All Too Well

Chapter 1

I wake to the ungodly sound of marimba blarring from my phone. The fact that its 6:30am already makes me want to vomit, or that could possibly just be in the incredibly huge hangover i now remember that i will be faced with. Last night was a mess and one that i don't want to think about right now, or potentially ever. I roll my way out of the quilt and slump my body over the side of the bed, only before getting up and running to the toilet to heave the contents of my stomach up before my drive to work. I can literally see the drinks that i consumed last night, in an array of mixed colours as it violently convulses from my mouth. 

"Never again" I stammer as i try to regain the strength to stand up and deal with the rest of the morning. 

I slap on some makeup and tie my hair into a high pony before sliding on my black skirt, black blouse and black heels. I feel like black says chic but expensive, whilst also hiding most of last nights dinner when i sit down, win win you could say. I quickly pour my coffee into a thermo and head out the door. The brisk morning air hits my face like a harsh slap, most mornings it would be refreshing, although this is not the morning. As I get in the car  I think about the facade that I have created which distances my work and my life from each other, I feel like I live in two different worlds. High class and lower class, seperating the two by a dodgy make-up job and 6 inch heels. 

The relief as I walk into the office is overwhelming, the heater is on full blast and I can feel my nose start to regain colour. I hand my coat to Steven our receptionist and take the elevator up to level three. 

"Confession Magazine, one of the most iconic names in the entertainment industry. This company will either make you or break you as a journalist, now everybody take a name tag".

Of all the mornings we could have interns its today, i'm hungover, tired and not in the mood for chirpy, excited tweens to walk through my office doors. Actually in fact even if I wasn't hungover i'm sure these people would still piss me off.

"And thats Luca, shes our head of publishing here at Confession, best in the business, in fact this position could belong to one of you soon.

Luca's moving over to London to our head of directory so soon she'll be gone". The way Janice says her little comment makes my blood boil, she loves to mask her condescending conversation with a huge stupid grin to take away some of the aftermath. 

I tilt my head up and give them a swfit nod and a smirk, ensuring that Janice can see i'm not interested in her or her team. 

Her speech is so rehearsed as i hear her carrying on through the rest of the office, I'm almost certain that she has a teleprompter in her ear piece reading out what to say next. I turn on my computer and take out my phone while i'm waiting for it to start up, I haven't checked my phone since last night so god only knows whats on it. I have a text from an unfamiliar number, i slowly unlock my screen mentally trying to  preparing myself for whatever it reads.

"Hey Lu, thanks for last night ;)" my stomach churned, why did he wink at me? What the fuck did I do with him? A million thoughts begin lacing my mind, i decide to delete the message and erase the thoughts from my head. I can't afford to throw up this coffee, especially not with these interns around. When my computer turns on i automatically shift my attention to my emails. The little red envelope is flashing with the number thirty-two next to it,

"HOW THE FUCK do I have thirty-two unread messages?" i murmer to myself. 

I begin scrolling through, most of them are just final decisions on covers photos, shoot bookings, confirmation slips, however one email stood out in paticular. It read:

Dear Miss Luca Taylor,

Upon your arrival to London on the 24th of May 2014, we would formely like to invite you to our publishing party. It will be located on the second floor of the beautiful Kensington Palace Orangery at seven thirty pm. The attire will be black tie and prompt arrival is a must. Please RSVP back as soon as possible stating your partner that will be accompanying you on the night and what time you would like our chaparons to depart to pick you up. 

We look forward to seeing you and we hope you enjoy your stay here in London.

Regards,

Karl 

"I leave for London in two days and I am yet to find an apartment, a car or any other forms of living arrangements, let alone plan for a black tie event. Maybe I won't go, i'll just skip it and say i'm sick, i caught a nasty cold off someone on the plane, there we go thats a good excuse." 

"Luca, come and grab lunch with me" I hear Sav say from behind the door.

I don't really like Sav much, she's nice enough but she's forever getting in my business, wondering what i'm doing, who i'm sleeping with, how much is in my bank account. You could say I find it difficult to make friends being the way I am, people consider me to be up tight, closed off and quite guarded, this doens't really bother me too much, I quite enjoy my own company.  I decide to skip on lunch and work through to the end of the day. It comes around much faster then expected and before I know it i'm packing my bags and heading out the doors back into the cool air. 

The entire drive home consists of me consumed in my own mind. Thinking about London, my future, even my past. I hate thinking about my past, I get so caught up in how things used to be that I feel trapped, almost like i'm drowning in old problems and I can't surface. Something about these roads, they bring out everything in me. Maybe it's the way my mind kicks into nostalgia everytime I see a street sign or how familiar the small houses look to the one i grew up in, i'm not really sure. All I know is that I need to get out of here, I need a new escape, London is that place.