The temperature begain to rise as we started driving through Texas. The fact the car had no air conditioning didn't matter much until this point. We made it to Amarillo, and Neil wanted to stop for the game.
I knew that although we were early, if we didn't stop now we would probably end up missing a small part of the game, which was NOT an option. The other issue is actually finding a place who would carry the game. Hockey isn't very big in Texas. After we found the central "hub" of the city, we decided to try and look for a place that would have the game. After a few minutes of searching and a gas station attendant who sent us in the wrong direction, we found a Buffalo Wild Wings. You can always count on them to have the game, whatever the hell that means. We confirmed that they would have the game, but we were a few hours early. Sure we could go sit in BWW, but that place is expensive and we were running low on funds. That is when Neil's brain kicked in.
"What this, let's go chill at the pool", he said.
Wait, what pool?! I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. There was a hotel in the same parking lot as the BWW, but surely he didn't mean that place, right?
As he started walking towards the hotel, I figured he was messing with me. "Maybe he got a room and is just fucking with me", I thought. Nope! After we casually strolled in with another group of people strung out from the road, we sat down in the lobby and told me his plan...
First off, this plan would take a little confidence, so I figured it would be best to leave it up to Neil, since I was positive this plan wouldn't work. First came the set up. He casually walked over to the front desk and asked the cute girl behind the counter what their address was, and the name of the hotel. He began to explain that our "parents" got stuck in the storm about 2 hours behind us, but they were on their way. He then proceeded to tell her that our parents had in fact booked a hotel room for the night.
"The reservation is under Johnson", he said. He barely passed it off.
"I don't have that name in the computer, but do they have a reservation number?", the girl behind the counter asked, trying to assist these two vagrants in any way possible. It was almost sad.
"Yeah but I've been trying to call them and they aren't answering", he said. Faking contempt for his fake parents that weren't on the road at all.
"Well as soon as they get here, it won't be a problem", she said.
"We wanted to watch the Blackhawks game, and we are tired and dirty. Is there anyway we can just use the pool til they get here?", he asked, practically begging her.
Before he could even finish the sentance, she had printed us a key card. I couldn't believe it.
"This will let you into the pool/patio area, as well as the gym where the game will be on. Just make sure to give the key back when you're done.", she said.
She knew. She had to know. We weren't with our parents. We were a couple of broke kids on a road trip just looking to hop in the pool for a few minutes.
We were all dressed and ready to hop in, but we had all our stuff with us. There was no way we would be in there for ten minutes before the manager came and had us arrested.
We scoped the pool area out, and there was no one in there, except for a few lonely beach balls. They must have been put there for us.
We were quiet and respectful of the people working out in the gym next to the pool, but it was hard to go a little crazy. We had just bullshitted our way into using a fairly expensive hotel's pool and hot tub. Not exactly Ocean's 11 material, but Neil was pretty proud of himself, as he should be.
We hung out in the pool for a couple of hours before we snuck out the back and headed over to the Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game. I thought it was silly to hang out near the scene of the crime, what if the lobby girl came into BWW's for a drink after her shift? We should surely be arrested.
Completely content with himself, Neil ordered shots every time the Hawks scored, and they scored a lot that game. Between being up for 36 hours, being on the road, and the drinking, we were pretty blitzed by the time the game was over.
It was pretty clear we weren't going anywhere, much less driving through the rest of Texas and New Mexico.
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