Matteo

Chapter 5

Manhattan, New York, United States – October 24th, 2019

When he got the acceptance letter from Hamilton University in New York, Matteo didn't even react (he didn't even know he'd applied in the first place). His father had suggested America when he'd just turned fourteen and was about to start eight grade in Palermo.

"Why America?" Matteo had asked. He liked his life in Italy; he had friends, activities, and nothing ever stressed him out (that was before he discovered the drug greenhouses in their backyard and saw his father pointing a gun at someone on Christmas that same year).

"It's an international private boarding school. It's better than anything you're going to get here in Italy. You're better than Sicily, Matteo. I think you'd benefit from attending an international school and meeting people outside your hometown. If you don't like the first year, I promise you we'll find something else. But a public high school in Palermo shouldn't be your first option."

Matteo listened. Didn't have much of a choice, really.

He met Allison at school in 2014 and she quickly became his girlfriend but got on his last nerves quite often. Her main problem was her being jealous of his friendship with Isabella. By the time they'd broken up, Matteo had been emotionally detached for months.

Long story short, he ended up enjoying his first year of boarding school in America because he had learned a lot: if you're smart, you'll always be one step ahead of people because they're easy to read. If you have money, you can do anything you want. And if you're smart and you have money, you're already winning.

In 2018, his father called him into his office in New York and told him he had a graduation present for him.

"I want you to take over one of my clubs in the city, as a manager."

It didn't even take one second for Matteo to think it through. School was done and the past two weeks after graduation had been boring.

"Which one?"

"Either The Candy Club or Redlight."

"I don't want the strip club. Too much work. I'll take Redlight."

He went to New York for the summer and his father bought him an apartment on the Upper West Side so he could be close to the club. When he found out that he would attend Hamilton University to study Economics, he didn't even question why.

He knew his father had talked to someone without bothering to check with him. It should've bothered him but it didn't because he would've ended up studying Economics anyway - at least this way he was spared the stress of admission.

Since Hamilton University is all the way up in Clinton, his father also got him an apartment there so he could attend classes and split up his time. Nearly all of Matteo's friends from school who chose this university were staying in the dorms on campus. But he didn't mind living off-campus; he liked having more freedom and being able to move from city to city whenever he wanted.

He got through the first year, passed all his exams, while also managing to get drive foot traffic into the club.

It's the last week of October and Matteo is sitting in his chair in the office, trying to roll a joint. Vinnie and Marco are also present, with Marco being a new addition since he started his first year of university.

Their father has just bought them a bigger apartment in Manhattan so Marco could learn the ropes of the business.

"What are we doing for Halloween?" Marco asks, not looking away from the TV screen.

Matteo's confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's Halloween next Thursday."

"And Isabella's birthday is on Friday the 1st," Vinnie says. "I already talked to her about setting up a Halloween party on the 31st, then a second night for her birthday. We can charge twenty per ticket for Halloween and have a costume contest, and Friday can be a theme night for the club which could easily be ten or fifteen per ticket." Vinnie adds.

Matteo stops rolling. "Was this Isabella's idea?"

"Yeah."

"Tell her the club will pay her a grand a night if she puts on a good Halloween event and a good theme party. If it's her birthday, her table will be on the house." Matteo tells Vinnie, smiling.

Matteo likes partying, but he doesn't like planning any further than setting the date and time. He just likes showing up and having fun. Then, when the night comes to an end, he does the math and splits the money the way he was taught, spending his cut the way he sees fit.

***

Manhattan, New York, United States – October 28th, 2019

Isabella comes over to their apartment the next Monday to discuss event planning. She had texted that morning that Valentina had some appointment in the city so they would drive down to Manhattan in the morning and she would come for lunch.

Matteo was planning on being at the club anyway because Vinnie's the one who usually attends classes so Matteo can look through his notes whenever he has time. His job at the club was just promoted from 'general manager' to 'general manager also in charge of money laundering' and is therefore a priority at the moment.

It's not that hard: the money that comes from the illegal part of their business in cash gets divided throughout all the businesses his father owns. One of those businesses is the Redlight club in Manhattan. Matteo's job is to count the money, take his cut, then split it evenly throughout the entire month when he does the accounting.

For example: Vinnie brought in a suitcase that contained 500.000 dollars in cash last week. Matteo's job was to take 10%, his cut, then divide the remaining 450 thousand into four parts. Those parts would then be spread equally throughout the weeks of December and added to the balance sheet.

Most of the money generated by the club went back into his father's legitimate company; the biggest shareholder when it came to the club's business activity.

Matteo realized that the restaurant he used to hang out in every day as a kid was probably the first ever business his father had laundered money through.

"I have a few ideas." Isabella takes a seat across from Matteo in his office.

"You've got a binder and everything." Matteo teases as he watches her slap a binder on the table.

She ignores his attempt at making fun of her for caring too much.

"On Thursday we can do a Halloween Party and have a costume-only dress code. It would be a good idea to charge twenty for each ticket and say that 10% of earnings from the tickets will be the total prize for the costume contest. And we can do single costumes and couple costumes, split it evenly and that'll be it. Your maximum capacity is four hundred fifty, you do the math. Plus what you'll earn at the bar-"

Matteo smiles. "You don't have to convince me that it'll make money, I already know that." He leans forward on his elbows. "Convince me it'll be fun."

Isabella looks confused for a second before she closes her binder. "Fine. We can decorate the club and the upstairs lounge to give it a Halloween scary vibe. We could also use fog machines. It will be fun. I still need to decide on a theme for my birthday, but I want to give out glowing neon bracelets at the entrance so single people can have green and people in a relationship get red. It'll make things more interesting." Her eyes light up. "And the VIP area can have customized menus and everything!"

"Sounds good. Can you do it?"

"I mean, not alone. But I can find people who can help me, that's not a problem."

Matteo shifts in his seat. "You've talked to Vinnie about the whole payment thing?"

If there's one thing that makes him uncomfortable it's talking about money with friends who aren't part of the business. He would never let them do it for free, but he also won't beg someone to take his money.

"Yes."

"Hold on." He opens one of the desk drawers and takes out a credit card. He holds it out to her. "Take this and try to find decorations and whatever else until tonight."

"What's tonight?"

"I'm going to be at the club. Find someone inside and ask them to bring you to the office. You know, where we go to-"

Isabella rolls her eyes. "I know where your little crack den is located. But I'll come with Valentina because she's driving us home."

Matteo throws her a questioning glance.

"We're in the same building this year."

"Thought you were going to be roommates?"

"Turns out there aren't any two-person dorms on campus. And she's one of the very few real people I know."

"She didn't look like that to me." he snorts.

"Just because she's hot and beautiful doesn't mean she's like all the other girls you go for."

Matteo crosses his arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the only good-looking girls you've ever encountered had sex with you and most of them only wanted your money. And while them wanting your money doesn't necessarily bother you because you have loads of it, them not being smart makes them boring and shallow. But that doesn't mean there are no real women out there who also look good." She takes a breath. "I mean, look at me." She motions to herself.

Isabella's dark blonde hair and green eyes have always made her beautiful, and she has always been the smartest person Matteo knows by default.

"Yes, but you're one in a million." Matteo jokes and watches her put the credit card in her wallet. "Code is 0707."

"You shouldn't use your birthday as a code for everything, you know."

"Thanks for the advice, but I haven't been robbed yet. So..."

"Okay this discussion is becoming counterproductive, so I'm going to head out and go shopping."

"When will you be back?"

"I'll text you."

"Alright."

***

Matteo's phone beeps in his pocket around 9pm. He's just about to start a new game of FIFA alone (since his brother and Vinnie both spend their weekdays on campus).

He turns off his PlayStation and walks over to the desk. He takes a plate full of powder cocaine out of the drawer and quickly fixes himself a line. Sure enough, Isabella's laugh echoes down the hall and the door opens. She comes in with numerous shopping bags, followed by Valentina, who's also holding a vast number of bags.

"We're baaack!" Isabella sings and drops the load of bags on the floor in the corner by the minibar.

"You didn't hold back huh." Matteo jokes. He watches Valentina look around the room.

"I think I've been here before." She says. "Weird."

Matteo looks at her for a second then turns back to Isabella. "So, what did you buy?"

She takes out her wallet and hands him the receipts. "We got decorations, neon glow sticks which we'll turn into bracelets, then we found these cute halloweeny buckets we can use for VIP bottle service- oh! And these web decorations to make it look like the VIP is filled with spiders, and-"

"Tell her about the big spider." Valentina chimes in and starts rummaging through the bags.

"Oh! And we found a big spider prop which we thought would be fun to place at the entrance."

Valentina holds up a giant tarantula plush toy, which has eight eyes and eight legs.

"That looks...not scary." Matteo smirks. "I mean, it all sounds and looks good to me. If you need people to set it up, use our security."

"I mean, you could also help," Valentina remarks and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Yes, but I can also pay someone do it for me." Matteo smiles back.

He stands up and goes to grab some of the bags anyway.

Matteo

Chapter 6

Manhattan, New York, United States – October 31st, 2019

When Matteo arrives at Redlight on October 31st dressed as the devil, the inside of the club is almost unrecognizable. There's white fog everywhere but not too much for it to be annoying. Orange and black lights are moving around the room in sync with the music, and there are skeletons, spiders, zombies, and other Halloween props scattered all over the place.

He finds Isabella in the VIP area on the couch, talking to Vinnie. The doors opened five minutes ago, and there's a long queue of people outside.

"This is amazing Izzy, well done," Matteo says, hugging her from the side once he sits down, then looks out past the elevated VIP area over to the dancefloor. The VIP section overlooks the entire club - the elevated DJ booth next to the entrance to the left, the two semi-circle bars (one right next to the DJ and one on the other side of the room next to the bathrooms), and the small room made out of glass walls which is the smoking area (Matteo's addition, even though he can't be bothered and just smokes at the table).

"I mean, Valentina helped a lot and had good ideas, so we both deserve the credit." She says, hugging him back. "She even came up with names for the VIP menus. My favourite one is Jack O'Lantern for whiskey. Wait, no. The Gin Skeletonic."

Matteo grabs a can of Red Bull from the pumpkin-shaped champagne bucket at their table. It's their usual table of ten, always reserved for Matteo and his friends – even when they're not there. That way he can easily step back into the staff hallway (which is in the back of the VIP area) while also keeping an eye on the club. That's how he spotted Aleksi dealing drugs in the first place.

"What are you supposed to be?" Isabella asks once she takes in his outfit.

"The Devil, clearly." He smirks.

"You threw on some devil ears and a red T-shirt. You're not the devil."

"I could've come out here in nothing and I'd still be the devil."

"Do you pick up girls with that line?" Isabella retorts, disappointed. "If you do, no wonder why your standards are so low." Matteo pouts and she shrugs. "Am I wrong?"

"I do have standards."

"Prove it."

"I dated Allison, who in case you forgot is the heir-"

"She's really-"

Before Isabella can finish the sentence, Valentina and Raisa climb the four stairs leading to the VIP area.

"Hi, oh my god what took so long?" Isabella asks Valentina as she helps them drop their bags on the couch, sliding over to make room. Valentina sits down first next to Matteo, and Raisa next to her.

Valentina leans in closer to Matteo, mirroring Isabella, so they can understand each other over the music. "The queue is long as fuck and then the coatroom took forever." Valentina answers.

Great, now they're yelling at each other with Matteo between them. He leans back into the couch, trying to give them more space for them while also making a point of being annoyed by the situation (not really, because Valentina smells good but you know - principles).

"Do you want a drink?"

Valentina takes the menu and holds it up so Raisa can also see it. "I'll take the Vodka Redlight. I need some Red Bull to keep me up."

"And I want the bloody Hallowine." Raisa laughs. "I'm guessing that's red wine?"

Valentina excitedly nods while Isabella starts mixing the drinks. Matteo thinks about escaping this all-girls situation because he feels like he's intruding. Then he remembers Vinnie's there, on the other side of Isabella.

"Why are you so quiet, Vincenzo?" Matteo asks, patting him on the shoulder behind Isabella's back.

Vinnie looks up from his phone. "Nothing. I thought I'd let you two talk." He smiles but it's disingenuous. "I'm fine."

"Is it Sofia related?"

"Let's talk during one of our meetings."

A staff meeting means doing a line or smoking a joint in Matteo's office.

Isabella sits back down and turns to Matteo. "Allison was great-"

"Oh good, you didn't forget where we left off-" Matteo sarcastically interjects.

"-but right now you could definitely do better. She was mommying you and turned you into a passive person. All you did was spend time with her. Everywhere you went, she went. You were with her out of comfort, not because you liked her."

Matteo feels like he's being told off by one of his parents, but deep down he knows she's right. The fact that everyone present can probably also hear what she's saying doesn't make it better.

"Yeah, you're right." Hates to admit it but can't even object.

"And everyone that followed afterward was the same. That's why you said you don't want to settle down anytime soon, because they weren't up to the standards you didn't know you had. I'm not judging you; I'm just saying you can't prove to me that you have standards."

Matteo rolls his eyes. Doesn't miss how Isabella's eyes flicker to Raisa for a second. "How diplomatic of you. You should become a politician."

"I'm trying to. I'm literally studying World Politics."

He turns to look at Valentina and Raisa, who are in a conversation of their own. He bumps Valentina's shoulder with his. "What about you?"

They both look at him.

"What about us?" Valentina asks before taking a sip of her drink.

"What do you study?"

"I study Psychology with a minor in Economics."

Matteo raises his brows and turns his head to Raisa, eyes not leaving Valentina. "And you?"

"Law."

"What about you?" Valentina asks.

"Economics."

"Oh really? Did you have Jameson during the first year in Managerial Accounting?"

"Um...I don't really attend classes."

Valentina tilts her head. "Then how do you pass them?"

He shrugs. "I just read the summary notes and go to exams. Vinnie helps me sometimes. And make sure I meet the 60% attendance demand in some courses."

Valentina looks impressed. "How did you pass Managerial Accounting?"

"It's math. And business. People get too caught up in the theory sometimes and forget to read between the lines. You know the 80/20 rule?"

"The Pareto Principle, yeah."

"80 percent of consequences come from 20 percent of causes. So, 80 percent of what I need to know to pass the exam can be learned by doing 20 percent of the work."

Somebody calls Valentina's name, and a girl Matteo has seen around before appears in front of the VIP area. The guard doesn't let her through because she doesn't have a VIP bracelet.

"I'll see you guys; I'm going to go dance for a bit," Valentina says, looking at Isabella more than anyone else, then stands up and grabs her drink. "You want to come with?" she asks Raisa.

"I'll finish my drink and then come meet you." Raisa decides and then Valentina's gone.

Isabella is talking to Vinnie again, and Matteo wonders why nobody else has shown up to their table. His siblings and Vinnie's are expected to show up, and none of them are here yet.

"What did you do this summer?" Raisa asks, trying to make conversation.

Matteo looks at her. She's wearing a tight green bodysuit that shows off her body in a subtle way.

They met at school, so Matteo recognised her when she came to the club the first time last year (got in with a fake ID, probably). Then sometime during the last days of school, she came to an afterparty at Matteo's apartment, they flirted with each other and ended up sleeping together.

"I chilled in Sicily." Then he proceeds to ask her about her summer.

"Mine and Valentina's family usually spend our summers in Sicily as well, that's why we came to the party in Taormina."

Matteo flashes back to the party at his Taormina house. For some reason, most of his memories from that day are filled with Valentina in the red dress, looking unimpressed about anything Matteo had to say.

"Matteo."

He looks up to see Vinnie looking back at him with a questioning look on his face. Matteo knows exactly what he's asking without asking.

"I'll be back in fifteen," Matteo tells Raisa. He hasn't had sex in almost a month, and he kind of missed having to work for it. Not that he thinks she'll make him work for it – more like wait for it until it's okay to leave.

Vinnie starts venting as soon as he locks the door.

"Sofia ended up not going to Portugal for her Erasmus semester and is coming back. She texted me this morning asking if we want to meet for coffee tomorrow."

Matteo tries to focus on both his friend's problem as well as fixing them lines.

"Do you want to see her?"

Vinnie shrugs. "I don't know. The last times we saw each other it was very toxic, and she ended up draining the life out of me. But I still care about her."

"I mean...man. Look. She cheated on you and then blamed you for not being affectionate enough."

"We weren't...dating."

"You've been dating for years and you have never been with somebody else. I think you've lost your self-respect somewhere along the way." Vinnie doesn't look like he agrees. Matteo goes on anyway. "She knows if she as much as lifts a finger, you're going to crawl back to her, because you've proven it to her over and over again."

Vinnie sighs, defeated. He takes a seat across the desk from Matteo and starts rolling up a bill. "Then tell me what to do."

Matteo smirks. "I think you need a new distraction. Or a new hobby." He pauses. "Or a new girl."

"A bandage wouldn't help."

"Then a new hobby. Maybe golfing?"

"I'm not going to go golfing."

"Then let's go partying."

"We're doing that right now and it's not helping."

Matteo groans. "Not here. You need to leave the environment that makes you to think of her. Let's go to Austria in December. Boy's skiing trip. Then maybe Vienna."

Vinnie smiles and nods, thinking about it already. "Alright."

When they get back to their table Marco and Aurora have shown up, and so have Eddie and Pia.

"Are you supposed to be a devil?" Aurora nods at the devil horns headband, unimpressed.

Matteo makes a face at her. "And you're supposed to be...what?"

"A sexy Catwoman." She says, making a twirl.

"You're seventeen." Matteo points out and she flips him off before going over to Pia. He spots Isabella in the corner of the VIP area talking to Valentina.

"Your outfits match." Isabella notices when Matteo approaches them, motioning between Valentina and him.

Valentina is wearing a white corset tutu dress with rhinestones on it and wings attached to the back that makes her look younger than she is, and a pair of white heels with what looks like leaves on them. I.

"I mean, he's only got a dusty devil headband on." Valentina notices, a teasing smile playing on her face. "It's not the type of devil my angel would match." She jokes and Isabella seems to find it extremely funny because she starts laughing.

Matteo ignores them and turns around, meeting Raisa's eyes in the process. They nod at each other.

Six hours later when Matteo goes home from the club, Raisa's with him. They kiss as soon as they get into the taxi, and they don't stop until the sun comes up and Raisa falls asleep.

***

He wakes up around three in the afternoon the next day. He has faint memories about doing a line with Raisa and Marco in the office.

He remembers ordering three rounds of shots for their table, which had by then been crowded by people. He remembers going home before the club closed because he was feeling horny, and then kissing Raisa in the taxi.

But now she's in his bed still sleeping, and Matteo feels a pang of regret in his chest. He doesn't like kicking people out, but he enjoys waking up alone without having to make conversation with someone out of courtesy.

He gets out of bed and slips into his Nike slides before walks into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

The kitchen in their penthouse has a nice view of Central Park, so drinking his coffee and smoking a cigarette by himself is even nicer with a view.

The machine beeps to signal that the coffee is ready just as Raisa emerges into the kitchen, fully dressed. He doesn't ask her if she wants any coffee because he wouldn't mind her going home (not because he doesn't like her; it's just that he'd rather spend time by himself is all).

"I'm going to leave. Valentina is picking me up. See you at Isabella's birthday tonight." She smiles, grabs a small unopened bottle of water from the counter and leaves.

"Bye!" Matteo says and waits to hear the door close before he sits down at the island counter.

Finally. He looks at the clock on his laptop. It's 3:34pm, which means he must be at the club and make sure everything is set up around 9 or 10. The place would be filled by 11.

An hour later, he decides to take a nap. It's Friday after all.

***

The queue outside is longer than it was yesterday since it's a Friday night, and Matteo is proud to see that people are willing to wait outside in the rain to get in. He thanks the driver and waits for Marco to get out of the car as well before they head inside.

The two girls at the entrance who are in charge of tickets and checking IDs (not really) wrap green neon bracelets around their wrists.

"Nice colour." One of the girls (Ashley?) smirks at Matteo. "Single."

Matteo smiles at her even though he's not interested, then proceeds to walk further down the hallway until he reaches the double doors leading inside.

The Halloween decorations are gone now, and the club looks almost close to normal. UV lights have been installed and neon champagne buckets sit on each table in the VIP area.

"Did you buy new buckets just for this occasion?" Matteo asks Isabella, who's excitedly talking to Raisa about something. "Happy birthday." He adds, planting a kiss on her cheek.

Isabella smiles at him. "Thank you, and yes, we did. I'm curious to see how both nights turn out, financially speaking."

Matteo raises his eyebrows. "I'll call you in when I do the accounting on Sunday then." Then he looks at Raisa. "Hi."

Isabella purses her lips and turns her back to him to get back to the discussion they were having. But the other girl doesn't seem to be focused on that anymore because she's watching Matteo as he pours himself a Vodka Redbull while talking to Vinnie.

"How was last night?" Vinnie asks, a knowing smirk playing on his face.

Matteo gives him a look. "You were here, weren't you?"

"After, I mean. Did you hook up with Raisa again?" he asks.

Matteo shrugs. "Yeah."

"She's looking at you."

"I know. Cheers." He says and raises his glass, but Vinnie is looking at someone outside the VIP area. Matteo turns to follow him gaze.

Valentina is trying to explain to Billy (one of the security guys) that she knows the birthday girl. The two of them walk over immediately.

"It's fine, she's with us." Vinnie says and takes the rope off.

"Get her a bracelet." Matteo adds, and Valentina gratefully smiles at both of them. She looks better than she did yesterday, going from an entirely white outfit to all-black, with her hair up in a ponytail.

"Next time, just tell the girls at the entrance that you're at table 1," Matteo tells her as she sets her bag down on the couch.

"I told them, but they told me they can't do anything."

"That's weird." Vinnie frowns. "I'll talk to them."

"It's no big deal, I'm here now." She places a hand on Vinnie's arm. "But thank you."

She grabs an energy drink from the bucket before she excuses herself and goes toward Isabella.

They both watch at her walking away without saying anything.

"Have you seen her around before?" Matteo asks, eyes falling on the red neon bracelet tied around her wrist.

"Her family has a vacation home in Capo. We're neighbours. Sort of."

"No, I mean around... here. School. Clubs. I don't know. She seems to know everyone?"

Vinnie shrugs. "I don't know. Yeah? She went to our school and attended some of our parties with Raisa. Maybe you just never paid attention to her. Or you didn't notice her."

"Did she have a glow-up or something?"

Vinnie throws his head back and lets out a laugh.

"I don't think so man. Maybe she looks more...not infantile, I guess? Like, she has cheekbones and...longer hair."

"Infantile? Cheekbones?" Matteo asks, smirking. "Maybe she could be your new distraction."

Vinnie rolls his eyes. "Let's get something to drink. Shots." He decides.

"Shots." Matteo agrees.

They spend the next two hours dancing and drinking next to each other, going to the occasional 'meeting' in the office with either Marco, Isabella, or Eddie.

"Maybe we should ask Aleksi to come by in an hour? Is he here?" Vinnie suggests, talking a bit too loud as they enter the staff hallway through the back door in the VIP area.

"I don't know."

They stop in front of the door and Matteo takes the key out.

"Text him and ask," Vinnie says, annoying Matteo for a second because his energy is too much while he's trying to focus on unlocking the door.

"Just be patient for a second, ey?"

The door to the ladies' bathroom down the hall opens and out comes Valentina, stopping as soon as she sees the two of them hunched over and trying to open the door.

"Everything all right boys?" she asks, smiling like she knows exactly what they're up to.

"You want to come with?" Vinnie asks just as Matteo opens the door.

Valentina looks at Matteo for a second. "Sure."

She slings her small bag over her shoulder and makes her way toward them without breaking eye contact. The boys don't move until she steps into the room and looks around.

"We're having a meeting." Vinnie jokes.

"I had one as well," Valentina admits, absentmindedly tapping her index finger over her right nostril.

The boys exchange a look as Matteo opens the drawer.

Valentina steps closer and places her hands on the desk, watching him at work.

"So where's your boyfriend?" Vinnie asks, motioning to Valentina's red bracelet.

She looks surprised and then proceeds to laugh. "Oh, I'm not dating anyone."

"You know red means taken, right?" Matteo asks and starts to separate the powder into three lines with his credit card.

"Yes? But I also know that red looks better on me than green." Valentina retorts and shoots him an innocent smile.

Matteo has learned (from being friends with Isabella) that smart and beautiful is a very...annoying combination in women. Annoying in the sense that they can just weasel their way into your mind because they're not only nice to look at but also interesting to listen to and pay attention to. What's annoying about it is that sometimes you don't realize that they've outwitted you in every way possible until you're in too deep.

His first instinct when he saw Valentina was that he'd seen her around before but that she's probably the type of girl who likes being in the background. But ss soon as she opened her mouth back in Sicily, his instinct told him that she's actually that annoying combination of incredibly good looking and frustratingly smart. And the fact that she so obviously knows it makes her even more annoying.