Turning Pink and Red

Name:AnimeCon Harem Author:FortySixtyFour
Stephanie’s blue eyes fluttered open to first see a soft pink tangle of hair spreading across her pillowcase, and for a moment she simply stared, lost in sleepy confusion. Then she lurched up rigidly in alarm, brushing those brightly-colored locks out of her eyes, and surveyed her surroundings. This… isn’t my dorm room. That’s right, I’m at the convention. I’m in—I’m in Brian’s hotel room!

Last night, the small hotel room had been lit by the intimate illumination of the end table lamp, a warm and cozy light. Now, the muted white daylight seeping around the edges of the curtain revealed what seemed an entirely different room, disorienting and unfocused. Did all of last night, that game, Brian… going down on me, did that really happen?

Brian was already gone, his absence forming a conspicuous valley in the covers between Stephanie and the shape of another girl at the other side of the bed. That’s right… he was in the middle—Kelly was very insistent about that. Did he already leave for his morning run? Stephanie wondered. The last thing she remembered before drifting off to sleep was cuddling up beside him in a daze of contentment.

Letting out a cute yawn, Stephanie flopped back down again and clumsily rolled to slap a hand towards the nightstand, grasping for her rather plain pair of glasses. After carefully donning them, she sat up and looked around the room as if to confirm that all of the blurred fixtures had appropriately sharpened to waking clarity.

As she turned to regard the other remaining occupant of the small room, Stephanie frowned. Something was off, looked ever so subtly different, and after a moment of observation, Stephanie realized that now all of Kelly’s makeup was gone. Without cosmetic emphasis, her resting face seemed lovely rather than sexy, and it struck a chord within Stephanie. The girl’s neatly coiffured scene hairstyle was now an ordinary mussy tangle, and her serene expression, her unguarded posture; all of it made her appear more natural, seem more real.

Even beneath it all, without all of the makeup and style, she’s still just so pretty, Stephanie thought—but rather than envious, she felt oddly proud of her new friend.

“Kelly? Are you… are you awake?” Stephanie whispered softly across the bed. “Kelly? I think… I might be in love with him.”

For a few moments she thought Kelly might have actually been asleep, but then the dark-haired girl stirred and turned to make a face at her, eyes still closed. It was not the face of someone who enjoyed mornings.

“Steph. You’ve only known him for one day.”

“I-I know,” Stephanie hurriedly said, her face flushing red. “I know. That’s why I said I think I might be instead of I am, and really… that’s why I wanted to talk, if that’s okay…?”

Kelly snorted, rubbing her face blearily, and sighed into her pillow, laying still long enough for Stephanie to wonder if she’d simply decided to go back to sleep.

“Okay. So, talk, then,” Kelly finally grunted, leaving her eyes closed. “Why d’you think you’re in love with him? He that good with his tongue?”

“I…I, uh…” Stephanie tried to begin, before realizing that while she had a million things she needed to say, she didn’t know how to put any of those feelings properly into words. It’s so much more than that… “Because I’ve never felt this way before—”

“Hah.”

Realizing how cliche she must have sounded, Stephanie hurriedly continued, “And I, uhm, I want to keep feeling this way. This, uh, the way he makes me feel, I want to always feel this way. I, I… don’t want to go back to the way it was. I can’t go back.” I need him. Maybe… maybe I’ve always really needed him.

“You’ve got a crush on ‘im,” Kelly murmured into her pillow. “S’your first guy ya did things with. S’a crush. That’s all. Chill out and go back to sleep.”

“Oh,” Stephanie breathed, frowning, and felt disappointment sink deep down into her. It’s just a crush… “What does… does it, uh, b-but what does this really… mean? What should I do?”

“Ugh, Steph,” Kelly grumbled, sounding aggravated. “You know the phrase, ’love at first sight?’ Well, it doesn’t mean love, it means infatuation. It’s… you know, hormones and chemicals, endorphins and shit going on in your brain, in your whole body. It’ll go away eventually. Always does.”

“Wh-what if the feeling for Brian doesn’t ever go away?” Stephanie asked, a little appalled. The attraction is strong… overwhelming, even. But, isn’t there also more to it than that? So much more?

“Hell if I know,” Kelly said, nuzzling deeper into her pillow. “Getting yourself all hung up on just one guy? Sounds like you’d be totally fucked, then.”

“Fu—?” Stephanie bit back the word and tried to continue. “Uh, h-how so?”

“Calm down, drama queen,” Kelly muttered reassuringly, pursing her lips to blow errant strands of her hair out of her face. “You’ll be fine. It’ll go away.”

I don’t want it to ever go away, Stephanie already knew. What if… what if I’m already totally… fucked? She adjusted herself in the covers, laying down on her tummy this time, and hid her uneasy smile into her own pillow.

“What… should I do?” Stephanie wondered aloud.

“Beats me,” Kelly said. “You’re on your own. And I mean, you’re really on your own. I’m bailing on you guys—I’m gonna find someplace else to crash for tonight.”

“Wha—you’re, you’re what?” Stephanie sputtered, and rose up onto her elbows, a little shocked.

“I said, I’m not staying with you guys for another night. I’m gonna find somewhere else, some other room.” Kelly clarified, turning away from Stephanie to lay on her side, giving her the shoulder. “You’re both on your own from now on.”

“D-did something… um, is someth—anything wrong? Do you have to leave?”

“Hah. Well, you see, last night, after our little game, after we got all settled in and cozy under the covers together… he held my hand,” Kelly scoffed.

“He held your hand?” Stephanie asked, feeling lost.

“Okay, so he was in the middle, between us, right? I was gonna just, sorta… let my hand wander over, see if anything came of it, you know?” Kelly grumbled. “But nope, no dice. He takes my hand, stops me, just fuckin’ holds it. I’m giving him a look, like, seriously? And he sorta glances back at me, like he thinks I’m just kidding around. I was like, dork, I am not playing. I will fuck you.

“Didn’t actually say anything, though. I was all so hyped up and, I dunno, expecting things, that I was kinda laying there in disbelief, I guess. Waiting for him to make up his mind, to make a move, or something.” Kelly muttered. “And before I knew it, the both of you fucked off to sleep. I was pissed. Still am pissed. And I don’t even know why anymore, like, what did I even expect from you two dorks?”

“We, ah, it was… I’m sorry,” Stephanie managed, embarrassment burning across her cheeks. To be honest, Stephanie barely even registered going to bed last night. I was so out of it, I went out like a light after… after we… “Y-you really can’t stay with us?”

“Look, sorry, but I’m frustrated,” Kelly continued in a sigh of sulking resentment, and she flipped back the bed sheet in vexation. Beneath it, she was wearing the same black tank top she’d worn last night. “I didn’t really sleep, because I was so… frustrated. You know? I barely slept, and takin’ a shower while you two were all passed out didn’t help me cool off any.

“And I tripped over someone’s bag over there in the dark trying to see the mirror a bit,” Kelly hissed. “If one of you guys’ over-stuffed fuckin’ bags has a big ol’ foot-sized fuckin’ angry dent in it, s’your own fuckin’ fault. Fuck.”

“S-sorry,” Stephanie meekly apologized again, unsure of just where she’d left her travel bag as they were settling in last night. It was all still a blur to her. “That was maybe—um, might have been me. Er, mine.”

“It’s fine, whatever. I’m just… ugh. Just really not used to getting myself all worked up for somethin’, all night long, and then not getting any attention. I know, I know, I was tryin’ to help you guys out, but… well, fuck. I have needs, too. I don’t wanna get all pissy and wind up being a moody cunt to you guys all day, so… I’m gonna split.”

“Oh,” Stephanie managed, not knowing what else to say. “I just, I mean, I don’t think I can thank you enough for what you’ve, uh, the ways you helped. I never could have called, could have asked him if we could… It’s—I, well, I can barely even talk to p-people most of the time.”

“Yeah—I noticed,” Kelly remarked in a dry tone.

“An-and, that kind of… um, intimacy last night, getting there wi-with someone on my own, it was just, it’s… it’s always been so far out of my reach,” Stephanie explained helplessly. “If you hadn’t been here… I would have just been my, well, me. My same, u-uh, usual boring self. And nothing would have happened, n-nothing would have changed. And now—now everything’s changed. Do you really have to go? I just, I wish you would stay…”

“Yeah? Well, gimme a reason to,” Kelly challenged.

“I feel like, like all of us were having fun, though? I don’t think that it’ll… um, that things will keep, ah, being like they have been, fun like they have been, without you here,” Stephanie admitted, trying not to sound unappreciative. “Oh! And there’s also that little, um, promise you made…”

“Promise?” Kelly huffed. “What promise? What, that I’d wear his stupid goth dress?”

“The promise that, um, you know… that sometime this weekend, all three of us were going to…?”

“…Going to fuck?” Kelly finished for her, twisting the sheets about her legs in surprise as she turned and rose up on one elbow to face Stephanie. “Uh, that was a secret… not a promise. Why, you wanna make it a promise?”

“O-oh, right,” Stephanie said, visibly flustered. “It was… just a secret. But if—I mean, does that—”

“Do you really… want that? I mean, I figured… well, it means Brian wouldn’t just be with you?” Kelly interrupted, a gleam in her eyes. “You, well… are you okay with that? With sharing?”

“I don’t see how that’s, um, up to me to dec-decide? He doesn’t belong to—”

“Look, are you gonna get all hurt and jealous if… no, when me and Brian happen to get intimate?” Kelly bluntly asked. “And by intimate I mean we’re going to fuck. Some really rough, loud and possibly violent sex.”

“I d-don’t think so,” Stephanie answered, staring intently at her fidgeting fingers as her face flushed red. “I, um. Think you might be meaning passionate rather than, ah, rather than intimate. I never really thought that I would—uh, d-do that, it’s not an… expectation that I ever really had for myself, s-so it’s hard to feel… upset about it. I did get a, a weird feeling, um, down in my stomach, when I—uh, when you had me watch you two kiss, last night, but I don’t think it was jealousy…”

“Like… a horrible, crushing feeling that made you feel like, y’know, breaking down and sobbing?” Kelly asked.

“N-no, no, nothing like that. It was, um, I… I almost joined in,” Stephanie confided, averting her eyes. “L-like you’d suggested, to try a, a th-three-way kiss. I, I didn’t, though! It was just a passing thought, an interesting, um… I don’t know. I’m blabbering. Sorry.”

“Okay then,” Kelly mused, her irritated expression with the morning finally giving way to a thoughtful one. “I’ll make ya a deal. You help me out this teensiest little bit, and I’ll stay—and I’ll even keep playin’ matchmaker. Then tonight, maybe, we’ll both get everything we really want. Sound perfect?”

“Everything we want?” Stephanie repeated, startled. “That’s, um, th-, it’s not just, uh, not just up to me? Not just up to us? What about what Brian wants?”

“Oh, we’ll get to that part, trust me, and then some,” Kelly chided, giving Stephanie a clever smile. “But what do you really want outta all of this?”

“Me? I think I want… more,” Stephanie admitted slowly, sounding guilty. “But not, um, not just… s-sexual, uh, things. Al-although I think… maybe I want that, too? I just, I don’t want it to end here. I want to have him, and for him to have me, however he wants—or, or what-whatever that ends up meaning. I want to be amazing like he thinks I am. I want to, to show him how amazing he is to me.”

Kelly let out an exasperated sigh, quirking her lip into a faint smile. “Sounds like you’ve got it bad, huh?”

“I-I do? It’s just, it’s, um, it’s scary. Does he, uh—I don’t know if he feels the same way, the way that I do, though, exactly,” Stephanie stammered. “I-I mean, he, he seems interested, but then he seems so reluctant, too—”

“Well, there’s all that, you know, weird shit with the relationship he just got out of… he like, doesn’t want to put all of that on you.” Kelly pointed out. “And he knows you don’t have any experience with this kinda stuff. You’re one of the reasons he’s holding back, you know?”

“That’s part of it, I think,” Stephanie realized, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want to be a problem, or, or a reason that he has to hold back, I don’t like that, I—I can’t stand that. I want to—I want to be the reason why he can’t hold back. Does that… make any sense? I… want him, all of him. I really think that I love—”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Kelly interrupted quickly, an undercurrent of excitement appearing in her voice. “Yeah, you know… I could stick around, maybe, and we can make all of this happen. I could make sure it does, in fact. But… you’ll have to do something for me, too.”

“What do you need?” Stephanie asked, showing an earnest face full of determination.

“I’m frustrated,” Kelly mused. “And I’m sure as hell not gonna help out any more when I don’t know for sure if there’s, any, y’know… satisfaction comin’ this way. So, I want a little proof of your resolve, I want you to prove that you’re willin’ to put in some effort, too.”

“Okay, what do I do?” Stephanie asked breathlessly.

“Whatever you want,” Kelly instructed, wetting her lips. “When I get close… surprise me. Do you remember the way I was kissing you last night?” The dark-haired beauty drew her fingertips down the length of her own neck, watching Stephanie’s expression with slightly dazed eyes.

When she gets close? Surprise her? Stephanie thought to herself in dismay, conflicting emotions resurfacing all over again. Close to what? Close to me? She wants me to… maybe to express my feelings in my own way, and… impress her? But… just what are my feelings? What should I do here?

Kelly’s other hand innocuously drew the bed sheet back up across herself, as if to regain some modicum of modesty, and alarm bells began to go off in Stephanie’s head at the sheer incongruity of it.

What is she… Stephanie wondered, but then Kelly began to act, in a slow, sensual motion, a slight exhalation of breath, and a subtle shifting of the sheets. Oh. OH.

Feeling blood rush to her face, Stephanie finally realized exactly what it was that Kelly was doing. With the outline of Kelly’s arm was making in the blanket, trailing down to the juncture between her legs, there was really no mistaking what kind of itch Kelly was scratching. She’s… oh my God, she’s… masturbating. Right here. In front of another person—right in front of me!

There were sounds besides the increasing tempo of Kelly’s breathing… wet sounds. Feeling the mixture of shame, fascination, and excitement gripping her as she watched, Stephanie couldn’t look away. Stephanie was sure she wasn’t gay, but the sight had butterflies beating anxiously in her tummy all the same. That’s what she meant about… getting close. It’s what I felt in the shower, that SENSATION I wasn’t quite able to reach on my own, that maddening feeling, that something tangible just outside of my grasp. Then she wants me to…?

Stephanie blinked in surprise, doing a double-take and then unconsciously leaning in to peer more closely at a sudden discrepancy she’d just noticed amid Kelly’s dark hair. Three long strands stood out in a vibrant red color, starkly contrasting the girl’s loose tangle of fine black tresses.

“Kelly…!”

“Hm? What now?”

“Kelly, your, uh… did you always have color here in your hair?”

“Well, h-hahh, s’not natural, if that’s what you mean,” Kelly replied with a breathless laugh, letting her fingers rest for a moment. “Think it’s like, colorsilk… midnight black or something. Why, are my roots showing?”

“N-no, no,” Stephanie insisted, “I mean, um, color. BRIGHT color. Like what’s been, uhm, what’s happened to my hair.”

Jolting up in alarm, Kelly flung back the sheets and pulled locks of dark hair before her eyes, sifting through the strands. “Are you fucking serious?”

Before Stephanie could form a reply, Kelly pushed up and off the bed, making her way over to the mirror above the sink.

“Uh, K-kelly, where are your pants?” Stephanie stammered out, catching a startling glimpse of the scene girl’s naked butt before she could look away. “Wh-where is your underwear?!”

“In the sheets somewhere?” Kelly answered. “Did you do this? Did you—did you guys mess with my hair?” She singled out the strands of bright red and turned towards the girl on the bed with a grave expression on her face.

“No,” Stephanie said, quickly averting her eyes again. She’s… she’s shaved bare down there, it’s…

“Did Brian do this? When did…. what’s going on?” Kelly grumbled, turning back towards the mirror. “Seriously, what the fuck, this isn’t funny. How long’s it been like this? Was it like this last night?”

“I-I don’t know,” Stephanie said. “I, uh, I didn’t notice anything, but I wasn’t paying much, um, I-I was… distracted, and the room was, it was dark…”

“This isn’t possible,” Kelly decided out loud. “You were blond enough that your hair can take color, like, right away. I’m not. You’d’ve had to like… bleach out my dark first, and then have color set in my hair for… it’s impossible. I was awake most of the goddamned night, and even still, I would’ve woken up if you’d… There’d be a chemical smell, an ammonia… it’s… it’s not possible.”

“M-maybe some, uh, stain from my hair spread out and… rubbed off in yours… somehow?” Stephanie offered bleakly, inspecting her pillowcase for any colorations.

“Yeah, uh, no,” Kelly refuted right away. “Your hair isn’t stained with sharpie anyways. We threw that theory out last night, remember?”

“We did?” Stephanie asked, confused.

“Yeah. ‘Cause it wouldn’t really explain why your carpet matches your drapes, now, would it?” Kelly growled.

“It’s… what? Carpet… matches my drapes? Wh-what do you mean?” Stephanie asked, looking uneasy.

“The hell do you think I mean?! Take a look, down there,” Kelly suggested, slapping water from the faucet into the red strands of hair. “Your little, uh, tuft down there is pink now—just like all the hair on your head? You’re one-hundred percent pink now, even your brows.”

Stephanie reluctantly pulled upon the elastic of her pajama pants to take a peek inside, finding her sparse thatch of pubic hair was now the same shade of bright pink that had spread across her head.

“Oh my God, it’s… it’s pink. Wh-when did… why is it pink?”

“It’s really more of a red,” Kelly argued, leaning in as close as she could to the mirror and dabbing water from the faucet. “This stuff really isn’t coming out. Fuuuck. How bad does it look? Is it bad?”

“N-no, I meant, um, me. I’m pink,” Stephanie stammered, dumbfounded. “I’m pink down—”

“Uh… yeah, we saw that already. Last night after he… uh, well, how much of last night do you even remember?” Kelly asked.

“Y-you saw?” Stephanie’s hands went to her face. “Uh, I remember that he, um… H-he—”

“Ate you out?” Kelly suggested, working the red strands of hair between her fingers. “Licked and spit your lickety-split? Frenched your fissure, made out with your muff? Cleaned your cla—”

“St-stop, stop, please,” Stephanie protested, pulling the comforter over her head for a moment in embarrassment. “Yes. I… I remember. I do remember that. I remember.”

“So what, Brian has like, the Midas touch? Whatever he kisses really does pop into technicolor? The Midas kiss?”

“Maybe?” Stephanie frowned. What would that mean we’re turning into? “Did you, um… feel anything strange when Brian kissed you last night? Like a weird sort of… heat?”

“Well… I guess so. It was definitely strange, yeah,” Kelly admitted. “Not bad strange. Like, good strange. REALLY good strange.”

“Y-yeah,” Stephanie breathed in agreement, running her hands through her own pink locks nervously. Good strange. REALLY good strange. That seems exactly right. “But, well, wh-what should we—”

“Well, I’ve definitely gotta try kissing him again, then,” Kelly proposed, turning her head at an angle again in the mirror so that she could see the strands of red. “Right?”

“You, uh, is that… a good idea, though?” Stephanie said cautiously. “I mean, we, um, we don’t know what’s—”

“No, I mean, just look at it. It’s not bad for a little splotch of color, but it’s all too small, and too far back. If you’re gonna have bright accents like this, you have ‘em like, right up beside your bangs, or down here as peekaboo highlights,” Kelly said, draping her hair in front of her shoulder and tugging on the tips for emphasis.

“I… I guess that makes sense?” Stephanie sounded unsure.

“Yeah, it totally does. You didn’t think it’s just ‘cause I wanna make out with him, did you?” Kelly laughed, rolling her eyes. “I mean, like that would even factor. He’s just a cute guy who’s also fuckin’ amazing with his hands, you know. That’s all. It’s not like I was even paying attention when he had you squealing last night. Yeah, that didn’t even register. I’m just testing out this hair theory, Stephanie, this is for science.”

“I squealed?!—W-was I squealing?” Stephanie squeaked, slapping her hands over her face.

“Mm-hmm. How was it, by the way? He made you cum, right?” Kelly’s eyes flashed, and she arched her back, skimming her fingertips along to trace the silhouette of her own naked hips. “And that’s only the beginning. The things we can still get up to this weekend… well, don’t’cha get all wet just thinkin’ about it?” The scene girl’s bare skin seemed perfect, and her body was exquisite, but what Stephanie found herself admiring even more was Kelly’s confidence in so brazenly displaying it all.

I need—I need to stop gawking and actually get up, Stephanie thought, pointedly ignoring Kelly’s question and kicking back the comforter to finally hop out of the bed herself. There was a strange, uncomfortable tightness in the muscle of her inner thighs from spreading her legs open for so long last night.

“C-can you put—put your pants on, please,” Stephanie stuttered out.

“Yeah, whatever,” Kelly sighed, crossing the room to fish her pants off the floor beside the bed.

“Wh-what about your underwear?” Stephanie asked as she watched Kelly begin to tug the black skinny jeans up her naked legs.

“These?” Kelly asked, picking her panties out of the sheets and flinging them to a corner beside the bathroom door. “What about them?” I’ve got a spare pair in my purse, obviously.”

“But, you’re um, not going to wear them?” Stephanie asked pointedly. And who’s supposed to pick up that pair you threw?! What if Brian sees them?

“Nah, think I’ll keep ‘em handy, instead,” Kelly explained, fishing a tiny bundle of black string and elastic out of her purse and waggling it. It took Stephanie a moment to realize that what Kelly held was not a hair-tie but in fact a very skimpy pair of panties. Is that a g-string? “Easier for me to… you know, give him the key to the city this way, if you catch my drift? He can start a l’il collection.”

Because he already has a pair of mine, Stephanie remembered, feeling the blood rush to her face. I wonder what he’ll even do with them? After that game of truth or dare had ended, she’d put just her pajama pants back on, a realization that was making her self-conscious all over again. She was going as commando as Kelly was at the moment.

“Well, anyways, we need to get to the bottom of all this hair color nonsense, and figure out what’s really going on. How ‘bout a little kissing? At least… for starters,” Kelly suggested.

“Kissing Brian?” Stephanie asked. “But won’t that—”

“No, I mean, we can just kiss each other now, can’t we? Something weird might happen, right? For all we know, you could be the reason it happens. Don’t we need to experiment a little bit if we’re gonna figure this out and solve this mystery? And don’t you still need to hold up your end of our little deal?”

“K-kissing?” Stephanie choked. “But we’re both, uhm—we’re both girls.”

“Yeah?” Kelly smirked. “Is that a problem? Didn’tcha say when we played the game that you weren’t against kissing another girl? What… were you lying?”

“I-I wasn’t lying, I just, I’ve never—um, I’ve only kissed one Brian. I mean, one person. Brian before. I’ve only kissed one person before. And it was Brian.” Stephanie struggled out, terribly flustered.

“So, what, even after everything, am I no good?” Kelly challenged, giving Stephanie a playful pout. “You’re okay with kissing girls, just not me? Last night, when I proposed that three-way kiss, I only even brought it up ’cause I was… thinking of you. Do you really not like me?”

“D-don’t do that, please,” Stephanie pleaded.

“Do what?”

“What you’re, um, what you’re doing,” Stephanie said. “I-I don’t like it. I’m not against k-kissing you, I guess. I’m, I’m just… scared, not stupid. I don’t like it when you pretend—uh, when you twist all the words to get things the way you want them. It’s, it makes it, I—I get even more uncomfortable. I’m sorry.”

“You…” Kelly began, but the seemingly limitless reservoir of smartass remarks she was so used to relying on had abruptly run dry, and no words came out of her open mouth. She took a step closer to Stephanie.

“It’s not you!” Stephanie hurriedly explained, a trace of panic appearing in her eyes. “It’s, my anxiety, it—”

“No, you’re right,” Kelly mused, the hint of a smile flickering across her face as she seemed to regard Stephanie in a new light. “I keep forgetting, I guess, that you’re not just… well, that everybody has their reasons, I ‘spose?”

“I d-didn’t mean that I don’t—”

But a hand had already found its way around the back of Stephanie’s fluffy pink head, and the shy girl was unable to finish as Kelly pressed in and stole her lips.

The abrupt moment was nothing like the kisses Stephanie had shared with Brian. The other girl’s face was so much smoother, her lips softer, almost pillowy, even—but the biggest contrast was a subtle flavor of impatience that came across. All of it was nice, it felt good, in a way that was making that glow of warmth rise up within her, but that startling raw need she felt from Kelly was just such a marked difference from Brian’s steadfast and cool kiss. The butterflies she felt within her tummy were frantically beating their little wings in flickering flashes of pink and red, and Stephanie rocked unsteadily on her feet.

Sucking me in… It was as though there was an empty space, a void existing within this girl, a vacuum that Kelly was desperate to fill. The taste of her, the sensation of the bold girl’s tongue darting inside her mouth, the strange way it made the flames inside of her twist and curl—all of these pleasant distractions swirled together into a dazzling pink cloud that almost kept Stephanie from noticing the sound of the door to their hotel room opening.