"I swear I just saw Q's car pulling out of here... What the fuck?!" I was still on the floor when Oli burst into the room. "Oh Shae, why did you see him?" She stroked my hair and helped me up off the floor and into bed.
"I needed clothes..." I offered lamely.
"You stupid girl, why do you think I was gone for so long? I was with Casey, we were going to go and get your stuff for you. Wanna talk about it?" I shook my head, that was the last thing I wanted.
I turned to my best friend. "You were with Casey? Spill it missus."
"You sure?" She asked. I nodded, anything to take my mind of Brian.
She told me how he had called her this morning to make sure I was ok, and asked her out for coffee. They sat and talked and he had offered to take us sightseeing later today if we wanted to go. I shook my head, I wanted to sleep. But I told Oli that she should still go, she could get it on with Casey without having to worry about me.
"Go on, call him. Tell him to come get you. There's no point you wasting the rest of your trip. Go on!" I pushed her phone into her hand and watched as she dialled his number, the excitement evident on her face.
Casey picked Oli up 30 minutes later. With a promise to call her if I needed anything, I pushed her out the door before climbing back into bed. I didn't want to think anymore, so I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
I woke later to a tapping on the door. Bleary eyed, I stumbled to the door and opened it. On the other side was Sal with Chinese takeaway.
"Now you don't have to tell me what's happened, but I don't like the thought of you sitting here on your own. Plus I'm guessing you haven't eaten all day."
I stepped aside to let him in. "I was asleep, asshole." I muttered.
As Sal pulled the food out of the bag, I climbed back into bed and pulled the covers around me. Sal sat at the end of the bed and passed me some food. "You ok?" He asked gently.
I laughed humourlessly. "That is a very loaded question Salvatore. And one I don't think you want the answer to."
"Try me." He said simply. I was silent for a while.
"Who's Natasha, Sal?" I asked eventually.
He looked confused. "She's a runner for the show, why?"
I ignored his question. "What's she like?"
"She's ok I guess. A bit of an air head bimbo type, you know the ones, but she does her job. Why Shae?" He looked at me, I was biting my lip to stop myself from crying. "Oh...ok..." I saw it click in Sal's mind. "I love Q, he is my best friend but right now I want to slap him upside his stupid head. Come here..." He leaned forward and gave me hug. That was it, the waterworks started again. I pushed Sal off me before I started snotting on him and he freaked out.
"Is that why he didn't want anything 'official' do you think?" I asked Sal when the tears subsided.
Sal shook his head. "No, he's been like that ever since...you know." I scooted round to sit beside Sal and rested my head on his shoulder. "I am so mad at him right now, Shae. Because when you two are together, I've literally never seen him like that before. It's like the weight he's carried on his shoulders for so long is gone. And he's fucked that up by what, a stupid drunken mistake?"
I nodded. "Well, that time was...but he was fucking her before you came to England too." If the situation hasn't been so dire right now I would have laughed at the look on Sal's face. "He really didn't tell any of you, did he? I heard her tell her mate that in the bathroom."
"That just shows how little it meant, if he hadn't even mentioned it to us."
"Yeah..and it also shows how little I mean to him to throw it all away on nothing." I spat.
"Hey...I'm not condoning it, Shae. I'm just trying to make sense of it. I remember that day, I hadn't seen him like that for a long time. But he promised me he was ok. That's why I didn't stay with him. Fuck...if I had, it probably wouldn't have happened."
I slapped his arm. "Don't you fucking dare try and take any of the blame on this, Vulcano. This is all on him."
"Ow!!" He exclaimed. "That hurt, you wench." For some reason that really made me laugh, which started Sal off. We were both rolling round on the bed laughing hysterically when Oli came though the door, Casey in tow.
"Well you seem to have cheered up," Oli smirked, plopping herself down on the bed opposite.
"Fuck you," I said, still laughing. I sat up and looked at Casey. "Sorry about the other night, dude. But thanks for the getting me out of there."
He shrugged and smiled. "Don't worry about it."
Oli interrupted us. "So Joe text me, actually he text you too but I'm guessing you haven't checked your phone." I shook my head. "Anyway, he's having a bbq tomorrow and wanted us to go. As kind of a goodbye thing before we fly out on Friday. I said it was entirely up to you."
I agreed to going, I want to say goodbye to Joe and Murr. And I couldn't deny Oli the chance to do that either. The only request was that I had a way of leaving if I wanted to get out of there. Oli said that Joe had already offered to drive us back to the hotel whenever we were ready to go.
Casey had to get going, so Oli saw him out. "I didn't know they had a thing..." Sal said once the door had closed.
I shrugged "they don't really. They went for coffee this morning and he offered to take us sightseeing this afternoon but I didn't wanna go. So she went alone."
"Huh... Well, I should probably go too. You need a ride for tomorrow?" I nodded, arriving with Sal and Oli as much needed support made me feel better about going. Sal opened his arms for a hug. "No more tears tonight, ok?"
I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. "Ok. Thank you Sal, for everything." He kissed the top of my head and opened the door just as Oli came back in.
"See ya, Ol." He waved as he passed.
"Bye Sal..." She called, while checking out his arse as he walked down the corridor.
I threw a pillow at her when she closed the door. "You're terrible!" I laughed.
"Yeah I know!" She threw the pillow back at me.
