A Day in Bridgend

A couple of days passed in which nothing really happened. Mostly we just got into the swing of the tour and lazed around. Bullet’s first show was in Berlin, tomorrow. I couldn’t wait. My first gig and it was going to be right at the front, watching Bullet, then going backstage to hang out with them until we returned to the bus. Epic!

As I was thinking about it I was trying to grab hold of the last scrap of hygiene on the bus by washing the dishes. Already there were clothes; both clean and dirty, strewn everywhere and dirty dishes were overflowing in the sink. The others had given up but I was making one final effort to clean the place up a bit. Well, the dishes, since that was all I could be bothered to do. I’m a lazy person, it come naturally to me.

The bus had stopped for a while so everyone else had gone out, leaving only me and Matt alone. Simply because I was too lazy and Matt was engrossed in a video game of some sort. Suddenly he rushed in.

‘Lilly, are you okay?’ he asked urgently.

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Of course I am. Why shouldn’t I be?’ I frowned, puzzled by the urgency in his voice.

‘I can smell blood,’ he said worried. ‘Your blood.’

I instinctively looked down at my hands, thinking I’d cut myself on a knife and almost expecting to see them covered in red, then down at the rest of my body. There was no blood anywhere. Everything seemed normal enough. Until I felt a twinge of pain in my lower belly. That was when I realised what it had to be.

‘I think I know what it is,’ I said. I went to the bathroom quickly and sure enough, there was a small amount of blood. I hadn’t even thought about this happening. This was certainly going to be a problem…

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, looking very worried.

‘Nothing, I’m fine,’ I said, deciding I could avoid telling him anything. ‘I need to go out, I’ll be back in a bit.’ I had seen a shop only about a five to ten minute walk from where we had stopped. I started towards the other end of the bus but suddenly felt another stab of pain that literally made me stop in my tracks, it was that bad.

‘Okay, you’re definitely not fine,’ Matt said. I felt his hand on my arm as he quickly stood in front of me. ‘I’m not going to let you come to the gig tomorrow if you don’t tell me what’s wrong,’ he threatened. I still didn’t say anything but it seemed I didn’t need to. He glanced down, noticed where I was clutching myself and put two and two together. His eyes widened a little and he said ‘Oh…’ Then, ‘Oh! Um…oh!’ He seemed a little panicky, like he didn’t know what to do.

‘I’m fine,’ I said quickly. ‘Its just a little painful.’

‘I’ll get you some…uh…lady stuff. You go wait in the hotel room.’

‘We have a hotel tonight?’ He nodded and I sighed. ‘Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything on this bus?’ He just grinned in amusement. ‘So, do I have a room of my own or am I sharing with someone?’

‘I think you’re sharing with Padge in room 632.’

‘Okay, I’ll meet you there,’ I said and quickly told him exactly what “lady stuff” to get me. We parted ways outside the bus and I went to the hotel he had told me to go to. It was as I was walking I realised I’d never actually been to a hotel before so I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Luckily, just as I was arriving I saw Jay coming from the opposite direction.

‘Alright? You look lost,’ he said, as we both stopped outside the hotel.

‘I kind of am. I’ve never been to a hotel before.’

‘First time for everything. I’ll take you to your room.’ We went straight to the elevator and it slowly began to move to the seventh floor. While we were inside it he sniffed the air suddenly. ‘Are you bleeding?’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said sighing and he shrugged, turning to face forward again.

Jay was on the same floor as me and Padge, only a few doors away, so he just walked on as I used the card-key-thing to open the door and let myself in. I dumped my bag on the floor, looking around the room. I peeked into the bedroom and found Padge had already claimed the bed, his stuff was strewn all over it. Then I realised we would have to share the bed anyway. There was no real sofa in the hotel room, just a wooden thing that would be way to uncomfortable for anyone to sleep on. I groaned. Just then, the door opened.

‘Ah, you’re here,’ said Padge. ‘I’m going downstairs for a bit. Check the place out.’

‘And end up at the bar?’ I guessed, smiling.

‘Probably,’ he admitted with a laugh.

‘Okay. I might join you later,’ I said and he left, with a quick nod of his head.

I groaned again as my belly hurt even more. I went to the bathroom quickly and started rummaging around in the cupboard in search of painkillers of some kind. Any kind. The pain hadn’t been quite this bad in a long time and I usually got pretty painful ones at the best of times. I finally found the painkillers and took two with a mouthful of water straight from the tap. Sighing, I stood up straight and looked at myself in the mirror above the sink. Damn womanly problems, I thought. Why now?

Someone started knocking on the door making me jump. I rushed out of the bathroom, thinking it might be a hotel person or something, and in my hurry I just had to trip over the strap of my bag. I cried out as I fell, landing with a loud crash. I groaned for the third time in the last five minutes and clutched my leg where I had hit it against the hard wooden floor. Great, I thought. Now, not only do I have the worst period pains in history but also my leg feels like I’ve broken it.

Again, the door was knocked. I’d been so busy being in pain I had completely forgotten why I had been rushing around in the first place. I leapt to my feet, instantly regretting it, and limped over to the door. Opening it, I found Matt looking down at me with his eyebrows raised and a bag in his hand.

‘What the hell was all that noise about? I thought you were trashing the hotel room or something!’ he said, handing me the bag.

I sighed. ‘I’ll tell you in a minute. Come in.’ I opened the door wider for him and he immediately came in. While he sat down on the bed I got a new pair of underwear, as discreetly as I could, then limped back into the bathroom. This time I made sure the door as locked though. When I was done I went back into the bedroom where Matt was. I fell back on the bed with a groan and closed my eyes.

‘Not feeling very well?’ I shook my head wordlessly. He gave me a sympathetic expression and said, ‘Lets watch a film. It might help to take your mind off it.’

I opened my eyes to look at him and smiled. ‘You’re not going drinking? You don’t have to stay with me.’

‘I don’t feel like drinking. I’ll keep you company.’

‘Thank you,’ I said. I knew he was lying and he really wanted to go have fun but I was grateful for the company.

‘I’ll get a film then. You get comfortable.’ He got up and left while I watched him, smiling slightly. Deciding to get really comfy I changed from my jeans into a pair of pyjama shorts and went to lie back down. Just as I did, Matt returned. ‘The Hills Have Eyes?’ he asked, holding up the DVD.

I smiled. ‘Perfect,’ I said. I was very much in the mood for the gore and crazy deformed people in the movie. After putting the DVD in he came over with the remote and lay down beside me. For a long time we remained silent, engrossed in the film.

‘So, what took you so long to answer the door?’ Matt asked after a while, breaking our silence.

‘Oh yeah, sorry about that. I was taking some painkillers then I fell over my bag.’

He laughed. ‘That’s why you’re limping.’

‘Yep,’ I replied, smiling a little. ‘Its still throbbing.’

He glanced down at my leg. ‘Lets see if you’ve damaged it then.’ He moved down, kneeling beside my calf. He put his hand on the back of my knee, bending my leg there. ‘You’ve got a massive lump here,’ he noted and ran his fingers lightly over the skin. I winced. ‘I don’t think you’ve hurt it really badly, but it’s going to turn into a massive bruise.’

‘Wonderful,’ I said sarcastically. He chuckled and released my leg, which I was actually a little disappointed about. His warm hand felt amazing against my bare flesh. He lay beside me again to return to the film. I winced for a second time but now it was because of the other pain.

Matt glanced at me so he must have noticed the small movement. ‘The painkillers didn’t help then?’

I shook my head. ‘Not really.’

He looked sympathetic again. ‘Where does it hurt exactly?’

I pointed to my lower belly and closed my eyes, suddenly feeling sleepy. Then I felt Matt’s hand slowly brush my abdomen and stop, resting it there. He must have fed just before he came to the hotel because his hand was warm. I opened my eyes quickly to look at him. He was watching me for my reaction.

‘Does that help?’ he asked. I nodded, slowly. Oddly enough it did, it felt great and a certain part of me reacted in a way that made me blush. He smiled slightly when he saw the colour creeping into my cheeks. I bit my lower lip a little, remembering that he could easily smell my blood right now and even though he had fed tonight I knew he would still want it. He was still looking at me, making me so nervous.

The door burst open suddenly and in stumbled Padge with Moose and Pete, one of the tech guys. Matt removed his hand fast and turned back to the film. The men, however, were too drunk to notice much at all. Padge actually didn’t seem that bad, he was just too busy laughing at Moose and Pete’s inability to stand up properly. Matt cast a quick look at them, sighed and shook his head, trying to suppress his laughter. After a few minutes of laughing at the drunken men, Padge decided it was time for some sleep.

‘Right, get out twats. I get to sleep with Lilly tonight so I’m not going to waste any of that time.’

‘Don’t blame you, butt,’ said Moose, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and looked away quickly.

Matt stood up to grab the films he had brought as Padge ushered Moose and Pete out. ‘I hope it gets better by tomorrow night,’ said Matt, as he was leaving.

‘Yeah, me too,’ I muttered.

He shut the door after Matt then Padge came over to the bed. He sat near the foot of the bed and lay down. He closed his eyes as I slipped under the covers and started to snore lightly, after only a matter of seconds. Aw, poor drunk vampire, I thought amused. I reached over to carefully shake him awake again.

‘Padge, get into bed. You can’t sleep there.’ After a little more coaxing I managed to get Padge to undress and get into bed. Well…he did the undressing bit himself.

Just as I was falling to sleep he draped his arm over me. At first I froze but then I relaxed and smiled a little, allowing him to keep it there.

© Amber Williams 2010