Solstice

Chapter Seventeen

"Where the fuck did I put those paracetomol?" she asked herself as she searched through the kitchen cabinets and eventually found them in the first kit aid kit underneath the kitchen sink. She thanked the God's and indeed her lucky stars as she popped to out of the foil pockets and swallowed them without the need for any water. Elizabeth leaned forward and placed her head on the counter, resting it on her folded arms. Her brain felt like a lead weight inside her head and she just wanted to rip it out. She stayed in the same position for a while before the ringing of her house phone made her jump causing another shot of pain course through her body. She walked into her living room holding her head in the fear that it may fall off at any second and answered her phone.

"Elizabeth Rose..." she said quietly into the receiver. Unfortunately the screaming voice at the end of the phone did nothing for Elizabeth's hangover.

"Where the Hell are you?"Taz shouted down the phone. "You were meant to be in rehearsal an hour ago!"

"Well good morning Taz, lovely day isn't it?" Elizabeth said quietly with a hint of sarcasm.

"It would be a good morning if you were here!" Taz shouted again. "What the Hell happened to you? You sound like a pile of shit."

"I made friends with the grape ok." Elizabeth said admitting to everything in a single sentence. "Only trouble is the grape turned out to be a cow bag."

"Oh great!" Taz huffed as Elizabeth could almost sense the eye roll. "Well I don't care if you are suffering with ten thousand hangovers; get yourself in the shower and get down to the theatre pronto. I will send the car for you. You've got half an hour missy." The sound of Taz's phone slamming shut was enough to make Elizabeth want to throw up. Which as soon as she put her phone done, she ran into her downstairs bathroom and did just that.

Ricky awoke to the sound of buses, cars and people jostling in the street below. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, glancing over to his watch that lay next to his phone on the bedside table. It was almost 9.00am. Getting up at or even after 9.00am in London was concerned lazy, or at least that's what Ricky had always been told. He rolled sideways and threw the covers. He sat up and stretched again before making his way over to the floor length window and pulled back the curtain slightly to look down at Piccadilly Circus. The complete blur of people and transport confirmed that Ricky indeed hated being back in London. The churning in his stomach now told him that he was also ravenously hungry. He walked over to the phone and quickly ordered a small breakfast from room service before walking into the bathroom and jumping into the shower.

The breakfast arrived quickly and Ricky had barely enough time to throw the complementary dressing gown over him as he jumped out of shower. He tipped the waiter more than he really should have but he didn't want the papers or anyone to get wind that he was there so getting rid of the waiter with a £50.00 tip needed to be done. He quickly ate giving himself indigestion before throwing on the first pair of jeans and shirt that fell out of his backpack. Ricky barely remembered to put on his sunglasses before he quietly left the hotel and hailed a passing cab.

"Where to?" the cab driver asked.

"London Palladium please." Ricky said with a nervous edge in his voice. "That is where Elizabeth Rose is playing isn't it?" he asked doubling checking himself.

"Oh yeah I think so. Heard she was back in town anyway." The cab driver answered as he pulled away from the hotel.

"No, no, no!" Taz screamed causing the orchestra to stop in their tracks yet again. Elizabeth leaned on the microphone stand and sighed. She had been singing her heart out for the best part of an hour but nothing was pleasing Taz who slowly, in Elizabeth's eyes, was turning into Nathan. She had already berated the poor conductor which Elizabeth had flinched at, as it brought back way too many memories of the reason she was having a comeback concert. The orchestra as well as Elizabeth had by this point had enough.