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I mumbled a response. ‘I can do fun …’
‘When did you last do something spontaneous? Really let your hair down?’
‘Shelley, there is no spontaneity in running a business.’ Just then an email pinged through to my inbox. Ignoring her rolling her eyes I leant over to see if it was Nihal explaining the scathing review.
‘Is it that Nihal fella you’re waiting to hear from?’ Shelley asked.
I shook my head. ‘Nope. Just an automatic email saying the Indian visas for the tour group are ready to collect,’ I said sadly. How ironic.
‘That’s it!’ Shelley exclaimed sloshing some wine on her legs as she pointed a finger in the air.
‘What? Visas?’
‘No, you daft sod. This is the answer to your problems.’ She grinned and then took a dramatic pause. ‘We should go to India.’
‘Ha ha very funny,’ I said sarcastically.
‘No. Georgia, I’m serious. We should go together to meet this Nihal bloke in person, see what’s really going on, put an end to these bad reviews once and for all. Why not? I love samosas and I even came first in a vindaloo-eating competition at home,’ she boasted. ‘Plus I’ve always wanted to go to India. And you can go and track down this tour guide. Wait – we can go undercover! Yes, that would be perfect. Get the real scoop on what’s happening. This is the perfect spontaneous thing for you to do!’ She looked like she could burst with excitement.
‘I think you need to start drinking some water,’ I said, shaking my head at the absurdity of the idea. Pfft, I couldn’t just take two weeks off work to jet off to India. How would the business survive without me?
‘I’m not drunk; this is the best idea I’ve ever had. Trust me, it’s a win-win. I mean, you never take any holidays, or days off for that matter. Plus you get to show Ben how you can be fun and daring Georgia again. I get to take a trip with my best friend and your business problem will be all smoothed over.’
‘Really, you think it could work?’ I tilted my head, thinking about what she was suggesting. The alcohol was making my head feel fuzzy and I couldn’t concentrate properly. Maybe it could be a good idea. It was just two little weeks.
‘Yes! Getting that email from the visa agency is a sign. See, the world wants you to go!’ She started to do a little jig. ‘That is, unless you’re too boring to say yes. The old Georgia would have booked her flight straight away …’
I shut my eyes. ‘I’m not too boring. Yes. Fuck it. Let’s do it. Right now!’
‘Yay!’ She began whipping a wet tea towel over her head in excitement then hesitated. ‘Wait, you don’t want to talk to Ben first? Check it’s OK that you’re gone for a few weeks?’
I shook my head – probably a little too dramatically – as spots appeared in front of my eyes. ‘No, we need to seize the moment. He’ll think it’s a great idea being proactive and courageous, trust me!’
‘OMG we’re going to India, baby! Let’s book it!’ Shelley beamed at me.
I looked at my smiling reflection in my black laptop screen. Yes this will help everything. We are a pair of geniuses. Wait, what is the plural of genius? Genii? Whatever it is, that’s what we are.
CHAPTER 5 (#ulink_f05546b1-c380-54f7-a350-b7bf3c251167)
Repercussion (n.) An effect or result, often indirect or remote, of some event or action
The sound of the bin lorries rumbling down the street woke me with a start. I opened my eyes and immediately felt like I was being stabbed in the corneas with all the sunlight beaming through the office windows. I groggily turned over and nearly chucked up. The room was a complete state. I carefully sat up holding my throbbing head. My mouth was as dry as sandpaper and I reeked of booze. I’d slept in the office again, only this time I had Shelley and her melodic snores for company.
I combed my fingers through my hair and winced as a piece of gristly kebab meat fell onto the sofa that I was spreadeagled over – the sofa that we used as a waiting area for customers to sit and browse our brochures, which was now wet in patches from spilt wine and drool. Easing my weary bones to stand up I grabbed a cloth and half-arsedly wiped the stains before turning my phone back on and giving Shelley a shove to wake up. Missed calls, a drunken voicemail from Jimmy and three texts from Ben beeped through, each of his worried messages growing more disappointed in their tone that I didn’t make Kelli’s gig and hadn’t even bothered to apologise.
‘Shel, Shel, wake up!’ I nudged her.
‘Mdnasudhu’ came from her as she turned and got comfier on the floor cushions.
‘No, I’m serious, Shelley; you need to get up now. Ben and Kelli will be here soon.’
‘What?’ She leant up, rubbed her eyes and let out a dry chesty cough. ‘What time is it?’
‘Time to get up and sort this disaster zone out. Man, what time did we even go to bed? I feel like ass.’
‘Eurgh, I dunno. Maybe about three or could have been four. Whenever we finished that third or was it fourth bottle of wine?’ She unsteadily got to her feet.
‘What? I thought you only brought two with you,’ I said, puffing the sofa cushions back to life and staggering to the bathroom.
‘Yeah I did but then you said we could open this other bottle that someone had bought you.’
I blinked, trying to remember, then suddenly it hit me. ‘Shelley, that wasn’t wine that was rum one of the customers bought us as a thank-you present. No wonder I feel so rough. I hate rum!’
She clapped a hand to her pale face as if burping down vomit threatening to escape. ‘Eurgh, me too. I need sleep, a shower and greasy food, pronto. Do you need me to tidy up first?’
I glanced at the room that smelt like a brewery but judging by her clammy almost-green cheeks it was probably better that she made a speedy exit. ‘Nah, I’ll open all the windows and Febreze the shit out of this place. I’ll call you later.’
She gratefully stumbled out as I collected the empty bottles and greasy kebab boxes and tried to make the room look presentable before Ben and Kelli turned up. I sprayed air freshener everywhere including over my crumpled clothes and quickly washed my face, rubbing the mascara smudges from under my itchy eyes, hoping to wake myself up.
Once I looked as decent as possible, given zero sleep and yesterday’s clothes as I still hadn’t remembered to leave a fresh change under my desk, I sighed and flicked on the kettle; may as well make a start with work. I hadn’t drunk like that in a long time. Why the hell had I opened that bottle of rum? Why had I been guzzling it down like a fish? What had we even been chatting about till four a.m. this morning? Where had the kebabs appeared from? My tired brain refused to wake up and give me the answers I needed. Bastard.
‘Kelli, you do know we have chairs?’ Ben tilted his head and comically raised his eyebrow at our office junior who was sat cross-legged on the floor surrounded by plastic wallets, sticky labels and, worryingly, a glue gun. He’d been out at a meeting for most of the morning so thankfully the smell of kebab meat and stale alcohol had faded by the time he returned.
‘Nah, I like it better down here.’ She flicked her multi-coloured hair back and carried on.
‘You know you really did miss out on a good night last night, Georgia,’ Ben said, sitting at his desk and turning his laptop on. ‘Who knew our Kel had so many hidden talents.’ Kelli beamed back at him and avoided my gaze like she had done all morning. She’d barely acknowledged me since she’d arrived. I’d tried to apologise for missing her gig and asked her how her night went but had so far been met with polite but short answers.
‘I promise I’ll be there for the next one; I just got caught up with things here.’ I apologised again. ‘Right, it’s my turn to do the coffee run. The usual, everyone?’ Ben nodded gratefully whilst Kelli just shrugged. ‘OK, I’ll be back in a tick.’ I pulled my jacket on and walked out into the chill of the street. The icy spring wind was just what I needed to help blow away this raging hangover that I was trying to keep hidden from the two of them.
As I came back from Starbucks wobbling a latte, a hot chocolate and a cappuccino in a flimsy cardboard holder I felt the atmosphere in the small room buzz with electric tension. Kelli was sat on the comfy, thankfully stain-free sofa nervously twiddling her thumbs as I breezed in.
‘OK, here’s yours.’ I passed her an extra-large hot chocolate with all the trimmings. She took the cup and gave me a tight smile by way of thanks; I noticed she looked even paler than usual. Maybe I wasn’t the only one suffering in silence.
‘I got the one with the extra small marshmallows you like and, Ben, they asked if you wanted syrup but I took it without as I said you were sweet enough,’ I said cheesily and walked over to Ben who was sat rigidly in his seat glaring at me. ‘Everything OK, guys?’ I tried to keep my tone light whilst placing his steaming cup of coffee on his desk.
‘Kelli, will you give us a moment, please?’ Ben muttered to Kelli, ignoring my question; this seemed to be what she was waiting for as she jumped up like a rat out of a trap, grabbed her creased leather jacket and sprinted out of the shop, leaving her hot chocolate untouched.
‘Ben? Is everything OK?’ I asked, sinking into my seat. A strange prickly sensation rose up my neck.
‘Georgia.’ Ben sighed. ‘You promised me there wouldn’t be any more secrets between us.’
I shook my head, my eyes wide open and hands outstretched. ‘I know. There aren’t.’
He rolled his eyes skywards. His jaw was clenched as he spoke. ‘So now you’re lying to my face?’
‘I’m not lying. What’s going on, Ben?’
He stood up and placed his arms behind his head, closing his eyes and trying to calm down. ‘Whilst you were out getting coffee, Kelli took a phone call from Indian Airways asking if you and Shelley would like an upgrade on your upcoming trip.’
My mind was as blank as my face must have been. ‘What trip?’
‘The trip in two weeks to New Delhi,’ he said sharply, unable to keep his cool any longer.
I sat back, stunned. ‘India? There must be some mistake; I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Well that’s what we thought, so Kelli asked them to email me your itinerary and, bingo, you and Shelley are booked on a flight to New Delhi. Apparently the booking was made at one a.m. this morning.’
Oh my holy everything. It was starting to filter back now. Me telling her about the awful reviews of the India tour and Nihal going AWOL and then us … us deciding to go undercover and find him in India. Shit. ‘Oh.’
‘Yep. Do you know how stupid I look as a business partner? Finding out that you’re jetting off when Kelli brings it up? Let alone that you were too busy to go to her gig as you had far more important things to do, like book a girly holiday with Shelley.’
‘I don’t remember doing this! It happened late last night; we’d had a few drinks.’ I paused to try and assemble my thoughts. ‘You know the India tour isn’t doing very well –’
Ben cut me off. ‘Yes and we spoke about this. You can’t control everything, Georgia.’
‘I know that. But then I found this blog that had posted the worst review about the trip, like really bad, and I just got caught up in the moment. You know what Shelley’s like …’ I paused. ‘I wanted to do something spontaneous.’
Ben took a deep breath. ‘Georgia, I don’t mind you going on holiday; that isn’t the point. The point is you didn’t think to tell me this before Kelli found out and you didn’t even check that it might be convenient at such short notice. Why didn’t you tell me about this review?’
‘I didn’t want to worry you about it,’ I said quietly.
‘But that’s the thing – I’m your partner; if you worry, I worry.’ Ben’s expression softened slightly.
‘I swear I don’t remember booking this trip. It was a silly spur-of-the-moment idea, but I’ll call up and cancel straight away,’ I said picking up my phone.
He sighed loudly. ‘No.’
‘What?’ I stopped dialling and stared at him.
‘No, don’t cancel it. You deserve a holiday to let your hair down and not get so stressed about the business. You’ve always wanted to go to India plus it will cost nearly as much to cancel. Maybe this is what you need, what we need. To have a little break from the office and each other.’
‘A break f-from us?’ I stuttered. I felt as though someone had pressed an icy palm to the back of my neck.
‘No, you know what I mean. Just a break from here.’ He waved his arms around the room. ‘Go, Georgia. I think actually this might be a good thing, a bloody shock, but a good thing.’ He gave me a weak smile and picked up the phone that had started to ring next to him.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. So much for Shelley’s bright idea at making Ben more interested in me. I had imagined him giving me a look of admiration for being so ballsy and taking control, not being unable to look at me at all as I’d let him down – again.
I opened my emails and typed furiously to check with Shelley that she knew we were actually going to India. We had to make this work.
CHAPTER 6 (#ulink_6d0df3c2-1524-5fee-894c-ecc8083e7ae5)
Tremulous (adj.) Exceedingly sensitive; easily shaken or disordered
I hadn’t really had time to let the rash decision that I was going to India on one of my own tours sink in. I was too busy making sure that my handover would be as simple as possible for Ben and Kelli. I’d cleared my diary, rearranged meetings that I was meant to have and politely declined networking events, asking to be emailed the presentation notes instead.
The most urgent thing of all was to get our visas sorted, as without those the whole trip wouldn’t take place. I’d put a call in to Sanjay, who worked for Visa Express, to see if he could take care of it like he did for our customers. However, word had got round that I was planning on breaking ties with his company as I wanted to bring it all in-house so he politely but firmly told me to bugger off.
So, here I was one wet morning waiting for the visa office to open, huddled under a shop front as I’d forgotten to bring an umbrella in my rush to leave my flat and be the first one here when the doors opened. Only, it was like the whole of Manchester had had the same idea. At least thirty other tired-looking people were patiently waiting in the queue ahead of me, and Shelley being Shelley was running late. The minutes ticked past and the doors still weren’t opening; I was cold, miserable and really didn’t have time for this. Where the hell was Shelley?
‘This your first time?’ the tall Indian man in front of me asked as I strained my neck past his shoulder for the umpteenth time to see what the hold-up was. It was now two minutes past nine and there was no sign of the rusty shutters being raised.
‘Oh, erm, yep,’ I replied not wanting to get into conversation with anyone.
His pale, hazel-coloured eyes circled with a ring of olive green creased as he laughed. ‘I could tell. You know they say that this is the first step in your preparation for going to India.’ He paused, half smiling at me.
‘What’s that then?’ I stared at him, taking in how good-looking he was. His brooding eyes seemed to pop from his light brown skin and designer stubble; his thick mane of black hair screamed tug me and his crooked smile was bashful but playful at the same time.
‘Patience.’ He laughed.
Despite how absolutely gorgeous this guy was, I was in no mood to fall under his spell; I had far too much I needed to be getting on with to even think about what his body looked like under his classic, well-fitted suit.
I huffed. ‘We’re not in India; we’re in Manchester where things open at the time they’re supposed to.’
He just shook his head in mirth. ‘If you think this is testing, wait till you get over there. You will learn things about yourself that you never would have discovered in a million years. Oh, and you’re going to love it.’
I knew his type: fit but he knew it, full of condescending arrogance thinking because he fell from heaven he was somehow better than you.
‘I think I know myself pretty well, thank you,’ I retorted with a tight smile, wishing this queue would hurry up and move so I didn’t have to look at his annoying, smug face. I was going to be fine in India. Fine.
‘Georgia! I’m here!’ Shelley called out, running over red-faced and waving at me. ‘Excuse me; my friend’s saved me a place.’ She pushed her way down the line, pretending not to see the looks of disgust and hear the irritated huffs and puffs from the queue. ‘Sorry I’m late, hon,’ she said breathlessly, fanning her flushed cheeks with her phone. ‘God look at this queue. Could you not have got one of your contacts to sort this out for us?’
‘If I could have I would have, trust me.’
She nodded, seemingly picking up on my pissed-off tones. I had so much I needed to be doing thanks to our spontaneous holiday; waiting in line to get a stamp in my passport was not one of them. After realising that our rash, drunken decision didn’t just affect the two of us I’d been trying to make my unplanned leave as seamless as possible, including looking into getting an extra pair of hands to help Ben and Kelli out whilst I was gone. Ben had said that they would be fine but I wasn’t a hundred per cent convinced so thought it would be better if I hired a temp just in case. Ben would thank me; I was sure of it.
The only problem was that out of the many applicants the local temp agency had emailed over, hardly any seemed suitable. I had made two piles – one of potentials and one of absolute no-nos but I needed to get someone lined up soonish.
‘Ah, I see. Well hopefully we’ll be in and out before you know it.’ She smiled. ‘So, how are things? No regrets?’
‘No regrets. Apart from I’m never drinking rum again.’ I noticed that buff Bollywood guy had suddenly become engrossed in his phone, thankfully.
Shelley pulled a face. ‘Me neither. So, how was Ben? Did he mind that you’ve booked this trip? He must be pleased that you’re taking the initiative in sorting out these negative reviews?’
I hadn’t had time to call her properly since he’d found out. ‘Let’s just say he wasn’t super impressed with my spontaneous decision to go all undercover boss in India. He was more disappointed that I hadn’t mentioned this idea to him first.’
‘Oh. Bugger.’ I nodded in agreement. ‘Hey, don’t worry. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Plus, when he realises that this idea was brilliant and we are a pair of masterminds I’m sure he’ll change his mind.’
‘I hope so.’ I smiled sadly.
Suddenly a small pathetic cheer broke out as the doors were finally opened and the throng of people gently pushed forward and filed in. The visa office was as drab on the inside as it was on the outside. A table propped up with a wedge of yellowing newspaper under one wonky leg held leaflets and biro pens tied on with scratty pieces of string to stop anyone from stealing them. Three musky pink coloured counters stood at the back of the cold room and tired-looking employees plodded around putting out plastic chairs for customers to sit on.
I took a ticket, like at the delicatessen counter in Tesco, and waited our turn, far away from smug Mr India know-it-all, tapping my feet impatiently and hoping they would hurry up and call our number.
‘I still can’t believe we’re going to India,’ I said nodding at the large, albeit tatty, poster of the Taj Mahal on the wall opposite.
‘I know! It’s going to be amazing.’ Shelley grinned.
‘How was Jimmy about it? Not going to be pining for you for too long?’ I teased.
