old life here in America. They made their way to the car with her leading the way and with the guys complaining the flight about the food and how long the flight had been.

“Damn” was the first word she heard when her friends saw the car.

“Are we following a Hurst?” Jay was looking at the limousine with an awe expression on his face.

“Just get in” Lexy finally said to everyone and one by one they got in to the car. The driver pulled out of the airport parking lot and on to the traffic.

“Seriously, wow” was all Michelle could say.

“It’s no big deal guys. Anyway good thing you could take a time off work.” She looked at the people in front of her.

“Yea, I haven’t had any day off since I started so they gave it to me when I asked” said Hardeep.

“So have you met any boys yet?” Michelle asked her cutting off all the talk about work.

“Oh my god, you won’t believe who met the first night. Tina’s boy toy, that’s who” she exclaimed looking at the girls inside the limo.

“Boy toy? I don’t have a boy toy” Tina finally joined the conversation from where she’s sitting.

“For all we know Tiny, you really have a boy toy” Fiz said teasing Tina as always.

“So who is it?” Paula asked.

“I’ll give you a hint, I met his friend this morning, our so called husband” she looked at Paula and she wasn’t disappointed when she saw Paula’s eyes widened “and I used to call him homo in front of you” she continued this time looking at Tina”

The next thing she knew was Tina and Paula screaming and saying ‘oh my god’. The other people in the limo looked confused especially the guys.

“See this is why I never do girl talk, I can’t seem to understand what they are saying” mumble Arun and she can clearly see Angelo nodding his head in agreement to what he’s saying.

“I met Justin Timberlake the night I arrived here. I was a little rude to him the first time-“

“A little?” Hardeep cut her off with a doubt in her voice. She can never just ‘a little’ rude to anyone. When she’s rude she’s Rude with a capital ‘R’ period. That’s just how she is but we love her any way. She thought to her self.

“Fine, A LOT rude” she corrected. Then she saw the guys smiling and Tina with a question on her face.

“What did you say Lexy?” she finally asked her then everyone inside the limo waited for her answer.

“Remember I was tired and he was an ass” she cautioned first before continuing with her story.

 “We were waiting for the lift in the hotel lobby and I heard him complaining to his friend about how come he didn’t get the biggest room in the hotel. Then his friend said something about it’s already occupied and ask him why he needs the big room anyway, so out of nowhere I said because he needed it for his big head” there was a distinct collective breath across the room and she just rolled her eyes when she heard their reaction and continued. “he looked at me then hardeep called, we went in to the lift and then when we got off the same floor, he started yelling telling me that I’m not allowed in the floor because it’s close to other people”

“So what did you do?” Michelle asks from her sit.

“Please tell me you didn’t do something bad” Tina pleaded looking at her with an anxious face.

“I just looked at him with this blank expression then I left like I didn’t here him to begin with” she shrugged.

“You never change” laughed Hardeep from her side.

“So what do you guys wanna do tonight?” she asked around the car.

“Easy, we’ll let America know that we’re here in other words…”

“PARTY!!!” was shouted around every one laughing.