Meet Me In The Pit

Chapter Thirteen - Is He Alive?

Keira

Score: Shake It Out - Florence and The Machine

Tick-tick-tick.

The sound of the heel of Jeanine's Louboutin Pigalles, hitting the leg of the table is making me grind my teeth together.

It's the day of The Flying Benjamins' second show in Barcelona, and the band, along with Jeanine and a couple of guys from security are seated in the conference room, which is now turned into the spot for the main event of the day, apart from the concert, of course: their first press conference of the tour. We are expecting some other folk from the band's management to arrive any minute now, in time for the press conference. I am supposed to meet them here and introduce them to the team from Lavet Barcelona that is going to be taking care of them, and to give everyone their key cards for the day.

For security reasons, the key codes for the sixth floor are changed daily, and new key cards are programmed for those, who need access to it. It has been decided that only the hotel manager, Jack from Security, and I are to have the codes, and it is our responsibility to provide the new key cards to the team every day after they are issued.

Unfortunately, this morning Ruis called in to let me know he had to take his Great Dane to the vet because poor Missy's got an upset stomach (I can't even begin to imagine what this must mean, for a one-hundred-and-twenty pound dog), and Jack's working with his security team to secure the hotel for the press conference, which means that I am the only one, who has the access codes to the sixth floor right now until the new key cards are released.

This leaves me stuck with the band and my new favourite person in the whole wide world, Jeanine, for pretty much the whole morning.

Speaking of my list of favourite people, Benjamin's the only one missing from the group. Last night he went straight up to his room, after the van drove the band back, without saying a word to anybody. The van dropped them off in the delivery area, where we get supplies and groceries delivered daily, and the band and their entourage were then escorted through the kitchens to the service lifts. The whole thing went seamlessly, and, after the last of the team were secured on the sixth floor, Lisa and I went to her room for a much-deserved drink and debrief.

Thankfully, I didn't have to do much talking, because Lisa couldn't stop blabbering about how amazing the night had been for her, and how grateful she was for me taking her to the concert. She even forgot about the talk she wanted us to have after the awkward moment I had with Benjamin and Josh before the concert. I'm going to be forever grateful for Lisa being distracted, because, after the emotional roller-coaster of a day I had had, I wouldn't have had it in me to answer her gazillion questions. Frankly, I was so knackered and hands-down traumatized by what we had experienced in the pit, that all I wanted to do was pass out, but Lisa was too excited for me to take our late-night girls' talk away from her.

We have a dinner date tonight, though, so, I don't think I'm in safe territory yet, however, I hope today won't be as crazy as yesterday had been. Lisa's currently still asleep, blissfully unaware of the fact that I have to work, again.

"Where the fuck is he?" Jeanine barks and every gaze in the room immediately averts from her.

For someone so slender and graceful, this woman can be fucking terrifying.

Tick-tick-tick.

"They are going to be here any minute!" She huffs, folding her arms in front of her chest. "The damn conference is in forty-five minutes!" She waves at the huge round clock that has been mounted on the wall opposite the makeshift press conference table. Nine-fifteen.

The layout of the room today is slightly different, with rows of chairs lined in front of the elevated table, which is covered by a pristine white tablecloth, which is falling heavily to the floor at the front of the table, effectively obscuring the lower part of the table.