Page 9 of Nick & Nora Martinis

“The bastard, I'm so sorry. Well, you're better off without him if this is what he's doing all the time,” I tell her.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. I have no idea what's going on in her head right now.

“So now you're back, you're going to need a job.”

“Yeah, I'm going to have to find something, I have a bit of money saved. If I go back to my parents it will be cheaper but I won't be able to entertain, if you get my meaning?” she says with a smirk and a wink.

I start to laugh. “Don't be daft, you can stay here with me and I can always give you a job if you like. But on one condition, no fraternising with the staff.” I look at her with a serious face, I know all her antics.

“That would be fantastic. This is why I love you, Abigail Smith. Ohh, just think of all the things we can get up to. Like go clubbing, throw a party, pull a couple of fellas.”

I smile at her. “That would be nice, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon. And I thought you were heartbroken.”

“Yeah, I was, the first time. Things change.”

She is my best friend, she means the world to me. I think this will be good for both of us. Hopefully, it will keep us on the straight and narrow.

“You're on about me but I saw how you were looking at Rob and, err, what's his name, oh yeah Owen.”

“Get out of here, I wasn't looking at them in any way,” I say, laughing.

“I know what I saw. I was thinking go back upstairs Jayne, you're in the way.”

“No, you weren't.”

“I swear to the big man himself I was.”

“Well, I'll give myself a talking to then. Owen is handsome, but not my type but Rob I noticed from the first time I saw him. He's nice looking. But I can't get involved. I was told that he was a good man,” I say, giggling.

We sit chatting and catching up for a while longer with Jayne mixing the drinks. As the night goes on I feel a little tipsy so I call it a day. I stand and go over to make sure that I’d locked the door, while Jay collects the glasses and washes them up. We head on upstairs.

“I'm knackered.”

“I'm pretty exhausted if I'm honest. I know I had that nap but what with leaving him and travelling it's taken it out of me.”

I set the burglar alarm for downstairs and close the door.

“Right, I'm off for a shower, I'll see you in the morning. Oh, and Jay, if you go out of here for some reason or another, the alarm code is one, three, five, seven.”

“I won't be, don't you worry about that. Night Abs, see you tomorrow, oh, and Abi, thanks.”

I turn around and smile. “No need for thanks, you would do it for me. Night Jay, loves ‘ya.” With that I walk into my bedroom, closing the door behind me.

Chapter Five

Iwake up feeling like I've gone ten rounds in a boxing ring. My body aches, my throat feels like I've eaten razorblades and my head's throbbing. Seems I have a bout of flu. I crawl out of bed and make my way to the bathroom to look for some tablets. I look in the cabinet and retrieve them. I run the cold water tap, close the door and look in the mirror. Gosh, I'm a mess. I pop two tablets into my mouth and take a sip of water. I then take an antihistamine. My long blonde hair feels all matted and looks lifeless, my ocean blue eyes are red, puffy and watery.

“What the bloody hell, no no no no no, I can't be bad, not now, not today, I open the bar on Saturday. Noo!”, I shout at the mirror.

“Abi, Abs, you okay?”

“Yeah,” I croak out as I make my way over to the door, opening it I just stand there and look at Jayne. The smell of bacon and eggs hits me, making me feel hungry but sick at the same time. I turn and make my way back over to my bed and plonk myself down on it, looking at the floor.

“Shit, you alright, hang on.” Jayne disappears for a few seconds then she's back by my door leaning on the door frame.

I look up at her. “Don't say a word, this couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm opening the bar on Saturday. Fuckin’ hell, why me, why now. What the fuck am I going to do?” I ask her as I hold my throat.

Jayne shrugs her shoulders and proceeds to make her way over to me, sitting down on the bed next to me. “It ain't that bad. Looks like you got a summer cold, or you picked some sort of bug up. You should be okay in a day or two.”

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