Chapter 8

Steve was woken at 9am by a firm knock on the door, he sleepily pulled the sheet off the other bed, wrapped it toga style and padded from the bedroom, through the lounge to the door, his footsteps way too loud on the deep pile carpet.

“Good morning sir,” said the waiter at the door, “your breakfast.”

“We didn’t order any yet.”

“Ahh, Nessa the night receptionist thought you might need some sustenance, so three Scottish breakfasts, orange juice, coffee and paracetamol.”

“Well, that’s very thoughtful of her, I’ll thank her tonight. My friends are asleep right now, I’m sure this lot will wake them properly.”

“Very good, I’ll leave the cloches in place, keep it all warm, just roll the trolley outside when you’re done and we’ll take it away.”

Steve went back to the bedroom and shook the girls awake.

“Urghhh,” said Lucy.

“What’s that?” asked Gabbie.

“It’s breakfast,” Steve answered.

“Did we order breakfast? I don’t remember,” Lucy groaned.

“That’s what I said to the waiter, but Nessa ordered it for us.”

“Oh, that was nice of her.”

“So it would probably be an idea for you to drag your arses out of bed and eat the food while it’s still hot.”

“Oh yes, it would definitely be rude of us not to eat the food. Hey Gabbie, get up, breakfast.”

“Urghh.”

Gabbie, Lucy and Steve were seated around the table, the blinds open so they could see across Glasgow and hoping nobody could see in, as they’d not bothered dressing or tidying their hair, three young good-looking scarecrows in a 4-star hotel suite eating breakfast.

And what a breakfast, porridge with honey; eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, mushrooms and toast; freshly squeezed orange juice and wonderful hot coffee. The paracetamol was gratefully swallowed with the orange juice.

There wasn’t nearly enough coffee for Steve’s liking, so he phoned down for another pot, and some more toast with marmalade.

“Err, Steve.”

“Yeah Gabbie,” he croaked.

“Shouldn’t we dress before the coffee arrives.”

“Mmm,” his brain still not functioning, “probably.”

“I’m not sure,” Lucy said, “I think clothes are still a bit too loud right now.”

“I know,” Steve said, “I wore that sheet before, that worked, I’ll wear it again.”

“But what about us?” Gabbie asked.

“He won’t see you, my sheet will hide us all if you stay perfectly still.”

“Ahh, like an invisibility cloak.”

“Exactly.”

There was a knock at the door about 10 minutes later, Steve grabbed the sheet, wrapped it around again and opened the door.

The same waiter as before, this time carrying a tray with a coffee pot and a covered plate of toast.

“Fresh coffee and toast sir.”

“Thanks,” Steve said as he let the waiter into the lounge.

The waiter stopped, his mouth agape as he stared at the girls.

“Just put it on the table, I’ve loaded the other things onto the trolley.”

“Oh, right.” The waiter said, managing to put the tray down and collect the trolley without taking his eyes off the girls, he carefully backed out of the room, his eyes still locked on the vision of loveliness.

As the door closed Steve dropped the sheet and poured more coffee.

“See, he didn’t notice a thing.”

“You know Steve, I think he might have,” Gabbie said.

“Nahh, didn’t see a thing, I’m positive.”

The orange juice and paracetamol did its stuff, and by the time they’d finished the second lot of coffee and toast they felt vaguely human. Last night’s festivities just putting a soft focus on the day.

They showered and dressed, then leaving the tray of coffee and toast stuff outside their room they went downstairs to face the world.

“Steve...”

“Yes Gabbie.”

“Can we lay off the booze today?”

“Yeah, probably wise, maybe forever. Each step is hurting my head.”

The elderly chap was back on Reception duty, they asked him for directions to the Kelvingrove museum. He said it was a couple of miles and quite a dull walk, although they would pass the legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on the way, although he advised there’s not much to see beyond the sign, it’s just a building in the middle of a row of tenements.

“I definitely can’t drive today,” Steve said.

“A couple of miles is OK, it’ll clear our heads,” Lucy said.

“Are we all in comfy shoes?” Gabbie asked.

Lucy looked down at their feet, “Vans all round, they’ll do.”

“Off we go then,” Steve said as they set off towards Argyle Street, then the long trek under the M8 and onwards towards Kelvingrove Park.

When they got to the museum the atrium was full of the sound of the lunchtime organ concert, the huge sound from the pipe organ filling the enormous hall.

There was a small coffee bar in the atrium, so they got a drink and sat in the café listening to the music.

As the music ended everyone drifted off. As they had no clear idea of what they wanted to see first they just tagged along with a group and followed them. The first gallery they came to had a selection of animals including an elephant, an ostrich, a giraffe, and as they looked up to see the giraffe’s head they saw a restored Spitfire hanging from the ceiling surrounded by stuffed seabirds.

“Oh wow,” said Gabbie, the first of many “oh wow” moments as they moved from gallery to gallery. Ancient Egyptian relics, Greek and Roman artefacts, works by Dali, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Gauguin. They saw a gallery of Georgian and Victorian costumes, Charles Rennie Mackintosh furnishings, way too much to take in with one visit.

They stayed until closing time and promised they’d return later in the week, as they’d only scratched the surface of the museum’s treasures.

On the walk back they passed directly in front of King Tut’s, on the way up they’d been on the opposite side of the road, and Gabbie spotted a poster for one of her favourite singers, and she was on that night, there was a flash across the poster: “More tickets just released!”

“Oh wow,” Gabbie replied, “I’d love to see Katey live in a small venue like this.”

They went up the steps and into the venue, the box office was just inside the doorway, there were only three tickets left, so Lucy quickly bought them.

The gig was due to start in a couple of hours, not really enough time to get back to the hotel for dinner, Gabbie noticed a sign for the venue’s bar and diner.

“Hey, we might as well stay here,” she said.

“Perfect, then we’re on the spot for 7:30,” Steve added.

So they walked down to the basement and into the diner. Lucy found a table and picked up a menu.

“Ha, this menu is great, anyone fancy Chilli con Haggis?”

They ate well, each choosing a different burger, a plain beef burger for Gabbie, a spicy chicken burger for Lucy and Steve went for the special burger with haggis chilli, jalapenos and cheese. They also ordered a couple of sides of dirty fries and onion rings. And as today was a no drinking day, they just ordered bottles of coke to go with the meal.

“So, I’ve never heard of Katey Sparrow, what’s she like?” Lucy asked.

“Oh she’s so great, I’d say it’s acoustic indie pop, a little bit folky. Her songs are so personal, open and honest about her life and experiences. I’m going to be a mess of tears tonight.”

“Oh great, sounds like it’s going to be good.”

The food arrived, it was tasty and filling, the dirty fries were laced with pulled pork marinated in Irn Bru, they were amazing. They followed the meal with coffee and a selection of cheesecakes, then they waited around in the bar, which was slowly filling up with fans as the doors opening time approached.

Steve looked around the bar, it was full of girls, he was one of only a few males in the room, and the girls all looked to be couples.

Gabbie looked at Steve’s puzzled expression and giggled, “ha, you’ve never heard of Katey either have you?”

“Errr, no, I haven’t. What am I missing here?”

“Well, firstly, she writes songs that are very powerful messages about mental health, female empowerment and love, secondly, she’s a lesbian and is very open about her sexuality, she delivers a very strong Pride message. This all means most of her audience are female, and a lot of them are from the LGBTQ community.

“I apologise if you feel a bit outnumbered and intimidated, but to be quite frank, this is how most girls feel at gigs. Although I will qualify that by saying I don’t claim you would be guilty of intimidating girls, it’s just we’re generally in a minority at gigs and many of the guys are not shy about touching us up in a crowd given a chance.”

“No, no, I don’t feel intimidated, it makes me happy that everyone here knows it’s ok to come to a gig and be whoever they want to be, and love whoever they want to love.”

Even though the bar was packed, only a few of the people went upstairs as soon as the doors opened. They took the stairs slowly, reading the names of famous acts who’d played there over the years painted on each step.

The support act came on, a tall pretty girl with an average voice, her songs were ok but disappointingly delivered. In the 30 minute gap between the support and Katey coming on the venue filled up completely, and from the chatter around them Lucy realised many of them had been to a few gigs on the tour and stayed downstairs to miss the support act, they’d heard the same 5 songs many times already, so were happy to miss them tonight.

The house lights dimmed and the stage lights came up and showed a tiny woman climbing onto the stage, her arms were covered in tattoos and she carried an acoustic guitar. The lights also picked up a guy at a keyboard, they’d not noticed him arrive at all. The applause and cheers were almost deafening.

“Hiya,” she shouted in a broad Yorkshire accent, “good evening Glasgow. This is one of my favourite venues, I’m so glad to be here on this special end of year tour. I think we’ll have a good time tonight.”

Then she stepped up to the microphone, plugged in her guitar and proceeded to sing some of the most joy filled songs they’d ever witnessed, the crowd and Gabbie singing along to every word.

Some songs made them laugh, some made them cry, but they all made them feel good.

90 minutes later they were queuing for t-shirts, Gabbie said “This is absolutely the best time I’ve had with clothes on.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder, “well, I’m glad you enjoyed my show, but don’t let me stop you taking your clothes off next time.”

“Oh wow,” Gabbie cried, “I’ve loved your music for so long, I’ve never seen you live before, this was so great, because we were just walking past the venue, we only got into town yesterday, it’s like fate, we saw the poster and there were three tickets left for us.”

“Woah, that’s really lucky for you, and me, or we wouldn’t have met would we. Where’d you and your friends come from then?”

“We’re on our half term break from a school in Cumbria.”

“School! Oh shit, forget what I said about stripping off at my next show, I don’t want to get into trouble!”

They all laughed.

“So, you know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

“Oh yeah, I’m Gabbie, this is my girlfriend Lucy, and this is our boyfriend Steve.”

“Well Steve, aren’t you the lucky lad with these two honeys.”

“I really am.”

“So, do you want photos and autographs?”

“Yes please,” they said in unison.

They bought copies of the CDs, Katey gave them free signed posters and did selfies with them all and made them promise to check out her full band tour next year.

“Oh man,” Lucy said, “that’s two great nights you’ve given us Gabbie.”

“My pleasure, just lucky happenstance. It’s only part of what I owe you for all you’ve done for me.”

Lucy stopped walking and pulled Gabbie into a hug and said, “Gabbie, nobody owes anybody anything, we’re a team, a partnership, a dynamic trio.”

“Thanks Lucy, but I still feel you’ve helped me more than I could ever help you.”

“Well, I’d like to think if the roles were reversed, you’d do the same for me.”

“I really hope I would.”

They kissed there in the street and nobody around them batted an eyelid, this is amazing, because normally at least one person would tut or call them out.

Eventually they pulled apart with some reluctance and Lucy took Steve’s hand, and they set off back to the hotel singing as they walked.

Nessa was back on the night reception desk, “good evening, you folks look happy again, and sober!”

“We’re just been to a gig at King Tuts, and we’ve had nothing to drink all day, well nothing alcoholic or we’d be very thirsty by now.” Gabbie said, “oh, thanks for breakfast, it made us human again.”

“Absolutely my pleasure, and Charlie’s as well, apparently he got quite a treat this morning.”

“Arghhh, we were hoping he’d be a gentleman and pretend he didn’t see anything,” Lucy said.

“Don’t worry, nobody actually believes him. So, who did you see tonight?”

“Katey Sparrow, I’ve wanted to see her since she was on X-Factor when I was little, she’s so strong and inspirational.”

“Oh yes, I know Katey, I’ve seen her a couple of times at Barrowlands. Why did she play King Tuts this time, it’s a tiny room?”

“This was really a solo tour, well her and Johnny on keys, she told me it was a thank you tour for fans at the end of the year. It was so good.”

“She told you! So you spoke to her?”

“Yeah, she came up to us in the queue for merch, started chatting with us,” Gabbie got out her phone, “look, we got selfies.”

“Amazing, I’m so glad you’re enjoying our city.”

“Oh yeah, we’re having a great time,” Gabbie said, “It’s such a surprise I’m here, I was all set for going home or staying at school for the holidays, but Lucy and Steve invited me to spend time with them, they’re the best friends ever.”

“Do you like your suite? I love the view from up there.”

“We love it, the beds are so comfy, and Steve is a big fan of the coffee machine.”

The reception phone rang just then, Nessa reached for the handset, “the bar’s still open if you want a nightcap, enjoy the rest of your evening kids.”

“Do you want a quick drink ladies?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I think I’d like a nice drink before bed, what about you Gabbie?”

“Well, now you mention it I am a bit thirsty.”

So they walked past Nessa and into the bar. It was getting on for midnight and the bar was pretty quiet, only a few tables were taken, mostly bored businessmen, they also saw a few couples, none of whom looked terribly happy to be there, which seemed odd, this was a good hotel in a great city, why the long faces?

Steve watched as every man in the room followed the girls with their eyes, a couple of the women scowled at their partners.

“Ok, what are we having?” Steve asked.

“I’ll have a Jack Daniels, a double please,” Gabbie said.

Lucy looked at Gabbie, her eyebrows raised.

“Well, it was Amy Winehouse’s favourite drink,” Gabbie said.

“As long as that’s the only one of Amy’s habits you enjoy.”

“To be honest, this will probably be a bit harsh for me anyway.”

“No matter, I’m sure Steve will finish it for you.”

Steve was running his eyes across the malts, he alighted on an 18 year old Laphroaig at cask strength, his house master had often mentioned this as a perfect Islay, so he asked for a single measure, no ice.

“What should I have Steve?”

“What do you fancy?”

“I don’t know, I don’t fancy anything as strong as you’re having, or as rock & roll as Gabbie’s”

“You still want a whisky though?”

“Oh yes, I’m definitely not wimping out and having a G&T.”

“Right, my girl will have a double of the Balvenie 21 Madeira cask.”

Drinks in hand they retired to a table by the window, all eyes in the room followed Lucy and Gabbie every step of the way, Steve was certain Gabbie was putting extra effort into walking the room.

“That guy’s eyes are literally popping out of his head Gabbie,” Lucy was saying as Steve pulled a third chair up to their table.

Steve leaned across to the guy, who was at the next table and was starting to drool, “They’re both 15, so maybe try not to drool so much,” he whispered.

The guy got to his feet and practically ran out of the bar.

“I guess he’s offended by his own thoughts,” Lucy said as the door swung shut behind him.

They enjoyed their drink in silence for a little while, looking out across the empty square outside the window, the trees already strung with fairy lights two months before Christmas.

“Steve, I’ve been thinking...”

“What have you been thinking Lucy?”

“I’ve been thinking that I’m ready.”

“For what?”

“Anal...” she whispered.

“Oh, I don’t know, you saw how it hurt Gabbie, and she’s done it lots of times before.”

“It only hurt her a little bit, didn’t it Gabbie?”

“No, it hurt a lot, but only for a few minutes, then it hurt like hell the next time I went to the toilet.”

“Oh, come on Steve, most guys would jump at the chance if their girl offered them their anal cherry.”

“Yeah, but most guys won’t spend the whole time worrying they’re about to seriously injure their girlfriend.”

“I’m sure we can get this to work Steve,” Gabbie reassured him, “we’ll just have to be very careful.”

“Ok, but we’ll need more booze. I’ll go get another round in, are we all ok with the drinks we’ve picked?”

“Oh yes, mines lovely, you picked well,” Lucy said.

“Mine is a bit heavy, can I have it with Diet Coke this time please?”

Steve headed for the bar, which was which was full of people now it was coming up to last orders.

“Are you absolutely sure about this Lucy?” Gabbie asked, “because I’m not kidding, it fucking hurt me.”

“I need to do it, at least once, it’s filling my thoughts all the time since you told me about you and Joel, and fingers in there feel so good. I won’t be happy until I’ve done it.”

“Right, so we need to make sure we do this as safely as possible. Hang on a sec, I need to ask Nessa something.”

Gabbie left the bar and was relieved to see Nessa was on her own.

“Hi Nessa, I was wondering if it was possible to have a couple of dark bath towels sent up to our room.”

“Oh hey honey, that’s not a problem, someone dying their hair?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“I’ll have housekeeping put some in your room right away.”

Gabbie went back into the bar, hoping Nessa didn’t guess what the towels were really for. Steve was still at the bar, he’d not been served yet and the queue was just getting longer and more disorganised, so she went to help, pushing her small body to the front of the queue, fairly sure the barman would notice her a long time before he noticed the many men in boring suits and ties who crowded the small bar. Her plan worked and a young chap appeared in front of her as if by magic.

“What are you having, miss?”

“Ahh yes, Steve what are we having?”

The twenty guys who were in front of him in the queue all groaned when they realised she’d just helped Steve jump the queue.

As Steve paid for the drinks she took them back to their table, Lucy was looking out of the window, miles away.

She started as Gabbie put the glasses down and took her seat.

“I think I’m doing the right thing, do you reckon I’ll be ok?”

“Sweetie, I can’t make your mind up for you, all I can do is help you with whatever you decide.”

“I love you Gabbie, oh, and this guy, I love him too,” she added as Steve took his seat.