A Dreamers Dream

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila floor! Sao Paulo, Brazil.

We arrive at the party at the bar deep in the bustling city of Sao Paulo over an hour late, thanks to my amazing ability to be clumsy as fuck at the worst possible time as usual. After spending nearly an hour discarding outfit after outfit and trying to decide what to wear, I finally settled on a sheer white top with skinny jeans and my trusty comfortable boots and I was actually feeling quite good about myself for once. Right up until I decided to just quickly drain the last few mouthfuls of vodka and coke I had in the hotel room and promptly spilt it all down myself turning my top a strange shade of blotchy brown. Cue a quick change into a short white shirt dress with a loose brown wicker belt and thigh-high boots and a hasty rush to get a cab, we have finally arrived. I am surprised to see that not only are most of the crew in attendance, but a couple of hundred other people are milling around the huge bar as well as we step through the huge glass doors and have our names checked off the guest list which is several pages long.

"I thought this was a crew party?" I whisper into Sammy's ear as we make our way over to the very crowded bar where people are standing three or four deep in places waiting their turn.

"No, some industry shindig apparently. I've honestly got no idea why or how Harry got the whole crew on the guest list, to be honest, or who most of these other people are.. but who cares! Free bar!!" Sammy calls back over her shoulder as she joins the crowd of people clamouring to get served.

Free bar, I can get behind that. Don't get me wrong for a dogsbody I get paid pretty well, but the medical treatment I had to have for my hand along the way ate away at a fair bit of that, and of course, I am still having to pay all the rent and bills on my flat, so anything free is a win for me at the moment. Scanning the room I spot a few familiar faces, several members of the crew and even a couple of the temps we have working with us on this leg are dotted around the venue, clearly enjoying the free drinks already by the looks of them. Harry and his band, along with Jeff, of course, are sat over in a comfy looking booth near the dance floor, surrounded by silvery ice buckets filled with bottles of, no doubt expensive, champagne and a tray of shots which Harry, Jeff and Mitch are downing one after the other whilst I watch. A few older people whom I don't recognise try to inch their way into Harry's inner circle, but he looks to be having too much fun with his friends to care less about them. As our eyes meet briefly across the room when he reaches across to pick up another shot glass, the corners of his perfect pink lips pull up to form a beautiful bright smile, and he looks me up and down appreciatively, raising his eyebrows and his glass in my direction before knocking it back.

"Here, ya go!" Sammy shouts loudly into my ear, snapping me back to reality as she passes me a strange multicoloured drink that appears to be somehow defying gravity with its many layers which are standing proudly on top of one and other and not mixing at all.

"Erm, thanks? I think?" I say taking the glass from her and eyeing it warily.

"It's a cocktail, I asked the bartender what he recommended, and he said this, so this we have!" she replies. Taking an oversized luminous green straw between her lips and sucking heartily, "It's good!" she informs me.

Eyeing the drink, I remove the paper umbrella on a stick that's been positioned inside the rim and pop it behind my ear, knowing me I'd probably end up poking myself in the eye if I left the damn thing in the glass. Cautiously I take a sip, hmm, not bad. Despite looking like a rainbow, it's fruity and barely tastes of alcohol, meaning it'll be really easy to drink way too many of these. I better watch out, from where I'm standing it looks as though Harry is drunk enough for the both of us already and one of us should probably try and keep a clear head tonight.

"Heads up looks like the boss is on his way over, better act like we're not just here for the free booze," Sammy says conspiratorially into my ear. Sure enough, I can see Harry making his way over to us, somewhat unsteadily, from his booth. Shit, what is he doing?? I still haven't quite managed to find time to talk to him about wanting to keep our relationship under-wraps just a little bit longer. I meant to in Buenos Aires but, well, I kept getting distracted. It's really hard to concentrate on anything when he's wandering around his hotel suite in just his boxers believe me. And in the days since then... OK OK, I've been finding excuses to not have the conversation at all, I can admit it, I'm a coward. It looks like I am about to pay for that now, though. The closer he gets, the more I can see from the look in his eyes that he is definitely coming straight to me, this isn't going to be good.