Since You've Been Gone Read online

  I begin to feel a little better as soon as I have showered. The hot water seems to have soothed my aching bones and my head no longer feels like it’s about to combust like it did before. I guess that’s always a bonus. Plus, the sooner I go and show my face, the sooner I can come back here and hibernate for a little while. Here’s hoping that I can get through tonight without bumping into Jake on my travels. I could actually kill Fran right now. She bloody knows what she’s doing too.

  My stomach grumbles, reminding me that it’s currently running on empty and as if by magic, Fran appears in the doorway with some chocolate.

  “I know it’s not the best hangover cure in the world, but for now it will have to do, at least until we can get something greasy inside of you anyway.”

  “Was it busy today?” I ask whilst frantically brushing my teeth. There’s nothing worse than cack-mouth after the night before. Travelling was great, but we also needed to make money so that we could survive out here in the big wide world and so far, handing out flyers is the best deal that we could get. It seems to be working out in our favour so far, though. Not only do we get paid to meet and greet party-goers, but we also get an all access, anytime entry into poison with unlimited drinks thrown in too. What young, party girl wouldn’t enjoy a perk like that?

  “A normal person who doesn’t abuse said perks.” I remind myself.

  “It was okay, I guess. Pretty much same shit, different day really, but I can’t complain. You didn’t really miss too much.”

  “I know it’s not what we want to be doing forever, but I’m sure something else will come up, you know. As long as we can meet the rent and have a constant food supply we can keep living the dream. Who knows, one day we might just get upgraded to bar staff.” At least, that’s what I’m hoping for anyway and we can hopefully stay here for as long as possible.

  “Well it seems we’ve got a new recruit joining us soon, so that should entertain us for a little while, plus it will give us some much needed free time to actually do holiday things too.”

  “Really, since when?” It’s been me and Fran mainly for as long as I can remember. No one really stays for too long as they prefer to move on from place to place pretty quickly, I guess because they want to visit more places. I think we’re the only ones who’ve stayed since we arrived here.

  The island does something to me. The smells and the sights of Spain have always made me feel happy. Ever since I was a little girl, Spain has always felt like home to me. I’m pretty happy here to be honest and I think Fran is too. Sure, she might moan most of the time, but if push came to shove, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  The locals seem nice and it’s always busy, with people flying in and out all the time. I’ve gotten my own little routine going on and I love it. It’s my perfect safe haven.

  “Yeah, I think you’ll like him. He seems pretty easy going and he’s definitely easy on the eyes too. Quite the charmer, or so I’m lead to believe anyway.”

  “Don’t even think about it, Francesca.” I warn, while pointing my finger directly at her.

  “What?” Her eyes grow wide and she pretends to look shocked. Oh, I know that look. It’s a look of guilt if ever I saw one. She’s a bloody crap liar too. That much I have definitely learnt so far, but she’s not getting away with it with me.

  “I’m not here to be set up Fran. I’m here to have fun and make memories. You’re gonna have to find someone else to play cupid with, okay?”

  “Calm down Lucy, I’m only winding you up. You need to loosen up a little. But, if you change your mind, you just let me know, okay? Auntie Fran’s always here for you.”

  Seriously, this girl never stops. Only a few soft drinks to go before I can head back here and avoid her for a little while. Oh the joys. I don’t think anything has ever sounded more promising. Deep down, I feel pretty bad for thinking like that, but my self-inflicted, delicate head can’t take it much longer.

  “Oh my god, Fran. I really can’t do this.” I call out, whilst my heart races with each step that I take and the nausea that grabs hold of my body has absolutely nothing to do with my hangover.

  “Oh give over. Stop being such a drama queen and move your backside. We’re almost there and it’s too late to turn back now.” I watch Francesca quickly throw her head back to see if I’m still moving, before laughing and sauntering off in front of me.

  “What a bloody witch.” I mutter to myself.

  I hear her mutter “I don’t’ know what you’re so worried about.” Well, I guess that’s pretty easy for her to say. She’s not the one who made an absolute fool out of herself last night, is she? My body shudders once again at the hazy memory, but what is clear enough to remember makes me feel physically sick. But, I guess we all can’t be as crazy and as carefree as Fran, some of us actually have a conscience.

  After what feels like a slow walk leading up to my tortured death, we finally arrive at our destination. I absolutely love it here, it’s definitely my favourite place by far and I really wish that I felt better so that I can actually enjoy my night here. Instead, I feel like crap and completely past it. I’ve never felt so crap in all my life and that’s’ saying something. Even the time when I ended up in accident and emergency to have my stomach pumped, with sick in my hair, I felt better than this.

  “C’mon.” Francesca calls out and I mentally give myself a firm kick up the backside: hard.

  “Just keep moving.” I chant to myself.

  The terrace is already buzzing with life when we arrive; guys and girls ready for another night of madness. If I wasn’t feeling so vile, I’d be bloody joining them too. But instead, I’ll be celebrating my birthday completely sober and hopefully embarrassment free.

  My eyes scan the terrace and as I look around me, I see a few new faces and wonder which one could possibly be our new recruit. Well, as long as they do a good job and share the workload then I’ll be happy. I’d do just about anything right now to get some decent time off.

  “You wanna grab a seat and I’ll grab the drinks?” I look over towards Fran and she’s clearly got one thing on her mind; alcohol. With Fran, it’s only ever one of two things. Cock and alcohol are her staples in life and you know you’re up bloody shit street when she feels like both.

  “Yeah, sure. Just grab me an orange juice please.” Even just the thought of something stronger sends my stomach into a frantic mess and I feel like retching. No way will I ever allow myself to get into that state again. Ever.

  I now know that it wasn’t big and it wasn’t bloody clever, either. I admit, it felt that way at the time. Scrap that, it felt fucking great at the time, but that’s definitely not how I’m feeling right now. Nobody should ever have to feel like this.

  I find an empty table over at the far side of the terrace and fortunately for me, it’s the one farthest away from the loud, booming speakers. My heads still feels like it’s about to split into two and the added vibrations aren’t going to do anything for my nausea. Deep down, I know all that I need is a decent night’s sleep and I’ll be right as rain in no time.

  “How’s the head?” I automatically look up at the sound of that voice. I’d recognise his accent anywhere and it sends a tantalising chill running through my body. I slowly, yet reluctantly raise my eyes to his and see that he looks just as breath-taking as always. His jet black hair glistens and his cobalt blue eyes sparkle from the reflection of the setting sun behind me. He’s like a fallen angel. Purposely send to test me, and boy is he doing just that.

  “Okay, I guess.” I say, but the words escape my lips on a high pitched squeak. Who am I kidding? No, no I’m not bloody okay. Not one little bit. I really don’t think that I’ll ever be okay around him again. I mean, how can I be after I spewed all over him? I’m about to try and apologise for my silly little antics last night, hoping as soon as it’s over with all will be forgotten, when his head quickly snaps behind him at the sound of someone calling his name.

  A tall, voluptuous blonde suddenly
appears next to him and climbs into his embrace as if it’s the most natural thing in the world for her to do.

  Shit. Now I feel like I’m about to vomit all over again. I don’t remember seeing her last night. I’m sure I’d definitely recognise a bloody goddess like that, but she’s nothing but a stranger, albeit a goddamn beautiful stranger to me.

  “Typical. Just bloody typical.” I think to myself.

  “Lucy, this is Amy.” He smiles back at me, showing a brilliant set of pearly white teeth. Those can’t be real, can they? “Amy, this is Lucy. She’s the one that I was telling you about last night.”

  Hold the front door. He was what?

  Jake nods in my direction with a small smile playing on his lips and I feel horrific. I actually feel worse than I did five bloody minutes ago and I never would have thought that was scientifically possible.

  Great. So not only have I made a right bloody fanny of myself, he also seems to find it highly amusing. So much so, that he’s now telling everyone that he talks to about it too. Not exactly what you’d call discreetly either.

  “Oh.” She smiles at Jake and her eyes grow wide, before a look of pity creeps onto her perfectly beautiful features. “It happens to the best of us, babe.”

  “Babe? Did she really just call me babe?” My eyes linger on hers and my mind can’t fully decide if I want to slap her. I know that I want to do something, I’m just not sure what.

  “I’m sure it does.” I reply weakly, while desperately willing the ground to open up and swallow me whole. No doubt when she gets trashed, I bet she still wakes up looking just as perfect as she does right now.

  Where the hell has Fran disappeared to anyway? If she’s doing this deliberately then I’m going to bloody kill her. She knows only too well how embarrassed I am about last night and now I’m sat here trying my best to make a conversation with the guy. Talk about awkward. It’s pretty funny that she’s nowhere to be seen. This has got ‘set-up’ written all over it.

  “I’m just gonna go and see where Fran’s ended up.” I say, desperate to get away from them both. I knew coming here was a bloody bad idea. I was always told to trust my gut instinct and now I know why.

  “No need birthday girl. The angel has landed and I come bearing pretty little gifts too.” With a quick flick of her hair, she tip-toes around both Jake and Amy before settling down on the seat next to me. “Here’s to the birthday girl.” She squeals with excitement and I inwardly groan. This girl isn’t going to let me stop at all. God help me and my poor, innocent liver. Now and the rest of the summer.

  “What is it?” I ask, whilst eyeing the orange and pink liquid suspiciously. It certainly doesn’t look like your average glass of orange juice, that’s for sure.

  “That, my dear girl, is more commonly known as hair of the dog. Get it down you and you’ll be as right as rain in no time. I promise.”

  Well, I guess it looks like I’m just going to have to take her word for it. Plus, do I really want Jake to see how delicate I actually am after last night?

  “She’s right you know.” I reach out and take the drink, pulling it to my lips and sipping it slowly at first while trying my best to prevent my stomach from rejecting it. I wasn’t planning on drinking all of it, well at least not until Jake’s perfect guest decided to throw in her pennies worth anyway.

  I look up and catch her watching me with a joyful glint in her eyes and Jake seems completely at ease around everyone. Well, why wouldn’t he? He’s not the raging lush who can’t handle their drink, is he?

  No, that right there would be me and here I am again. Consuming my downfall.

  “What’s the plan for tonight then?” Fran chimes up. “Both myself and Lucy have bagged the night off. Plus, what with it being her birthday and all, we need to make sure it’s a memorable one.”

  “I think I’ve had enough memorable nights to last me a lifetime, thanks.” I say and a nervous laugh escapes me. I can feel the heat instantly rush to my cheeks, letting everyone know just how embarrassed and ashamed I really am. I know that he’s looking right at me, his presence is electric and it’s doing absolutely nothing for my nerves. He must sense my sudden discomfort, because he laughs too, while leaning back in his chair without a care in the world. Yet, his eyes remain firmly fixed on mine.

  “I don’t know Luce, You’re pretty entertaining to be around when you’ve had a few, you know.”

  My heart flutters like a little school girl at the sound of my shortened name on his lips. Only people close to me call me Luce, but coming from him it sounds utterly amazing. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I could get used to him calling me that all the time. No doubt at all.

  “I’m glad you think so.” I reply and suddenly want to kick myself. Why can’t I bloody think before I speak when I’m around him? Drunk or sober, I’m absolutely useless and clearly have no filter.

  “I’m pretty gutted that I missed all the entertainment last night. It sounds like you guys had an absolute blast.”

  I literally have no idea who this Amy chick is, but I’m not sure that I like her all that much. Something inside me has just decided to take an instant dislike to her. Jealousy? Maybe, but I still don’t like her. My eyes quickly fall onto my cocktail and it suddenly feels like I’m the brunt of everyone’s jokes tonight. Well, to be fair what did I expect after acting like an out of control lush last night?

  “C’mon Luce, you have to admit that it was pretty eventful.” Jake laughs again. I don’t look at him, but I can still feel him watching me. Maybe in the hope that I’ll look up and blush again.

  “Why are they still bringing it up? Can they not see that all I want to do is forget about it?”

  Yes, granted I made a total tool out of myself, but do they not think that I’m fully aware of that already? It’s bad enough that snippets of last night are constantly swirling around in my head on some messed up hazy repeat. I seriously don’t need to relive it through these guys. Anyone would think that I was the first person to ever get trashed in the history of man.

  The four of us remain at the table for some time with Fran busy calling the waiter over whenever any of us needed a top up. I have to admit that these cocktails or whatever they are seem to be taking the edge off a little, but I’m still taking it slow.

  My eyes fall and land on Jake every now and again, but he seems to be focussing all his attention on Amy now. I’ve got no idea what they’re talking about, but they seem pretty close with one another. A weird feeling begins to form in my chest and I know that I need to get a bloody grip and fast. Why the hell am I getting jealous over somebody that I don’t even know.

  “Jesus Christ. Get a bloody hold of yourself woman.”

  “Hey, have you told Lucy the news yet?” Fran chimes up, pretty loudly with that beautiful fog horn of hers and it’s perfectly timed for when the music stops. I bet she’s bloody loving that; all attention on her, just the way she likes it.

  I slowly draw my lips away from my cocktail. Yes, I admit that they’re going down a lot faster than I initially intended, but I guess it is my birthday after all. I look between Fran and Jake, waiting for whatever it is that they are about to spring on me. Suddenly, it’s either the alcohol or curiosity that gets the better of me and I ask impatiently, “What news?”

  If I’m being honest, I don’t really know why Jake would have any news that he’d need to really share with me though. Both of their eyes lock on mine and I’m not sure why, but I can feel a small anxiety attack begin to form. Oh shit, what is it? What else have I done that they haven’t told me about? It’s actually starting to feel like an eternity as I wait for one of them to hit me with this news.

  “Come on, goddamnit. I’ve never been a bloody patient person and I don’t think that I’m about to start now.” I mentally shout to myself. The suspense is driving me insane.

  “Ah, nowt worth shouting home about. It just looks like I’ll be staying out here for longer than I had originally planned.” His dimple retur
ns and his eyes focus solely on me, my heart skips a couple of beats and I completely melt on the inside.

  “You are? But why?” I’m fully aware that I probably look like some crazy, obsessed weirdo with my wide eyes and not so ladylike mouth hanging open. But at the same time, I don’t fully understand why they’re both excited to share this news with me. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t really affect me whether he stays or goes.

  “Well, you could look a bit happier about it.” His confident grin falters slightly and disappointment sweeps across his face. It may have only been there for a moment, but it was there. I saw it clear as day. Not that I really know what to make of it, but still; it was there.

  Oh, I’m happy about it all right, but he doesn’t need to know that, does he? I mean, why wouldn’t I be happy knowing that I get to watch and admire his beauty from afar all day, every day for the rest of the summer? I guess it looks like I’ll have to invest in some decent sunglasses to hide my stalkerish ways. People can get arrested for that stuff, apparently.

  “So, what made you stay?” I ask, unsure what kind of answer I’m expecting back from him. It’s not like he’s going to say me, is it?

  “Oh, I dunno.” He replies and flashes me his perfect smile, the one that drives me crazy and melts my insides every time that I see it. Truthfully, I don’t think I could ever tire of seeing his smile, especially when that dimple appears on his left cheek. “The weather, the sights, not to mention being used as a personal vomiting bucket. I’m not gonna get any of that back home, am I?”

  “Jake, stop it.” Fran snaps at him and if I wasn’t so embarrassed right now and could actually move then I’d hug the bloody crap out of her. At least someone’s sticking up for me tonight, which to be fair, makes a nice change. I’m just more shocked that it’s bloody Fran of all people. After all, she’s the one who’s put me in this situation to begin with.