Page 114 of Doc Rock
Mai’s alarm, blaring, roused her from her deep, dreamless sleep. Blinking her eyes in bewilderment, she sat up and grabbed her phone. Holy crap,it wasfive in the evening, and she’d slept for the last seven hours.
She quickly messaged Steve toseeif the paparazzi were still around her house, then packed all her things into the bag Ford brought for her on Thursday and headed out to Steve’s car.
It wasa shock to be outside in the fresh air after so many days stuck in the air-conditioning and under the hospital's neon lights.
As she climbed into Steve’s car, she got a text from him.‘All clear. They got bored Sunday when you didn’t come home.’
Well, that was one less thing to worry about. Now all she needed to do was deal with her stage fright to play a show, admit to the entire town who she really was, and, oh, if she had time, tell Ford that she still loved him, and if he didn’t kiss her again soon, she was going to go out of her mind.
They’d spent the whole weekend texting, and food kept appearing outside the door of the NICU for her and all the staff members who were on shift with her. But he wasn’t pushing; he didn’t insist on seeing her. When she said she was busy in work, he took it at face value and still looked after her.
It didn’t take Mai long to shower and change into her stage outfit of black jeans and a black t-shirt that was easy to move in as she played guitar, before she carefully applied Sie’s trademark makeup.
Standing in front of the mirror, she held the wig in one hand, staring at the woman looking back at her.
This was the point of no return.
She could put the wig on and keep hiding a little longer. Or she could take control and get the‘reveal’out to the public tonight.
Her head began to itch at the thought of putting the wig on. Mai huffed and threw the stupid thing down onto the bench by the sink. She was done hiding.
This is who she was.
The one thing that didn’t go with the look she was going for were her pink glasses.Therewas no way she was putting in contact lenses either, wearing them for the photoshoot reminded her why she hated sticking her fingers into her eyeballs.
Striding into her bedroom, she dug through the top drawer in her wardrobe—the one into which she chucked all the old things she didn’t want togetrid of, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with. She crowed triumphantly as she found what she was looking for.
A few years ago, she’d briefly dated a lawyer, and he kept telling her that her pink glasses made her look childish, so after a while, she got sick of hearing it and bought some black ones so he would shut up. The relationship only lasted for three weeks after she got her black glasses, and she’d chucked them in a drawer to gather dust.
She grinned at herself in the mirror. It wasn’t a bad look. She grabbed her phone, stared at it, gave Sie’s trademark expression,then sent the selfie to the group chat she had with Clara, Sadie, and Hel.
She checked her makeup one last time, grabbed her guitar and headed for the door. Her phone beeped in her handbag, and she stopped to check it, hopingit wouldbe Ford.
Mai sputtered with laughter when shesawit wasa selfie from Clara of her and Taylor, with Hayes snuggled between them, both pouting in the same way Mai had done.
The message read,‘Sorry, we can’t make it tonight. The new boss of the house says we need to stay in. Gloria is coming towatch, Taylor says he apologises in advance. Good luck. Iknowyou’ll be amazing. I hope we can come to the next show!’
Mai slipped her phone back into her bag and assessed how she wasfeeling. She hadn’t yet started to feel too many symptoms of stage fright.
Maybe she could do this.
Maybe there would be a next show.
The line was huge outside the pub when she pulled up. Her pulse began to race, and her breathing became ragged. She tried again and again to gain control of it, but the panic escalated. Her knuckles were white where they gripped the steering wheel.
Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she said,“Come on, Mai, pull it together. It’s only the local pub.”
Opening her eyes, she peered out the window and scanned the crowd. So many of them were wearing Midnight Thunder T-shirts.
Her heart jumped to her throat.She couldn’t do this.
The passenger door of her car was wrenched open, and someone climbed in.
“My darling,”an American voice drawled from the seat next to her.
Mai’s eyes swivelled to the intruder.“Gloria!”
“The one and only. I thought youcoulduse a bit of moral support.”
