Page 70 of Lyrebird

What does she think about the gender pay gap?

If she could be a food, what type of food would she be?

What’s her favourite film?

What are the top ten songs on her playlist?

Twitter or Instagram?

If she were stranded on a desert island, what would be the one book she would bring?

What inspires her?

What are her favourite sounds?

Who are her favourite impersonators?

What are her views on the American presidential race?

Does she have any advice for young women?

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given her?

What is the one question she’s never been asked but would like to be asked?

While Laura is holed up for two days in the press office of the Slaughter House, with Bianca by her side, Bo and Jack begin to argue.

She hears them while sitting on the toilet lid between interviews, with her eyes closed and her legs tucked close to her body, anything to escape Bianca’s constant tapping on her phone. She hears the buttons in her head, they roll together, getting faster and faster, like a ticking time bomb.

‘Hello?’ Somebody knocks on her door, and she realises she’s been making the sound. She quietens.

‘Jack,’ Bo says suddenly, loud and angry, which makes Laura’s eyes fly open. Bo’s voice drifts through the bathroom vent.

‘Bo,’ he says playfully, ‘Good of you to visit me. As if your emails weren’t enough over the past two days, it’s nice to be abused in person.’

‘Jack, keeping Lyrebird here for the past two days is one thing, but your crew cannot take her to Cork.’

A door slams. There’s a pause.

‘Of course we can. We need stock footage for the press and the show. It’s the best way, unless you want Lyrebird going to Cork with every single member of the press who asks for an interview? No, I didn’t think so. This is the best way of handling it.’

‘But I already have that footage. It’s exclusive to my documentary. In fact, for the past two days I have not even been able to proceed with that documentary because you’ve had full media control of Lyrebird.’

‘That’s because she’s part of the show, Bo!’ he says, exasperated. ‘This isn’t a trick. She signed a contract that said she would take part in promotional duties. You knew that, you read it.’

‘It didn’t say that I couldn’t be involved,’ she fumes.

‘Come on, babe, you’re the only person we’ve allowed filming access to Laura. You’re getting all the behind-the-scenes stuff that everybody is begging for. Curt is already breaking my balls for allowing that – how much more do you want from me?’

‘I am not your babe. Curt is not the director of StarrGaze Entertainment, you are. So grow a pair of fucking balls.’

There’s a silence.

‘Fucking balls. Hmm. I think I have them already, and I think you know that.’

Laura hears a light laugh from Bo and she smiles at their interaction.

When Bo speaks again she has mellowed. ‘Jack, my documentary was never supposed to be a fly-on-the-wall documentary, not a reality show or a behind-the-scenes reveal. It will not be some StarrQuest spin-off. It’s an in-depth look at her life. From the inside, not the outside, and if you won’t let me talk to her, then I can’t gauge how she’s feeling.’