**Posting Rach's chapter here so you two can read. I deleted the chapter from the story page bc I got some messages from confused readers!
Victoria waited impatiently in the queue for the security checkpoint, tapping her foot and glancing up at Matt, periodically. Her palms were starting to sweat, swallowing against a dry mouth as they inched further and further towards the guards on duty. She was frightfully aware of the small bottles of pills that were nestled in her bag. She’d try to wrap them up in tissue to avoid this happening, but the scanning machine was too advanced for her pitiful efforts.
Walking through the metal detector, she looked back to Matt as a female guard pulled her to one side, escorting her to a side door. She could see her husband frowning deeply as he watched her walk away, his brow furrowed into a deep valley between his eyes.
She jumped as the door clanged shut, watching the guard who held her bag, step over to a metal table in the centre of the room. She thought she was going to vomit, blood pressure pounding in her ears as both guards explained what was happening while slipping their hands into a pair of gloves.
It was just routine, they explained, they were simply following procedure but when the female guard elbowed her colleague and raised her brows at the contents, Victoria thought she might pass out. It felt like the room was being sucked of air, the walls closing in around her, the only sound coming from a ticking clock on the wall.
Her hands started to shake as both guards aimed their steely gaze towards her. “Ma’am, could you explain what these are?”
Victoria glanced fleetingly towards the three small containers that were sitting on the table, before looking at the guards. “Uh, yeah, they’re my pills.” She cleared her throat, trying to lubricate it. “From the doctor.”
A slight glance between the two guards had her wanting to bolt for the door. “The labels are blank, do you have a prescription or note from your GP?”
“Yeah, I think it’s in my bag.” Victoria hesitated before moving closer to the table, meaning to search for the piece of paper but the male guard stepped toward her with his hand raised.
“Stay where you are, please.” He nodded for his partner to continue her search, keeping his eyes locked on Victoria. She felt as if she were getting smaller and smaller as the seconds ticked by, as if his dark eyes were searching her very soul. She glanced away, looking at anything but him, the eye contact too much for her fragile state of mind.
The contents of her bag were emptied out onto the table before her, both guards searching through packets of face wipes and other packets of tablets. Victoria could feel her heart beginning to race, trying to come up with another reason why she would have blank pill bottles with her. She prayed they would let her keep them, didn’t think she could make it through the holiday, let alone the flight, without them.
“There’s no prescription, or letter from your doctor, to explain why you have these. Without proper documentation, we are bound by law to confiscate these from your possession.”
“Please!” Victoria wasn’t above begging. “Please, I need them! I’m scared of flying!” She looked at them both, beseechingly, but they were already putting her things back into her bag.
The female guard gave the male a look, raised a brow, but he shut down her questioning eyes with a firm shake of his head. She was about to plead with them, when she heard her husband’s voice on the other side of the door, the unmistakeable sound of irritation and annoyance. She looked to the female guard, asking if she could have her bag back with her eyes, as if she’d forgotten how to use her voice. The guard nodded once, gesturing for Victoria to follow them.
The door was opened to a pissed off Matt, arguing with the operator of the metal detector. The sound of her shoes tapping against the floor had him twisting in her direction, his shoulders visibly sagging. “There you are! What the hell was that?!”
She hated lying to him, but, needs must. “It’s fine, just a misunderstanding. I had razors in my bag for my legs, I just had to explain.” Mentally crossing her fingers, she waited with baited breath for him to accept the lie, Matt frowning momentarily, then nodding.
Victoria blew out a low breath, wiping her hand against her hip before Matt clasped it in his. The flight, the holiday, she wasn’t looking forward to any of it.
--
Without her pills, Victoria was anxious and jumpy, which made her twitchy and irritable. She had to bite her tongue on more than one occasion to stop herself snapping at everyone, counting down the minutes before they were taking off and she could get a stiff drink. She would just have to drink herself into a drunken sleep.
Breathing a sigh of relief as the plane climbed into the sky, she unbuckled her belt as soon as the light went out and held her hand in the air until an attendant became available. “I’ll have a vodka on the rocks, please.” Perks of flying first class.
Matt’s brows were raised so far on his head, she thought they were going to disappear into his hair. “Hitting it hard, huh?”
Taking a long drink, she winced at the burn but dismissed his obvious question with a wave of her hand. “I’m just nervous.”
“About flying? You’ve never been before.”
“Well, I am now!” That seemed to shut him up, he grumbled under his breath but left it alone. Preferring to turn his attention to the in-flight DVD player. Watching him fiddle with the buttons, she relaxed back into her seat and gulped down the neat liquor, signalling for another as soon as the glass was empty.
Too tense to sleep, she began to fidget, panic curling in her belly like a angry snake ready to pounce. How the hell was she supposed to get through the entire holiday without her pills? She had a hard enough time making it through a day, recently, without feeling jittery, let alone two whole weeks.
Lost in her thoughts, she jumped when she felt a dig to her ribs, swinging her head around so fast to look at Matt, her vision blurred slightly. “What?” She hadn’t meant for it to come out as sharp as it did, feeling guilty as his face crumpled. “Sorry, I was day dreaming.”
“We’re here,” he mumbled, softly, eyeing his wife, suspiciously.
Collecting their carry-on bags, the couple followed the others down the narrow gangway and off the plane. Breathing in the warm, foreign air, Victoria tried to calm her nerves, wobbling slightly as she descended the stairs.
“Someone have a little too much to drink?”
“Huh? Oh, just lost my footing.” She smiled at a smirking Jasmine, letting Matt lead the way over to a row of cabs.
The journey to the hotel had left her irritable and tired, a pounding above her right eye that just wouldn’t go away, no matter how much she tried to calm herself down. The room she had booked for them was beautiful, open plan and very spacious. Letting her bag drop to the wide bed, she walked over to the wall that was one, big window, looking out over the grounds of the hotel. The décor was subtle, yet modern, pale colours and sleek furnishings. She wished she could appreciate more, but there was only one thought firing around her brain. She needed something to get her through the night.
She felt Matt come to rest behind her, freezing when she felt his touch on her hips. He nosed at the side of her neck, breathing her in, fingertips rubbing patterns into her skin. “Could have some fun against this window, show everyone just how sexy you are.” His voice was deep and husky, just above a whisper. It usually made her skin tingle, but right then, it was causing dread to lick up her spine with an ice, cold flame.
“Not now, Matt, I’m tired. Got a headache coming on.”
He snorted. “Because you drank so fucking much?”
She didn’t want to fight, not on their first day, not when her nerves were so frazzled. “Shut up with the smart ass comments, I’m going for a walk.”
“What the hell? I thought you had a headache? Babe?” She could hear him calling after her but she ignored him, she needed air – her head buzzing with random thoughts. She needed to score, but she had no idea where to start, who to approach. Walking down a dimly lit side street, she clutched her bag tighter to her side but kept on walking as she saw someone duck into a nearby doorway.
Checking no one was watching, she slowed her pace, almost stopping as she got to the right door. “I have money,” she muttered, lowly, glancing over her shoulder to see a guy follow her around the corner.
She heaved a huge sigh of relief at the small wrap he produced from his jacket, Victoria handing over a large wad of cash. She didn’t even care how much it was, she just needed it. She’d think of another lie to cover the expenditure if Matt asked her. Not that her husband was at the forefront of her mind. Her thoughts were consumed with the little wrap of white powder that was burning a hole in the secret compartment of her hand bag.
Her phone buzzed obnoxiously as she weaved her way through alleys and side streets, startling her enough that she very nearly tripped over her own feet in her haste to get the drug into her system.
Where are you, babe? Johnny’s booked us in for salsa lessons, the dick.
Another text came through as she tried to lock her phone.
I’m sorry about earlier, hope you’re feeling better.
She barked out a laugh at the smiley face he added at the end of the message, Matt never used emoticons.
With the hotel in sight, she rushed through reception and ducked into a public bathroom, hands shaking as they scrambled to get her bag open. She should have had more awareness as to what exactly she was putting into her body, but the craving was just too much. Staring at the clear plastic, she hesitated, wondering how she could take the narcotic. Did she lick it? Swallowing heavily, she pulled out a crisp dollar bill that was left over from the foreign exchange and rolled it up tightly, the dozens of reality shows she’d watched coming to mind as she spread the package out onto the back of the toilet and bent forward to snort it.
The high hit her immediately, Victoria falling back into the cubicle door as her head spun. Blinking repeatedly, she blew out a breath and sniffed the rest, wiping her nose and scrunching the wrap into a little ball. Flushing the toilet, she blew out another, cleansing breath and straightened her outfit, head held high.
--
The group were already assembled under a large marquee in the hotel gardens when she got there, Matt and Brian already making bets between them. Her husband treated everything like a game, was a very sore loser.
“Alright, I bet you a hundred bucks that me and Mel will come out on top!”
“It’s not a competition, Bri.” Victoria snorted at the exasperated look on Melanie’s face, sidling up to her husband with a bright, wide grin on her face.
“Yeah, it’s not a competition, Bri.” Matt gave the guitarist a shit-eating smirk. “I bet you two hundred that Tor and I will win.”
A loud clearing of a throat had the bickering ceased, all five couples turning around to see the shortest woman they had ever seen. “Holy shit, it’s a real life midget!” Victoria kicked Matt in the foot, trying to keep a straight face. Matt was about to ask her something, frowning at her sudden change in behaviour, when fast paced, piano music began to play.
The dance teacher clapped her hands, narrowing her eyes at Matt and Brian as they elbowed each other and snickered like kids. Ficken Verlierer, was muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes.
“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Salsa!”
November 11th, 2014 at 05:40am
hahaha. I think I must have been half asleep last night. I'll edit and re-post when I get home from work :) 
