Matt Browne awoke with
a jolt, the tourbus had gone over a speed hump. Yawning, he rubbed his
eyeliner smeared eyes before realising that there was a stunning
redheaded girl emerging from the lounge area.
“Oh shit,” he
thought “What’s her name? Emily, Emma, Elizabeth….”
She caught the look
on his face, “It’s Eliza.”
“Right, sorry,”
Matt sighed “Eliza”
“Doesn’t matter,
I’m going now. Thanks, it was fun.”
“My pleasure”
Matt turned over, pulled his duvet up and went back to sleep. The bus
stopped and Eliza left.
************************
“Matt, sunshine,
wake up.” Martyn stood next to Matt’s bunk and shook him
“Fuck Off, I’m
sleeping.” came the reply
“No you’re not,
come on, we’re here.”
“Where?”
“Camden, remember?
We’ve got an interview to do.”
“Yeah,” Matt
finally lifted his head from his pillow “What time is it?”
“Almost midday.”
“Is everyone else
up?”
“Except Robbie.”
Matt laughed “Like
that’s a change,” His eyes sparkled mischievously “Here, gimme
that water.”
“What are you
doing?”
Matt got out of bed,
took the water, walked over to Robbie’s bunk and threw it over the
unsuspecting sleeper.
“AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!
You fucking bastards!” Robbie was awake.
************************
Once the boys were
dressed in their trademark tight tops and jeans, they congregated in
the lounge area to add the finishing touches. Robbie was still pissed
off with Matt. “I can’t believe you did that.” he said, applying
lipstick to his perfect pout.
“Oh calm down, it
was only water.” Matt said, giggling
Robbie turned his
back on him. Matt bounded over and gave him a hug.
“I’m sorry, I’m
sorry, I’m sorry, okay? C’mon, you know you love me.”
Robbie couldn’t
keep it up for long. “Okay, fine, you’re forgiven. But I wouldn’t
have been in such a bad mood if you hadn’t kept us up half the
night.”
“Didn’t.”
“Did.”
“All right, but it’s
not like you’ve never done that.”
“Yeah, but I can
remember their names.”
“Cheeky cunt,”
Matt exclaimed, throwing his eyeliner at him “Her name was Eliza
thank you.”
“Don’t throw
that at me.” Robbie retaliated by chucking his mascara at Matt.
Before they could cause a real mess with the glitter, Martyn stepped
in.
“Girls, girls, are
you ready yet?”
“Is Mr Dabrowski
done with his hair yet?” Shouted Matt.
Dan emerged from the
tourbus’ tiny bathroom.
“It takes me less
time to do my hair then it does for you two to do your make up.” He
teased Matt and Robbie.
They glared at him
“Yeah, but we look better.” grinned Robbie
“That’s what you
think.” Dan replied
“Okay, okay, let’s
go,” Matt intervened “Where are we meeting the interviewers?”
“Intrepid Fox, it’s
for a couple of fans.” Martyn said
“Okay, then lets
go.”
************************
Within ten minutes
they had piled off the bus and settled in to a corner of the Intrepid
Fox, cradling cans of Stella.
“Nelsta, you’re
the one who set this up, where are they?” Robbie was getting
restless.
“They’ll be
here.” Martyn answered
Two girls walked
through the door, saw the boys and came over.
“Told you,”
Martyn stood up “Hi Ally, Lauren.”
“Hi, listen,
thanks for doing this.” Ally smiled at them.
“No problem.”
Matt smiled.
“Okay, we’ve
just got a few questions for our website and then we’ll leave you
alone.”
They laughed and got
on with the interview. It was over pretty quickly and the girls said
their goodbyes and left.
“What now?” Dan
asked
“Well I’m going
back to the bus to catch up on the sleep I missed.” Yawned Matt
“I need a top, all
mine stink. I’m going shopping” Robbie stated
The boys agreed to
come back to the bus in two hours. Matt watched the others leave and
then climbed on to the bus and collapsed on to his bunk. He slowly
drifted off to sleep.
************************
“Hellllooooo, I’m
home.”
Matt woke up with a
start. “Robbie, is that you?”
“Matt, Matt my
darling. I met this man and he gave me……now….what was it?”
“Robbie, have you
taken something?” Matt jumped off his bunk and approached Robbie.
“Just a little
pill.” Robbie collapsed in to Matt’s arms.
“Oh not now
Robbie, we’ve got a gig tonight.” sighed Matt as he manoeuvred him
on to the couch. The door to the bus opened.
“Hey, we’re
back.” Martyn called
“Nelsta, Dan,
listen, Robbie’s taken something and I have no idea what the fuck it
is, what are we gonna do with the gig tonight and everything…”
Matt was babbling
“Hold on, It’s
not like he’s a drug virgin.” Dan said
“Yeah, but this is
different, he’s really out of it. I-I think he needs help.”
“Where is he?”
“On the couch, in
the back.”
They went to the
back, where they found Robbie unconscious.
“That’s it, we’re
going to the hospital.” Matt ran and told the driver to drive to the
nearest hospital.
************************
“Help, we need
Help!” Matt shouted, Robbie balancing precariously between Dan and
Martyn.
A nurse rushed over
to them “What’s the matter?” motioning for a gurney.
“He’s taken
something, a pill, I don’t know what, he just came back and
collapsed.” Matt told her
Two other nurses had
got Robbie on the gurney and were rolling him down the hall.
“I’m sorry, you’ll
have to stay here.”
“But someone
should be with him.” Matt protested
“I’m sorry, you’ll
have to wait out here.” The nurse followed down the hall. Matt, Dan
and Martyn went and sat in the hard plastic chairs.
************************
The waiting had been
hell. They hadn’t heard anything for an hour and were getting
seriously worried.
“Look, I’m gonna
go and call Caffy, tell her the gig’s off and to give everyone their
money back.” Dan stood and made his way to the payphone.
Matt’s head was in
his hands, “Nelsta, what if he doesn’t make it?”
“He will Matty, he’s
a fighter.” Martyn gave Matt a hug to try and comfort him.
“Caffy, just get
down here as soon as you can, Robbie’s in trouble and the gig’s
off. Call the venue, tell ‘em to give back the money, I don’t
really give a shit all right. B“We’ve found out what he took.”
She said
“What was it?”
Martyn asked
“It seems to be
dog worming pills.”
“Why would he take
dog worming pills?” Matt was confused
“It’s likely
they were disguised as Ecstasy, I have to get back now. You can see
him if you’ll follow me.”
The boys rushed down
the hall and walked in the room. Robbie was lying on the bed, deathly
white with his eyes half shut.
“Robbie,” Matt
was the first to speak “How’re you feeling?”
“Like shit.”
Matt tried to be
calm, but he had tears welling up in his eyes “You scared the shit
outta us Rob, why the fuck did you take it?”
“I dunno, I guess….I
just wanted to get off my head,” tears began to stream down Robbie’s
face “I’m really, really sorry.”
“Robbie, you didn’t
just fuck with us, the gig had to be cancelled. The fans are gonna be
on our backs after this.” Dan told him.
“I-I don’t know
what to say. I didn’t want to scare you. I didn’t want to mess up
the gig and I didn’t want to end up in hospital on a drip.” Robbie
laid back on his pillow.
Matt couldn’t take
it anymore and the tears he’d been holding back came flooding out.
“Just don’t do that ever again,” he said, hugging Robbie “I
can’t take that shit again Rob and my eyeliner’s running.”
Robbie laughed “Well
if that’s all you’re worried about, I mean, never mind the fact
that I almost died.”
Matt stuck his
tongue out at him “Well if you hadn’t taken a dog worming pill in
the first place……”
Martyn stepped in
“Everything’s all right now isn’t it? Let’s just concentrate
on getting Robbie back to full health and re-scheduling that gig”
“I was just saying…….”
Matt began, before he was cut off with a look from Dan.
Things were back to
normal in King Adora’s world.
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