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Tori stuffed tissue paper into a small gift bag, mumbling curse words to herself as Thaïs made a sharp right turn. For the first time ever, Thaïs was running late for something, which was weird, because Thaïs never ran late. Half of it was because she couldn't find anything to wear, and the other half was because she had stopped at the store to grab a last-minute gift.
Black people, Tori thought.
Thaïs had known about this event for two months, and yet, she still managed to do everything at the last minute on the day of. She had spent the morning running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off. First, she complained about how she didn't want to attend the event, then she couldn't choose between a sexy but conservative dress and a classy pantsuit. In the end, she chose the pantsuit—mainly because Tori gave her a death glare that clearly said, "Stop wasting time and get dressed."
To top it off, Thaïs had realized halfway through their drive that she hadn't bought a gift. The most important thing of the night, and she just... forgot. They stopped at a liquor store to buy a fancy bottle of wine, then at Walgreens to grab a generic greeting card.
Now, sitting in the passenger seat of Thaïs' car, Tori tried to straighten the tissue paper in the bag again. "You're so lucky I'm your sister and that I love you," she muttered, earning a side-eye from Thaïs.
"You act like I do this all the time," Thaïs defended, gripping the steering wheel tighter as she sped up to make a yellow light.
"You don't. That's the point. So why are you acting brand new today?" Tori shot back, crossing her arms.
Thaïs sighed, her expression tight. "It's just... I don't know. I feel weird about this one."
Tori arched a brow. "Weird how? You've been to a million of these kinds of things before."
"Yeah, but... it feels different this time. Like, I don't know."
There was a nagging feeling in the pit of Thaïs's stomach, an itch she couldn't quite scratch, urging her to bust a U-turn and head straight back home. All she really needed right now, was to curl up in bed and binge reruns of Scandal. But Thaïs pushed the thought aside, telling herself she was just being dramatic. It wasn't her; it was the anxiety talking.
Tori rolled her eyes, though her curiosity was piqued. "Different how? You barely go into the office. What's the big deal?"
"If I have to tell you one more time, Tori. I don't know!" Thaïs rolled her eyes, making yet another sharp turn.
Tori gripped the grab handle for deal life, holding her breath as her body moved violently towards the passenger door. With the way Thaïs was driving, they wouldn't live to make it anywhere.
"Would you slow the hell down?" she snapped, voice rising as she rubbed her clammy hands over the fabric of her jeans.
Thaïs chuckled softly as she pulled into the parking lot of her workplace. Shifting the car into park, she reached over to grab the card Tori had handed her. After a quick search through the glove compartment, her fingers landed on a fine-point Sharpie. Good enough, she thought. Propping the card against the steering wheel, she carefully wrote out a neat message, taking her time to make sure it looked thoughtful, before signing her name in neat calligraphy.
