Design of the Heart

27

By the time I got home it was already 5:45 and everyone was eating dinner.

"Anna, it's so nice of you to finally join us.", my mother said as I walked in the door.

"Oh, Candice, please give the girl some slack.  you and I both know that you would still be there if I hadn't dragged you out when I did, and I probably would have still been there too if my mother wasn't in town."

I sat down in the only seat left, between Jossilyn and my grandmother.  "How was the rest of your afternoon, love?"

"Good, some of it I spent talking to your grandma, some of it I spent with the twins, and some of it I spent talking to my friends and family from back home.  However, none of it was spent with the person I actually wanted to be with.  How was yours?"  

"Good, I got a lot of work done and was able to take care of some personal stuff.  Sorry I wasn't able to make it back by 5:00 like I planned, I was on the phone."

"Did you call Katie back?"

"No, I didn't have time, I called Kimber and Ashley instead."

"You called Kimber?!", Sabrina shouted from the other end of the table.

"You called Ashley?!", Abby yelled afterwards.

"Yeah, I figured that it was time to start returning calls, and they called before Katie did so I thought it would be rude to call her back and not the others.

"I'm proud of you sis.  Are you going to call Katie back tomorrow?", Abby asked.

"Yeah, I would have called her today, but by the time I got off the phone with Ashley it was already 5:30 and Katie gets off work at 5:00 so I figured she was already gone for the day."

"Does that mean-", Abby was cut off.

"No", Sabrina yelled slamming her hands on the table, "calling Ashley, Katie, and Kimber is one thing but calling that other bitch is just stupid, irresponsible, and bad for Anna's mental health.  That is where I draw the line.  You will NOT be calling her!", Sabrina interrupted.

"I'm not going to call her.", I said without any emotion in my voice.

"Are you girls excited for the gala on Friday?", grandma asked trying to change the subject.

"Oh yes I already have my dress picked out", Abby said.

"Same", I said.

"I don't have a dress yet.", Sabrina said.

"Will you be joining us at the gala, Jossilyn?", my grandma asked.

"I don't know. Anna invited me yesterday but I've never been to one and I wouldn't want to be a burden or embarrass anyone."

"Oh please everyone has to go to their first at some point if they plan on sticking around in this family.", grandma said.

"Don't worry, grandma, Jossilyn will be there.  Trust me I'm going to need her to help get me through the night.  Plus I really want to show off my new girl.", I said smiling.

After dinner Jossilyn and I went up to my room.

"Who are Kimber and Ashley?", she asked as I shut my door.

"They are a couple of girls I used to be friends with back in the day."

"Why aren't you friends with them anymore?"

"Same reason I'm not friends with Katie."

"Were they some of your fashion friends?"

"Yeah"