Maria studied him closely. His eyes weren't mean, rather they were sincere. This relationship that was forming almost felt like a marriage in terms of how much was to be shared and in turn jointly trusted.
Swallowing slightly she nodded.
In a small way she had just submissively agreed to give away a part of her precious privacy and she didn't like it, but it was what was best for the relationship.
They reached the hotel, which was a nice one and quickly dashed in out of the rain, after Elon paid the taxi driver a tremendous sum of money for driving them on a two-hour trip from one city to the next. Elon then directed her to the front desk clerk and gave a fictitious name and a 14 digit security code.
The clerk nervously nodded and handed over a passkey to what appeared to be a single room.
Maria saw a restroom, but she passed it up even though her need was dire.
Before she knew it she was in the elevator alone with Elon. She lifted one foot up anxiously and caught Elon regarding her with humor. His features lightened by humor were quite eye-catching.
Maria glanced away, but then spoke as she figured that she owed him an explanation according to her new tell-all agreement with him, "I passed up the restroom because……"
"Because you're a germaphobe and the option of a more personal choice of facilities, as opposed to a facility frequented by the often unwashed masses is a more desirable alternative. Am I right?"
Maria looked down smiling slightly and nodded.
"I never imagined you for a germaphobe. With your immune system it's doubtful that you'd fall prey to any of the normal bugs that you might encounter in a restroom."
Maria's voice was tinged with anxiety as she responded, "Believe me right now I wish I wasn't a germaphobe!"
Elon's hand claimed hers and his fingers were pressing on hers again, as he had done in the taxi. It helped once again and before she knew it Elon was holding the room key card up in front of her face, "Room 703 on the left."
The doors of the elevator opened and Maria took off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I leaned back against the wall as I waited. I felt at the smile on my face with the fingers of one hand. I really needed to stop smiling so much, but it was hard not to.
Maria had always been such a mystery to me, partially because there were few mysteries I wasn't somehow partly aware of. In the last several hours I had learned a wealth of intangible knowledge about Maria and I had only grown more fascinated with her, which was very bad.