51
January
Ruby
I headout of the bathrooms and back to the sound check. Morning sickness? All bloody day sickness. This isn’t helping with my lack of energy and exhaustion. The tour will be over before I’m whale-sized pregnant so I thought everything would be okay. I’m past the twelve weeks and I read that things are supposed to be easier now. The fact my body hates being pregnant worries me, as if telling me something. What the hell have I decided to go through with?
Jem hovers outside and comes straight over. “You okay? You been sick again?” He puts a hand on my clammy forehead. “You have!”
“Jesus, Jem. What are you going to be like when I go into labour?” I hiss.
“I worry about you.”
“I’m coping with the tour, aren’t I?”
We’re four dates into a two-month tour, trawling around Europe. The Ruby Riot boys enjoy the tour bus experience; I’m flying with Jem as much as possible. I received some teasing about being too good for them now I’m rock royalty. I retorted with how unpleasant their house is so why would I want to share their equally confined space on a bus?
Jem wipes my face with the sleeve of his shirt then kisses my forehead softly. “But if you need to…”
I shove him in the chest. “Don’t start all this ‘you’re a fragile flower’ with me. I’m fine.”
“I want to take care of you, okay?” he says and pouts.
“On my terms, remember?”
He laughs. “Oh, how could I forget, Ruby Tuesday?”
Circling my arms around his waist, I press my mouth to his. “Don’t fuss. People will notice and ask why.”
“I think they might notice soon, you’re more than three months and in the book I read—”
“I don’t want yet another update on how big it is. You’re obsessed by that book!” I smile at him.
“Baby. Not ‘it’. And I want to know everything I need to.”
If only Jem’s band mates knew how he spends his spare time these days. I think he knows more about pregnancy than I do.
We head back to the stage where an impatient Dylan fixes Jem with a sour look. “C’mon, I don’t want to spend all afternoon doing this. Sky’s over from England today.”
Jax sits with the sound engineer watching proceedings. Ruby Riot finished the sound check an hour ago, Will and Nate disappeared to try out the local bars, but Jax is eager to learn everything. He helped the roadies and now annoys the sound engineer with questions.
“I’m heading back to the hotel,” I tell Jem.
“Rest.” Jem holds my head in both hands, kisses the top of my hair, then walks back to the stage.
The rest of the day disappears into sleep and I wake about 3P.M. How can I sleep this much and still be exhausted? I head to the hotel restaurant and buy a salad because the smell of anything else nauseates me.
As I look for a table in the cafe area, I spot Cerys with her daughter, and she waves. I haven’t seen Cerys since the wedding at Christmas and although she’s more approachable than Sky, I’m awkward around her. But walking away would be rude.
Cerys smiles warmly as I approach. “Hi, Ruby, how are you?”
“Yeah. Good. You?” I sit and put my salad and bottle of water on the table.
The kid sits next to her mum picking lettuce out of a sandwich and putting it on one side. She’s wearing a costume, including ribbons in her long brown hair, and oversized jewellery. She stares at me.
“Are you a princess?” I ask, feeling awkward under her scrutiny.
“I’m Elsa.”