AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You do seem to be attracted to him.”
“Attracted? To President McDreamy? With his stormy blue eyes and soft dark hair and his sensual lips? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Both sisters giggled.
“You’ve given this more than a passing thought,” Jane said.
“Maybe,” Elizabeth said primly, popping a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. Jane snorted. Elizabeth slowly lowered the bowl to her lap. She sighed. “Not really. He’s still proud and difficult…it wouldn’t have worked anyway.”
“You don’t know that,” Jane, ever the optimist, said.
Elizabeth slumped against the back of the sofa. “I’ll probably never see him again. So it doesn’t matter if he’s madly in love with me or just thought I’d make a good booty call.”
Jane bit a fingernail. “There’s got to be some way you can apologize to him.”
“If you think of one let me know. In the meantime, I plan to brood and mope about my apartment.”
“Yeah, most therapists consider that the best way to get over the blues.” Jane’s sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a knife. “Maybe I’ll buy some stock in Ben and Jerry’s.”
Elizabeth threw the cushion at her sister.
“At least I have a vacation coming up,” she pointed out. “Aunt Madeline and Uncle Thomas rented that place in the Hamptons again.”
“Awesome. You can mope in style.”
Elizabeth ignored this. “Why aren’t you coming this year?”
“I wish, but work is crazy.” Jane’s expression brightened. “We got a new contract.”
At last some good news. It should ease some of the financial pressures that had her family so stressed lately. “From where?” Elizabeth asked.
“That USDA contract. We’ll be supplying school lunches for hundreds of schools! We just found out yesterday. Dad cracked a smile for the first time in months.”
At the sound of a knock on the door, Elizabeth frowned. “I’m not expecting anyone.” She padded over to the door and peered through the peephole. “It’s Lydia,” she groaned to Jane. No doubt there was some “crisis” that involved a lot of complaining and very little common sense.
Elizabeth turned the knob. “Lyds, what are you doing here?”
Lydia flounced into the apartment. “My life is crazy! I needed someone to talk to!” she moaned dramatically.
Elizabeth sighed. “Sure.”
“Oh, hi, Jane,” Lydia said in a colorless voice. Then her eyes fell on the coffee table. “Ben and Jerry’s!” She practically tripped over her own feet racing to the table, where she surveyed the containers. “You ate all the Chunky Monkey! Why didn’t you save any for me?”
“We didn’t know you were coming,” Jane said reasonably.
“But you do know that it’s my favorite,” Lydia pouted. “God, nobody ever takes my needs into consideration.” Sulking didn’t prevent Lydia from filling her bowl with several scoops and flopping onto the sofa. She tasted a spoonful. “This is good, but it’s a little soft. You should have put it back in the freezer before I got here.”
Elizabeth and Jane exchanged eye rolls over Lydia’s head.
The sooner they discussed the “crisis,” the sooner they would be done. “So why are you so upset?” Elizabeth asked.
“Oh, there’s all this shit going down with Miso and Olga. I told Olga she was my BFF, and that was like, you know, months ago. Then on Tuesday, I told Miso that she was my BFF, because I’ve been hanging around with her more than Olga lately. So, of course, Olga hears about it and comes to me and she’s all like, ‘I thought I was your BFF.’ And I’m like, ‘You were, but now you’re not.’ And Olga says, ‘Best friends forever. That’s what it means. So you can’t just up and decide we’re not best friends because you promised forever.’ And I said…”
Elizabeth tuned out Lydia’s monologue, peppered with sentiments that were far better suited to middle school than college. She despaired that her sister would ever grow up. As it often did, her mind turned to thoughts of Will’s letter and George Wickham.
Wickham!
“Lydia!” she said. Lydia huffed at the interruption, but Elizabeth continued. “You haven’t been seeing George Wickham, have you?”
Lydia’s eyes slid sideways. “You mean dating him? No, of course not.”
