Only In It For A Minute

I woke up and my head was absolutely banging. I had no idea how much I’d drank last night but it was obviously too much. I rolled over and looked at the time on my phone. It read 12.15pm. It was completely unlike me to sleep this late, even when I got in at 5 or 6am, I would always wake up before midday. I rubbed my eyes and noticed I had a BBM notification. Sitting up, I opened it to see it was from John.

Babe, I hope you’re OK, your messages didn’t really make sense tonight. Let me know when you get this and that you’re home safe.

I groaned with the realisation that I must have been using my phone whilst drunk last night. I read back my BBMs to him and saw that they were all a mess, even I couldn’t understand what I was meant to be saying. I quickly sent him a reply.

Hey babe, I’m fine. No idea what happened last night, how or when I got home or anything. my head hurts now though! Sorry for the mess of messages. I miss you!

Then I noticed I’d sent a few to other people in my contact list too. Then I checked my Twitter and saw I’d been drunk tweeting as well.

“Could this get any worse,” I said out loud as I read though them, starting with the most recent.

I love tonighttttt!! 6 hours ago
I need a fxoking taxi 6 hours ago
O hate this song 8 hours ago
I miss yoouuuuu 8 hours ago
Need mroe alcohol, NOW! 11 hours ago

Judging by the spelling and excessive extra letters alone, I could tell that I shouldn’t have had the amount of alcohol that I did.

Putting my phone back down next to my bed, I dragged my body out of bed and into the living room. Lizzie was currently curled up on the sofa watching something on TV and just lifted her head when I walked in.

“Morning, you look as good as I feel,” she said.

“I feel it too,” I told her. I walked through to the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water before heading back into the living room. “What the fuck did we do last night?”

“I have no idea, I don’t even know where we went!”

“I remember being in Facebar for a while. And I definitely remember them playing a bit of Blink 182, New Found Glory and Yellowcard, but that’s all I know,” I began. “And I think we went to Sakura for a while but they were playing loads of indie stuff so I think we went somewhere else.”

“Oh yeah, I remember being in Facebar now, the whole dancefloor was going nuts for Ocean Avenue!”

“Now I just wish I knew what we drank!” I laughed, as I sipped my water. “We are definitely getting to old for this!”

“Fuck, no we’re not,” she said, looking at me again. “You’re the only one who parties like I do! I’m pretty sure loads of our friends went home way before we did last night.”

“Maybe we should have gone with them, then we wouldn’t be like this now!” I told her. “You should see my tweets and BBMs, I was such a mess!” I laughed. “Where’s Lucy?”

“Out. When I woke up, she was already up and showered and she went out about half a hour ago. No sign of a hangover what’s so ever, the bitch,” she said, staring at the TV. “Oh but she did say there was some post for you over there,” she pointed to small dining table we had.

I got up and went over to it and saw a few envelopes in a pile. The first looked like a letter from my bank which I didn’t bother opening. The next was advert from an opticians. When I got to the third, I immediately recognised the post mark on the front and gasped.

“What is it?” Lizzie asked, still not moving from the sofa. I turned and showed her the envelope. “Oh.”

I sat back down on the sofa and ripped it open. As I read through, my heart sank.

Dear Miss Barratt,

We regret to inform you that we will not be offering you a placement at our London offices. The position you applied for is highly sought after and unfortunately your application was unsuccessful.

“I didn’t get it,” I said.

“Oh Tash, I’m sorry, I know you really wanted that one,” she said.

Before we had gone to America at the start of summer, I had began to apply for jobs in the management industry. Some of the jobs I’d applied for were internships, which I thought would be a good start to get me into that sort of career. A couple of the jobs I had gone for were a bit more risky and I didn’t think I would actually even get consider. But this job was to be an office assistant at a well known management company in London, Raw Power. I had heard through this job from friends of friends and knew it was something I would enjoy doing. Raw Power worked with some really good artists in the UK, including my friends in You Me At Six.

“Wait,” I said, as I read further through the letter. “Oh. My. God.”

“What is it?” Lizzie asked, sitting up.

“Can you just read this and tell me I’m reading it properly please?” I said, thrusting the letter in her direction. I was nervous as she read through, waiting patiently until she got to the right part.

“However, we have do have a recent opening that we hope would interest you. We are currently in the process of expanding our company and would like to offer you a position in our new overseas development. This position would be an Artist Management role, where you would oversee the promotional aspects of two or three bands.” she read outloud. “Your application was very well received and we agreed that the role you applied for would not be suitable. If you are interested in this position, please contact us as soon as possible for interviewing.” she continued. “Oh my god, are you serious? This is amazing!”

“I know! I don’t believe it!”

“You have to do it!”

Suddenly, our hangovers no longer bothered us as we celebrated my new job offer. Included in the envelope was the full details of the job and as I read through, I got more and more excited.

Later that evening, I sat staring at the computer screen as I waited for the video chat to connect. I hadn’t been as nervous as this in while. But whilst I was nervous, excitement was beginning to take over. Finally I saw John’s face appear on my macbook screen and I smiled, which he returned immediately.

“Hey you,” he grinned.

“Hi boyfriend,” I said back. “How are you?”

“Better for seeing your pretty face,” he told me, making me blush. “I have big news for you.”

“I have some too!” I replied, excitedly.

“OK, you first,” he suggested.

“No you go, you said it first.”

“Alright, well, we’re coming to the UK!” he smiled widely through the screen to me. My heart sunk as he said it.

“But I might be coming to the US!” I told him back.

“Wait, what?” his smile also dropping.

“Back in July, I applied for a load of jobs and I just heard back from one today,” I explained. “It was meant to be a job in London but instead they’re offering me one in America, I’m not sure where yet though.”

“Well, that’s amazing! Congratulations!” he said, smiling again. “When do you know if you get it for sure?”

“Well I’m interviewing for it on Tuesday so if all goes well, hopefully I should know soon after that,” I said. “When are you coming over here?”

“Middle of November, we’ve been added as a last minute support for a tour since another band dropped out,” he told me. “Do you think you’ll still be there when we come over?”

“I hope so, but who knows!” I said. “At least if I get it, we’ll be closer to each other.”

“Where will you be?”

“Well they’re opening offices in Los Angeles and New York, so I’m hoping they want me for their LA one.”

I filled him in on the rest of the details of the job and then we talked for a while longer before he had to go. I spent the rest of the evening thinking about the job, the interview and moving to America. If I got it, my whole life was about to change. Again.