Ivy
Maybe Ivy was playing it cool on the outside, but she was quietly freaking out.
She didn't do this type of stuff. She didn't meet parents or have dinner with mums. She didn't even have dinner with her own mum.
Of course, that didn't stop Mrs Everett from weighing in her opinion when Ivy said she was going over to Luke's house for dinner. "You're going out to the western suburbs?" Mrs Everett screwed her nose up. Anywhere that sat outside a 10km radius from the city was beneath her.
"That's where Luke grew up. That's where his mum lives," Ivy explained patiently. She knew her mother would never change the way she thought.
"I thought you had better judgement than that, Ivy," is all she said after that. Once she was out of ear shot, Ivy told her to fuck off under her breath while smoothing out her black dress in the mirror.
Scooter always told her: when in doubt, go red, but Mrs Hemmings had already made her mind up about Ivy and she was trying to change that. Black seemed to be a safer option.
"You look hot," Charlotte said when she walked into the guest room that Ivy had been staying in. "You should wear that to the wedding next weekend."
Ivy stared at her younger sister for a moment. Between the sex-tape, and Michael, and everything else, she'd forgotten about the wedding.
"I don't think I'm going," Ivy said simple, adding a coat of bright red lipstick to her mouth. There, Scooter. "Don't wait up, I'm driving all the way out to the suburbs," she exaggerated loudly, incase their mother was eavesdropping.
It was a forty-five minute drive out to the suburb Luke grew up in, but it wasn't so bad. Once she was off the highway, Ivy followed the GPS directions to the address that Luke had given her. He'd offered to pick her up but she was a big girl who could get there herself. Plus, she hadn't rented this red Mercedes for nothing.
The houses were set back quite a bit from the road, the spaces between each one far bigger than the apartments around the city. Most of the houses were the same size and similar styles, creating a uniformed suburb where everything looked like they belonged. It was completely different to where Ivy grew up and the houses all seemed to be competing for an award based on size and aesthetic.
As she parked the car outside the house, Ivy's heart began to beat faster and faster. She gave herself a minute, taking a few deep breaths before finally smiling at her reflection in the rearview mirror to give the illusion she wasn't nervous at all.
Walking up the driveway of the brick home, she hoped Luke would answer the door but she was in no such luck. Instead, it was an older, albeit shorter, version of Luke.
"You must be Ivy," he greeted her with a smile and a handshake. "I'm Jack."
"Nice to meet you," she said politely, stepping inside and coming face to face with a large family photo hanging on the wall. The were posing outside, with Luke standing between Jack and another boy who Ivy assumed to be his brother as well.
"Luke, your girl is here!" Jack yelled, before smiling at her again.
Instead of waiting for Luke to come and collect her like a parcel delivered by the mailman, she followed Jack into the kitchen were Luke and the other brother from the photo were wrestling. Well, the other boy had Luke in a headlock, and his face had turned alarmingly red.
Behind them, standing by the stove, was a blonde woman who Ivy immediately guessed to be Luke's Mum, and the woman who hated her after she unknowingly made a sex-tape with her youngest son.
