WHO: Samantha Cadwallader and Thomas McCormack
WHAT: Trips to Thailand!
WHERE: ...THAILAND
WHEN: This past weekend??
STATUS: Finishing in comments like Cristina does best



It was much hotter in Ayutthaya than Samantha had anticipated; she had been warned that it was getting into the hot season at this point, but 90 degree weather seemed a bit excessive to her for late March! But it wasn’t the heat that was getting to her so much as all the other things that kept happening on the trip. She had specifically made sure to contact her supervisor to let him know that she needed a room with two beds--and then made contact with the hotel itself just to double check that the chance would be made, but when they arrived and got up to the room there was only one bed. Oh, she’d gone down to the counter to talk with someone. It shouldn’t have been a huge deal because they were dating and surely they would end up spending the night at the other’s flat but--that wasn’t what she had anticipated for this trip! She left the bag up in the room and told Thomas she was going to try and straighten things out before heading back to the lobby.

“Excuse me,” she said to the young woman behind the counter, trying to be as polite as possible, “but I think there’s been a mistake. We had reservations for a room with two beds and our room only has one.”

The girl frowned, flipped through some papers and then shook her head. “No. One bed,” she insisted in broken English, doing what she could for the situation.

“Well, can we get things switched around? I don’t mind an increase in the cost of the stay or anything,” she said, trying to stay calm. It was a blessing that this was an equivalent to The Leaky Cauldron, so the exchange of money wasn’t going to be a big deal, but it all seemed like a headache and a hassle at this point.

The girl shook her head again. “No, no more. Only room, one bed,” she insisted, turning a map to show it to Samantha. Sure enough, every room that was a double had been highlighted and accounted for through the week. No doubt it was some of her co-workers hoping to save a bit of money by rooming together for the trip. Defeated, Samantha thanked the woman and headed slowly back up the stairs to the room.

She entered, not sure if she was doing a good job of masking her disappointment or not. “Well, I tried, but it seems like they’re completely filled up.” Samantha sighed, pulling her hair out of her face and putting it into a loose ponytail to try and ward off some of the heat. “I swear, I checked and double checked--” she wasn’t sure where she was going with the statement, so she sunk onto the small loveseat in the room instead. She supposed one of them could camp out on this if it came down to it...but it didn’t seem comfortable for sleeping. And it wasn’t as if the bed were a tiny thing, there would be plenty of space for the both of them without it being uncomfortable, she thought...but that’s not something she ever thought she’d have to worry about on this trip. “I’m sorry,” she finally said, her cheeks a light rose color as she blushed.

Even with the fight he’d had with Rose and the discussion with Kendall, Thomas had not let his initial excitement for the trip wane. His friends should know better to think that he would let himself get carried away with the idea of a short work trip, even if Samantha saw it as something different. Which, he could most definitely assure you, she did not. She had fussed and worried if he’d be bored, and with how miserable she seemed to be about mistake with the bedroom (which he was finding quite endearing), it was clear to Thomas that she wasn’t trying to trap him in any sort of way. He’d had enough experience with not so sane women that he was now an expert at catching the warning signs, and Samantha was not giving any off.

Thomas had been seated on top of his trunk when she came back into the room, and he shrugged in a relaxed manner at her apology, “Don’t worry about it.”

They hadn’t had sex, and while that might bother some blokes Thomas was more than content to simply be with a girl for once and not throw the physical aspect of it into the mix. It confused things, it made things awkward when one person did not want to continue on with things...of course they kissed, and they did a little more than kissing because it was just a natural progression, but Thomas had weighed having sex as a much heavier, big deal than this trip.

“Take the bed, I’ll be sleeping on the beach while you work, so,” he smiled gently, gesturing for her to start unpacking.

Samantha smiled at him, pulling her bag up to her so she could get herself situated in the room. As she worked on getting things out for work and making sure she was prepared for when everything started up tomorrow; there wasn’t much that she had on hand but what she did take to the site was crucial and they were things that she could not forget when she was out the door. “It sounds like you’re looking forward to that, eh?” she said absent mindedly. Hopefully she had time for the beach, too. It wasn’t a norm in Saskatchewan, which meant that she absolutely loved going because of how much of a splurge it felt like.

She bit her lip as she searched through things for her work gloves, a bit annoyed with herself that she hadn’t packed in a more logical manner. “Is there anything else you’re looking forward to, besides the beach? Going into town, maybe seeing the ruins?” The area was still relatively new to her, but she wanted to make sure they both got to do what they wanted for the week. If he wanted to be a beach bum for seven days, she was more than happy to meet him there after she finished up her shift at the end of the day.

If someone were to ask Samantha about her expectations for the week, however, she wouldn’t be sure how to answer it. Obviously she was looking forward to spending time with Thomas during her time off, and getting her hands dirty with work. But the idea that this trip was more than the face value would have made her laugh. She liked the guy, but they’d both been around the block a few times; it wasn’t like she was in a rush to get him into bed and everything that could follow that. Why rush a good thing? Samantha had found in her experience that, much like a fine wine, everything gets better with time. And it never did good to rush things, she had the distinct feeling that doing so would just be the first step in things ending very quickly.

“Nope, nothing at all,” he responded with a grin. The Ravenclaw in him had grown incredibly jealous of Samantha’s adventures, and he was sure that if he had not been so dedicated to his sport that he would have been some sort of researcher that had to travel the world. Curse breaking was a bit much for his nervous heart, but the travel he did not mind. He shrugged a bit, still teetering on top of his trunk, “I’ll probably explore,” he amended, “I don’t think quidditch is too big of a deal here, it’ll be nice to blend in.”

Before this season, Thomas hadn’t much of a problem making his way through the crowds unnoticed. He was the silent Chaser on the Magpies who did less interviews than Drake Parkin, which was a feat. But after his fight with Brookstanton, the mental lapse he had for the rest of the season, and getting voted onto the all-star team, it seemed like people were...well, liking him. Something that confused Thomas greatly, as he didn’t see anything different about his gameplay, but he supposed it wasn’t a terrible thing. Until the Tattler or some other rotten magazine posted nasty rumors, but. He felt secure in thinking that his time here in Thailand would go unnoticed.

He stood, moving to stand behind Samantha and put his hands on her waist, “You’re not going to be working the whole time, are you?” he asked, his arms slipping around to take a hold on her, his chin dropping down to her shoulder.

Samantha smiled. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find all kinds of things to explore while I’m busy.” It seemed like the area was vibrant and full of interesting things; sometimes she wished that she could come without spending so much of her time at the ruins. Ha! There were her gloves. She pulled them out as Thomas approached her. She smiled at the touch and embrace; this was why she had invited him. Even if they couldn’t spend a lot of time together, it was at least something. And she wanted this shared experience with him.

She tossed the gloves down onto the pile of work things before hugging her arms around so her arms could rest on his. “I don’t think it will be the whole time, no. They have to give us some time off,” she said with a laugh. She could feel her stomach doing flip flops as they stood there, which made her smile. She wondered briefly if she would have time to really enjoy the beach, maybe even learn how to surf--or something similar. “And if they don’t want to, I’ll find a way to manage it,” she added.