I see someone who looks like they might work there. ‘Have you seen a blonde girl, pretty, bubbly?’
The bloke looks at me incredulously and disappears off into the crowd. He’s quickly swallowed up into the melee and I can no longer see him. Perhaps he wasn’t the right person to ask. After a sudden brainwave, I pull out my phone, find a pic of Izzy with Chloe and Mel and show it to people. I blunder along, tapping random people on the shoulder, asking them if they’ve seen Izzy.
‘Wish I had seen her, pretty hot, huh?’ one guy lurches. His mates around him laugh raucously.
‘Wanna join our crowd, love?’ another bloke mutters, draping his arm round my shoulders.
‘Erm, maybe another time, thanks.’ I politely remove his arm and push though the throng to another part of the room, the noise is getting louder as I seem to be nearer the DJ.
I look about for some sign of Izzy, or even a group around someone who might be feeling unwell, but am getting to the point where I want to give up when an attractive girl with tawny dreadlocks shouts in my ear, ‘Dunno who you’re looking for but there’s someone huddled on the floor in the loos.’
I thank her gratefully and push my way through the crowd, following the signed directions to the ladies.
They are dark, almost black, row after row of cubicles, loo roll all over the floor and a horrible smell. I cautiously advance round the corner, when I come across a figure slumped on the tiles. I run up and touch her gently. ‘Izzy?’ She seems to be unconscious. Beside her, it looks suspiciously as though she’s been sick.
‘Izzy? Are you okay? Can you hear me?’
She groans, mutters something incoherent and promptly passes out again. She reeks of alcohol, I’m not sure what, but it’s pretty pungent. I half drag, half pull her onto one side into the recovery position. No-one ever warns you how heavy someone is when they are totally out of it. Next, I quickly dial the ambulance and give our location. This whole situation feels surreal, me squatting on the floor of a disgusting public toilet, my arm round Izzy who’s still unconscious. I sit there for ages, wondering how on earth she got into this mess and why she was with Daniel.
It seems to have been forever and my legs have gone to sleep when a familiar head peers round the door.
‘Maria? What are you doing here?’
‘Oh my God, is that Izzy? What’s happened?’ Maria rushes over and squats down at Izzy’s side.
‘I think she’s passed out, I presume that’s all it is?’
‘Oh God, I knew she was in a bad way, but I’ve been dealing with Louisa,’ says Maria distractedly, checking Izzy’s pulse.
‘Louisa?’
‘We were all here having a few drinks, you know a group of us: Charles, Izzy, Tamara and everyone, and Louisa fell down the stairs,’ Maria explains, looking distressed. ‘I left Charles with her for a minute while I came to the loo. We’re going to get her to A&E in a mo.’
‘So, how come you were all here together? How did Izzy end up on her own?’ I’m still puzzled as to what’s going on.
At that moment, a friendly voice calls round the door. ‘Can I come in?’ It’s a couple of paramedics, calm and capable. To my exhausted mind, they seem like angels. They gently ask us a couple of questions while examining Izzy, one of them jotting down their obs.
I hear an altercation outside the door. It’s a man’s voice shouting, ‘I don’t bloody care if it’s the women’s loos! I know the girl who’s sick in there and I’m going in.’
The door bursts open and in storms Matthew, dishevelled but determined; a young woman with nose piercings and an interesting feather tattoo behind her ear, at his heels. ‘Matthew, what are you doing here?’ I stutter.
The feisty young woman retreats back out of the door, having evidently seen that I know this man.
‘I came as soon as I could, I got a text from Daniel,’ Matthew pants as he wedges himself inside the door. ‘Is she okay?’
I glance haplessly at the female paramedic who turns out to be called Rita.
‘We don’t know yet, she’s in a pretty bad way. Do you know if she ever takes anything recreationally?’
‘Drugs?’ Matthew exclaims. ‘She’d never do that, she wouldn’t be that stupid.’
‘You’d be surprised,’ Rita replies ominously. ‘Sometimes it’s just the once for fun, and in minutes it can all go horribly wrong.’
Matthew’s face contorts with worry, and Maria looks shocked.
‘I don’t think Izzy would take them even once,’ I say firmly. ‘Anyway, she reeks of alcohol.’
‘Yes, she must have had a fair amount to be in this state,’ Rita replies. ‘Though sometimes they mix the two, or she could have had her drink spiked,’ she adds cheerfully as an afterthought.
Matthew and I exchange glances.
‘Surely that’s not likely,’ Maria says weakly. ‘We were with her all the time until the last half hour or so.’
‘Don’t worry, we’ll get her to hospital, then we can find out what’s going on,’ says the other paramedic. I think his name’s Gary. I like him, he’s steady, calm, somehow reassuring. ‘Rita, give me a hand, we’re going to get her on the trolley.’
‘Can I go with her in the ambulance?’ I ask.
‘You can, but it might be better if your friend here, Matthew isn’t it, takes you in his car. She’s certainly going to be staying in overnight.’
Matthew readily agrees to give me a lift. We watch numbly as Izzy’s taken off on a trolley to the ambulance. She looks frighteningly young and vulnerable, her blonde head poking out the top of the hospital blanket, her face pallid. I’m frightened by the fact she’s still unconscious.
We’re joined at the doorway by Charles and another guy propping up a wilting Louisa, who’s left ankle is horribly swollen. She also has an ugly-looking gash on her head.
Matthew hurls questions at Charles. ‘What the hell’s going on? How on earth did this happen? How did Izzy end up here?’
‘I don’t know,’ Charles replies uncomfortably. ‘We all stopped off here for a few drinks. It isn’t my style at all, but everyone seemed to want to come, apart from Maria of course.’ He glances at her briefly, then looks away. ‘We had a couple of drinks but next thing, Tamara started doing this drinking game with shots, you know, Jägerbombs, then Louisa and Izzy followed suit, which I must admit I was a bit worried about, but I thought they must do this all the time. I didn’t want to seem like a spoilsport.’
‘Surely you must have noticed things were getting out of hand?’ Matthew glares right into Charles’s face. ‘Izzy’s very vulnerable, she needs looking after, not bloody encouraging into a worse situation.’
‘Please, guys, this isn’t going to sort things out,’ Maria pleads. ‘Charles, I really think we should be getting Louisa checked out at the hospital.’
‘Yes, you’re right.’ Charles seems to recollect himself.
‘Can they come with us?’ I ask Matthew diffidently. ‘It would make more sense, surely.’
‘Yes fine, as long as they’re quick – I must get there as soon as possible to make sure Izzy’s okay.’ Matthew’s face is ashen. He’s obviously smitten with her and is worth twenty of Josh, whether he gushes poetry or not.