I nodded my head with my left ear against the phone and said, “Okay. I’ll just see you around then,” and I hung up the receiver to save the rest of my night. I even turned my cell phone off, which I should have done earlier.

I looked over at Victoria, and she was still staring into space and thinking something. The groove had definitely been busted. But maybe if I turned the lights off…

I moved to switch off the lights, but as soon as I turned them off, Victoria moved toward her clothes, and started to put them on.

“What are you doing?” I asked her through the dark. I could see her in the moonlight that shone in from the opened curtains at the window.

She shook her head and didn’t answer.

I took a breath and didn’t bother to fight it.

Victoria finished dressing and grabbed her purse from the dresser. Then she finally spoke to me again. She couldn’t even look me in the face when she spoke.

“You know, I tried to tell myself to just ignore it all and have a good time with you, but…I mean, how stupid can I be, Terrance?

“I mean, I really like you, but…I don’t even really know you,” she reasoned. “And that doesn’t make any sense.”

I didn’t have any comment for her. I didn’t know what the hell to say to the girl. I could have made up something, but I didn’t really feel up to it. It had been a long damn night.

I said, “I understand.”

Victoria didn’t leave too fast though. It seemed that she was still struggling with her decision.

She shook her head again. “This is just…I don’t believe this.”

I walked over to comfort her in the dark. Maybe she was thinking about staying anyway.

“Look, you can just relax, have something to drink, and, you know…”

I was basically telling her she wasn’t under any pressure, and it seemed to be working. She didn’t move toward the door. I held her there, thinking about taking the hotel phone off the hook.

“Let me, ah, take this phone off the hook,” I told her as I moved toward it. I had made it halfway there when the phone rang again.

BRRRRUUUURRPPP…

I didn’t want to answer it like a fool a second time. I stopped and looked back to my bemused company. The whole situation was becoming ridiculous. Victoria smiled and shook her head again.

BRRRRUUUURRPPP…

I said, “After it stops ringing, I’m gonna take the phone off the hook. Okay?”

“It doesn’t matter at this point. I’m just gonna go ahead and go,” she told me.

“You don’t look like you wanna go,” I responded.

“Yeah, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“Not when you get back home and you wish you had stayed,” I hinted.

BRRRRUUUURRPPP…

“If I do stay, tomorrow I’m gonna wish I had left.”

I said, “So you’re in a losing battle either way then. And if you need to pick between the two, then pick not being alone.”