Page 34 of Between Us

‘Bouncers? Mark is my driver and Ted is my security,’ Amelia said, as if this was apparent to anyone who wasn’t deficient in faculties.

‘Whatever,’ Gina said. ‘You’re not only here visiting your boyfriend, but you’ve also crashed our weekend. You don’t get to tell us what to do.’

Roisin cringed, yet couldn’t fault Gina on any point of accuracy. Therefore, intervening seemed impossible. She suspected everyone else had made this calculation, too. On what basis did they stand Gina down? Amelia was, being honest, the original provocateur here.

‘Gina,’ Matt said, clearing his throat, ‘it’s alright if Ru— Amelia wants to stay. Right, Dev?’

‘Of course!’ Dev said.

Gina, flushed, twitched in her seat as if she’d been tasered. ‘Says fucking who? You’ve not asked the rest of us?’

‘I’ve not had a chance, but …’

‘Are you and Matthew an item of some sort?’ Amelia said in dispassionate tone, with her perfect diction.

‘Er.Nope,’ Gina said quickly and with a nasty laugh. Roisin gathered Gina was drunker than she’d thought.

‘Sorry, what is the problem then? I’m not clear,’ Amelia said. One of her anonymous men entered the room and she said, ‘Ted, close those curtains, would you? That’s right, those ones, thanks.’

‘DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE, TED!’ Gina screamed, and Amelia’s dog fell onto the floor with a plop and started wolf-howling.

‘Seriously,’ Gina stood up and turned to Matt, ‘how dare you? This is my birthday do, and once again, you’ve fucking ruined it. You’ve brought this weird nightmare in here …’ She turned to point at the impassive Oscar nominee. ‘Let me guess, Matt, you didn’t mean to do it. But you have. I am so sick of you acting like nothing’s your fault. SHE is your fault. It’s your job to find her somewhere to stay, because she’s sure as SHIT not staying here.’

Gina had gone a mottled salmon colour, breathing coming in gasps.

‘Alright, it’s late,’ Matt said, clearly having one of the worst experiences of his life, trying to figure out how to tap dance through the crocodile swamp he’d found himself in. ‘How about, if tomorrow—’

Amelia interrupted him, turning a large gold watch round on her child-sized wrist so she could see its face, ‘If we can’t stay here, it’s about what, two hours to Manchester? But there aren’t any hotels there.’

Everyone’s mouths opened to query this assertion beforethey all realised she wasn’t saying there were no hotels, but there were nohotels.

‘Four hours to London?’ Amelia continued.

Ted leaned in and said something in her ear.

‘Four or five, give or take. Matt, you grab your things and we can be in Soho House by one a.m. I’ll drop Nick a text, I’m a member.’

Matt said, ‘Uhm …?’

‘See you out by the car. Granny, come on! We’re not staying! Come on, Granny.’ She fished the French Bulldog out from under the chair legs and scooped him up into her arms. They held their breath for her parting shot, but there wasn’t one; she simply left the room without further acknowledging their presence.

A silence fell over the party. Even Joe Powell couldn’t find the quip to break the astonishment.

‘Dev, it’s super rude of me to leave with her. I don’t know how else to fix this, though. Do you want me to tell her I’m staying?’ Matt said. He rubbed at his temple and looked like he was grinding his teeth.

‘Yes, it is rude, but we don’t want you to stay!’ Gina said. Then, checking herself, ‘I don’t want you to, anyway.’

‘Gina! Matt is as much a part of this weekend as any of us,’ Roisin said.

‘Yes,’ Meredith agreed. ‘Settle down, G. This isn’t Matt’s fault.’

‘QUELLE SURPRISE!’ Gina roared, clamping her wine glass to her face.

‘I don’t want to spoil things,’ Matt said, with a pointed look towards Roisin and Meredith. They grasped its meaning. It was clear Gina and Matt’s rift wasn’t going to be healed overnight, a second time, and if he remained, the mood was likely fatally poisoned.

‘Mate, you do whatever you want!’ Dev said. ‘No hard feelings. Your gal is a bit of a tornado, hah.’

‘Your gal is a bit A LIST FAMOUS. What on earth, Matt?’ Meredith said. ‘Our minds are fucked, here! A warning would’ve been nice?’ She smiled.

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