The Hamptons (paused)

Three

Saturday is spent cleaning the entire apartment to prepare for Matthews parents tomorrow. I am on living-room duty while he cleans the bedroom and the hall. I convinced him that it would be redundant to clean the kitchen before prepping the food for tomorrow.

When I finished dusting off the shelves in the bathroom and scrubbing the tub, shower and toilet, I go and change into jeans and t-shirt.

"I'll go get the groceries for lunch tomorrow", I yell and leave the apartment before Matthew gets the chance to remind me about his mother's thousands of allergies that I somehow all know by heart.

The lines in the grocery store are so long that I can almost shop while simultaneously waiting in line for the cash register. While I stand there with my shopping cart, I feel my phone buzzing in my jacket.

When I get it out, I see a message from Matthew: Need to go to the office, see you tonight.

I sigh. Maybe it's nice to have a smart boyfriend but it definitely sucks to have a boyfriend who works on Saturdays. I mean, we never really celebrated our anniversary except for dinner but we always tend to at least spend the day together even if we're just cleaning the apartment.

Just when I shove it back in my pocket, it buzzes again. This time, it's a call from Peter.

"Hey", I answer and push the cart forward a little. Finally, the line is moving.

"Hey, are you excited?", he asks and I can practically see him wiggling his eyebrows.

"I didn't really have time to be, yet. You know his parents come to visit tomorrow..."

"Oh yea, the beast", Peter says understandingly.

I laugh - although I hate that he calls people, especially my boyfriend's mother, names, I couldn't agree more. Linda Baker is a horrible person to say the least. She's very picky with her food and always finds a way to pick at me for not coming from a wealthy family. The thing that bothers her the most is that my father doesn't have an academic degree. That owning and running an autoshop isn't easy either, never crossed her mind.

"Yea, I am just finishing grocery shopping for lunch", I explain.

"She will hate it anyway", he remarks and I can't help but agree with him.

"So, why are you calling?"

"Just to talk to be honest. I need to pack for tomorrow and you know I hate organizing things"

"What's tomorrow?", I ask, frowning.

"Excuse me?!", I pull away the phone from my ear when Peter's voice reaches heights unknown to mankind. "How could you forget?", he whines.

"What did I forget?", I ask, not remembering anything in particular.

"That Sarah and I will spend the next four weeks at our family's home in the Hamptons?", he says as if it was obvious. I mean, of course I know that Peter's family is outrageously rich but I never knew that they actually owned a house in the Hamptons. Is their father a senator? I suddenly remember that I never asked.

"You never told me that", I tell him while putting the items from my cart onto the belt.

"I didn't? Oh... nevermind. We're leaving tomorrow", he says as if he didn't just tell me that my only two friends will spend the summer away at the most expansive place in New York.

"Nevermind?", I repeat. "How could I? You'll leave me alone and not tell me?", I jokingly complain. "No, but seriously. I am happy for you. I bet the house is beautiful!"

"Oh, oh yes. Oh yes, it is!", Peter isn't even ashamed to brag and I grin. He's just so honest.

"Why don't you just come with us?", he asks.