The Eleventh Hour

Chapter 13

I was fidgety in the chair whilst getting my makeup done, but I was definitely grateful for it, I looked like a zombie when I arrived at the studio this morning.

Tanya was definitely regretting all those cocktails from the night before, and I nearly had to bang her door down to wake her up at 6am. Surely she was the one who was supposed to make sure I was up in time? Nathaniel’s distaste towards her last night echoed again and again in my head, but this wasn’t like her. In fact, I’d never known her to drink at all. This fiancé thing must have really hit her hard. It was almost as if she was a completely different person. It didn’t really bother me too much; nothing could bring me down from the good mood I woke up in.

Don’t hold your breath. The bitch inside my head was back. He’s only going to do it again. He’ll completely break you next time.

I sighed. There always was going to be that question in the back of my mind, and I’d find myself asking it every time it was time for me to part with him. But for now, the ignorance was bliss.

I barely had time to look at what had been done to my face in the mirror as I was whisked away to get dressed. From the quick glimpse I saw though, she did a good job – I no longer resembled a corpse. I noticed she thought the same way as Liv though, as my eyes were big and bright, framed with very long and thick black lashes.

I changed from my comfortable sweats into a navy blue short sleeved blouse and black leggings, accompanied by a plain pair of black heels. The second I was dressed, I was whisked back into the chair to have my hair done. Jeez, they take this so seriously.

My hair was scraped back into a relatively high ponytail, with two small plaits braided on either side, joining into the ponytail. The lady fussed over the length of my hair – volumising and smoothing it – giving my natural waves a boost with heated tools where it needed it. Even though they had made a complete, unnecessary fuss over me, I was still really happy with the end result when I was ready to go on. After all, I wanted to make good first impressions.

When I was finally let out, I was delivered into the frantic, stressed arms of Tanya who was speaking down my ear at one hundred miles an hour, talking about some pre devised list of questions that we didn’t fill out. Something about guidelines stating what they could and couldn’t ask about, but I didn’t care too much, I didn’t really have any areas I didn’t want to talk about and besides, nobody really knew enough about me to ask, so found it very difficult to process what she was saying.

A few minutes later, Tanya was prised away from me and I was ready to go on. This wasn’t my first live interview, but for some reason I felt ten times more nervous for this one. Whether that had to do with there being a chance a certain Mr Violet tuning in or not, I don’t know.

 ~

“Our special guest today is none other than the British sensation Lola Rose Summers, who surpassed all odds and played a vital part to keep the Olympic Gold for Women’s field hockey on British soil. Welcome Lola Rose.”

A loud round of applause erupted, and I sat awkwardly in my seat with my hands pressed firmly on my knees, however I did my best not to let my nervousness show through. There were only a few hundred thousand people watching this right now.

I smiled nervously. “Thank you, Robin.”

“Now Lola Rose, we have so much to talk about. Let’s start with your rise into the British hockey team. How did you come about representing your country?”

“Er, I was actually spotted during a fundraising hockey match for a local sports centre near where I live. I got invited for a trial, and it sort of kicked off from there.”