by Wells, Nicky
As I pondered, Mike draped his arm proprietorially around my shoulders and sipped at a pint of water as though his life depended on it. He caught me staring and laughed.
‘Rehydration. We’ve another gig later today, so I can’t afford to be hung-over or dehydrated. Bad for the vocal cords, you see.’
I nodded.
The other band members were similarly stocking up on fluids, although none of them stuck with humble water. If Mike noticed it, he didn’t comment. Likewise, he didn’t remark on the spliffs that started making the rounds between guitarist Will, bass player Lewis, and keyboarder Dylan. Soon we were engulfed in a pungent, sickly-sweet cloud of smoke. I resisted the urge to gag and tried to look indifferent. When Dylan proffered a joint for me to enjoy, I simply smiled and passed. He shrugged and puffed contentedly.
Will cast me a sceptical look. ‘You feeling a little out of place here, honeybee?’ His voice was dripping with sarcasm, and I wondered what I had done to offend him so deeply.
‘Leave her alone,’ Mike barked.
‘Nah,’ I retorted at the same time, searching desperately for an appropriate response. ‘I’m not in the mood for the soft stuff tonight.’
Oops. What was I saying?
Will arched his eyebrows in surprise. ‘Well, bugger me.’ He produced a little plastic baggie and a pocket mirror. He sprinkled a white powder onto the mirror and, using a credit card, deftly arranged it into a neat white line. I watched in horrified fascination. I had only ever seen this done in crime dramas on the telly, and I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to handle the situation. I feigned nonchalance, although my heart was hammering hard and fast, and I was frightened.
Will rolled up a twenty pound note into a makeshift straw and offered it to me. ‘Ladies first.’
His hand hung frozen in mid-air, right in front of my face, and the shaking of the impromptu straw revealed a significant tremor in Will’s fingers. Idly I wondered how he managed to play the guitar so well with fingers that trembled so badly.
‘Go on. Or—hang on. I know.’ Will taunted me mercilessly. ‘Is little Emily scared? Thinking of running home to mummy?’
‘Fuck off, Will,’ I said calmly, not even tripping over the unaccustomed swearword that rolled off my tongue. A tiny corner of my mind wondered whether I should take the straw and have a sniff. I had never tried drugs before, and I had no idea what he had laid out there for me, but I suspected it was cocaine. What would it feel like?
But no. Reason took hold and pulled me from the brink of temptation. This was one line I wasn’t going to cross, not tonight, not ever.
‘My mummy did snow when you were only a babe in arms.’ I blurted out a completely fabricated fact, sending mental apologies to Mum as I did so. ‘And I’m not in the mood for it tonight, but thanks all the same.’
Will, Mike and the others looked at me in astonishment. A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Mike’s mouth, but he rubbed his hands over it quickly as though he had an itch. For a second, we sat in silence. I held Will’s gaze until he finally looked away. He shrugged and snorted his line in one swift move.
‘Whatever. More for me,’ he mumbled.
Mike shook his head but said nothing. He squeezed my hand hard under the table, and I squeezed back. I felt like I had been in a battle of some description.
Tense moment over and coke duly consumed, Will, Lewis and Dylan dedicated themselves to an animated post-mortem of the show. Their conversation was peppered with expressions that I didn’t comprehend, and I found it hard to follow. There was a lot of cussing and swearing, too. Without an ‘official’ audience, the demeanour of the band had changed completely. I felt way out of my depth and had another moment of wishing myself far, far away—preferably in my own comfy bed and clean flat.
Mike appeared to pick up on my misgivings, at last.
‘You okay?’ he whispered under his breath.
‘Fine,’ I assured him blithely. ‘Absolutely fine.’
He smiled. ‘I’m glad you’re here. It makes such a change.’
‘Does it now?’ I purred, flattered and mollified by his reassurance.
‘Certainly does.’
Meanwhile, drummer Jake was busy snogging his ‘girlfriend’ and completely oblivious to what was going on around him. Like Mike, he had struck lucky and, amidst much cheering and ribbing from the rest of the band, had introduced his new companion as Laura.
‘Nice work, man,’ Will had offered and leered at Laura’s well-endowed torso.
‘Hubba hubba.’ Dylan had squeaked in an exaggerated falsetto like an overexcited teenager, causing the rest of the band to explode with laughter. Laura hadn’t seemed to mind. On the contrary, she had stood up a little straighter, pushed out her chest and given a little twirl. She was dressed in tight-fitting black leather trousers with a skimpy top that didn’t quite manage to cover her ample bosom. Her bare arms were heavily tattooed, and her wavy blond hair spilled in luscious layers all down her back. Somehow, she managed to look classy and tarty all at once. I felt inadequate next to her.
Now Jake was going at her hammer and tongs, pun intended, and she responded measure for measure. They weren’t in the slightest perturbed by the lewd commentary that flowed back and forth between Will and Lewis. Eventually, they leaned over so far that they toppled against Dylan.
‘Cor, fuckin’ hell. Get a room, you two,’ he reprimanded the couple, but in a good-natured way.
Jake surfaced and grinned. ‘C’mon, love, we know where we’re not wanted.’ He pulled Laura to her feet, and, holding hands, they stumbled down the length of the coach towards the front. Dylan snorted into his drink. I gaped.
‘Are they…will they...?’ I whispered to Mike, but I couldn’t finish my question. He understood me anyway.
‘Of course. You don’t think he’ll wait until he can get a proper room, do you? Not after the state they both got in?’
I blushed. ‘I…well, I don’t know. I’d never thought about it.’
Still, the thought held an odd fascination. ‘You mean in the bunks? With everyone around them? You know, us, here?’
‘Yup.’
I digested that in silence, but I couldn’t let it go.
‘Isn’t that…isn’t that kind of obvious?’
‘Yup.’ Mike grinned. ‘It’s got a certain thrill to it. Maybe you should try it sometime.’
‘Oh God, I don’t know if I could.’ I blushed even more furiously at the very idea. Even if I had felt like a wanton sex goddess a few hours before, I still had a long way to go to wrap my head around the world of rock stardom.
‘You could. With the right man. At the right time.’ His voice was low, only for me to hear, and he squeezed my hand suggestively to emphasise his meaning. I remained doubtful.
‘Never.’
‘You’ll see. All in good time.’ He spoke with a quiet confidence that sent a shiver down my spine. Right at that moment, the coach turned a corner and accelerated.
‘Ah. The motorway at last.’ Mike stretched his hands above his head and yawned. ‘It’ll be a nice smooth ride now. Time for bed.’
Dylan, Lewis and Will also took note of the altered speed of travel. ‘The M40,’ Lewis remarked. ‘We’re on the road. I’m gonna put my head down.’
Will and Dylan mumbled their assent, and the three band members scooched out of the seating area and made their way to their bunks. I felt awkward. I hadn’t even contemplated sleeping arrangements when I had agreed to come on this madcap trip.
‘I got Will to swap bunks,’ Mike informed me. ‘You’re bunking with me. Not in the same bed,’ he laughed when he saw my face. ‘They’re way too narrow to get any proper sleep if you double up. You can have the top bunk, if you want, and I’ll sleep underneath. Or vice versa. Whichever you prefer.’
I laughed softly. ‘I’ll take the bottom bed. I might fall out otherwise.’
‘Cool. Let me show you where you’re sleeping.’
Mike took my hand and led me t
owards the very front of the coach, past all the other bunks with their curtains already drawn closed. If Jake and Laura were still busy, there wasn’t a sound to be heard.
‘Here.’ Mike roused me from my musings and pulled a curtain wide. ‘I’ll be right above you. Have you got everything you need?’
‘Uh-huh.’ I nodded, although nothing could have been further from the truth. I didn’t have a nightie. I didn’t have make-up remover. I didn’t have fresh underwear. I would have to sleep in my clothes and emerge the next morning looking like Frankenstein’s niece, with wild hair and black eyes. But there was nothing doing. I had made my bed, as the saying went, and I would have to lie in it.
‘G’night, Emily.’ Mike planted a little kiss on my lips, and all my worries and doubts floated away. So what if I looked like a zombie in the morning? I would figure something out. This was exciting, for goodness sake. I was having an adventure.
‘G’night, Mike.’ I smiled and watched as he climbed up into his bunk. Time for bed, although I doubted very much that I would sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Unbelievably, I slept. I slept really rather well, in fact. I felt oddly cocooned and safe, lying in that dark bunk with the curtains closed. The movement of the coach added a womb-like dimension, and the steady swooshing of the tyres proved the best lullaby in the world. I fell asleep before I could contemplate any of the events of the day, and I woke seven hours later when the coach slowed to a standstill and there was evidence of waking life all around me. There were groans and moans and creaks as human beings stretched and moved and drew back the curtains on their bunks.
‘Wakey wakey, guys. Time for breakfast,’ a voice called out loud and cheerful. ‘Come on, hurry up, we haven’t got all day.’ The voice continued brusquely, and my curtain was whipped open from the outside. Adam’s face stared down on me.
‘Emily!’ There was confusion in Adam’s eyes. ‘I thought this was Mike’s bunk.’
‘I’m here, boss.’ Mike’s head appeared from the top bunk, hanging down at a grotesque angle and blowing me a kiss. ‘Morning, sweets.’
I laughed unselfconsciously. ‘Morning, Mike.’
Adam rolled his eyes. ‘Time to get up, folks,’ he repeated. Mike obediently clambered down from his top bunk, fully dressed. Had he, too, slept in his clothes, or was he simply better organised than me?
I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bunk. Despite my deep sleep, I felt a little stiff and achy. Mike pulled a sympathetic grimace.
‘These beds take a little getting used to, but you’ll be fine after a cup of coffee. C’mon.’
He pulled me to my feet, and we followed the other band members off the coach. In passing, I managed to grab my handbag off the floor where I had dumped it the night before.
Outside, it was a bright and sunny. I took a look at my watch as I stepped onto the tarmac of the coach park. It was already past midmorning! No wonder my tummy was rumbling.
‘Where are we?’
‘No idea,’ Mike confessed. ‘Somewhere en route to Glasgow, I’d hope. Adam!’ He raised his voice. ‘Where are we?’
‘Just beyond Lancaster,’ Adam replied obligingly. ‘We’ll have a break here. It’s only a few more hours to Glasgow. Hope to get there before three.’
Just beyond Lancaster. I had never been this far North before. Talk about being a million miles from home! All right, not a million miles, but near enough.
‘I’m starving,’ Mike announced. ‘I could do with a fry-up.’
‘Hmmm.’ I wasn’t too keen on fried breakfasts. I hated the whole idea of them, all that grease and all that meat. I would find something else, I resolved quietly.
The band set a brisk pace towards the service station, and Mike and I scrambled to catch up. However, before we hit the restaurant, I caught sight of myself in a mirror and skidded to a halt. Frankenstein’s niece had nothing on me. OMG.
‘I need the bathroom,’ I declared. ‘I’ll meet you in the restaurant, okay?’
‘Okay.’ Mike grinned and let me go.
Instead of making a dash for the ladies’, I nipped into one of the shops first. Please let them have toiletries, please let them have toiletries, I prayed under my breath. There! I pounced. Toiletries as such, they weren’t, but baby wipes and baby soap would do the trick at a push. I also grabbed some deodorant, a toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste before rushing off for my morning ablutions.
Weird, I mused as I installed myself at the far sink. Really weird. I scrunched my hair into a loose ponytail so that I could soap and rinse my face. Dripping and blind with eyes tight shut, I fumbled around until I located the paper towel dispenser. Ugh, the feeling of the rough material against my skin… Yuck. Dab, don’t rub, I advised myself. There, dry.
I took a critical look. Freshly devoid of make-up, my face was pale and slightly pink from the scrubbing and towelling. Still, it beat the black smudged Frankenstein look. I applied some baby cream as a makeshift moisturiser and brushed my hair. Better still.
For a moment, I debated washing under my arms, but couldn’t get myself to strip down to my bra in this public space. Instead, I sprayed liberal amounts of deodorant all over me. That would have to do for now.
Last but not least, I dipped into my emergency make-up repair kit and applied fresh eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. I continued to feel bare and half-baked without foundation, but at least I looked human. I gave myself an encouraging smile in the mirror. ‘Well done, you. Not bad for a first-timer.’
‘Morning.’
A mumbled greeting startled me, and I turned to find Laura standing beside me, looking every bit as dishevelled and grungy as I had done only minutes before, and sporting a big love bite on her neck.
‘Morning, Laura,’ I greeted her amiably. ‘You okay?’
‘Been better.’ She held onto the sink and swayed slightly. ‘Oh God, I’m a wreck.’
‘Here.’ I proffered my soap and baby cream. ‘It’s not perfect, but it’ll do. I’ve just done the same.’
‘Wow.’ Laura took the bottles from me and looked at me appraisingly. ‘I didn’t have you down as an experienced road tripper.’
I laughed out loud. ‘I’m not. I only got these right now. A couple of minutes ago, I could have been your twin, trust me.’
‘Right.’ Laura yawned widely. ‘Oh God, I so hadn’t planned on being here. How’d that happen? Where are we, anyway?’
‘Lancaster,’ I informed her cheerfully. ‘What do you mean, you didn’t plan to be here?’
Laura squirted some soap on her hands and turned on the tap. ‘I only meant to see the gig. I got carried away. I bet my boyfriend’s furious.’
Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be surprised about that. Obviously, I didn’t say that out loud.
‘Oh God.’ Laura turned to me with a soapy face. ‘Do you reckon he’s gonna be mad?’
‘Um. Well.’ What was I supposed to say? ‘I suppose he’ll figure out you and Jake…um…’
Laura drooped but quickly picked herself up. ‘Never mind,’ she grinned. ‘It was worth it. And he was a loser anyway.’
Oh to have her carefree attitude to life.
She finished washing her face and raked her fingers through her hair. I proffered my hairbrush, and she took it gratefully. As I watched her sprucing up, it occurred to me that she looked a lot younger than she had the night before. She was eighteen, twenty at most. Old enough to do what she was doing, but too young to be so jaded.
‘Shouldn’t you be somewhere?’ I prompted gently.
‘Nah. It’s Sunday, innit? I’ll make it back home by tonight. I’ll get a train or something. It’s only a few hours from Glasgow.’
‘You’ve done this before.’ As with Mike the previous night, it suddenly dawned on me that this kind of thing might be a regular occurrence in her life.
‘Of course.’ She grinned even wider than before. ‘It’s what I live for. What else is there?’ She handed me back my hairbrush and soap and link
ed her arm through mine. ‘C’mon, girlfriend, time to get some brekkie.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Of course I had a fry-up. By the time I joined Mike after my hasty ablutions, he had gone and organised breakfast for both of us. I was greeted by a plate full of sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns—yes, two of them—mushrooms, fried bread, and fried tomatoes. A pile of hot buttered toast teetered on a side plate, and a steaming mug of tea rounded out the ensemble. Mike was already tucking into his feast.
‘Thank you.’ I slid into the seat next to him and smiled to disguise my apprehension. How would I eat all of this? More to the point, how would I digest it?
‘You’re welcome.’ Oblivious to my distress, Mike kept chomping. ‘You look good. All fresh and chipper.’
‘I feel all right, actually.’
I picked up my cutlery and had an experimental stab at one of the eggs. The surface of the yolk broke, and golden liquid squirted out. My tummy rumbled its appreciation, and I was engulfed in the most almighty hunger pangs. What the heck, right? I dithered no more and ate greedily. For the next ten minutes, Mike and I munched our way through our calorie fest until at last, Mike sat back. He patted his belly and grinned.
‘That’s filled a hole or two.’
‘Hm-mh,’ I acquiesced, unable to speak on account of my mouth being too full.
‘Ready to face the day and night.’ He put his hand over mine and looked me in the eyes. ‘About last night… I’m sorry about Will.’ He shrugged. ‘You know what I mean. It’s just…well, he’s fallen for the whole rock-star lifestyle thing. He didn’t used to be like this, not when we started out.’
I smiled. ’It’s no big deal.’
‘Really? You sure? He was way out of line there. I wish he’d stop.’
‘I’m sure. What does Adam make of it all?’
Mike grimaced. ‘He’s turning a blind eye. But enough of that, as long as you’re okay.’ He grinned. ‘Cliché or not, I’m truly glad you came along. There’s something about you…’
