Summer Days to An End

Chapter II.

"What is taking her so long?" Miyo turned to Selah in an exasperated tone, as the two of them stood in front of the door to Lo's lavish house, just a few days after they agreed to have a movie night at her place.

"Knowing her she's probably still getting ready, or worse yet, arguing with her mom," Selah replied, her voice expressing mild concern despite how her remark might have sounded.

Almost two years prior Lo's parents had separated, to which her father responded by marrying another woman far out of his age group just six months later. As with any child, Lo never took the news well, which led to a deep resentment of her step-mother, whom she knew was only interested in her father for his assets. Still, for the sake of her loving father Lo did her best to tolerate her, regardless of how little she cared for her.

As expected, Selah's response was met with a brief silence, which moments later was broken by Lo opening the door and ushering the girls inside.

"Great, you guys are here, sorry about the wait, though. I had to deal with something first." Lo spoke in a bright tone at first, however her voice shifted as she mentioned what had taken her so long.

"Don't worry about it, I'm guessing the guys haven't arrived yet?" Miyo asked as Lo gave a nod.

"Yeah, they said they were coming together though, so I'm not all that worried. Besides, if they're not here in time we can pick the movie without them." She added as she brought them into a large room.

Against one of the four walls stood two pillars, which were joined by an ivory-white marble frame with part of it cut out in the center, where a large TV with a slightly curved edge was placed. In front of the display were three moderate-sized sofas, as well as a matching marble accent table and a white faux fur rug before them.

"Okay, while we wait for the boys, Miyo, how about you come with me to get the food and drinks ready, and Selah can let them in when they arrive?" said Lo.

"Sounds good, they'd better hurry though, since it looks like it's about to rain." Selah sat down in one of the sofas and pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time, as Miyo and Lo headed straight for the kitchen.

"Lo, can I ask you something?" Miyo started, as Lo laid out three bags of popcorn as well as a few drinks.

"Sure, shoot."

"I hope this doesn't come across as offensive, but here it is: do you see yourself getting along with your step-mom in the future?" Miyo's shoulders slightly shrunk inwards as she questioned, and Lo froze in her tracks, resting the things in her hands on the counter island in front of her. Along with this, she let out a deep sigh.

"To be honest, I don't think I'll ever truly get along with her, and that's not just because I don't want to. It's because when I look at her I don't think of a mother, I think of an imposter." Lo explained, as she put the first bag of popcorn into the microwave whilst Miyo took out some cups.

"I understand that. Actually, was she the reason why you took so long to answer the door?" She followed with another question.

"Of course, anytime she sees me enjoying myself she does her very best to ruin things for me. In fact, the only thing that I think keeps me from lashing out on her is how much my dad supposedly loves her." Lo said in an unsurprised voice, as she shook out the contents of the first popcorn bag into a bowl and immediately put the second in the microwave.

"You mean he hasn't noticed how much you two don't like each other? That doesn't seem very plausible." Miyo pushed on.

"You'd be amazed. For him, we're just having the usual mother-daughter arguments, but I know that to some degree he can tell that things won't be getting better between us anytime soon." Lo's adamant tone convinced Miyo to end the conversation there, as the two of them continued to prepare the food and drinks for their night, which as luck would have it, was to be a stormy one.