One Night and One Morning - Part 2

We walk through the busy Soho nightlife, dodging the Rickshaws and street corner dealers, and head to a mini cab office. After a bit of haggling on price, we are sitting in the back of a 10 year old Toyota Corolla, listening to Magic FM. Her hand is in mine and I feel excited as she looks at me. What has happened so far was the furthest thing from my mind when I came out this evening and suddenly I am filled with thoughts of new possibilities.

The driver seems more anxious to get to our destination than we do, and heads through London like a getaway driver on speed. A sharp turn left followed by a hard right together with hard acceleration and equally forceful braking ensures that the plentiful wine in my system is mixing itself like a shaken Martini. She squeezes my hand and looks at me and kisses me again and I close my eyes. Suddenly, the inside of the car starts to spin. I open my eyes to stop the spinning and focus on her. The spinning slows but doesn’t stop as I sink lower into the back seat and try to concentrate on a fixed position in the back of the driver’s seat. ‘Focus, focus, you’ll be out soon, it’s just the motion’ I think to myself. “Are you ok?” she asks. I smile sheepishly. “Yeah fine” I say, before realising that I’m not and the inside of the car is beginning to swirl again. “Actually I think I just need to get some air.” ”Ok” she says “Can you stop the car please” she tells the driver. The driver takes a sharp turn onto the kerb and I duck out.

I stand and lean on the back of the car, taking deep breaths. ‘You’re not going to do this, you’re ok, you’re fine, breathe... breathe...’ And then it comes. I’m hoping to God that she’s not looking out the back of the car. I look like a criminal waiting to be frisked as I lean with my hands on the boot, my legs spread as I desperately try to avoid ruining my shoes and suit trousers. I’m trying to be as discrete as possible, or as discreet as a man vomiting on a busy high street in the early hours can be. ‘Oh God that must be it, no more PLEASE...’ I mutter under my breath. My stomach decides that it wants to punish me though and twists and convulses as if to make sure that there is nothing more to give.

A couple of minutes later though and I start to feel better, that last one was it. My stomach is seemingly now empty and I have a second wind. I’ve pulled it together and the world has stopped spinning. I straighten myself, take a breath and get back into the car “Sorry about that” I say. “You ok?” she says. “Yeah, just needed some air”, I say with a manufactured smile. ‘Oh God, did she see me, I hope she didn’t, I’m sure she didn’t...’ She leans over and kisses me on the lips.

I was right, she didn’t.