Even with the curtains drawn the rays of sunlight made their way through the thin material, casting speckled light into the small room. Clothes were littered across the carpet, appliances and shoes entwining as Kelsey darted from one side to the next in a hast. Her hair still wet from the rushed shower she just endured, the hotels towel rubbing roughly against her skin as she threw items all around her.
The alarm clock beside her unkept bed glared at her in red flashing lights; 09:07. Standing in the midst of her madness Kelsey's eyes scanned the room over and over, hoping to see a glimmer of gold somewhere amongst this chaos.
"It's got to be somewhere, Kelsey. Deep Breathes." David's calm voice spoke from the speaker of her phone that laid on the vanity table, half covered by a single grey sock. "Do you need me to go wake Milly? She's better at this-"
"No-no-no, Milly's chastising is the last thing I need. That's why I called you David." Kelsey responded panic lacing her words. "Oh I fucked up major last night, I'm hungover as sin and I know that you won't judge me for that."
"Gotcha. Not waking Milly." There was a brief pause. "You do know that I will be telling her later though, right?"
"Oh I know you guys will have an in-depth conversation about this later. But what I need now is a friend to talk me down from the panic attack that is imminently approaching." Kelsey sucked in a deep breathe, her heart feeling as though it could burst out of her chest at any given moment.
"What time is your train booked for?"
Kelsey laughed, collapsing in a heap on her bed, tears threatening to fall.
"My train is at 10." She answered "But even if I found my ring in time to check out and make it to the station to get on the train I can't." The tears fell, pooling down her cheeks and unto the purple sheets.
"What do you mean?"
"I've lost my purse too." Kelsey cried. "I'm such a fucking idiot."
"Oh, shit."
"Yep."
"Right, ok. We can figure this out."
"How David? How are we going to figure this out in the next 30 minutes?" Kelsey grabbed one of the pillows, covering it over her face she let out a mild scream of frustration.
"Firstly, have you frozen your cards on your bank app?"
"Yeah."
"Good, good. Secondly, have you got everything packed and ready to go? That way you're not going to be racing about."
Kelsey looked at the state of the room that surrounded her. Clothes miscellaneously strewn over furniture and floor.
"Umm no not yet. I'll get on that." She answered sitting upright.
"Right ok, progress. Thirdly I'm going to point out that you don't have to come back today." Kelsey's head whipped around in the direction of David's voice. "You still have like 6.5 days left of your accrued holiday hours. I was sorting out the rotas for the next couple weeks and noticed. I presumed you'd just want to put them through on your days off between shifts but we can certainly make it work for you to take them as actual holiday for once."
Kelsey sat in shock, her heart rate lowering slightly. She was never one to take actual holidays, it had become an unspoken agreement between herself and David that if she had any left by the end of the financial year he'd just put the days through on her days off to boost up the pay for her.
"Yeah, I mean, that could work." She responded. "You guys going to be alright at work, though?"
"Don't get me wrong, Cameron's going to pull out what little hair he has left knowing he's going to be working with Marie as stand in Head Waiter, but I'm sure he'll survive. I've had a couple of the newbies bugging me about hours too so that'll keep them sweet until I figure out a long term solution." Davids laugh crackled through the speaker, a small chuckle escaped Kelsey's mouth at the idea of it all. "It just means that you have that extra time to sort everything out. Retrace your steps to find your ring and to go and visit your bank's branch to sort out the lost purse situation."
"Yeah, I could speak to someone at reception here. Let them know I've lost my cards and explain that I can pay for another night if they don't mind waiting for me to go and get the money from the bank first." Kelsey's confidence growing at the reassurance of her own words.
"Bingo. Solid plan." She could sense Davids smile through his words.
"God why do you have to be so good at this." Kelsey laughed. "It must drive Milly nuts."
"Nah, Milly loves me."
"I'm sure she doesn't like it when you're always right."
"Well no, but sometimes I make it feel like my ideas are her ideas and that keeps her happy, which makes me happy."
"Jesus, you two just are the perfect couple aren't you." Kelsey smiled.
"Not perfect, but I am a very lucky man." Davids words began melting away the panic bit by bit. Kelsey adored the way he spoke about Milly, the love her friends had for each other was something out of a fairytale. It gave Kelsey hope that one day she'd feel so strongly for someone that she'd say similar things.
"Thank you, David. I'm sorry for calling and bombarding you with my troubles." Kelsey apologised, standing up from the bed, picking up and folding clothes as she spoke.
"No worries, kiddo. You got enough stuff with you for another night?"
"Oh I overpacked for sure, I'll be fine. Just going to follow your advice, reduce panicking to a minimum and I'll keep you all updated in the group chat when I'm on my way back." Kelsey said, grabbing her hair dryer and plugging it in next to the vanity.
"That's alright then, let's hope if you have to go back to see Jake's brother you have more memory of it. Milly is going to want all of the juicy details." David laughed. Kelsey groaned in embarrassment as she recalled flickers of the night before. "Right, I'm going to have to shoot off now. If you need anything Kels, let me know."
"Thank you." Kelsey said picking her phone up and turning it off speaker phone. "Give Mills a big kiss for me when she's awake." She smiled, hearing David chuckle.
"Will do, bye."
And with the click of the line ending the room fell once more into silence.
Left staring at her own reflection, Kelsey took in her appearance. Dark circles hung beneath her bloodshot eyes, her hair hanging limply in dark red noodles over her bare shoulders. She looked rough. The shower had helped freshen her up and the heart stopping panic that she felt upon the realisation that there was no ring on her finger and no purse in her bag sobered her up quicker than any other method ever could.
Hot air blasted her face as she dragged a brush through her damp hair, the hairdryer cord twisting around Kelsey's wrist as she hurriedly attempted to get herself ready. The hum of the fan drilling deep beneath her skull, thumping against her temples the hangover was beginning to fully take root. Kelsey sucked in a big intake of air, the taste of the night before still lingering on her breathe beneath the masquerade of spearmint toothpaste.
Mistakes were made yesterday, many mistakes. Kelsey was determined that that be the end of it. Today she just had to fix everything she wrecked and then she can fully move on. It may not have been the powerful closure she attended to have but it'll do. She wanted no more to do with the Henderson's and this town.
However.
She couldn't quite shake the interaction that she had with Sean. A man she hadn't seen in literal years, a man who had shown her far more selfless kindness and patience than his younger brother had in their entire relationship. At least that's what she could recall from the blur that was the night before. One thing she certainly could remember was Sean's upper body in an embarrassing amount of clarity. Kelseys cheeks tinted pink in contrast of her sickly pallor.
Ring! Ring!
The sound snapped Kelsey out of her ab fuelled daze, causing her to drop the hairdryer in her surprise.
Ring! Ring!
Kelsey searched around frantically trying to spot the source of the high pitched sound.
Ring! Ring!
Sat beside her upside down, content spilled makeup bag with a red hoodie strewn across it was a yellowed aged phone plugged into the hotel wall. Kelsey leaped to pick up the receiver before the ear splitting ring rung out another time.
"Hello?" Kelsey asked slowly as she clutched at her towel that was starting to slip from the sudden erratic movement.
"Miss Owens? It's Sadie from reception." A familiar voice crackled.
"Oh. Hi Sadie." Kelsey was still confused, her brain not processing things quite as quick as it should. "Is this about check out? Because-"
"No Miss." Sadie interrupted. "There's a bloke here who's refusing to leave without seeing you." Kelsey's heart sank, her vision darkening round the edges. What if Sean told Jake about last night and now he's here? Her heart started to beat faster and her mouth was in the sudden dire need of liquid. A deep muffled voice could be heard in the background from Sadie's end. "He says he has something for you. I said he could leave it at the desk but he said he wants to make sure you got it."
"I'm sorry Sadie, did he say who he is?"
"He says his name is Sean."
Kelsey let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh right, no worries." Kelsey said whilst looking at the carnage that inhabited her room. "Just let him know I'll be down in just a moment."
"Alright." Sadie barely got the word out before she'd hung up the phone. Kelsey guessed that making calls up to rooms was a rarity in this place.
Grabbing the closest bra and fresh underwear she hopped around searching for a pair of leggings. Reaching for the red hoodie that she spotted earlier Kelsey chucked it on, then quickly sweeping her slightly damp hair up into a messy bun she willed the thumping in her head to subdue. Glancing at her reflection Kelsey's shoulders slumped ever so slightly, not as bad as earlier, her face had more colour and her eyes had a spark to them now. But she was a far way off from looking like a healthy sober person. But Sadie had said the Sean had something for her? That could be one of two things that Kelsey desperately needed at this point, so right now her appearance wasn't precedent. The shame and anxiety of whatever happened last night crept over her, she most probably owed the older Henderson an apology and unlike Jake she was willing to do it in person.
Pocketing her room keycard and tobacco pouch into the front of her hoodie, Kelsey slipped her feet into her trainers and rushed out the door.