Chapter 17
Gabriella
Then
“Luke, you cannot go out there looking like that,” I laughed at him.
He looked down at his outfit, grinning. “I happen to think I look phenomenal,” he said, wiggling his hips so his ginger tail swished back and forth.
“You realise this is a Halloween party, yes?”
“I do. And I think the true horror here is that you didn’t wear the outfit I requested. The fox isn’t complete without his hound.”
“I’m happy as I am,” I laughed back.
Yes, my outfit was very generic, but dressing as Morticia Addams was much easier to explain to my dad when I returned home later this evening. Dressed as a dog would raise some eyebrows.
“Spoilsport. You may have spoiled my outfit, but you shall not spoil my entrance,” he announced dramatically. In the next second, he straightened his shoulders, puffed out his furry chest, and marched out of the door and down the stairs.
And the entire bar fell into silence upon his entrance.
“Fuck me,” Dante barked from the back of the bar. “What the fuck have you come as?” Looking over at him, I saw he was dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster, and Laura—always by his side—was dressed as a dead Little Bo Peep.
“I am a fox,” Vienna said, as though it was completely obvious and self-explanatory.
Obvious, yes. He was covered head to toe in ginger fur, he had ears, paws, a tail and even a snout.
Self-explanatory? Not so much.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Mama hissed at him, racing over as though he were doing something scandalous.
She was dressed as a generic witch.
Suited her, actually.
“I’m attending the party,” Luke replied.
“Looking like that?”
“Lighten up, Mama. Give me a kiss,” Luke said, bending down low and offering her his cheek.
She responded by slapping him around the back of the head. “I shall do no such thing. You look ridiculous.”
And then, for reasons I still cannot fathom, Luke bleated at her like a sheep.
“Well, foxes don’t bloody bleat, do they?” Mama tutted.
“Alright, David Attenborough, calm down.”
She slapped him again.
“Right, that’s it,” Vienna hissed, stomping behind the bar and grabbing the corded phone there. “Hello? RSPCA? Yes, I’d like to report animal cruelty, please.”
“Give it a rest, lad,” Crash laughed, finishing pouring a pint and grabbing the phone from Vienna’s hands, placing it back on the wall.
“Right then,” he said, still laughing as he looked Vienna up and down. “Come on and explain the outfit choice to me.”
“Have you ever seen The Fox and the Hound?” Vienna asked.
“Once or twice—fair few years ago, though.”
“Then I think I’ve made my point,” Vienna said.
Crash shook his head, a baffled little frown between his eyes. “I think you haven’t.”
Vienna frowned right back at him as though Crash was stupid. “That may just be the scariest movie I have ever seen. Did you even watch it properly?”
“I did. I don’t remember being scared.”
“Then you’re dead inside and there’s no point continuing this conversation. You agree with me, don’t you, Gabriella?”
“I do not. It was sad but… scary?”
“It’s because it’s sad that it’s so scary! Honestly, you people have the emotional range of a grape!”
I laughed then.
He looked so cute in his little self-righteous rage.
“I know what’s scarier,” Crash said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“What’s that then?”
“The fact that one day I’ll be handing over the club to the likes of idiots like you. The thought haunts me almost daily.”
“Maybe you should have dressed as Vienna for Halloween then?” I asked, keeping my voice deliberately neutral.
“That’s a really good point,” Vienna nodded. “You’re dressed like… what is that, a magpie?”
“It’s Beetlejuice,” Crash hissed, looking utterly offended.
“If you say so. So, you decided to come dressed as a magpie—”
“Beetlejuice.”
“And yet I’m supposedly the scariest thing? I’m both flattered and insulted. But I suppose it makes sense. Dressing up as me would be a mere imitation. You could never live up to the man, the myth, the legend.”
“Do you know what?” Crash said, shaking his head. “I knew what I was getting into when I entered this conversation, and yet I did it anyway. That’s on me.”
“It really is,” I added, ever so helpfully.
“Maybe you should go away and rethink your life choices?” Vienna suggested.
It was at that point that Crash walked away, leaving me alone with my fox.
“One of these days he’s going to glass you,” I laughed, stepping closer to him.
Vienna grinned down at me and gathered me into his arms.
“Would you protect me?”
“Not a chance,” I said instantly.
“Good choice. I see I chose my woman wisely.”
“You sure did.”
And then his lips lowered to mine, and the rest of the night became a drunken, lustful blur.