Page 31 of Sky Full of Stars

“I’m not sure we should have this conversation right now, you’re barely coherent. Drink both of these bottles of water or you’re gonna regret it tomorrow. It’s our last performance. You need to be at your best,” he shakes his head. “When the hell did you find the time to meet a girl that is causing you this much shit?”

I look down at my hands, they’re hanging limp between my knees. I don’t know how to explain anything. My stomach hurts again. But this time for a very different reason. I jump up and run to the bathroom, only just making it before I hurl. I sit next to the toilet putting my cheek to the wall, the nice cool surface that gives me some relief after my stomach is empty and tight from clenching hard as I puked.

“You gonna choke on your vomit and go out as a gone too soon Rock star?”

“Leave me alone, Arch.”

“This conversation isn’t over. Drink the water. I’ll be back in the morning, bright and early and I want to know what the fuck is going on with you. All of it.”

He disappears from the bathroom doorway. I grab the bottle on the floor and take a few mouthfuls and spit them into the toilet before flushing it. He’s right, this is gonna be a complete cluster fuck tomorrow. I still don’t get how it has bothered me this much. A woman I haven’t even touched, unless you count guiding her out of the club, pulling her into the VIP area.

I’m seriously losing my mind. I take my phone out of the inside pocket of my jacket. Three photographs are all I have of her. In her little non-date with Douche outfit, the headless dress and the sexy chair pose. This is all I’ll ever have of her and I’m stupid to think otherwise.

I sit there for an hour dozing on and off, or it could have been longer, who the hell knows. I drink the whole bottle of water and when I try to take a piss I’m fairly certain I totally miss the bowl. I somehow manage to get to the bed, drag my jacket off and loosen my bow tie before collapsing and falling into oblivion.

I’m rudely awakened to the heavy chorus of an Evanescence song ‘Bring Me To Life’ blasting. Archer’s cell phone is by the side of my head and I receive a kick to the leg. I barely flinch.

“You dead?”

“Yes.”

Arch laughs. “I brought breakfast. Go take a shower and come eat something, take some pills so we can talk.”

I raise my middle finger. I don’t want to talk about anything. “Turn that shit down,” I mumble, rolling over and slowly sitting up. My eyes squint against the light. I feel awful and for a minute think I may puke again but it passes. Arch lowers the music and goes to set out the breakfast, he pours a coffee and brings it to me, then goes back to eat his food.

I drink some then do as he told me, scrunching up my nose at the smell of urine in the bathroom. I take a shower and start to feel somewhat human again. I hold the shower head out of the tub, spraying away the piss as best I can. It soaks the bathroom floor, probably not the best of ideas. I nearly break my neck getting out and have to grab onto the counter to prevent falling on my ass. Once I straighten myself I grab a towel and wrap it around my middle, sauntering back out into the sitting area, holding the towel and going to sit down.

“Put some pants on,” Arch tells me. “I don’t want any dick slips scarring me for life.”

“I have a spectacular dick.”

“Don’t doubt it. Still don’t want to see it.”

After I’ve thrown on some underwear and jeans and taken the tablets he’s left for me on the bedside table, I go back over and grab some toast. It’s about all I can handle right now.

“Thanks, wife,” I tell him.

“You’re lucky Jordan mooned the paparazzi last night, can’t have them seeing the golden boy three sheets to the wind.”

“He what?”

Arch holds out his hands and I nod, Jordan is a law unto himself. I should be grateful he distracted the blood hounds. I finish the coffee and slice of toast feeling more normal.

“Who is she?”

“A figment of my imagination.”

He frowns. “Adam, I haven’t seen you do something this crazy over a girl since Erica.”

“Don’t bring her up for fucks sake. It’s nothing like that. I don’t even know this girl.”

“You’re confusing me.”

“I’m confusing my damn self.”

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

“It’s as good a place as any.”

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