The Conference (LA Story #2)

I walked to the check-in desk at the hotel and asked if Ange Laste had checked in already. She was my roommate from the U of U, and we had arranged to stay together. I got a friendly, "No she hasn't," and then I proceeded to panic. There I was, standing in the middle of some hotel with tons of luggage around me with no hotel room. Breathe, Haylee. Just call her. I pulled my cell phone out, located her number, and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Ange?"

"Yeah."

"This is Haylee Ferguson from BYU. Are you here at the hotel yet? Have you checked in yet?"

"I'm here, but I haven't checked in. I'm in the lobby on my laptop. Just come find me."

"Okay."

I walked into the lobby and saw three girls with laptops. Excellent. After asking the two girls closest to me and receiving both negative answers and weird looks, I proceeded to the last girl.

"Ange?"

"Hi!" She turned to me, and I posted a smile on my face. She was friendly, we chit-chatted, and we finally checked in and went to our rooms.

As the days went on, I realized that Ange is one of those types of girls that I strongly dislike. Loud, obnoxious, attention-wanting, flirtaceous beyond all reason. How did I find this out? Ah, that is where Bob comes in.

Bob is the president of the club I'm in at BYU. He was a seemingly nice guy with lots of ambition. I was excited to be at the conference with Bob so we could work hard on getting the club at BYU stronger and more involved. I was wanting it to be a day and a half of hard work.

Come to find out, Bob and Ange seemed to hit it off pretty well. That was the end of "Me and Bob" conference time. 'Twas the beginning of "Gross and disgusting Bob and Ange Flirt-Fest Time." You know those type of people who are obviously flirting with each other but won't let up? You know those type of people who are rude to and ignore the rest of the world? Yeah? That was Bob and Ange. It pretty much made me mad. I was trying to learn concepts and processes from the meetings that would help the club on campus, but I didn't have a willing partner.

I would have had a perfectly miserable time if it weren't for Mike and Chad from USU. They were hilarious. We hung out Friday night at Santa Monica Pier. Mike was married, headed to law school, and Chad seemed to be stoned for most of the trip, but boy were they fun! When there is no possibility of me being attracted to a guy or when there is an unspoken understanding that nothing romantic will ever happen, I am cool as a cucumber around guys. And I was cool as a cucumber around Mike and Chad. We laughed, we played on the beach, and we talked. It was great. Chad, in fact, said the quote of the trip: Men need to be stylish, yet functional.

But with the accumulation of the Bob and Ange affair, my lack of sleep, and being away from home, I was very grateful to wave goodbye to Chad and Mike and head to the airport.