A Dreamers Dream

The Morning after the night before

A loud, incessant banging wakes me up way too early the next morning and, as much as I don't want to move, I am fairly convinced that if I don't locate the source of the noise and shut it up soon, my head is going to crack open straight down the middle.

I blearily make my way to my tiny hotel room door, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and cursing myself for falling asleep in the only decent pair of jeans I have with me and fling open the door in a huff.
"Never let me have one of those pink things again. Ever." Sammy greets me as she pushes past me into the room. She's wearing grey joggers and a treat people with kindness T-shirt which I am assuming she has liberated from the merchandise store. Along with a pair of oversized round-rimmed sunglasses.
Despite the fact that it's April, in the north of England and there isn't a speck of sunlight to be seen. the only thing visable from the tiny window in my room, where the curtains stand wide open - How drunk was I last night? - is a sea of low lying grey clouds.

"Fairly certain that last night proved I have zero control over you. Thought I made it clear I was only staying for one drink?" I huff and fall back down on my bed, propping myself up against the pillows. Sammy joins me, quickly making herself comfortable and kicking off her trainers which land with a dull thunk as they hit the floor one by one.
"Moi? I was the innocent party in all of this. I blame Clarke."
"Me too. Let's blame Clarke. Everything is his fault" I concur as Sammy picks up the remote for the tiny TV which is sat on an old-style dresser in the corner of the room and turns it on. Flicking slowly through the channels until she finds what appears to be a kids cartoon. Seemingly satisfied, she rolls on the bed to face me.

"So. What happened with you and H last night then? When I left you two were looking pretty cosy," She asks, without a trace of embarrassment at her intrusion into my personal life. Despite not having known her for twenty-four hours yet, I find myself completely comfortable with her mini-interrogation. I'd much rather she asked me outright than gossiped behind my back, and I really do think she and I are becoming friends.

"If I remember correctly, I swore in front of him, again, loudly after bashing into him. Then he just forced me to drink extra strong coffee until he was satisfied. I was sober enough to be left unattended, and he showed me to my room. All perfectly PG. Except for the swearing of course. Where did you fuck off to anyways? One minute you were there, then you weren't?" I ask her as I make my way over to the tiny kettle that they always seem to have in British hotel rooms and flick it on. Locating a couple of tea bags, I throw them into two ludicrously small cups which are only going to hold about three mouthfuls each. God, I'd murder a coffee right now.
"Well... I sort of got an offer I couldn't refuse..." Sammy says, showing some sheepishness for the first time since I've met her. "I knew H would take care of you!" She finishes defensively
"You do realise both you and Clarke spent quite some time last night advising me AGAINST getting too friendly with other crew members? Then both promptly disappeared in the middle of the night to do just that right?"
"We advised you not to get in a relationship with anyone on the crew. We didn't say you shouldn't have any fun! C'mon! We're young, we're hot, and we're travelling the world with a rock star for god's sake! If H didn't want any hanky-panky, he should have hired a crew of nuns. Even his bandmates are at it," Sammy informs me as I hand her one of the mini cups of tea.

"Sugar?" I ask
"Sweet enough already thanks" She smiles back
"Dare I ask who's room you snuck off to then?"
"Freddie's... I don't think you've met him yet. He's one of the riggers. Not normally my type but I can't say my judgement was at its best last night. He was ok though, seven out of ten I reckon, although that could be the pink thing talking. I'd recommend him to a friend. I'll point him out to you on the bus later." She says in a rush
"Cheers, but I think you can offer up your sloppy seconds to someone else, thanks!" I tease her blowing on my tea to try and cool it down enough to drink.
"So ungrateful. There's me, trying to make sure you feel welcome here and you throw it straight back in my face. Wanna go grab some lunch before the bus leaves? There's a nice little cafe down the road."
"Shit! Breakfast!" I exclaim as a vague memory of Harry asking me to meet him in his room resurfaces from the depths of my foggy brain "What time is it?" I ask Sammy, leaning across her to the bedside table on which my phone is sitting, but when I tap the screen, there's nothing. It's dead. Apparently, I didn't manage to do anything at all when I got back last night.