“Leave him alone, Ven,” I laughed. He ignored me, of course. Instead of leaving the poor prospect alone, Vienna started making kissing noises through the phone.
“Monster there?” Vienna asked when he was finally finished.
“Oh, for fuck's sake. What now? What has she done?” Monster snapped.
“Gee, mate. I dunno. How about sending me five hundred of those plastic fucking animalsinsidea ‘get well soon’ balloon? The thing almost crushed me. She knows I’ve only got one good lung, right?”
“Shereallywants those birds,” Monster muttered, shrinking down in his seat.
“Well, what’s that got to do with me? Dante said no! I was in support of the stupid bird! I distinctly remember making clucking noises!”
“That was to me,” Chicken interrupted. “You spammed my voice mail at three in the morning with different impressions of chickens.”
“Well, there were bird noises, weren’t there? See, I’m the innocent victim in all of this.”
“Well…” Monster said, sucking the breath in between his teeth.
“You are not taking her side right now! Tell me, Monster. I need to hear the words. Tell me I’m the innocent victim.”
“Fuck me, you’re a needy little cunt,” I muttered, rolling my eyes even though he couldn’t see me.
“And you did tell Steph you had Dante wrapped around your little finger and that he takes orders from you,” Monster laughed.
“What?!” I barked.
“Yeah… This is awkward,” Vienna said. “Look, the doctors here, I’ve gotta go. Speak to you all soon. See you in your dreams, Pivot.”
He hung up the phone, and Monster cringed even further into his seat.
“Fucking Snow White,” I snapped, lighting another cigarette. “Fine. Tell her she wins. She can havetwobirds. Two, Monster, and I fucking mean it.”
“So Vienna does call the shots around here,” Hacksaw muttered bitterly.
“What was that?”
“It just seems to me that Vienna gets away with a lot more shit than the rest of us.”
“Are you keeping fucking tabs or something? What exactly does he get away with?”
“Forget it,” he snapped, waving me away.
“If you’ve got something to say, brother, say it. Because yes, Vienna may be a fucking pillock. He may be annoying, and irritating, but I think we can all say he gets shit done. When he was the peacemaker, he did his job to fucking perfection, and he’s never let me down as vice yet.”
“Yeah, Vienna issofucking perfect.”
“I don’t know what the fuck went on between the two of you, but you need to get that shit sorted, and quickly.”
“Maybe you should ask him yourself.”
“Are we on the fucking playground? In case it’s escaped your notice, he’s not fucking here and you are. Speak up, or shut the fuck up. It’s as simple as that.”
He glared at me whilst I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to say something. He turned away and my phone pinged with another text.
Rachel: They won’t let me shoot.
Dante: Who won’t? What are you shooting?
Dante: In fact, scrap that.Whyare you shooting, and where are you?
