Angels 3

Joel was standing at the door, holding it open for us. Stairway to Heaven was playing at top volume and you could smell the dope floating down the stairs as we went up.

“Everything ok?” he asked

“Hi. Yeah – Matt’s going to ring here when it’s done”

I gave Joel a look. I wanted desperately to tell him about the scarf business, and Simon, but I couldn’t with Adam there. I didn’t think he’d want them to know. Sometimes it was annoying, trying to work out what I could and couldn’t say – what was meant to be a secret and what wasn’t. I’d learned fairly early on that I heard things as a girl that weren’t meant to be passed on – stuff boys thought made them look uncool. It was often hard to tell what though, until I’d put my foot in it. Before we went in, Joel looked at me warily,

“Susie’s here, by the way. She’s run away from home”

Oh fucking hell; that was the last thing I needed. Susie and I didn’t like each other at all. She was the Hollywood Legend’s daughter, and she’d gone out with Joel briefly a few months before. Luckily it had been long enough for Joel to get her mum’s taxicab account number, which we were currently enjoying the use of. I hadn’t meant to hate Susie – she was just so difficult to like – she was always sitting in corners and scowling at people - especially me. I didn’t think she liked the idea that I was friends with Joel and T, and so it was always very uncomfortable when she was there.

“Is she staying?” I asked Joel, although I knew the answer already. She’d run away several times before – and always to Joe’s. Her mother was made out to be serene and graceful in the newspapers, but she was a total control freak at home and Susie didn’t have a very nice life. As I walked into Joel’s room, T. was standing awkwardly by the window, rizlas in hand. Susie was slumped on the bed, her hair pulled as far over her face as she could manage. We nodded warily at each other;

“Wake up little Floozy” sang Adam.

She glared at him and didn’t say a word. I put my bag down and sat on the edge of the other bed, as far away as I could. After a minute, she got up and went out of the room. Joel followed, giving me an anxious look. Well I’d definitely not done anything that time, so I shrugged – it was quite obviously not my fault, whatever it was.

They were gone ages – then we heard the front door slam, and Joel came back in laughing, pushing his fringe out of his eyes.

“She’s gone home……all is forgiven. It was really embarrassing actually. I had to call her a cab and nearly said don’t bother when she offered to tell me the account number.”

It was a little more relaxed with her out of the way. We smoked a few joints – everyone made a conscious effort to be kind to Adam, T. even put on the Doors for him and we all sat there trying not to stare at the phone. It was very hard – the one in Joel’s room was a huge great bright red one on wheels, with a big metal box underneath for the money, which we were always trying to prise open. That day though, I wished it were smaller and easier to avoid looking at.

I’m not sure who started most when it eventually rang, but it was Joel who got to it first, almost falling over in his hurry to pick up the receiver

“Hello?”

We watched him silently; there was a second’s wait, and then he held the receiver out to Adam. No one spoke until he put the phone back in its cradle . Instead, we watched his face slowly flush red – it was strange to see – he was normally so pale. Then he spoke,

“He’s back at Simon’s. It’s ok”

I was dying to know what had happened,

“Everything was alright?”

“Yep. All sorted out. They’re coming to pick me up. Si’s made it up with his dad and they’re going to take one of the cars on the Kings Road cruise”

I’d heard about the cars – Simon’s dad collected American cars from the fifties – they were always red, and huge, and had a number plate with the word dog in it – because he loved dogs. Simon had written one off while he was awaiting trial and his dad had beaten him up quite badly afterwards. I didn’t much fancy being driven anywhere by him – especially since he’d become a smack addict while he was inside. It didn’t sound like a very relaxing evening. Adam looked at me;

“There’s only room for one more….”

“Oh I’m fine here” I tried not to look as relieved as I felt, I really wanted to stay with Joel and T, but I hadn’t wanted to let Adam down.

“So what happened with the angels? “ Joel asked

“Dunno – but it’s sorted out. Matt said the misunderstanding had been cleared up.” He sighed quite loudly, “Gary is a fucking lunatic. They’ll be here soon … are you sure it’s ok?”

“Oh yes, no problem”

I tried to keep the relief out of my voice. I was glad everything was ok, but I was definitely getting bored with Adam.

We all watched out of the window when the car pulled up. It was a rather spectacular arrival, not only because of the size and colour of the car but also because Simon’s driving was truly appalling. We watched as he veered wildly across the two lanes of traffic and screeched to a halt outside Joel’s flat. Even from the window high up you could hear the loud music blaring out, and the whooping noises Simon made as he beeped the horn for Adam.

I went down to wave them off from the front door, and then ran back up the stairs two at a time, feeling instantly lighter and happier. As I opened the door to Joel’s bedroom I heard T shout “Yess!” and by the time I went in they were having a giggling fit, and Joel was pacing up and down saying “Thank you god!”. I stood still with my arms folded for a minute, feeling left out.

“What?”

Joel looked at me and I could see it was something really amazing.

“Tell me you bastard”

“Guess who’s having a party tonight?”

“Just tell me”

“Maria!”

Big deal. I knew Maria’s dad was the disgraced minister, but so what?

“And?”

T smiled a big happy smile and he pretended to be reciting from a guidebook,

“The disgraced Minister has a large collection of valuable paintings including a Renoir and a cartoon by Leonardo Da Vinci”

He did a little dance across the room, and then stopped and looked at me, his eyes sparkling.

“How d’you fancy being an art thief?”