Queen of Diamonds

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Ugh, bed," I sighed as I plopped down on a cloud of blankets and snuggled in between mountains of pillows.

"Bed?" Kara said incredulously. "We have a party to go to!"

Don't get me wrong, I love going out and being social but crashing into my mattress after a long day sometimes takes the win.

"Hmm," I murmured as I let my eyes flutter shut and curled into a ball on top of the comforter holding a soft furry pillow hostage.

"Ava!" Kara chastised violently jumping on the bed next to me snatching my furry cloud pillow.

"Hey!" I yelled back sitting up all pouty not being able to indulge in the nap I was dreaming of in the car post food comma.

"We have one hour for us both to get ready before the boys get here," Kara started on her rant and I just sank back head first into the mound of my remaining bird feathers. "And I for one need every second of that hour to curl my hair, attempt to beautify my face, and miraculously find something to wear that doesn't make me look like a total-"

"Alright," I groaned cutting in not needing to hear the rest of her nonsense. But it was no use, she just went on as if I didn't say the one word I did say.

"Not all of us can just throw on a potato sack and call it a day ya know. Some of us need to put in a little effort," she continued to blab.

"Alright," I repeated with slightly more defiance this time just trying to tune her out as I attempted to reposition myself into the bed.

"And then the rest of us need all the help we can get!" Kara finished, hopefully, in a frantic rush and joined me dramatically flopping back onto the lush high thread count letting out a big bad wolf sigh gust of air. I let her lay for a few seconds in peace and quiet, more for myself than her, then turned my head toward her with a smile and whispered, "I said 'alright' like 3 times ya know."

With a smaller sigh and her sweet Kara voice she said, "I just want everything to be perfect tonight."

"It'll be fine," I assured her letting my childhood bestie snuggle up next to me. She wasn't a 24 by 24 cashmere down pillow, and yes they do make cashmere pillows, but she was the next best thing. "Why are you making such a big hoopla about tonight anyway?"

"It's just," she began while propping herself up to look out the window into the violety indigo sky that adorned the tree tops. "These parties are Derek's new thing, Nicki has the football team-"

"The bench of it," I murmured. With a sharp Kara eye stab I quickly apologized with a smirk.

"You have the city and that whole life and I just have, me," she somberly finished.

"Hey, Kara, come on," I said soothingly draping my arm around her slumped shoulders. "You have me, Nicki, and Derek too. Just because we have other things doesn't mean you don't have us."

"But that's just the thing, I only have you guys, I don't have other things."

"What about the horses? You love horseback riding," I countered.

"Horses aren't people Av," she frowned. "I just want to belong to something ya know?" she said finally turning to meet my gaze.

I had never thought about that before and the weight it held, not really anyway. Sure, she had a boyfriend, a great core group of friends (emphasis on great), and a loving family but she wanted something bigger, something greater. I guess deep down everyone does but Kara's heart is so big and deep that she reached that greater longing sooner than the rest of us. But the "greater" she was looking for wasn't going to be found at a fancy party, football team, or clique of high school friends. Nor was it going to be solved or figured out in one night.