‘You sure?’

I nodded before walking towards the bar. Thankfully, new bar staff were serving drinks this morning. I ordered the largest orange juice they had and took a big sip. The ice-cold sour liquid was like being splashed with cold water, and I felt instantly more awake.

‘Rough night?’ I turned to see a tall man in a pair of white linen shorts and a white Burn Promotions shirt.

He extended his hand and said, ‘I’m Arnav.’ I smiled weakly, and he burst out laughing. ‘I’m the PR manager assigned to you for the festival. I sent you the original message.’ As I shook his hand, I wondered if I was going to be berated for my lack of posts last night.

‘Are you enjoying yourself?’

I nodded, unsure of what to say.

‘I’m not going to keep you long. I just came over to say that, although we understand your feed is more curated,’ he emphasised the word curated and I felt myself blush, ‘we would like a little more live content today. Okay?’ I couldn’t find the words to make an excuse for why I hadn’t posted last night. Again, I nodded and internally screamed at myself for not finding my voice. ‘We aren’t unhappy with you, Jhanvi; it’s just that these things tend to benefit both the promoter and the promotee, when they are posted at the moment.’

‘I understand completely,’ I said, finally finding the words. ‘I will make the relevant adjustments for today’s posts.’ Arnav smiled and wished me luck for the remainder of the day. As he walked away, I put my elbows on the bar counter to steady myself. My heart was racing and I felt as if I was going to be sick again.

‘You all right?’ The phrase made my heart leap. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I remembered it from last night.

‘Could I have a double vodka?’ I said, sliding the glass with orange juice across the bar counter. The barman smiled knowingly. I needed to calm my nerves, and I knew one drink wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Picking up my glass, I walked towards Kavya. A hand grabbed my arm, swinging me around.

It was Gaurav. ‘You need to stay out of my life, Jhanvi,’ he said, squeezing my arm. ‘I don’t know what you told Latika last night, but I came back to my room to be greeted with her acting like a drunken slut with some loser marketing nerd.’ I pulled my arm back, spilling orange juice on his white sneakers. ‘Just perfect,’ he spat at me. ‘I don’t need my reputation pulled through the mud because of a bitter ex and a stupid woman!’

‘As opposed to your stellar reputation when you recorded yourself naked and allowed it to leak onto social media?’ I shot back.

‘Get lost, asshole!’ Kavya said, appearing from behind me, hands on her hips, ready to take on Gaurav. He put his hands up in defeat. Not wanting to cause a scene, he walked away to sit with Latika in the corner. Kavya rolled her eyes and locked her arm in mine. We spent the remainder of the day watching musicians and taking photos; I made sure to post photos as requested by Arnav. Every second trip to the bar was mine, and by the fourth trip, I was beginning to feel a bit buzzed. I knew we had to fly back tomorrow morning; I couldn’t afford to have a repeat of last night. Eventually, I convinced Kavya that I needed to go back to the room, tasking her with taking photos of the night set for me to post.