If I Fell

2 | Drink Your Woes

❂ CHAPTER TWO ❂

For the dinner, I had spent almost the whole day trying to get ready. After an hour of putting on and taking off, struggling to pick the best outfit, I eventually settled on wearing a mulberry Burberry dress and nude Louis Vuitton stiletto pumps. Très chic.

My mother hadn't come home in the morning like she said she would. When I called her, she said she had missed her flight and she would be home a little later.

By 6:00 pm, I called her again.

"Where are you? I've been ready—"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you." She giggled, sounding more than mildly drunk. "Do you remember Mandy Vanderbilt? Of Vanderbilt Hotels— anyways, she told me about this new Japanese spa that just opened up today. It's in Manhattan and so we're going to see what's the earliest flight we can catch."

"Can't it wait?" I asked, clearly annoyed that she guilted me for nothing.

"Honey," she started. I could visualize her pout; her bottom lip jutting out petulantly like a child's. "Don't be that way. I want to go before any of the other girls from the Victoria Garden's Club go and brag. At least now you can go out and have fun with your friends. Don't wait up," she said followed by more giggles, more than just hers.

"But—"

"Can't talk now, bye!" I heard some slurring words from the other line then click.

I took a deep breath in to control my irritation, letting it fester in my lungs until I couldn't hold it any longer, then breathed it out.

Since it took me so long to get ready, I wasn't going to just waste my effort. No point in wallowing in a pretty dress when I could have fun instead.

♔♛♔

"The dinner went fine. He was nice, I guess. Ended too early to tell," I lied over the phone. Getting stood up by my own mother made me sound like some loser.

"What? Why?" Scarlett asked. I shouldn't have said the last sentence. Being dismissed early by my mother also made me sound like a loser.

"She wants to catch an early flight to New York for a new spa they have there."

"She ended it early so she could... but didn't she just come back?" Scarlett sounded more incredulous and upset than I did.

"Honestly, who cares?" I shrugged even though she couldn't see. "If anything, I'm glad. Now I can go to the party. I'll pick you guys up in thirty minutes."

"Actually, we're picking you up. Daisy's driving." Before I could ask if her mom finally caved and got her a car for Christmas, Scarlett added, "Milo is letting Daisy borrow his car."

"Oh. Is he here?" I had been too eager for the answer to be considered healthy and normal.

"Yeah."

I should've figured. He was her older brother, after all, so it would make sense that he would be here during winter break. But I was always away and he usually wasn't home that long.

Despite myself, I wanted to ask more about Milo. But I also didn't want to be that pathetic, lovesick girl I had been four years ago. Thankfully, I got distracted by loud and incoherent speaking. Daisy's, no doubt.