Chapter 2
The group walked into the hotel’s reception, were a kind man with a huge orange mustache checked their booking and gave them the keys to their rooms. Shiro and Adam were obviously sharing a room, just like Matt and Pidge. At first, they planned to get Keith a suppletory bed so he could share a room with his friends, but he insisted against it; a room for himself was one of his conditions to join the rest on vacation.
Keith’s room was booked on a different day, so it wasn’t on the same floor as Shiro’s or Matt’s. He didn’t care, really; after all they would be spending together every single second of that trip. Maybe the lonely walks down the corridor were enough of a break for Keith to relax a little.
The receptionist was a middle-aged ginger man and the excitement radiating from his expressive eyes while explaining the group the different installations the hotel had, was contagious. He seemed to love talking to tourist about the charm of the island, so the job fit him like a glove. Coran, as the little plate on his chest read, gave them a few pamphlets about the activities they organized on special nights, the different tours they could take part in and the restaurant’s schedule. It was a little overwhelming, but they knew it wasn’t the poor man’s intention. The group walked away from his desk and closer to the elevator, so they didn’t have a line forming behind them.
“Alright, what’s the plan now?” asked Keith while eyeing the pamphlets Coran gave him.
“We should probably check our rooms and unpack our stuff” suggested Shiro. “There’s such a nice weather today, maybe we should hang out near the pool when we are done”
“Sounds like a plan to me” pointed Adam as he took one of Shiro’s hands in his. “We’ll meet at the pool and then we’ll decided what else we should do today”
They all nodded in agreement and got inside the elevator with a young couple and their kids. Keith was the last one leaving the elevator since his room was on the last floor. When he walked in, his jaw dropped at the beautiful view of the coast he had through the gigantic window that covered one of the room’s walls. Right next to the room’s entrance, there was a door that lead to the bathroom. Keith peaked inside and was pleasantly surprised when he found that the shower had a couple of hydromassage options.
Checking the rest of the doors, that only lead to built-in wardrobes, he finally walked towards the bed and sat down to check if it was comfortable. After jumping on it a couple of times, the idea of taking a nap was slightly more tempting than going into the pool to avoid the humid heat of Cuba.
The bed, queen sized, was placed in the middle of the room with the frame against one of the walls. The bed covers, in gold and beige tones, complimented nicely the dark color of the walls and curtains and the rest of the furniture followed a similar color palette. With all of that, the room seemed fancy but not extremely luxurious, which Keith appreciated as it didn’t make him feel out of place. After appreciating his surroundings and the view he had from his room, Keith started unpacking his clothes and hygiene products before finding a place for all of them.
Once everything was neat and organized, Keith changed into a pair of red swimming trunks and bathed himself in sunblock to avoid looking like a crab for the rest of the trip in case he spent too long under direct sunlight. Once he was done, he grabbed his phone, a beach towel, sunglasses and the keycard to his room before heading to the pool area.
Even if the hotel was huge, with high walls and ceilings and the multiple floors, it didn’t prepare Keith for how big the outside installations were. There were three pools, each one of different depth, and an insane extension of grass with some umbrellas and palm trees providing shadow to the clients peacefully lying down on their towels or chairs. There was also music playing from a speaker placed somewhere Keith hadn’t found yet, but it was hard to listen to whatever song was playing with the sound of children laughing and playing in the water or chasing each other running on the grass, avoiding other people and their towels as if it was part of the game. Just like the outside of the hotel, the pool area was also full of life and made the whole place seem charming.
Now he understood better why Sam and Colleen insisted on coming back every year; it was for sure a magic place.
Keith glanced around trying to find his brother or any other familiar face, but they didn’t seem to be around. It wasn’t a surprise that they were still probably busy settling in, so Keith decided to start wandering around in order to find a nice place to sit down, preferably under one of those big umbrellas. Most of them were occupied by families so Keith continued walking until he found and empty one. Or so he thought.
After getting closer he noticed a blue string bag placed under the shade of the umbrella and right next to it there was Lance, sunbathing on one of those beach lounge chairs while his caramel skin sparkled under the sun. The tan boy was wearing a pair of navy-blue swimming trunks and his arms were folded behind his head, using them as a pillow.
How could Keith not stop everything he was doing or thinking to appreciate the beauty of the man lying down in front of him? His folded arms only drew more attention to his strong arms and broad shoulders. Even if Lance wasn’t too muscular, he was in an incredibly good shape. Keith assumed it made sense considering Pidge mentioned once or twice how her friend loved water sports and being active. Still, that didn’t make the sight less impressive.
Perhaps Keith stared at him for longer than he intended to, because after his eyes travelled down no pay some attention to Lance’s tiny waist, Keith noticed Lance was looking at him. His sunglasses were now resting on top of his head as he rested his weight on both forearms placed on his sides.
“Can I help you?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow and Keith wished the ground could just swallow him. Why was he being so awkward in front of this babe?
Get it together, Keith.
“Oh. I… I was just looking for the others, but I guess they aren’t here yet”
“Haven’t seen them” Lance sat up and leaned his weight onto the palm of his hand, placed behind him. “Are you guys planning to spend some time at the pool?”
“Yeah” Keith nodded and looked around. “If I can find a spot to settle down” he shrugged, smiling a little.
“Well there’s enough room for all of us here” Lance got up and moved his chair away so it was under the umbrella. “We can place some towels down and bring a couple more chairs”
“We don’t want to bothe—”
Lance shut him up by waving a hand in front of Keith’s face. “Bababap. Nonsense. I wanted to spend time with you guys anyway. Plus, I’m pretty sure Katie would actually want to bother me” he chuckled, and Keith joined him. “So! Let’s go get those extra chairs, huh?”
And so they did. By the time they were done placing everything down, Matt and Pidge joined them. The younger girl immediately claimed the chair under the shade of the umbrella and Keith sat down on the grass right next to her. Meanwhile, Matt and Lance sat down on a towel and started talking about Lance’s different shifts at the hotel.
He learnt very quickly that Lance was a loud person. Even if he wasn’t talking, he laughed loudly with his whole body. And Keith knew for a fact Matt wasn’t even being funny at the moment. So perhaps Lance was always this smiley and cheerful. Keith didn’t mind at all; in fact, he was glad Lance was that way because his smile was too beautiful not to share with the world.
“You’re gonna burn a hole through his head if you keep staring” said a quiet voice next to Keith.
He frowned at Pidge, who was eyeing the book placed over her crossed legs. “What?” he asked quietly.
“Lance. You’ve been drooling after him since we settled down” she said without looking up from her book. “Please don’t let him know you have the hots for him, his ego is big enough already” Some heat crawled to Keith’s cheeks as he quickly made sure the other two boys were still talking and didn’t catch what Pidge just said.
“I don’t—”
A loud whistle, probably the loudest he had ever heard, interrupted Keith’s complaint. Lance was, of course, the one causing it. Keith looked at him in time to see the tan boy taking his thumb and index finger out od his mouth only to wave at someone in the distance. Keith followed the direction of his stare and was met with a beautiful girl waving back excitedly.
She immediately walked towards them. She was only wearing a large white t-shirt with the word ‘lifeguard’ printed on its front, her silver hair was up in ponytail that went through the red cap resting on her head and a pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. Her skin was slightly darker than Lance’s and for what Keith could tell from the way she dressed and her big thighs, she probably had a beautiful hourglass figure. She looked effortlessly stunning, even Keith’s gay ass could agree on that.
“Oh my god, hi!” she said happily. Before Keith could notice it, Pidge was standing up and hugging the new girl. “I had no idea you arrived already” she said with a big smile and placed her shades on the visor of her cap. Once Pidge was done greeting her, it was Matt’s turn to do the same. “Woah look at you! You totally rock the longer hair”
Matt giggled and thanked her before sitting down next to Lance again. Her now uncovered blue eyes landed on Keith and before he could say anything, Lance took care of the situation.
“Allura, this is Keith. Katie and Matt’s friend” he offered. “And Keith, this is Allura. The prettiest girl in Varadero” Keith agreed with that statement, so he didn’t really had time to think about what Lance wanted to imply with it. At the same time, Keith found that name familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint where had he heard it before.
Allura rolled her eyes at Lance and shook Keith’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Keith”. Then she turned around to look at Lance, who was now comfortably lying down on his towel. “I was looking for you, actually”
“Me? Why? You missed me that bad?” asked Lance with a smirk.
“Not really. You’re just about to make my day” she answered while taking off her cap and t-shirt, revealing a burgundy bikini set that hugged her curves in all the right places.
Lance raised both eyebrows and tilted his head a little. “Okay you already had my attention before but go off I guess”. Allura’s response to the flirty comment was to toss the t-shirt to Lance’s face, who immediately started laughing.
“God how can you still be like this?” complained Pidge under her breath, earning a side hug from Allura as she sat down next to her on the chair, sideways, so both of them could fit.
“You have no right to complain this year” said Lance as he stood up. He and Allura looked at each other for a couple of seconds without saying a word and finally he put on the t-shirt. “Gross Dude?”
“Gross Dude” sighed Allura.
“Sure, I gotcha. How long ‘til your shift ends?” wondered Lance while putting on the cap and his own sunglasses. Was he allowed to just take the lifeguard spot like that? Keith thought he only worked as an entertainer.
Matt must have noticed how lost Keith looked and giggled. “He’s got the license, don’t worry” he whispered.
When Keith looked back at Lance, he was grabbing his string bag and putting on his flip-flops. “You owe me something” he commented while poking Allura’s forehead with his index finger. “What about treating me to dinner?”
“I was actually thinking about taking half of your first shift tomorrow. You know, since you’d be hungover” she replied with a smirk, causing Lance’s eyes to light up.
“Oh fuck yeah. I love you” he groaned and placed a kiss on top of Allura’s hair., which made her giggle.
“C’mon, get to work already” she pushed him towards the pool.
“See you later, guys!” he waved at the rest of them while walking backwards. As soon as he was far away, Keith could feel both Pidge and Matt’s eyes focusing all their attention on Allura.
“So how have thing—”
“Tell me, Keith, are you excited about your vacation?” she asked in a hurry, trying too hard to ignore Matt.
“Uhm… yeah I guess. This place seems really nice and everyone we’ve met so far have been kind to us. It sounds promising” he answered, glancing between the Holt siblings. “What is going on?” he mumbled.
“Allura…” tried Pidge again.
“And do you plan to go on any of our tours? We have the perfect one for every person. Hiking, scuba-diving, historic tours…”
“Allura!”
“Did they mention to you that you can get a discount at surfing classes if you hire our ‘beach and brunch’ pack that includes—”
“So Romelle, huh?”
This time it worked and Allura shut up while her cheeks got a pinkish tint. Her eyes widened as he looked at Pidge. “Lance told you, didn’t he?”
“First thing he did after we got here” chuckled Matt. Now Keith remembered why Allura’s name sounded familiar; he heard it Lance say it before. For the context he had been able to get, Allura was crushing on a girl that also worked at the hotel, since Pidge and Matt knew her.
“Wait, you aren’t dating Lance?” the words left Keith’s mouth before he could think twice about them. Pidge gave him a funny look while wiggling her eyebrows. Yeah okay, maybe the question came out way too eager. “I-I mean… you guys seemed really close so I just assumed you…”
Allura’s sweet laugh interrupted his lame stammering. “Oh no, not anymore”
“They broke up this January or so” added Pidge. Okay, so it wasn’t too recent. “After dating for… how long?”
“Pretty much a year” Allura nodded and then looked back at Keith. “We’re just really good friends now. Some people keep thinking we are still a couple”
Well. That makes Keith’s whole ‘instant-crush-situation’ on Lance a little less embarrassing. Only a little.
“They’re just as gross and cheesy as when they dated” pointed Pidge. “The only difference is that they don’t eat each other’s faces right in front of everyone”
Allura laughed and poked Pidge’s side with her elbow playfully. “Or at least that is what you think” she laughed. Yeah okay, Keith could totally see how she and Lance dated. They had a similar humor. “But yeah, don’t worry” she said to Keith before winking “. The coast is clear”.
Am I really that fucking obvious?
If Matt and Pidge noticed the wink, they at least have the decency not to comment on it.
Shiro and Adam joined the group not much later, so the discussion about Allura’s crush and whether or not she planned to make a move had to be left for later as Keith’s brother has a lot of questions about the different tours after reading the booklets.
After some talking, Adam and Shiro decided to go get a drink at the bar near the pool. Matt decided to go for a swim and Pidge returned to reading her book while Keith and Allura got to know each other a little. She told him she worked mostly as a lifeguard, but she also taught Zumba once a week at the hotel. Allura lived in Havana but stayed at the hotel during the summers she worked there so she didn’t have to waste time driving to Varadero back and forth.
On the other hand, Keith told her about how he worked at a tattoo studio back in LA and that he was trying to open his own. After that she asked if she could see his tattoos and Keith happily took off his t-shirt to show her the ones that the fabric covered, such as the big lion head with red details present on his right shoulder blade.
Allura seemed as friendly as Lance, a smile constantly plastered on her face whenever she talked with someone. Keith decided he liked this girl, even if she kept giving him some looks he was unable to decipher. Those looks were accompanied with a smirk when Lance came back, t-shirt thrown over his shoulder as his swimwear stuck to his legs with the weight of water soaking them. Water droplets fell from his curly hair and painted epimer lines over his muscles as they slid down the boy’s torso. He looked straight out of a cologne commercial and the fact he was slightly out of breath didn’t help Keith look away.
“Where are the others?” he asked, sitting on one of the empty chairs, previously occupied by Shiro.
“The lovebirds went for a drink and Matt is swimming” answered Pidge, eyes focused on her book.
“Oh okay” he nodded and glanced at Allura. “Gross Dude was disappointed you weren’t coming back”
“Gross Dude can go fuck himself” spat Allura, who was now sitting next to Keith on the grass. He chuckled while Lance gasped.
“Allura! There’s kids present” he whined while gesturing at Pidge. She smacked his hands away while smiling softly.
“Fuck off”
Another gasp. “See what you’ve done?!” complained Lance before laughing out loud.
“Who is that gross dude you talk about?” wondered Keith, earning a sigh from the girl sitting next to him.
“There’s a guy, probably around forty, that keeps coming to talk to me while I’m working. He always starts asking me the most trivial stuff and then he gets all ‘oh you’re so hardworking, you deserve a night off, you can’t lose any of your beauty sleep blah blah blah’”
“Basically he flirts with her without being painfully obvious so she can’t tell him to fuck off or otherwise the dude could fill a complaint” added Lance, grabbing his towel to dry his hair. “We also think he came here with his wife; we still need to do more research about that”
“Woah… I’m sorry” said Keith, giving Allura a sympathetic smile. “You can always play the boyfriend card on him, sadly is one of the only things that work with this kind of people”
“Yeah…” Allura smirked a little. “Wanna be my fake boyfriend in front of Gross Dude?” Keith laughed and she joined him. Yeah, he definitely liked this girl.
“Excuse me?!” Lance placed a hand on his chest, looking deeply offended. “I’m the default fake boyfriend, what do you mean?”
Allura giggled and shrugged. “I know but… have you seen Keith?”
Keith felt himself blushing. He knew this was all part of a joke to tease Lance but the fact Allura’s compliment caused Lance’s beautiful eyes to roam all over his now shirtless body…
“You just met him! He can’t be a good fake boyfriend” the fond smile on Lance’s face was now joking with them. For some reason Keith felt really comfortable being like that with Lance and Allura, as if they had been friends for a while.
After sharing an accomplice look with Allura, Keith stretched his arm behind her shoulders, and she pecked his lips too quick to even feel it. He wasn’t expecting that from her, but it was a nice touch to the whole façade, he had to admit.
Lance’s jaw dropped.
“See? He’d make an okay fake boyfriend” said Allura happily, leaning into Keith’s side even if his arm wasn’t around her anymore. Lance kept looking at them as if they had lost their mind “What, are you jealous?”
“You…” Lance snorted before shaking his head in amusement. “I don’t even know who I should be jealous about”