Under Glass

Chapter 2- Sister From Another Mister

"Can you believe it? At the mother fucking buffet?" After James dropped her off, Caitlin didn't even go inside before getting in her car and driving straight to her best friend's house on the edge of campus.

On her way, she passed the tree-lined field at the north end of campus, the branches so heavy with dark green leaves they almost touched her car. Dog field was where James had taken her for their first date- a picnic in the field known as "lover's circle" at dusk, now that had been romantic. Why couldn't he have taken her back there? Would her answer be any different? After the picnic, they'd lain on the blanket, hands intertwined as he'd pointed out the constellations. She smiled remembering that she'd made a wish on a star. James had laughed and informed her it was Jupiter. Taking a left turn, she quickly pulled into the driveway of a white plantation house.

Caitlin slammed her car door and ran up the stairs to the porch where her best friend stood in leggings and a tank top, her long copper hair piled on her head. She took the drink from Traylor's outstretched hand and downed the cranberry vodka concoction.

"What a fuck up!" said Traylor Howard, a no-nonsense college senior who had known Caitlin since they were both thirteen. They walked through the front door of the newly renovated house. Information sheets on several companies that were courting Traylor for jobs after graduation were scattered on the floor. As a female engineer, she was a hot commodity.

Traylor lived by herself in a one-bedroom apartment on the main floor of the old house. The colonial style house was built in the 1800s and had been a plantation house on a farm. The porch wrapped around both sides of the enormous house was complete with several rocking chairs and there were corn hole boards on one side of the house. Although the paint was peeling on the outside, the inside was phenomenal.

Caitlin admired Traylor's creativity, as she didn't have one creative bone in her body. While visiting Atlanta, Traylor fell in love with the skyline, so she'd painted a mural above her bed, impressively showing her twisted vision of it. The colors weren't traditional and each of the buildings looked a little wonky, but it was perfect for Traylor. The four rooms of the first floor were painted with vibrant colors that tied into each other; red, blue, yellow, and green.

People regularly assumed Traylor and Caitlin were sisters. Both had straight, brownish-red hair. Although Traylor's was naturally curly, she straightened it everyday. While Caitlin had soft blue eyes, Traylor's were a steel gray so sharp, they pierced through bullshit. Possessing a dry wit that needed to be explained to most people, Caitlin and Traylor laughed at each other for hours on end. They were their own two girl team and didn't need anyone else. Honestly, they did everything together, including working out and keeping each other in check with their diet. Men chased them at bars, but the girls were oblivious to the attention, more keen on joking with each other and any other people they brought into their circle.

Although they were different, they appreciated those differences. One of the reasons why they didn't live together any more is because they were better friends that way.

Friends since they cheered together at Richards Junior High School in Columbus, Georgia, they had been inseparable for years. Caitlin had moved there with her father after her parents' divorce. Their academic lives diverted as they went to separate high schools, but they stayed tight. Traylor went to an exclusive private school in Columbus, Hillbrook Academy, on an academic scholarship. Hillbrook is the type of school where the kids drive better cars than the teachers. Caitlin didn't fit in with the "friends" that Traylor made there, who looked at her clothes and shoes with slightly concealed disgust. Caitlin went to a local public school with the rest of the people they knew. Although Traylor rose to the top of the class and was very popular, she still hung out with Caitlin and their old friends.

In December of their sophomore year of high school, Traylor's father was one of the few casualties of violence in Columbus. A beat cop, he walked in on a burglary, of a convenience store, in progress. One shot was all it took to forever alter five people's lives. Traylor's entire life was shattered in a matter of seconds. Her mother, Frieda, took a leave of absence from her life, shutting herself in their house for days at a time, after her father died, forcing Traylor on her grandparents. This resulted in Traylor basically moving in with Caitlin. Eventually, Caitlin's father offered to raise Traylor until Frieda came around. Everyone was still waiting on that day to come. They formed a family and Caitlin's dad had treated Traylor like his own daughter since, which included him giving her whatever money he could spare throughout her college career. Without him, Traylor would have been barefoot, pregnant, and meandering through life. He'd saved her. Caitlin had saved her.

Once it came time for the girls to decide on college, Caitlin convinced Traylor to go with her and neither had any regrets. Caitlin joined a sorority, majored in political science, aspiring to attend law school and had dated James. Traylor got a full ride in the engineering program, which took most of her time. When she wasn't studying, she was typically slinging drinks at a dive bar right off campus to cover her living expenses.

After several drinks, Caitlin was lounging on the floor with her bare feet on the couch.

"You are not helping," Caitlin blurted between gulps of some other vodka drink. "I'm twenty-one years old, I'm way too young..." She started again then stopped, deflated. "I never thought this would happen. I figured we'd just break up."

"Why would James ever break up with you? You're his meal ticket." Traylor sat on the couch and looked down at her friend. She felt sorry for her, James was going to be hard to deal with; he wasn't the most stable of guys. She was pretty certain he'd do anything to stay with Caitlin. "He adores you."

"Well, I've always known that he is a little more serious about our relationship than I am, but marriage?" She pushed herself off the floor and walked to the kitchen to get another drink. "I mean come on, he's going to live with his mother and wait tables after college. How does he plan to support us?" Caitlin yelled while pouring them both another drink. "I have a lot of shit I want to accomplish. I don't have the strength drag him along with me." She knew it sounded cold, but her road was long and hard.

"You guys had a great relationship, it was easy because you had college in common, but other than that I'm not sure what else there is."

"Well, don't hold back," Caitlin quipped as she sat on the purple velvet couch next to Traylor.

"When are you going to tell him?"

"We graduate in a week, I think I'm going to wait until after the ceremony. I really don't need the extra drama right now. Plus, he's having a party the night before. I'm hoping that will be a good time."

"You're going to be single by Cancun?" Traylor squealed. Caitlin's dad was paying for the trip as their graduation present.

"I figure if I tell him before we go, he'll be fine by the time we get back. I like him and think maybe, after a while, we could be friends.