It was eleven o'clock the next morning when Lily finally decided to grace her mother and brother with her presence at the breakfast table, though now it was in the middle of being transformed into the lunch table.
"Oh so she finally gets up!" her mother chided as her daughter plonked herself down on one of the old, rickety chairs. The sunlight was pouring through the kitchen window right on to her and hurting her already overly sensitive eyes. Her mouth was dry and her head was pounding as if there was a mini brass band playing inside her brain. She was already in a bad mood and couldn't be doing with these snide little comments so she decided to keep her mouth shut in hopes that her mother would soon get tired of it. She was also hoping that her mother would forget that she had answered her back last night and would take pity on her. No such luck it would seem and she was told that if she wanted a cup of tea she would have to get up and heat the pot herself.
"You were with that Yank all night, weren't you?" Jack provoked her with much glee, flashing her a condescending smile as she poured the steaming hot liquid into her cup with trembling, unsteady hands. Lily might have let her mother talk to her like that, but she wasn't about to let someone snot nosed little toe rag speak to her in the same manner.
"Shut it, you little git!" she snapped and Jack immediately jumped back into his chair. He thought she would accept his teasing due to her delicate condition but it appeared he had overestimated her irritability. And he certainly knew not to wind his sister up further, having been on the receiving end of a beating from her many a time. But whilst her outburst had certainly silenced her brother, it only further enraged her mother.
"Oi, don't you dare talk to him like that!" she shouted in an equally loud voice, marching over to the table and giving her daughter a good wallop over the head. Luckily the feeling of nausea had disappeared long before she descended down the stairs or else her mother would have ended up with a nasty present all over the newly mopped floor. "My God girl, you've become a right little madam. It's all that Sybil's fault, I always said she was a bad influence"
"Mum, please don't start, I'm not feeling well" she informed her mother, cradling her head as she sat began to stir the milk around in her tea, the stench of greasy eggs and lard making her stomach turn and the clanking of metal against china making her feel like her ears were bleeding.
"Oh aye? And why would that be? Coz you were out boozing it all night with your little floozy friends. Thank God your father isn't here to see this. And where do you think you're going?" Mrs Coulson demanded to know as Lily rose out of her seat and stormed off.
"Out!" was Lily simple reply. She had just about had enough of this. She wasn't going to sit there and let her mother badmouth her. She grabbed her coat from off the bottom of the stairs and flung the door open.
"Oh no you don't!" her mother shouted, following her out into the hallway and determined to catch up with her. But as soon as she stepped over the kitchen threshold her daughter had already succeeded in unlocking and opening the front door. The only thing that she could do in response was to yell, "Don't you dare slam that door!" which was met with deaf ears as Lily pulled the door after her with a mighty bang that rung through the house. She couldn't figure out what had gotten into her daughter recently.
"Oh Lily, you look terrible!" was the first thing Jean said when she saw Lily come up the road towards the high street where they would do their weekly shop, or more realistically window shop now that rationing was in full place. She was so used to seeing her fresh faced and preemed, but at the moment she looked like death warmed up. Her usually already pale face was as white as chalk and she had great big bags under her eyes.
"Aw poor little Lily's got her first hangover" Sybil smirked as she threw her arm around her shoulder and welcomed her into what she liked to deem the 'bad girls' club.
"I don't even remember drinking that much" Lily confessed, but she was certainly sure that she wouldn't be drinking again in a hurry. The taste of sherry still lingered at the back of her throat everytime she swallowed leaving a foul taste in her mouth.
"I think that Donny put something in your drink" Evie pipped up. She was overly suspicious of those American and had taken a special dislike to Mr Raine and Donowitz who she was convinced were trying to take advantage of her friends. Donny in particular frightened her, especially after his little inquisition of her last night.
"Don't talk daft. She drank too much and couldn't handle it" Sybil rationalised and for once in her life she was the only one who was talking any sense.
"I should have stayed in bed" Lily moaned she nursed her head with her hand, resulting in a sympathetic Jean putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Stop your moaning and pull yourself together" Sybil said, getting sick of her friend's self pitying act, after all it was only a hangover, she had plenty of them herself and didn't go about acting as though she were dying, "We're going to pay the guys a little visit" she informed.
"Really?" Lily and Evie chorused together.
"Yes" Sybil replied and rolled her eyes in annoyance at her simple minded friends.
"I don't want to go and talk to them looking like this" Lily objected. She knew she looked a state and this was only confirmed when she caught sight of herself in a shop window and was met by the reflection of an ashen faced girl who had black rings puffing out from beneath her blood shot eyes.
"What? Scared that Donny's going to be put off? Trust me, if he wasn't put off by your rendition of 'the White Cliffs of Dover' I'm sure he won't be put off by what a bit of make up can cover up" Sybil insisted and the other girls giggled as they dragged Lily into the tea room to help sort herself out.
An hour later and the girls had managed to coax the Basterds out of their training regime and into teaching them how to play a game of baseball. Currently it was Lily's turn and she and Donny were having a lot of fun in the process of the lesson.
"Now hold the bat like this, no like this" he instructed her, positioning her hands within his own and pressing his body right up close to hers, making her her heart thump a little harder against her chest and she couldn't help but swallow nervously at his closeness. But even when she was holding the bat correctly he still kept his hands wrapped around hers and he brought her arms back so they could swing the bat together. The thought made her happy but equally nervous and she began to feel even more sick than before.
"Now, when Utivich throws the ball" he announced loudly so that both Lily and Utivich could hear. Utivich, who was standing in as the pitcher, appeared to be in a world of his own however. Donny waited for him to come back to his senses for a moment but there seemed to be no such luck and he quickly lost his temper. "Utivich! Throw the fucking ball!"
"What? Oh!" Utivich exclaimed after being rudely brought back to reality. He lifted his right leg from off the ground and after pulling his arm back he shifted his weight back and extended his arm forward, forgetting that the girls were new to the game and he threw the ball so hard that Lily panicked and made no attempt to hit it whatsoever. Instead she put her arms over her head to shield herself from the impact and let out a little squeal.
"Not so fucking hard, you moron! Wanna try again?" Donny inquired, but Lily was adamant that this wasn't the game for her.
"No thanks, I'm not feeling too good anyway. Think i'm gonna sit this one out" she insisted once she had regained her composure. She smiled at Donny and passed him back the bat but despite her smiles he felt like he could throw the bat at Utivich for screwing up the moment for him. Save it for them Nazis, Donny! he kept repeating in his head. At the moment it was only Aldo's words that kept him from losing his temper. Hell yeah, I'm gonna bat myself a whole load of them murdering bastards, he thought to himself, Sub-human my ass!
As Lily made her way back towards her friends, Sybil couldn't help but howl with laughter at her friend's awful performance.
"Oh Lily, Lily, Lily" she mocked, trying her best to wind her up, "I'll show you girls how it's done" Sybil smiled cockily at her friends and went up to where Lily had previously been standing. She took the bat of Donny and when he tried to tell her how to hold it she smirked suggestively and informed him that she knew how to hold a bat as good as any of the men there, much to his amusement. Yet it seemed that her cockiness was her downfall and not only did she manage to miss the ball all three times, but on the third swing the bat flew away from her hands and narrowly avoided hitting Hirschberg who was acting as catcher. As she did her walk of shame back to her friends, the girls stood up and sarcastically applauded her.
"You sure showed us, Sibs!" Jean laughed and even Aldo who was sitting on the sidelines with the girls couldn't resist giving a little smirk at how miserably she had failed despite her arrogance.
"Shut up" She warned them and shot her friends a venomous look as she sat back down on the grass beside them.
"Well as pleasant as your company has been ladies, I'm afraid it's time for us to get back to our duties" Aldo informed them as he stood up and began brushing off the freshly mowed grass that had stuck to his trousers. He called his men up and they quickly formed into line again waiting for their Lieutenant's command. After all they had an important mission to train for and those Nazis weren't going to kill themselves.
"What a pity! Well there's always tonight. Fancy doing something?" Sybil inquired, fluttering her lashes at Aldo.
"Like what?" was Aldo's reply. It seemed he was just as interested in getting some action from Sybil as Donny was with Lily.
"Well I think it's safe to say that the pub is out of bounds" Jean laughed and the others all wore the same supressed smile as she did at the comment.
"What about the cinema? We'd have to get the bus but it's a good night out. We could go to the Boat and Horses afterwards too" Lily thought up.
She hadn't been to the cinema in ages and wanted a good night out. She knew that Sybil would appreciate the venue as a quiet and dark place to make out in the back seats whilst everyone else could enjoy the movie. And since The Boat and Horses would offer as a friendlier pub where they could all have a drink or two and no one would start any fights or get thrown out this time. She just had to remind the guys that the Americans would have to buy the drinks. Donny and Aldo nodded their heads in agreement, though they had ulterior motives running through their heads. Wicki thought it was a pretty good idea too and hoped that he might be able to sit on one side of Lily, even if Donny was sat on the other side of her. Utivich always had a great love of films and didn't care what they saw anyway, whilst Stiglitz was trying to figure out what a boat and horse had to do with anything.
"Sure, sounds swell" Donny confirmed, "What's on?"
"What about Sergeant York? I've heard that it's meant to be good" Evie informed them. Most of them had forgotten that she was even there she had been that quiet this afternoon but they seemed to appreciate her input and all agreed with her suggestion.
"We'll meet you at the stop at Gainford Gardens, seven o'clock. Don't be late! Toodles" Sybil waved goodbye in her usual flirtatious manner, going up to Aldo and teasing him with two kisses on the cheek and a quick peck on the mouth before she ran away and joined up with her friends. Lily couldn't help but wonder where Sybil had gained the courage to act so outrageously and why her mother hadn't thrown her out of their house for acting like a little hussy.