Room 234/236 : Saturday evening
Parker woke up to a small sandpapery tongue licking her chin. "What... M." The sun slanting through the shades told her it was past late afternoon, with sunset fading fast. Esme hopped over to nose at her fingers too. She must have fallen asleep after crying herself out after the scene with Jarod, too exhausted to do anything else. Great. Stroking her fingers through M's fur, Parker tiredly checked the time.
"Oh, no. No no no no..." Teal Dear were supposed to be on-stage in twenty minutes, and she felt like complete disaster. God, maybe she should just skip it--
No. She was the manager, and maybe they wouldn't notice if she were there, but maybe they would. Zero would understand, but Parker owed it to her and the others to at least try. Besides, what if no one else showed up? What if something went wrong? She couldn't bail. Even though all she wanted to do was curl into a little ball and start crying again. No. Get up. Get it together.
"Jesus." The girl in the mirror was a mess. Bloodshot eyes, tear-streaks, fabulous, she looked like a train wreck. Everyone would know something was wrong. She could not go looking like this. Parker washed her face, then put an icepack on her eyes, aware of the ticking clock. Visine. More ice. Very, very carefully re-applied make-up, hairspray on a brush through her hair, water and aspirin for her pounding head.
There. Parker studied her reflection minutely, and relaxed. Normal. Maybe she looked a little tired. But if she could just keep herself from another crying jag-- which meant *not* thinking about who she'd been crying about-- maybe this would work, and no one would know. She wouldn't have to tell anyone until she could deal. So no thinking about him. At all.
Teal Dear, Teal Dear, rock music commissions gigs money and fame and harmony and hopefully Agnes would be okay and Chad was calm and Zero wasn't freaking out and Jack and Rory were there setting up and was she late yet, no, not if she got a rickshaw-- Jarod's not coming back. --no no that way lies another breakdown let's think about lights and the amps and Pippi's drums and Peter being the Groupie and...
Parker headed out quickly, shades in place. Better claim a migraine so she could leave them on. She needed all the armor she could muster.
"Oh, no. No no no no..." Teal Dear were supposed to be on-stage in twenty minutes, and she felt like complete disaster. God, maybe she should just skip it--
No. She was the manager, and maybe they wouldn't notice if she were there, but maybe they would. Zero would understand, but Parker owed it to her and the others to at least try. Besides, what if no one else showed up? What if something went wrong? She couldn't bail. Even though all she wanted to do was curl into a little ball and start crying again. No. Get up. Get it together.
"Jesus." The girl in the mirror was a mess. Bloodshot eyes, tear-streaks, fabulous, she looked like a train wreck. Everyone would know something was wrong. She could not go looking like this. Parker washed her face, then put an icepack on her eyes, aware of the ticking clock. Visine. More ice. Very, very carefully re-applied make-up, hairspray on a brush through her hair, water and aspirin for her pounding head.
There. Parker studied her reflection minutely, and relaxed. Normal. Maybe she looked a little tired. But if she could just keep herself from another crying jag-- which meant *not* thinking about who she'd been crying about-- maybe this would work, and no one would know. She wouldn't have to tell anyone until she could deal. So no thinking about him. At all.
Teal Dear, Teal Dear, rock music commissions gigs money and fame and harmony and hopefully Agnes would be okay and Chad was calm and Zero wasn't freaking out and Jack and Rory were there setting up and was she late yet, no, not if she got a rickshaw-- Jarod's not coming back. --no no that way lies another breakdown let's think about lights and the amps and Pippi's drums and Peter being the Groupie and...
Parker headed out quickly, shades in place. Better claim a migraine so she could leave them on. She needed all the armor she could muster.