Heartbroken and lonely, Lola is forced to spend her nights cuddling her cold, squished pillow. With the help of her best friend, Annalise, she finds a service offering the thing she needs most, cuddles. Upon obtaining the service, Lola is in for mor...
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Chapter Twenty-Three
Annalise hands me a tissue to blow my runny nose. The softness of the tissue does nothing to sooth the redness around my nose. I might as well use sandpaper at this rate, it's doing the same thing. Not only am I heartbroken, I'm a germy, infected bundle of sappy sickness. If I thought my life couldn't possibly get any worse, it has.
To keep myself from going completely bonkers, I decided to go for a late night run. I ended up running through the rain and catching a cold. Colds don't usually bother me, except for the fact, Svana has decided to send me on a practice tour to get into the swing of things.
I'm supposed to network, practice, and somewhat get a hold of traveling on the road concept. It's a great start and I appreciate the chance to practice before my big debut. I know that you can't achieve greatness without practice and hard work. Luck is a rather fickle thing, which is why I don't invest too much on luck.
Except, I can't sing with this cold plaguing my senses. My throat is scratchy and I keep needing to blow my nose. I can't particularly imagine those additions would make for a stunning performance to dazzle the crowd into wanting more. I want to make the right kind of impact – the one where people come back. Scaring people off is the worst thing I could do, especially if that involves boring them to death.
"You'll be fine, Lola," she says. Annalise throws a box of tissues into my bag and smiles at me.
"Okay, I think I can do this." I nod my head. I don't have a choice anyways. Everything is booked and I can't go back.
"You'll have a blast and I'll hold down the fort." Annalise looks around the apartment and nods her head. There isn't much Annalise can ruin. I've only got a few pot plants dotted around the place, easy enough to replace.
"Can you grab my toiletry bag?" I ask.
"Sure, no worries." Annalise twirls on her toes and wanders towards the bathroom. I continue hunting through the washing basket for clothes to pack. As I shift through, I find Kol's shirt tangled with a singlet.
My eyes wander towards the bin but I can't bring myself to doing it. I thought writing Kol a song would be my chance to set the record straight. I imagined Kol running through the doors to scoop me into his arms and confess his feelings. However, the door never opened and Kol never came running into the apartment.
I suppose it'll be nice to have a piece of Kol on tour and the shirt is comfortable to wear at night. I quickly fold the top and shove the bundle of material into my bag before Annalise returns with my toiletry bag.
I pack a few more things into my bag before I zip it close. I organise a carry on backpack and my handbag before placing it all by the front door with my bedding. Annalise and I have done a mini food shop with included boxed and microwavable food because we're going to be on the road for a while.
With my remaining time, I wiz around the apartment cleaning. They say a clean house / work space leads to a clean mind. If I'm going to have Annalise trekking through the apartment, I'd at least like to know it's a clean place. Sure, she wouldn't judge me otherwise, but I'd feel better.
