Everything was bright.

Beyond bright, actually. I cracked an eye open, letting myself be blinded by a direct ray of sunshine. I heard the sound of running water as I sat upright.

What the hell?

I realized with dread that I was not where I was supposed to be at the moment.

Motherfucker.

Joshua had let me sleep in a pool chair beside the hotel pool. But he hadn't stopped there. I looked down at my body and realized that I was in nothing but my underwear and bra. The asshole had left me here naked!

My eyes locked with a little boy who was waddling in the pool. He had his floaties on and was staring at me wide eyed. Looking around for his mother, I spotted her towards the opposite side, lounging on a lawn chair similar to mine.

She was talking on the phone in a hot pink bikini, clearly not paying attention to her son. My head snapped back towards the boy, all the while I was in shock.

Oh, I would get Joshua back for this.

The boy with large blue eyes nodded his head upwards while he floated in the water. At first I thought maybe it was a swimming technique.

But when I shifted my eyes towards the direction his head was bobbing at, I finally got the message.

Joshua, Johnny, Gola, and Amanda all stood inside behind the window. They stared at me with mixed expressions ranging from pity to amusement. Joshua decided to wave at me when my eyes locked with his.

Before Paris, I would have probably thrown a rage tantrum or worse, cried. Yet, I was getting used to these little pranks Joshua was playing on me. If he thought they were going to work, then he was dead wrong.

I made myself feel calm and with an easy smile, waved back. In two steps, I had already stood up and began my way into the hotel. I would not let him faze me. I even gave a wave to the little boy who was still looking at me with wide eyes. I saw him wave back with a shy smile before I cast my eyes down.

I could get through this.

I didn't let myself feel a trace of embarrassment as I walked into the lobby and onto the elevator in my undergarments. Hell, I didn't even flinch when one of the ladies from last night waved at me and said,

"Congratulations on the honeymoon!"

I did almost shudder when she started to wink at me, as if I didn't get the none too subtle double meaning she was getting at.

But, no.

I stayed strong and endured the entire trip to my room with a placid smile on my face.

My confidence started to crack when I realized that I didn't have my hotel key on me. The problem was that I didn't think I could go all the way back into the lobby and have someone see me in my current state.

Hope was restored when I spotted a maids cart at the end of the hall.

She wouldn't mind if I used one of the cards to get to my own room right?

I began to tiptoe towards my only chance at dignity with quite steady speed. As I got closer I could hear a woman's humming. Too bad she was no Mariah Carey, but I could tell that she thought she was.

Her screeching continued as I reached my hand towards the master card to all of the rooms.

Come to Mama

I held the card up for inspection, just to make sure that it would work for the purpose that I was stealing it for.

Whoops. Did I say stealing? I meant borrowing.

I panicked when I heard the maid pause her singing and rustling from inside the room. Was she getting nearer?  My fingers started to fidget when I began to hear footsteps coming towards me. In an eye blink, the card had slipped from my fingers and fallen into the basket of sheets and towels. Damn.

My heart rate decreased when I heard the maid resume to hum, but now I had a mess in front of me. How gross were those sheets and towels? Yuck, with my luck they would end up being Gola's in there...and god knows what she uses her bed for.

But, I did not want anyone to see me in my underwear again. I would rather skip the humiliation, thankyouverymuch.

With one last question to my sanity, I dived into the huge lump of fabric. I realized that I really committed to diving, because I ended up losing my balance and falling headfirst into the bucket.

I got a mouthful of towels and sheets, as my legs flew up into the air. I felt like Lindsey Lohan from that one scene in Mean Girls where she fell into the trashcan. I continued to wiggle my legs in frustration, partly because I could feel myself suffocating and because things could not be more embarrassing if the maid lady decided to come out.

My hand locked onto a thin sheet of plastic. I put all of my weight into the lower part of my body so that I could swing back into a standing position. I was back on my feet by my third try. Once I could breathe again, I held the card into the air triumphantly. Too bad I could feel my face fall when I came to the conclusion that I wasn't the only person with their eyes locked to the hotel card.

A plump blonde maid stood beside a tall man who had his arms crossed on his chest. Both did not look happy and stared at me with mixed looks of concern and accusation. The man had the name 'Hotel Security' plastered on his shirt's right breast.

I realized that they were probably under the impression that I was a lunatic.

And maybe I was. This job was beginning to drive me crazy, I thought as I pleaded, "Er, I can explain!"

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Chauncey's large hand wrapped around my forearm as we made our way into the breakfast room. He had very gallantly introduced himself after finding me laundry basket diving. Chauncey was head of hotel security, had been for the last ten years. He had three kids, one that would be off to university soon, and he himself liked to play bingo on the weekends.

He liked his job, but had never really had to deal with any fast paced stuff. That is until he heard a complaint from one of the hotel maids concerning a half naked hotel key stealer.

That thief, as you already know, was me.

I rambled on about male models and treadmill injuries, when he first caught me red handed. Inexplicably, Chauncey actually heard me out. Unlike the blonde hotel maid who wanted me jailed.

That's right. Jailed for trying to borrow a little hotel key! Bitch.

Chauncey was sympathetic as to why I had come to such dire actions. Apparently, the prank that Joshua played on me was something that one of his own sons could have played. I learned a lot about Chauncey and his life, most importantly about his love for teaching a good lesson. He let me take a quick shower and change into some fresh clothes, before he agreed to my proposition.

And so, Chauncey very gently let go of my arm and with a salute, made his way to the table where Joshua sat with the others. I stepped behind one of the room's pillars to see Chauncey in action. I could hear them pretty well from where I stood, but I knew that none of them could see me.

"Joshua Lachowski?" Chauncey asked in a stern voice.

I could see Joshua's back stiffen and the slight murmur of his voice.

Probably thinks that he wants an autograph. Idiot.

"Do you know a Ms. Lilly Fenster?" Chauncey probed.

At that, Joshua's head nodded.

"I'm sorry, but there has been an accident. I'm going to need you to come with me for some questioning," Woah, Chauncey was in the wrong profession, because his acting was superb.

"What happened?" I could hear a slight level of panic in Joshua's voice as he began to stand.

It surprised me that he actually cared, but then again, he probably just didn't want to get in trouble. That was exactly what was happening.

I thought it was a nice touch when Chauncey seriously said, "Come with me, young man."

I caught a small look at Joshua's concerned expression. His brows were furrowed and his mouth was cast down in question.  I started to sprint to the destination that me and Chauncey had picked. I knew that right now Chauncey was probably leading Joshua back to the pool outside.

I wondered if Joshua thought that it was a weird place to be taken to.

Probably not, I doubted he was that observant.

I got there at the exact moment that Joshua and Chauncey did. I prepared myself for my role in the plan. With a head start I ran towards where Joshua stood, several feet away from the pool. His back was turned to me, but his head was turned toward Chauncey in confusion.

Before he questioned anything, my hands made direct contact with his shoulder blades. I pushed with all of my might and saw Joshua fall heavily into the pool.

A huge splash followed. Within moments Joshua's head popped out from the water and he wiped some water away from his face with his hand.

"What the hell?!" His accent became more noticeable when he was agitated. This would be one of those times.

"Serves you right! Not much of the prankster now, huh? Tell me, how does it feel being wet?" I stood above him with my hands at my hips. I was feeling pretty darn victorious as I watched him shiver and look down at his ruined clothes.

That was until I felt a large pair of hands push at my shoulders. It took even less force for me to lose my balance and come crashing down into the pool. I quickly sank to the bottom before I swam back to the top.

"What the hell, Chauncey!?" I questioned now beside Joshua with my hair dripping.

That traitor!

Chauncery simply shook his head at us and chucked.

 I was not amused, talk about a betrayal.

"You two need to learn much more than one lesson from me." He informed us solemnly after regaining his composure.

The child in me spoke, "Us two? More like Joshua. He's the one who needs to learn his lesson!"

"I do not! How about you! You're the one running around naked everywhere!" He yelled accusingly.

"What? That was one time and it was your fault!" I tried to defend.

"Children," Chauncey yelled over us.

"You both need to learn a lesson. Joshua, let your first one be that playing a prank on a lady is never the gentlemanly thing to do. For you Lilly, learn that revenge is not always the answer." Chauncey told both of us wisely.

Anyone, aside from me and Joshua, would have thought that the look that passed between us after Chauncey spoke was that of having an epiphany.

They were dead wrong, that look had been defiance.

I can't even pinpoint the exact moment that water started flying, but it did.

It wasn't long before I was working hard towards pushing Joshua under the water and he decided to throw my body further to the deep end. Water flew everywhere and I vaguely heard Chauncey mutter something about lost hope.

"It was very nice to meet you two, and good luck," Chauncey said, trying not to get wet by our splashing.

Our fighting gradually died down, until it was just me and him flicking water at our faces.

"Sorry to interrupt your little moment, but we have an appearance to make for which our main star is definitely not ready for." Johnny strutted up beside the pool.

Shit! He was right.

We both swam to the edge and hoisted ourselves up at the same time. I needed to get Joshua ready for his appearance, of which I had completely forgotten about. I hoped I could get used to the whole modeling schedule soon, because that was like the third time I had forgotten that Joshua had to be somewhere.

As we were walking back to the hotel entrance, Johnny slithered up beside me.

"Good job, little virgin," He whispered as he walked past.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that my chances of winning have just doubled."

He continued to talk low and cynically.

My mood turned sour when I got what he was getting at.

Yet, all I did was huff and snap my head in the opposite direction, hitting him in the face with hair and water as I had intended to do.

Please comment, vote and fan. Stayed up till 3 A.M. writting this one, I'm gonna crash pretty soon! Sorry for any spelling errors, my eyes were half closed through the whole thing. I will edit it much better tomorrow morning. Song is to the right ---->