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“What is it she’s studying again?” Olivia asked. “Something to do with children, isn’t it?”
“Childhood development studies,” Birgitta said with a proud smirk.
“Not surprising,” Sabina snapped.
“Hey,” Olivia moaned. “Stop, now.”
Birgitta felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise. She knew where this was going. The older Sabina got, the more bitchy she got. Her tolerance for Birgitta’s choices seemed to reduce drastically every time they met. Birgitta wasn’t going to let the comment slide.
“Why is it not surprising?” Birgitta asked, raising her voice.
Olivia blushed, her pale skin blossoming red, as she shushed Birgitta trying to get her to stop making a scene.Sabina didn’t reply.
“Huh?” Birgitta asked, only growing louder to drown out Olivia’s incessant shushing. “What are you trying to say, Sabina?”
“It’s no surprise she’s going into that,” Sabina said, avoiding Birgitta’s eyes, “considering the way her mother acts.”
Birgitta scoffed. “Of course,” she said. “Because you’re the perfect person, even though you admitted to us that you cheated on Dennis.”
All of the girls gasped in unison, their eyes turning toward Birgitta’s face. Sabina visibly clenched her teeth, she looked angry enough for steam to come out of her ears.
“I told you that in confidence,” Sabina hissed through her teeth.
“Stop it,” Olivia said. “Both of you need to stop now. We can’t keep fighting like this.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Birgitta snapped, leaning back in the armchair. “I come here, fully ready to support you girls in your life choices, and I get judged for the clothes I choose to put on my body.”
Alexandra laughed hoarsely. “It’s your whole attitude,” she said with a sharp edge. “Over the last few years, you’ve turned into a bitch.”
“An attention-seeking bitch,” Sabina agreed. “Honestly, I don’t know why we invite you anymore. You’re not the woman we used to know. You’ve changed.”
Birgitta rolled her eyes. “It’syouladies who have changed,” she sighed. “We used to have such fun, sitting here talking about life. What have you turned into? Women obsessed with their children and so selfish they can’t see past their own noses?” She snickered at the idea.
Birgitta stood, trying once more not to flash her so-called friends, and picked up her belongings. As she walked away from the table, she thought about what a waste of time and parking this had been. Birgitta didn’t need hostile friends, nor did she need friends who judged her for how she chose to live her life.
Christ,she thought,I’m approaching forty. If I don’t live my life how I want to, on my deathbed all I’ll do is look back with regret.
Birgitta put on her coat before slipping outside into the shockingly cold air. She stood for a moment, breathing deeply. The cold infiltrated her lungs making them cramp. She didn’t care—she was just glad to be away from those women.
“Gitta!” Olivia’s voice called.
She turned around to see Olivia standing behind her.
“What happened in there?” Olivia asked, wrapping her arms around her chest. She’d left her coat inside and was instantly shivering.
“You tell me,” Birgitta said. “As soon as I walked in they were mocking my clothes.”
“Well—” Olivia started, her eyes trailing Birgitta’s body.
“Don’t,” Birgitta interrupted. “Don’t start. I can dress however I like and, if they were truly my friends, they wouldn’t judge me for it.”
“They’re going through some stuff,” Olivia tried to explain.
Birgitta rolled her eyes. “Aren’t we all?”
Sighing, she walked away from Olivia and started walking back to the parking garage feeling deflated.
“I’ll talk to them!” Olivia called out. “I’m sorry, Gitta!”
