“Hm.”Usually Spook drank herbal or green tea, not coffee.
“Don’t believe me?”Xane hitched his pierced eyebrow.“Yup, he’s got you well and truly fooled.Bet you’ve never seen him mainlining cheesy puffs either.”
“Knock it off.”Spook set down his pen.“I hate cheesy puffs.”
“Yeah, like you hate sex.”He threw a meaningful look at Alle.
“It’s us because the others are genuinely busy,” Spook elaborated.“Ash is on his honeymoon.”
“He and Ginny finally got hitched?”
“Yesterday.Took us all by surprise.I barely had my speech prepared.”
“Was it Danger Mouse themed, like they threatened?”she asked.
“It was something.”Xane replied, as he and Spook exchanged nods and secretive smiles.“And get this.You’ll appreciate it.Bang!aren’t even aware of it.”
“And the only photographer there was Xane’s cousin Ric, andBang!won’t pay his prices, even if he could be convinced to sell.”
Ric—Ric Liddell, she recalled was the photographer responsible for most of the Black Halo album covers.Also, the unreleased erotic art book of the band that was supposed to have accompanied their second album.He was something of a legend.And a virtual recluse if she recalled correctly.
“I’m surprised he agreed to photograph a wedding,” she said.
Xane nodded sagely.“He loved it, but it’ll be a unique wedding album, that’s for certain.I doubt Ash is ever gonna let anyone look at it.I’m certain there are at least a few pictures in which his bride was seriously underdressed.”
“Maybe we can sneak a peek while he’s skinning Ric for taking them.In any case, it’s nothing Paul and I haven’t seen before,” Spook said.He picked up his pen and signed a few more cases.“Actually, I think he’ll be more concerned over the photos in whichhe’sseriously underdressed.I swear your cousin took more photographs of people getting ready than he did during the whole of the ceremony and aftermath.”
“Drunkenness isn’t sexy,” Xane said, making air quotes with his fingers.“Ric likes to be different.You know that.There’ll be a handful of formal shots to please Ash’s folks, and the rest of the album will be supremely arty and triple-X-rated.”
The talk of the wedding continued on for a while, as they scribbled more signatures, and eventually exchanged piles of CDs.Alle set herself the task of stowing the albums with both men’s signatures on them away in a different box.She stacked them by the water dispenser.
Her tension was easing, but the air in the room still wasn’t entirely settled.They still needed to talk it all through in detail, but this wasn’t the time or place to poke at those feelings.
“So, that’s Ash, but what about the rest of the guys?”
“Luthor’s drumming for another band,” Xane said.
“And Paul’s in a field somewhere, probably getting rained on, and enduring lectures about artificial fibres and sustainability from his folks while ostensibly celebrating another year on the planet.Really, there’s some massive, backslapping, look at all us old-timers still going strong folk event on, that his parents have convinced him he has to attend.Probably so they can haul him on stage with them, sing happy birthday, and make him play the lute.”
“It’s not a lute,” Xane interjected.“It’s a mandolin.”He burst into song.“I’m the storyteller, and my story must be told.Do-do-do-do-da-da.”
They both started chuckling, so Alle figured she’d missed a joke somewhere that neither man was about to explain.They were both still sniggering, occasionally humming the same tune, and making references to scrumpy and mushrooms when the intern came back to tell them the photographer had arrived.Despite feeling left out of the conversation, the smile on Spook’s face made it worth it.She held his hand as they walked down to the make-shift studio together, hopeful that by the end of the day, her brother’s journalistic firestorm would no longer be between them.
***
By the time the guys were finished with the photoshoot and the seemingly endless boxes of CDs, the sky outside had turned black.Spook nipped off to the toilets leaving Alle waiting with Xane in the foyer.He called a cab.
“What now?”she asked.
“Now?I’m picking up Dani and then we’re going to rescue Luthor from the recording studio and take him somewhere we can fuck his brains out for the night.”
“Oh!You’re not sticking with me and Spook, then?”
His lips stretched into a crooked smile.“Is that what you were hoping?”
“What?No.”
“You never entertained that fantasy?”He steepled his fingers.“You.Me.Him.A very large bed and a box of condoms?”
