Page 83 of You Only Live Once
‘How come you look like that and I feel like this?’ I said in a voice that sounded like I had swallowed the gravel from a budgie’s cage. My mouth definitely tasted like I had. Possibly also the budgie.
‘Probably because I’m a little bit more used to partying than you are.’
‘I thought you didn’t do all that any more?’
‘I never said I’d stopped altogether, just that I didn’t do it as much as when I was younger.’
‘You could at least try and look a little less chipper,’ I said, swinging my legs out and sitting up slowly before heading off to the bathroom, hoping that a few splashes of cold water on my face might by some miracle take away the thumping head and churning stomach. It didn’t, but having brushed my teeth, I at least felt a little more human. I showered quickly, mainly because standing up for any length of time was more of a challenge than usual, and then grabbed one of the thick robes from the back of the door, wrapping myself up in it before shuffling back out into the main room.
‘Better?’
‘Cleaner, at least.’
‘I didn’t think you’d feel like going down for breakfast, so I took the liberty of ordering some for the room. I hope that was OK?’
I sat down gingerly on the bed. ‘Whatever is fine. I don’t think I’ll be eating again for some time.’
‘You have to eat something, Lily. You need to soak up some of the alcohol. It will help, I promise.’
‘It will help me throw up.’
The doorbell to the room rang. I loved that swanky hotel rooms had their own doorbells, although I was less enthusiastic on this occasion as I knew there was a pile of food which Jack was expecting me to eat on the other side of it.
‘Just eat what you can,’ Jack said, giving a me sympathetic smile and placing two paracetamols in front of me and a bottle of still water with which to take them.
I tucked my feet back under the duvet, squishing myself into a small ball as a polite, uniformed waiter nodded good morning to me and Jack signed the receipt, and gave a tip.
‘You’ll have to tell me how much you’ve spent on tips once we get back, so that I can reimburse you.’
‘I will do nothing of the sort and neither will you,’ Jack said. ‘Now, let’s see what we can tempt you with. Here, first of all, have some juice. Get some vitamin C into you. Did you take the pills?’
I nodded gently.
‘Good. What else?’
‘I’m really not sure I can face any of that,’ I said tentatively, looking at the plates of food which Jack had uncovered.
‘Just a little,’ he said, testing the scrambled eggs as he did so. ‘These are excellent. It’s so hard to get good scrambled eggs anywhere. Come on, just a little bit on some toast?’
He began preparing his culinary suggestion anyway, so it seemed like I was going to get the slice whether I wanted it or not. I didn’t, but he was being so kind and understanding that I felt I owed it to him to at least try. Shuffling down the bed to where Jack had got the man to leave the trolley as a makeshift table, I cautiously tried the food he’d put in front of me.
Much to my surprise, I ate more than I thought I would and did indeed feel better. My head still felt like a melon that had been split in two, but my stomach had stopped resembling a washing machine. Well, not completely, but least it was just on the delicate cycle now rather than full spin.
I plodded back into the bathroom to get dressed into jeans and a delicately flowered blouse I’d brought with me as a change from T-shirts. Having gathered together the toiletries I’d left in the bathroom, I returned to the main room, dropped the few extra bits into my overnight bag and zipped it up.
‘Ready to go?’ Jack asked, lifting two suit carriers out of the wardrobe, one containing his tuxedo and the other my beautiful satin dress. I wasn’t sure when I would ever wear it again, but I was glad I had bought it for last night. Somewhere in the woolly space where my brain was supposed to be, a vague memory of Jack saying he loved the dress floated about. I loved the dress too, but the way he had said it had sent shivers up and down my bare spine as I’d walked away from him.
I put a hand to my head. I couldn’t think about all that right now. It hadn’t meant anything more than that he liked the dress. But I knew, especially last night, I had loved the fact that he did.
‘Tablets not helping?’ Jack asked, noticing my hand resting at my temple.
‘Just making sure it doesn’t roll away.’ I gave a wan smile that Jack accepted as explanation as he moved towards the door which he opened for me, taking my bag as I passed.
‘I can carry that.’
‘It’s fine.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, leaning back against the bar in the lift as we travelled smoothly down to the foyer.
