It was beautiful, old fashioned settees lay in a semicircle around a small bureau upon which lay snacks. The trees were decorated in with fairy lights and two old fashioned lamps lay on either side of the furniture. The middle settee was empty, Gabby and Vivienne sat on the left and Julian and Robert sat on the right.
“This is beautiful, where are we?” she asked.
“My house,” Robert replied, Emily nodded and looked in awe. The sun was beginning to set and the night began to seep in. The house was large and the property even larger. They heard moos in the distance and horses in the other paddock. A broken down car was left in another, slowly disappearing into the ground, returning to the earth.
“Nice property Robert, how come you’ve never invited me here before?” she asked.
“Because we were still building the extensions on the house, only finished last week, thought I’d try it out,” he replied. As the sun disappeared the property looked marvellous basking in low light. It started getting cold and Robert disappeared as the group chatted. When he returned he was carrying some blankets and Emily realised that it was starting to grow cold. The conversation naturally came to relationships, as conversations do, Robert and Julian had girlfriends, but the rest of the group were single.
“When you guys were little, did you ever imagine the names of your future children?” asked Julian.
“That’s a strange question Jay,” Vivienne replied.
“Oh yeah, I forget it’d be harder for girls, with changing your last name and everything,” he replied.
“I’m sorry, but what? I like my last name, I’m keeping it when I get married,” Emily said.
“Jay, you’re an idiot, you know that?” said Andrew.
“Last names are just a great example of patriarchal dominance,” Gabby replied, Emily and Vivienne nodded, the boys just looked confused.
“It’s a catch twenty two, you either take the man’s last name when you get married, or keep your own last name which is from your father, you can’t win,” said Vivienne.
“Wow, I never really thought of it that way,” said Julian.
“Well, you’ve been known for your inability to think,” Vivienne replied.
“I’m thinking of hyphening my last name, making it double-barrelled,” Gabby replied.
“That might be an idea,” Emily replied.
“If my future wife wants to double-barrel her surname and do the same for her children then I really wouldn’t mind,” Andrew said flashing Emily a smile, of which she returned, albeit awkwardly.
“Stuff that, I’m the man I should get to choose. I reckon for my next poem I should call it ‘All Women are Subservient, or maybe ‘Women, Really Meat in Disguise,” Julian said. The group laughed, he wasn’t being serious.
“That awkward moment when Jay needs lessons in sarcasm,” Emily said, as she bit into a chip, everyone laughed and Julian went slightly red.
“Totes me goats,” Vivienne said into the silence, the group burst out laughing again.
“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” she asked, the group nodded and she joined in with their laughter. They talked some more and Emily enjoyed the still air, with the occasional noise from surrounding animals. The settee only had room for two as she sat next to Andrew, the blanket covering both pairs of legs. The sky was beautiful she could see constellations like the Southern Cross above her head.
YOU ARE READING
World Peace isn't Just for Beauty Queens
Teen Fiction"One day I hope to win a Nobel Prize, the Peace Prize, don't know how I'm going to do it, but I will." Emily Finch had only one plan, that was to get through her HSC in one piece, unscathed by other nuances that plague teenagers in their final year...
