Ride On

Chapter XLVIII: Whole Lotta Rosé

I hate my birthday.

I hate getting older. 

The older I get, the older the people around me get. And the older they get, the closer they get to not being around me anymore. 

I cry a lot on my birthdays. 

Something always happens.

Something bad. 

I also hate the attention.

I think I'd like to cease to exist. Just for the day.

**********

That didn't happen.

Bon's birthday was wild. He spent the entire day with some friends at their house and didn't come back until the next morning. Angus bought him a tie as a joke, and the next day he found it again in a sex shop window wrapped around the neck of a "seductive" cardboard cutout. 

I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday. There was nothing to prove that it was unless you snooped around in my suitcase to find my passport. In which case you might receive a karate chop. 

That is, if I could manage to even get out of bed.

I had to pump another Dramamine and Benadryl into my system to keep the nausea at bay. It worked better than last time and I was able to eat a small helping of salad. My lower back was killing me. Angus asked me repeatedly if I was okay and I always told him I was. Naturally he didn't believe me and offered to make me a cup of tea.

But my stomach churned at the thought. 

I should never have come.

There was a small show at a pub downtown that day. The boys would play that evening and be back in time for a drink or ten. I considered going to this one until Linda invited me over to Cathy's hotel room for a little "girl time".

Yes, we grown women still hold sleepovers. 

I asked Angus for his opinion and he left it all up to me. It wasn't that I didn't want to spend the day with the ladies I just...

Don't know how to interact with them for shit. 

I've always gotten along better with guys for no reason. Besides my best friend, I didn't really talk to many women. 

Well...first time for everything, I guess.

And if my health took a sudden turn for the worse I could always just go back to my own room that was a couple floors away and not a couple streets. Angus wished me luck and said he'd love to join but he wasn't invited. I suggested he put on a dress and come anyway.

"Nah, too ugly for that."

After a lazy morning in bed and a lazy afternoon on the couch, Angus left again for soundcheck and dinner before the show. I gave him one last hug before he left.

And I...didn't want to let him go.

"I'll be back around...." He searched the ceiling for answers. "Seven? Eight in the mornin'?" He laughed when I tickled his shoulder. "Probably around twelve or twelve thirty or somethin'. Lots to do before an' after, ya' know? But we'll have the night to ourselves again, eh?" I hugged him again tightly. 

And he was gone.

What to wear for Girl's Night?

Still in a bit of pain I settled on a comfortable leopard print lingerie nightie I had stuffed in the bottom of my suitcase. I stuck it in the dryer for a few minutes to get the wrinkles out but the hotel dryer didn't do much. Oh well, who cared?