Cecelia Ahern - P.S. I Love You

Holly started laughing. “I thought it was on at eight o'clock so I came at half seven.”

“Oh no.” Sharon looked worried.

“Oh, don't worry, it was fine. Daniel kept me company,” she said, pointing over to him.

“Him?” John said angrily, “Watch yourself with him, Holly, he's a bit of an oddball. You should have heard the stuff he was saying to Sharon the other night.”

Holly giggled to herself and quickly excused herself from their company to join her family.

“Meredith not with you tonight?” she boldly asked Richard.

“No, she's not,” he snapped back rudely and headed over to the bar.

“Why does he bother coming to these things at all?” she moaned to Jack while he held her head to his chest and rubbed her hair, playfully consoling her.

“OK, everyone!” Declan stood on a stool and announced to the group, “Because Ciara couldn't decide what to wear tonight, we're all late and my documentary is about to start any minute. So if you can just all shut up and sit down that would be great.”

“Oh, Declan.” Holly's mother admonished him for his rudeness.

Holly searched around the room for Ciara and spotted her glued to Daniel's side at the bar. She laughed to herself and settled down to watch the documentary. As soon as the announcer introduced it, everybody cheered, but they were quickly hushed by an angry Declan, who didn't want them to miss a thing.

The words “Girls and the City” appeared over a beautiful nighttime shot of Dublin city, and Holly became nervous. The words “The Girls” appeared over a black screen and was followed by a shot of Sharon, Denise, Abbey and Ciara all squashed beside each other in the back of a taxi. Sharon was speaking:

“Hello! I'm Sharon and this is Abbey, Denise and Ciara.”

Each of the girls posed for their close-up as they were introduced.

“And we're heading to our best friend Holly's house because it's her birthday today . . .”

The scene changed to the girls surprising Holly with shouts of “Happy Birthday” at her front door. It returned to Sharon in the taxi.

“Tonight it's gonna be just us girls and NO men . . .”

The scene switched to Holly opening the presents and holding the vibrator up to the camera and saying, “Well, I'll definitely need this!” Then it returned to Sharon in the taxi saying:

“We are gonna do lots and lots of drinking . . .”

Now Holly was popping open the champagne, then the girls were knocking back shots in Boudoir, and eventually it showed Holly with the crooked tiara on her head, drinking out of a champagne bottle with a straw.

“We are gonna go clubbing . . .”

There was then a shot of the girls in Boudoir doing some very embarrassing moves on the dance floor. Sharon was shown next, speaking sincerely.

“But nothing too mad! We're gonna be good girls tonight!”

The next scene showed the girls protesting wildly as they were escorted out of the club by three bouncers.

Holly's jaw dropped open and she stared in shock over at Sharon, who was equally surprised.

The men just laughed their hearts out and slapped Declan on the back, congratulating him for exposing their partners. Holly, Sharon, Denise, Abbey and even Ciara slithered down in their seats with humiliation.

What on earth had Declan done?

Eighteen

THERE WAS COMPLETE SILENCE IN the club as everyone stared at the screen in anticipation. Holly held her breath; she was nervous now about what was going to appear.

Perhaps the girls would be reminded of what exactly they had all conveniently succeeded in forgetting about that night. The truth terrified her. After all, how drunk must they all have been to completely forget the events of that night? Unless somebody was lying, in which case they should be even more nervous right now. Holly looked around at the girls. They were all chewing on their fingernails. Holly crossed her fingers.

A new title appeared on the screen, “The Gifts.” “Open mine first,” shrieked Ciara from the television, thrusting her present toward Holly and shoving Sharon off the couch and onto the ground. Everyone in the club laughed while they watched Abbey dragging a horrified Sharon to her feet. Ciara left Daniel's side and tiptoed over to the rest of the girls for security. Everyone oohed and aahed, as one by one Holly's birthday presents were unveiled. A lump formed in Holly's throat as Declan zoomed in on the two photographs on the mantelpiece while Sharon's toast was made.

Once again a new title took over the screen, “Journey to the City,” and showed the girls scrambling over one another to get into the seven-seater taxi. It was obvious they were pretty pissed by now. Holly was shocked; she had actually thought she was quite sober at that stage.

“Oh, John,” Holly moaned drunkenly to the taxi driver from the passenger seat, “I'm thirty today, can you believe it?”

John the taxi driver, who couldn't give a flying flute what age she was, glanced over at her and laughed, “Sure you're only a young one still, Holly.” His voice was low and gravelly. The camera zoomed in on Holly's face and she cringed at the sight of herself. She looked so drunk, so sad .

“But what am I gonna do, John?” she whinged. “I'm thirty! I have no job, no husband, no children and I'm thirty! Did I tell you that?” she asked, leaning toward him. Behind her Sharon giggled. Holly thumped her.

In the background you could hear the girls all chattering excitedly to one another. Actually it sounded like they were talking over one another; it was hard to see how any type of conversation was going on.

“Ah, enjoy yourself tonight, Holly, don't get caught up in silly emotions on your birthday. Worry about all that shite tomorrow, love.” John sounded so caring, Holly made a note to call him and thank him.

The camera stayed with Holly as she leaned her head against the window and remained silent, lost in thought for the rest of the journey. Holly couldn't get over how lonely she looked. She didn't like it. She looked around the room in embarrassment and caught Daniel's eye. He winked at her in encouragement. Well, if she needed winks for encouragement, she thought, then everybody must have been thinking the same thing. She smiled weakly and turned back around to face the screen in time to see herself screaming to the girls on O'Connell Street.

“OK, girls. We are going to Boudoir tonight and no one is going to stop us from getting in, especially not any silly bouncers who think they own the place,” and she marched off in what she thought at the time was a straight line. All the girls cheered and followed after her.

The scene immediately jumped to the two bouncers outside Boudoir shaking their heads. “Not tonight, girls, sorry.”

Holly's family howled with laughter.

“But you don't understand,” Denise said calmly to the bouncers. “Do you not know who we are?”

“No,” they both said and stared over their heads, ignoring them.

“Huh!” Denise put her hands on her hips and pointed to Holly. “But this is the very, very extremely famous . . . em . . . Princess Holly from the royal family of . . . Finland.” On camera Holly frowned at Denise.

Her family once again howled with laughter. “You couldn't write a script better than this,”

Declan laughed.

“Oh, she's royalty, is she?” the bouncer with a mustache smirked.

“Indeed she is,” Denise said seriously.

“Finland got a royal family, Paul?” Mustache Man turned to Paul.

“Don't think so, boss,” was the reply.

Holly fixed the crooked tiara on her head and gave them both a royal wave. “You see?” Denise said, satisfied. “You men will be very embarrassed if you don't let her in.”