lunch drama
Lizzy's POV
For Tuesday lunches Jane and I go eat at our parents' house. It has become a tradition ever since I returned home from being deployed. Sometimes it is enjoyable and other times it is downright annoying and makes me glad I don't live at home anymore.
Today the main talk was about the new Army regiment that is stationed in Merytown for a 3 or 6 month stint. Merytown has an army base and it is one of the constant sources of gossip as well as lots and lots of drama, especially with the twins.
Mom and the twins were full of news for dad, Jane, and I. They put on a dramedy for us during lunch. (At least that is what dad and I call it in private.) Lydia was the main actress per normal.
Act 1-Lydia, Katie, and Mom going to Merytown
Lydia gushed, "Oh, Jane and Lizzy! You should have gone with us! It was so much fun! We went onto the base and I wore some of my short shorts and a crop top. The guys were staring, and the girls looked jealous that they couldn't flaunt themselves like that. Poor them." She finished with a laugh that showed she really didn't care.
I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from lashing out. It wouldn't do any good to point out I had been in the army and worn the same uniforms. Apparently, she had forgotten every single thing about modesty she had ever heard growing up.
Now Katie had to throw her two cents in, "Oh Private Carter, isn't he so dreamy.. And Jane! He requested to follow me on Instagram five minutes after we left! So, of course, I allowed him," she said with a wave of her hand. "He liked some of my previous posts and put some comments on them that Lizzy would just hate. Besides we also Snap all the time now. He's just gorgeous."
Lydia continued to talk about her date with good grief, what was this guy's name again? Private Carter.
The same Carter who Katie is talking to?
"Hang on," I interjected, "I'm confused, Lydia are you going on a date with the guy that Katie is talking to?"
She laughed at me. "Oh, no! They are twins."
Are you kidding me? My twin sisters are talking to twin guys.
Jane, always the peacemaker, could tell by my face how, um, uh. How I was feeling.
"Well, that is cool Lydia! If anything should come of it then that would be very neat for each of you to be married to brothers."
Lydia raised her brows, "Who said anything about marrying him? Good grief Jane, you are so old-fashioned. You should just go back to when they wore those boring gowns with really high waists. What were they called, my history-teaching sister?"
I wanted to roll my eyes so bad and might have. "Empire waists Lydia, they were mainly worn in the Regency era in England. The Regency era was from 1811-1820 when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son-"
"Lizzy! You sound like a walking Wikipedia." she cut me off and exclaimed with annoyance, "I didn't ask to be one of your students. Why are you just an instructor and not a full-fledged freaking professor with all that boring knowledge you have crammed up in your head?"
"Because I don't have a doctorate." I ground out through my teeth.
"Well," began my dad after several more comments from Lydia and Katie, "I thought I knew for sure but now I am absolutely 100% convinced. Two of my daughters are some of the vainest and most ridiculous girls there are."
I looked to see what my mom and sister's reactions were. Katie didn't like it one bit. Her eyes filled with tears and she was looking down. Katie had always had a resemblance of a conscious and was the most sensitive and insecure of us. Even more so than Jane.
Mom bristled at the accusation against her babies. "I remember a time when I liked any guy who had abs, was handsome, and especially if he had a big bank account. I still do at heart. If some guy like that asked for my daughter's hand in marriage I wouldn't say no! Lydia, keep right on liking Mr. Carter, especially with his dad being such a bigshot lawyer in Dallas."
Dad pursed his lips then moved his gaze from Mom to Lydia and then to Katie. "I am the person in this house who gets to say yes or no as to who my daughters marry."
Mom ignored his comment "I am surprised at you my dear, that you would consider two of your own daughters foolish. I might think of someone else's children as misbehaved but I would never want to do that for my own!"
"If my children are foolish and stupid I would rather know about it than not."
Mom gasped. "All of our girls are smart."
"Ah, but smarts are different from common sense and respect."
All three of them opened up their mouth to spout off something when Jane interrupted with a loud exclamation.
What peacemaking trick is she going to pull?
"Mom, I know we aren't supposed to have our phones out on the table so I just had mine in my lap. I just got this text from Caroline Bingley that you might be interested in."
All eyes turned to look at her including my own.
What?
"Well! What does it say, Jane? Hurry! Tell us," Mom exclaimed.
"It says, "please come have supper with me tonight if you do not have any plans. if not i shall be in danger of dying from boredom. my best friends are working on certain projects and they can't facetime/talk to me tonight. come at about 6 o'clock if you can make it. my brother and william are having supper in town."
There was quiet for a few seconds then mom burst out, "Eating in town? Why would they do that? You need to go to all the restaurants looking for them."
Dad shook his head no. "She should go as she has been invited. If she goes to town and tries to find Charles she will seem needy because Caroline will most certainly tell her brother about the invitation."
Lydia agreed that she should go, but for different reasons. "You have to go, Jane! That is a great invite! If you have any evening plans cancel them. While you are there ask and see if she has asked her manager or whoever about me modeling or becoming an actress."
"Well I suppose that this is as good of an invite as any," said mom with a resigned tone, "I just wish it was still back in time when you had to ride horses or walk. That way you would get drenched in the rain that is forecasted for this evening and get sick. Then you would have to stay the night and you would see him."
On the way home I questioned Jane in the car, "Is the text from Caroline real?"
"Of course. How do you think I could lie? Much less about something that monumental?"
"How is it monumental?" I asked confused.
"Lizzy, I really like Charles. Like, a lot. I feel like Caroline is maybe trying to test me ever so slightly. Not in a bad way of course, but just to see if she thinks I am right for him. I don't want to fail or disappoint her."
I scoffed, "You don't want to disappoint her? Jane, you have never disappointed anyone for anything."
We got home and I set to work fulfilling one of my life mottos for Jane. The motto is 'It is always better to be overdressed than underdressed.' Jane thought I had a good fashion sense so she liked me to help pick out her outfits when she was going to an important event. Tonight didn't qualify as anything less. No, she wasn't going in a ball gown but she wasn't going in a hoodie either. Caroline might be dressed in street style but that doesn't mean that Jane needed to blend in. Especially when she was born to stand out.
"The text she sent you was plain rude."
"Lizzy, it wasn't rude. Well, not really." She said after a pause, "I think she is just missing her friends."
I pulled a shirt out of her closet to look at it, "Jane. Missing her friends? That sounds like she is 6."
After a few minutes of silence, I had to apologize. "I'm sorry. I just, I still don't like her. Yes, I know she is a person and we need to show Jesus' love to her, but I just don't like her. She is so self-righteous and I can't stand that in her or in Darcy."
"Lizzy, maybe if you got to know them better you might like them better."
I doubt it.
By this time I had something picked out for Jane to wear and she tried it on. I figured just a simple pair of white high-waisted straight trousers and a Kelly green collared shirt that had ruffled sleeves along with nude heels would do the trick. It did. Jane looked awesome. I told her she should just do a half-up with her hair and slightly curl the rest of it.
With Jane set on attire and hair, I went to my room to finish preparing for my 'side job' of being a history instructor at the Merytown Junior College. I loved teaching the students, especially the ones who wanted to learn. Unlike Lydia.
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