Egress Point

Chapter 7

Tuesday morning was only better because of its lack of hangover. She actually woke up early, and almost got out of bed before thoughts about Nick and her job came rushing back. After half an hour of trying to go back to sleep she decided to do something about her situation. She might not have a job, but she did have money and time to spend it. And she had a friend to spend it with. She texted Sabby, and got showered and dressed.

Sabby replied that she wasn't ready, and would meet up at one o'clock for lunch. Arebecca spent the rest of the morning tidying the suite. It was a mess. Housekeeping had been cancelled weeks ago so she wouldn't be interrupted while working. There were piles of clothes and pizza boxes and cans of diet coke all over the place. She found the work phone on the sofa and picked it up. She turned it on and waited a few minutes in case Nick had left a message. There were no notifications. She thought about calling him again, but decided to make him wait, and turned the phone off and slipped it into her back pocket.

Tidying complete, she went out to meet Sabby at a nice Italian restaurant just off High Street Ken.

"So he dumped you? You poor thing."

"No, he sacked me. He wasn't my boyfriend, he was my manager."

"I can't believe he hasn't called. Still, we need to cheer you up. There's a party tonight, a house party in South Ken. But you'll need something to wear, you look positively downtrodden. I've never seen you so frumpy."

Arebecca was wearing jeans, a plain grey t-shirt and flip flops. Exactly what she would have worn to meet Nick. The work phone was still in her back pocket. She left it there.

"You're right. But these jeans on these legs are anything but frumpy. They're at least catwalk."

"Not with that hair and those nails attached. We should go to Carlo's, I'm sure I could get us an appointment."

And Sabby went on. In the end, after nails, hair and shopping for a more Arebecca-like outfit, they were running late for the party. Sabby suggested they went back to hers to prepare. Arebecca was happy not to go back to the suite. Sabby still lived with her parents, but she had the whole top floor of a Knightsbridge mansion to herself, which she called her apartment. The cab picked them up at 9pm for the short ride to the party.

It ended up being more of a class reunion. Sabby and Arebecca spent most of the time chatting to Cara, Juliet and June and some other girls from their IB classes, while fending off the same boys they'd spent the year avoiding. By 2am Arebecca was exhausted, but Sabby wanted to stay out with the other girls. They ended up all going back to Sabby's and chatting until the sun came up. Arebecca passed out on the sofa at around 5am listening to plans of Mediterranean retreats and adventures in the Bahamas.

She woke with a start on Wednesday. Cara was asleep with her head on Arebecca's feet. And another girl that Arebecca couldn't remember the name of, one of June's friends, was snoring in an armchair opposite. Arebecca carefully extracted herself without waking Cara, and found her bag. She quickly slipped out of her dress and into the jeans and t-shirt and flip flops. Her heels were nowhere to be seen, but she stuffed her dress in the bag and quietly walked to the door.

It was half an hour before her regular weekly meeting with Nick at the student union. She was hungry, and she told herself that the union was a good a place as any for brunch. Really she wanted to give him the chance to turn up and explain that it was all a mistake. In the mirror by the door of Sabby's 'apartment' Arebecca noticed that she looked like someone that had been out all night. She tiptoed back to the bathroom, washed her face and scraped her hair back. Good enough for the student union.

The walk made her feel better. It also made her feel silly for thinking that Nick might turn up. Her hunger did give her visit some legitimacy though, and she ordered a grilled mozzarella sandwich and a diet coke when she arrived.