A Dreamers Dream

Manchester - England. Part One

"Time to get up Kiddo," I hear Clark's voice penetrate into my dreams and my eyes snap open in horror, why is Clark waking me up?? It takes me a few seconds to take in my surroundings and remember that I am not safely tucked up at home in my own bed, with or without Clark. But on a huge bus full of people. That explains the uncomfortable neck cramp then. Urgh.

"Are we there already?" I ask Clark dozily, watching as he pulls both of our bags out of the overhead luggage racks
"Nope, we're in Mexico actually. You've been asleep for over a month," He says dryly. Still, catching sight of the unamused expression on my face, he quickly turns serious "Yes we're in Manchester you goof, however, if we stay on this bus much longer, I wouldn't like to say where we'll end up."
I look around the rest of the oversized vehicle and realise that Clark and I are the only passengers left on board, even the driver seems to have vacated his post. I'm surprised that all the hustle and bustle of twenty-odd people disembarking didn't wake me up, I guess I really was tired.

"Ok ok, I'm moving. Where's Sammy?" I ask as I pull myself up out of my chair and glance at the empty seat beside me, which I'm sure she was sitting in earlied, although as I don't remember so much as getting on the motorway I'm guessing I feel asleep pretty much as soon as I sat down. I start to follow Clark down the long passageway between the seats up to the front of the bus, trying to force myself to wake up properly.
"She went to go get our room keys. It's always a bit of pot luck who you get as a roommate, so one of us always tries to get to reception as soon as we can and perform any necessary swaps," He says as he reaches the tarmac of the very large and very full car park we have arrived in behind an imposing looking hotel. I'm not surprised when he continues off straight towards the building without so much as glancing back to see if I need a hand with my bags. With a sigh, I heave my suitcase down the steep stairs and make my way after him.

"Here you go," Sammy says, handing Clark a plastic key card "You're sharing with Tom, best I could do I'm afraid. But its better than Stephen the snorer again at least," She adds semi-apologetically. Clark nods in acceptance and bids us goodbye, making his way off to his room.
"Have I got a roommate this time around? Please tell me it's not someone with really bad BO or something" I ask Sammy. As I joined the last show so late, the only option was to get me my own room as there were no spare beds, but Paul warned me it would probably be the last time I'd get a room to myself for a while so I should make the most of it. In hindsight, he probably didn't mean by spending most of the night in the bar before passing out in a heap on top of the covers, but never mind. You live and learn, right.

"You did indeed! And because I am such an awesome friend, I have ensured you are shacked up with simply the best person possible" She gloats as I stick out my hand and wait patiently for her to hand me my key card.
"Oh? I figured Harry would have his own room, to be honest" I tease, already sensing where she is going with this.
"Cheeky cow!" Sammy exclaims, pressing her hands over her heart as if I have physically wounded her.
"Tell you what, if you buy me dinner tonight then I'll think about upgrading you. Harry did only provide breakfast after all.."
"Is that really all he provided? Hmmm??" Sammy asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me
"Of course, it is!!" I exclaim it's my turn to be offended now "Jeez, do you really think that on my second day here I went shagged the star of the show? We just had brunch Sammy, that. Was. All." I say, punctuating each word to try and ensure she understands. "Besides, I really don't think I'm his type."
"Ha!" She barks loudly making me jump slightly at the unexpected sound in my groggy state, "Everyone is H's type. Come on, let's go find our room."

A few hours later and I am lying on my bed strumming lightly on my guitar whilst Sammy takes a shower. The thin door to the en-suite doing absolutely nothing to stop her off-key singing from reverberating around the room. As much as I teased her about it though, I am pleased that we are getting to share. There aren't that many women on the crew, and I haven't really had the chance to speak to many of the others yet, so I'm not entirely sure how comfy I would feel sharing a room with any of them.

Sammy comes bounding out of the shower a few minutes later, her mass of wet pink hair leaving tiny droplets of water on the floor in her wake as she makes her way over to the small dresser in the room and starts pulling open the various draws.
"Don't suppose you've got a hairdryer tucked away in there do ya? Mine packed up in Munich, and I've not gotten around to replacing it yet" She asks, nodding towards my unpacked suitcase next to my bed.
"Sammy, I don't even have enough underwear to last me till we get back to London, let alone a hairdryer I'm afraid. What do you need one for anyway? Don't we have the night off?" I ask her somewhat confused. I had assumed we would be spending the evening in our room eating copious amounts of room service, to be honest, and that doesn't require perfectly styled hair.

"Didn't I tell you? Everyone's heading out for drinks tonight as there's no show. So you should probably get your arse in the shower. I think I left you some hot water" She informs me
"Urgh, I'm not sure I'm up for another night of drinking." I begin, placing my fingers to my temples in an involuntary gesture and remembering my hangover from this morning, but Sammy abruptly cuts me off.
"Nope, don't even start that, you need to come! You've barely met anyone yet, and there's no better place to get to know your workmates than in a bar over a few beers" Sammy tells me.
Semi-reluctantly I pull myself up off the bed and place my battered old pink guitar back in its case, propping it up carefully against the wall before heading into the bathroom to shower in luke-warm water which runs cold long before I am ready for it to.

By the time I return Sammy is fully dressed, wearing a bright purple mini dress and sky-high stilettos which make her slim, tanned legs look as though they are ten feet long. Her hair is perfectly styled in loose waves, and she is just adding the finishing touches to her makeup.
"Wow, you look... amazing!" I tell her, astonished. It's not that I hadn't realised she's pretty, but up until now, all I'd seen Sammy wearing were jeans and t-shirts, I had no idea she was hiding such a great figure underneath them.
"Why thank you," She says, giving me a mini curtsey in appreciation. "Did you bring any dresses with you? Or do you need to borrow one?" she asks uncertainly, which is fair really considering I've already demonstrated how poorly supplied I am for all this.
"Erm a couple, but they are really more formal." I say, making my way over to my suitcase and starting to pull out the various items inside. I hold up the two dresses that I shoved in the car as an afterthought before I left home and screw up my nose slightly when I see the deep creases lining both of them.
"Yeah, those are just not going to do. Don't worry, I have just the thing" Sammy tells me.

For the next hour, Sammy pokes and prods at me relentlessly to the point where I am seriously starting to rethink our burgeoning friendship. She straightens and styles my hair, plucks my wayward eyebrows, seems to spend an absolute age applying various powders and liquids to my face. And all of this without once letting me near a mirror. I am partially dozing again as she buckles the straps on a pair of sky-high black heels and gives me one last look over before pulling me out of my chair and dragging me towards the semi-full length mirror on the outside of the bathroom door.

"Ta-da!" She says proudly as she removes her hands from in front of my eyes and finally lets me get a glimpse at her handy-work.
"Erm, wow. Ok.. did you hang a picture over the mirror?" I ask her as I step closer to the glass to inspect what I am think is my own face, as I can feel myself touching it gingerly, not wanting to disrupt the makeup she has applied. It looks different. I'm still me, but it's like I am a more polished, shiny version of myself. My tired skin is glowing. My eyes sparkle against the dark eye-shadow across my lids which contrasts wonderfully with the silver eyeliner she has applied in the perfect flick across the tops. My lips are plump and glossy, and my long chocolate brown hair curls perfectly around my shoulders. The bandeau style black dress with silver accents hugs my curves wonderfully.

"I look... hot!" I exclaim loudly teasingly pouting into the mirror at Sammy's reflection "Seriously woman your talents are wasted building stages and setting up catwalks! Why don't you do this as a career?" I ask, turning to face her and gesturing to myself.
"One day, maybe. You think you're the only one with dreams guitar girl?" she throws back with a wink "C'mon time to move our beautiful arses" She says and holds out her arm. Grabbing my bag, I slip my arm through hers, and we make our way down to the lobby. Feeling like a million bucks.