"So, are they all getting married or something?"
You hand her a cup of tea and sit beside her. She's watching the same show from her first day here.
"No, it's a cotillion."
"A what?"
"A Debutante Ball." She rolls her eyes, " Young ladies begin presented to society."
"Like cattle at a market?" You smirk and she swats your arm.
"Hey! I came out!"
"And I thought Chris was the only gay one!" You smirk.
She scoffs but then her smirk falls and she bites on her lower lip. "I really didn't want to do it. I fancied myself a poster girl for post modernity."
"Why did you?"
"My grandma made me. She was chairwoman of the event forever, so it was only expected for her only granddaughter to be there. I hated every minute of it. Your dad's supposed to present you. Mine had very bad timing and died the year before."
"I'm sorry." You look over at her. She stares into her tea, and shrugs one shoulder before continuing.
"My boyfriend's dad stepped up. But it wasn't the same. Oh! And my grandma wrote my announcement without telling me. 'Lydia Caitlin Murphy, daughter of the late Connor and Elizabeth Murphy, presented by Daniel Taylor. Lydia hopes to attend Stanford University, like her parents, and follow in her father's footsteps by becoming a surgeon!"
"That's bad?"
"Really bad. I can't watch ER without gagging at the bloody scenes."
"Oh." You nod and glance back at the screen. "Your mom's called Elizabeth?" She nods and you smirk. "Snap. I gotta Lizzie of my own."
"Really?" She smiles, genuinely amused by the fact your mothers share a name. It's probably all they've got in common. "My mom was Libby though. She hated being called Lizzie. And Elizabeth. Said it conjured up too much'Pride and Prejudice' imagery. Lizzie Bennett was her least favourite of the Bennett sisters. Bet you can't guess which one was her favourite."
"You were named after Lydia Bennett? Your mom really didn't have high hopes for you!"
"You've read 'Pride and Prejudice'?" She sounds shocked so you lean over and whisper to her.
"I've read all of Jane Austin."
She pulls back, a grin threatening to spilt her face. "And here I thought Chris was the only gay one."
You laugh. "Touché."
"So, am I the first girl you've met that's been presented to society?"
"No." You shake your head, and think back to your first few weeks in the sticks. You can recall a white puffball dress, a demin jacket and cheesebuger.
"Oh." She sounds dissapointed. "Didn't think there would have been too many Debutantes in New York social circles."
"There wasn't. Conneticut."
"You lived in Conneticut? And met a Deb?"
"Yeah." You nod slowly.
"And you don't want to talk about it?" She's preceptive, you give her that.
"No."
"Okay. New topic. Who would you rather sleep with, Marissa or Summer?"She points to the TV screen.
"Is either one of them the MILF?" You smirk.
"Eww!" She hits your shoulder. "No. That would be either Kirsten or Julie. So which MILF would you...ILF?"
"Dude, are you ever coming to work?" Mathew comes in, carrying a stack of papers. "We're slammed."
"It's my day off, dude."
"Well, again, I say, we're slammed. We're really backed up on the 'zine."
You sigh, and rub the back of your neck. You had been looking forward to your day off. Looking forward to hanging out with Lydia. She was easy to talk to and, you find yourself thinking of that certain blue eyed Deb less when Lydia is around.
She's the 'healthier' verison of the girls you bring home.
"Go." She takes your empty coffee cup from you. "I'm a big girl I can watch 'The OC' unsupervised. And 'Laguna Beach: The real OC' is about to start. You lose a peice of your soul everything you watch it. It's too late for me, but save yourself." She smiles.
"Fine. But you owe me Mitchell."
"Whatever. Just get down there." He heads back to the door and you move to follow him. You pause before you close the door behind you and look back at her.
"Hey, Murphy?"
She throws you a look over her shoulder, "Hmm?"
"The redhead. I'd ILF the redhead." You smirk, and she breaks into a bright smile.
"Well red is better. Richard Gere said so."
"What?" Her references are almost always lost on you.
"Pretty Woman'." She frowns. "You've never seen... okay, that's it. We're watching it tonight. It's Thursday, so you weren't going out, right?"
"No." You were, but somehow, this seems more appealing.
"Good. I'll organise it all. Get dinner and snacks and it'll be awesome!" She claps her hands in delight.
"Sounds good. I'll see you later." You hear Mathew call you from the bottom of the stairs, so you give her a small smile and close the door.
You laugh, as you descend the stairs. You hadn't even lied. Watching the chick flick did sound good. And you have no idea what it means.
