Summer Night Dreams

by Alison May

  The male voice eey-ored in response. Dominic took half a step closer. The man’s voice was familiar. ‘You’re like totally hot and that.’

  Dominic shook his head. It sounded like Nick, his student. He couldn’t make out who the woman was. She giggled again. ‘How did we get here?’

  ‘Dunno really.’

  Another female laugh. ‘Oh well. I love everyone tonight. And I love the punch. But mainly, I love your furry ears.’

  Dominic shook his head. Whoever it was, it didn’t sound like a conversation he wanted to listen in to.

  He didn’t want to walk any further. He was sweating in his armour and the sword fight hadn’t helped. In the absence of a better option he found his keys, and strode back to his car, parked at the front of the building. He sat in the driver’s seat, and automatically put his key in the ignition. That was an option, he supposed. He could leave. He could go home. He could go anywhere. He could drive off into the darkness and leave everything that had happened here behind.

  He didn’t. She was inside, and however awkward things were they had to be resolved. His life broke down into moments, and he’d let too many pass by already. His whole future, everything he’d dreamt of, all the things he’d hardly dared to plan for, were in the building opposite him. He looked at his watch. It was late, and they all had the wedding in the morning. She’d probably already have gone to bed. Would she? Maybe she was lying awake, hoping that he’d come back. Dominic took a deep breath and took the keys out of the ignition.

  Maybe she would still be waiting for him. There was only one way to find out.

  Alex

  ‘You need to go to your own room.’ Alex was laid on Helen’s bed with his hands clamped over his face. He’d come to help her get cleaned up after the fight, but he had to admit he hadn’t been much help. Mainly he’d lain on the bed moaning to himself. He took one hand away from his eyes, and looked at his friend. She was standing at the end of the bed with a balled up piece of toilet roll pressed to her cheek.

  Alex pulled himself up so he was resting on his elbows. ‘I messed everything up.’

  She didn’t argue.

  ‘I had a sword fight.’

  ‘Yup.’

  ‘I told you I loved you.’

  ‘Yup.’

  ‘I slept with Emily.’ That was the big one.

  ‘Yup.’

  ‘I tried to chat up someone I’ve already slept with.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I didn’t even recognise her.’

  Helen laughed. Alex felt he ought to be angry about that, but couldn’t raise the necessary self-esteem to care. Maybe he’d be better off focusing on somebody else’s screw ups. ‘You’ve messed everything up too.’

  ‘That’s not fair.’ Helen say down next to Alex’s feet, and took the toilet roll away. At least her face seemed to have stopped oozing.

  ‘You kissed me.’

  Helen shook her head. ‘You kissed me. And we are never speaking of that again anyway.’

  ‘You kissed Dominic.’

  Helen slumped backwards, adopting Alex’s favoured lying down position.

  ‘And then you had a proper fight with Emily. There was gouging. Actual gouging. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gouging before.’

  ‘She started it.’

  ‘Whatever. It wasn’t a great moment for the sisterhood.’

  Helen closed her eyes. ‘About the being in love with me?’

  Alex moaned. He’d been hoping that was covered by Helen’s instruction never to speak of the kiss again.

  ‘You’re not are you?’

  Alex sat up properly. ‘No.’

  ‘Right.’ She sounded slightly deflated.

  ‘Sorry.’

  She shook her head. ‘Don’t be. Why did you say you were?’

  ‘It’s hard to explain. There was the girl I’d slept with before, and then Emily and then one of the magician guys, and then you were there, and you seemed all glowy and lovely and kind, and your chest was doing this incredible heaving thing. And I don’t know. You seemed so different from all the others.’

  ‘That’s how you get laid so often.’

  Alex peered over his shoulder at his prostrate landlady. ‘What is?’

  ‘You say stuff like that, not the chest bit, the other stuff. You make people feel special.’

  Alex frowned. It was true, wasn’t it? He’d always known he wasn’t the best-looking, or the smartest, or the funniest guy in any room, but he made women feel like he was only interested in them, even if it was only for a few minutes.

  Helen sat up. ‘What magician guys?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You said there was a magician guy.’

  He shrugged. ‘One of the performer people. The ones dressed as fairies.’

  ‘What did he have to do with anything?’

  ‘He was there. He sort of ...’ Alex tailed off. The guy had been there, and then he wasn’t there. Thinking about it he suddenly felt overwhelmingly sleepy. Alex tried to blink the feeling away. ‘I can’t remember.’

  Helen stood up and took a look in the fridge in the corner of the room.

  ‘Anything good?’

  She shook her head. ‘Water. Lemonade.’

  Lemonade wasn’t going to cut it. ‘I bet they do room service.’ Alex reached for the phone on the bedside table. He pressed a button and gave the room number. ‘We’re going to need some of that punch bringing up.’

  Emily

  ‘She’s probably gone to bed.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  My dad is still fretting over his precious Tania. Hopefully, she’s hundreds of miles away by now, but I can’t tell him that. I have to wait, and let things play out. Obviously, he’s going to be a bit upset, but I’ll be there for him. For now, I just have to stay calm. Everything is normal. I point at the clock in the lobby. ‘Look it’s after midnight. She probably couldn’t find you to say good night. She’s not going to want to stay up late the night before the wedding. She needs her beauty sleep.’

  ‘You’re probably right.’ He squeezes my hand. ‘Are you all right pumpkin? You’re a bit quiet.’

  I don’t answer.

  ‘Not trouble with Dominic?’

  I don’t know what to say. I can’t tell him about Dom. I can’t face him being disappointed with me. That’s not going to happen. I’m going to fix this. ‘No. I had a bit of a falling out with Helen. No big deal.’ It’s as good a thing to say as anything. They say all the best lies are based on the truth.

  He gives me a quick hug around the shoulders. ‘You’ll sort it out. I know what you girls are like.’

  I can imagine what Helen would say to a comment like that. I nod, and let him get off to bed. Maybe that is one thing I can fix. I could talk to Helen. She’s my best friend, and I’m sure she can explain what happened with Dom. Maybe if I start by making that one thing better, everything else will follow. I straighten down my dress and head upstairs.

  Helen’s room is at the far end of one corridor, almost opposite my own room. As I approach, there’s already someone in the hallway. Dom. ‘What are you doing here?’

  He spins round. ‘I was ...’ He looks around. ‘I’m not sure. You?’

  I shrug. Dom’s supposed to be sharing my room. Was he coming to see Helen or looking for me or just going to bed? My brain is whirring from all the questions. My brain can go jump. I’m exhausted trying to keep tabs on how I’m feeling.

  ‘Hi.’ Helen opens the door a crack, only enough to see Dom. I cough pointedly. ‘Right.’ She opens the door. ‘I guess you’d better come in.’

  Helen

  ‘What the hell?’

  That was weird. It was exactly what Helen was thinking, but it wasn’t her voice. That made no sense. Her thoughts. Her bed. It ought to be her voice.

  ‘Where am I?’

  It happened again, but this time it wasn’t the first voice or her voice. Helen needed to open her eyes, and she would open her eyes, just as soon as she’d
worked out how to unstick her eyelids.

  ‘What happened last night?’ That voice she recognised. That was Alex. Alex was her housemate, so they must be at home. If they were at home, things couldn’t be that bad. She opened one eye. They weren’t at home.

  Helen forced herself to open the second eye. She was in bed. Not her bed, but a bed. She risked a tentative peer under the duvet. Still clothed. Sort of. Her dress had gone AWOL, but it turned out that historic costumes featured a lot of undergarments. She was still wearing more clothes than she’d happily leave the house wearing. That was fine.

  She assessed the rest of the situation. Alex was lying next to her. She got a flicker of a memory from last night, and shut it straight down. Propping herself up on her elbows, she surveyed the room. The movement sent a shooting pain through her skull. There was a chaise longue in front of the window. Emily was lying on it under a blanket. Dominic was sitting up on the floor between the bed and the chaise, rubbing his face. He must have been the first voice. Dominic was wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts and there was chainmail and a sword piled up next to him. The sword – another flicker of memory.

  ‘I feel like death.’ That was Alex. Helen sat up, swallowing down a wave of nausea.

  ‘Are you gonna be sick?’

  ‘No. Just can’t move yet.’

  She turned attention to Dominic. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Where am I?’

  She waved an arm. ‘Room.’

  ‘Whose room?’

  That was a good question. Helen tried to do remembering. She’d come up to her room after ... for some reason her brain didn’t want to dwell on what it was after, but she definitely came up to her room. Then Alex came too, and then they ordered punch. After that things were hazier. There was a table straight in front of her with an empty glass bowl on it. An empty punch bowl, she guessed. ‘I think it’s my room.’

  Dominic groaned. ‘Why are we all in your room?’

  Helen suspected the answer to that question might take a bit of processing.

  On the chaise longue, Emily kicked one leg and flung an arm across her body, before sitting bolt upright. It was the fastest anyone had moved so far this morning. Watching her made Helen feel more nauseous. Emily yelped. ‘Where am I?’

  Dominic reached up and took her hand. ‘At the hotel. You’re safe. It’s just a dream.’

  Emily nodded. She looked around the room for a second before managing to pull a watch from amongst the debris of clothing and blankets around her. ‘TIME!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The time! My dad’s supposed to be getting married in fifty-eight minutes.’

  Panic competed briefly with hangover inside Helen’s head. Panic won. She shoved Alex’s arm. ‘Go get dressed. Washed and dressed.’

  At the other side of the room, Dominic pulled his chainmail on over his T-shirt, and Emily crawled under the chaise longue. ‘I can’t find my shoe.’

  She dragged the blanket off the floor and shook it, apparently hoping to magic footwear from its depths. ‘Sod it. I’ll come look for it later.’

  ‘Wait.’ That was Alex. ‘Aren’t we going to talk about last night?’

  Helen glanced at the others. Emily was pouting heavily, looking away. Dominic stared straight back at her. He shook his head.

  ‘No.’ Helen swung her legs out of bed. ‘No time. Wedding first. Talking later. Much, much later.’

  ‘She’s right.’ Dominic nodded. ‘Let’s get the wedding out of the way.’

  Emily followed him towards the door, holding her hand out to Dominic. Helen looked away.

  That left Alex. Business-like was probably the best approach. ‘Right. Back to your room. Washed and dressed. I’ll meet you downstairs in twenty minutes.’

  He was still sitting on the bed.

  ‘Alex!’

  Alex

  Alex held up his hand. ‘In a minute.’

  Helen sighed. ‘You’ve got to go. I need to get dressed.’

  Alex was still in bed, covered by the duvet. He ran a hand over his torso, and down to his hips. No top, but he was still wearing the weird tight things that went with his Robin Hood costume. That was something. ‘I think we should talk about last night.’

  ‘I don’t.’ Helen stood up. ‘We have to get ready for the wedding. Maybe we could agree never to talk about last night.’

  She dragged the duvet off him. ‘Hey! I could have been naked under there.’

  Helen screwed her eyes up, and wedged her fingers in her ears. ‘Seriously, never even say that.’

  Alex hauled himself out of bed and found the T-shirt that went under his costume on the floor. Could he walk back to his room in T-shirt and tights? Would that be better or worse than the full costume? ‘Helen?’ She was still ignoring him. He raised his voice ‘Helen!’

  She took one finger out of her ear. ‘You’re not going to talk about being naked any more, are you?’

  ‘No. Promise.’ He waited for her to open her eyes and free up the other ear. ‘What are we going to do though?’

  ‘About what?’

  He shrugged. ‘About everything.’

  Helen glanced at the clock. ‘We’re going to worry about it later.’

  There was a lump forming in Alex’s throat. There was one thing he did need to clear up right now. ‘We’re okay though, aren’t we? I’ve not messed that up?’

  Helen shook her head. ‘Of course not. You’re stuck with me. We’re practically family.’

  His stomach clenched. ‘Don’t say that. It makes last night even weirder.’

  ‘It’s true though isn’t it?’

  Alex screwed up his face.

  ‘Well not exactly family, but there’s no fire is there?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘There’s no heat between us. I love you. It probably would be easier if there was something like that between us, but ...’ She tailed off.

  Alex nodded. ‘No passion.’

  ‘Not a jot. So shall we just agree? No talking about ...’ She mouthed the words too horrendous to say out loud. ‘... the kiss ever again.’

  That sounded like a decent plan. Alex stood up and held his hand out towards her. She shook it. ‘Deal?’

  ‘Deal.’

  That was one thing solved, but flickers of the true horrendousness kept jumping into Alex’s brain. Emily’s engagement ring. Dominic and Helen. The sword fight. Oh god. The sword fight. ‘What about everything else though?’

  Helen shrugged. She looked defeated. ‘I don’t think we can fix everything else.’

  Alex placed one hand on each of her shoulders. ‘Then let’s focus on what we can fix. You’re right. Let’s get clean and dressed and get this wedding over with. You’ve still got a job to get. We might be destined to leave here every bit as sad and lonely as when we arrived, so let’s at least see if one of us can get some career progression out of the whole debacle.’

  Helen nodded. ‘It’s a plan.’

  Alex smiled. It wasn’t really a plan, but it had made one of them smile, and right now it was the best he could come up with.

  Emily

  I stagger across the hallway. Dom and I are sharing, so we’re stuck going the same way. I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t even know if we’re still engaged.

  ‘You probably need to go and see to the bride?’

  Why would I want to go and see the bride? It takes my brain a minute to catch up with what he’s saying, but of course, I’m a bridesmaid, aren’t I? I was probably supposed to be in her room primping and preening her about an hour ago. ‘Right. Yes.’ I turn back towards Tania’s room.

  ‘Don’t you need your dress?’

  Not really. Hopefully, when I get to Tania’s room I’ll discover that she’s long gone and all I’ll have to do is sensitively break the news to my dad, and then let the wedding planner sort out the practicalities, while I take him home. I want to grab Dom and shake him and demand that he talks to me, demand that we move out of this limbo and
get back to the plan. I don’t. I’m too scared of what he might say if I try. Instead, I follow him back to our room and collect the long lilac dress from the back of the wardrobe.

  He stops me as I’m leaving. ‘Be nice to Tania. Okay?’

  I nod.

  ‘It’s a big day. She’s probably nervous.’ He closes his eyes, like he’s exhausted with thinking about anything. ‘Just don’t make trouble.’

  I leave the room with his instruction in my ears. It’s not fair. I’m not the one making trouble. She’s the one who’s trouble. Tania’s room is around a corner at the opposite end of the building to my own. I knock three times and wait. Nobody answers. This is it. She’s gone. I’ve done it. I knock again, just to make sure.

  ‘Who is it?’ Shit. She’s still here. She sounds half asleep though, which is wrong for a woman who’s scheduled to be walking down the aisle in forty-nine minutes.

  ‘It’s Emily.’

  There’s a silence for a moment. ‘Can you come back in a bit Em?’

  No. I cannot come back in a bit. We’re working to a schedule. I knock again. ‘Open the door Tania.’

  I hear her walking towards the door, which opens a crack. She’s wrapped in a hotel robe, and it looks like she went to sleep with last night’s make-up still on. At least we weren’t the only ones who fell victim to the curse of punch. ‘Emily, could you come back in a bit?’

  I lean towards her. ‘Why are you still here? I told you to go.’

  Her face hardens. ‘Go away Em.’

  Why should I be the one who goes away? She’s not supposed to be here any more. I thought we’d reached an understanding.

  She’s still standing holding the door open the tiniest crack. She glances behind her, back into the room. There’s something in there she doesn’t want me to see, isn’t there? I ram my shoulder into the door and push past her. I stop at the foot of the bed. I know who Tania is. I know what she’s done, and I’m still shocked. I point at the prostrate, naked figure. ‘You slept with that?’