Positive thoughts, happy vibes. This mantra rang through Ester's head as she knocked on Liz's door. The door wore a pink bow. Liz's sister, Teresa--a smiley face sticker of enthusiasm--answered the big sturdy oak.
"Hi, Ester!" Teresa exclaimed. "Come in, come in. I'll hang up your coat. Oh wait, let me take this big beautiful box for you while you take off your coat. How beautiful. They're all in the living room."
Ester had almost forgotten about "them". Some of Liz's friends. Kate, Margot, Olivia and Vanessa.
Pineapple, watermelon, blackberries, grapes, brie, cambozola, swiss smoked applewood cheddar, goat cheese, peppered salami, salmon pate, olives, prosciutto, lesley stowe crackers, baguette, rice crackers, melba toast, gruyere fondue, chocolate fondue, tomato and boconcini, raw broccoli, carrots, ranch dip, and hummus. All that was missing was foie gras.
Liz was radiant, in a robin's egg blue dress, that clung perfectly to her hourglass body.
"Liz," Ester said. "Wow, how are you?"
"Fantastic, of course."
"This is for you."
"You don't have to get me anything, silly."
"Oops."
Oops? Ester cringed inside at herself--she was doing it for them, putting on this stupid self-deprecating formulated personality so not to scare, to make them feel comfortable, to be the clown for them, so they would think she was judging them, and also so that she was too nice for them to judge her.
Behind Liz sat Kate, Margot, Olivia and Vanessa.
Behind Liz sat Kate, Margot, Olivia and Vanessa.
"Hi Ester."
"Hey gals, how's everyone doing?"
"Ester can I get you something to drink?" Teresa asked. "Some white wine?"
Everyone else drank white wine.
"Actually, can you make me a whiskey sour with extra egg foam?"
Teresa's face was blank.
"I'm just joking, Teresa. White wine would be great."
The doorbell rang. Teresa diligently vanished from the living room. Ester's humor was off today. Not to mention, Ester and Teresa had never connected. They weren't the same species of person.
"So what's new, Ester?" Olivia asked. You could barely see Olivia's eyes under her dyed blond bangs. "How's photography? You're still doing that, right?"
"So what's new, Ester?" Olivia asked. You could barely see Olivia's eyes under her dyed blond bangs. "How's photography? You're still doing that, right?"
"Yeah. It's good. No complaints. Self-directed most of the time. How about you?"
"Well, I'm still at Still Lake in Marketing. It's great. Lots of traveling. And Marcus and I just moved in together."
"Oh great, what part of town?" Ester asked.
"We're on 6th and Larch. We bought the place, it's a one bedroom, 750 square feet, which is great for us."
"Olivia, I still haven't been to your place," Kate said. "Did you and Marcus buy the apartment with the patio you were talking about?"
"Yeah. This one has the patio, but doesn't have the high ceilings. That one was too expensive. But the patio is great. We like it. We're really happy."
Where was that glass of wine?
Kate said: "Yeah tough choice. Patio versus high ceiling. Guess it depends what kind of person you are."
"Yeah," Olivia said. "Well, we like it. We're happy."
weweweweweweweweweweweweeeeeeeee we
Apartment talk often turned into furniture talk which often led to accessory talk and then fashion talk. Stuff, stuff, stuff. And Ester's past attempts to extract some kind of interesting idea from the conversation was usually overlooked with another mention about some kind of stuff.
and we stuff was the fucking worst.
Teresa returned to the living room with the latest arrival, Julie Fredericks, as well as Ester's glass of wine.
"Hello, ladies!" Julie said. She gave everyone a kiss on either cheek, except Ester, who she met for the first time.
"Nice to meet you, Ester. I've heard so much about you from Liz, since you two have known each other for so long. You're so lucky to still know people from high school. Everyone does so much moving around."
"Yeah, our ten-year is coming up," Liz said.
"God, I know," Ester said.
"I went to my ten-year last summer and it was surprisingly pleasant for such a dreaded occasion," Julie said.
"I went to mine last year too," Kate said. "It was positively dismal. Especially because so many from my grad class have died."
"Really? That's terrible," Julie said.
"Yeah. A whole handful of people. Two of which were suicides. One guy jumped off a boat, they think. And the other guy hung himself."
"Hanged," Ester said.
"What?" Kate asked.
Ester sipped her wine and involuntarily coughed. Air bubbles. Kate looked at her blankly. God, I should just shut up about these things.
"Excuse me. I'm sorry," Ester said recovering from her cough. "Hanged, not hung. Hats are hung, people are hanged." Inside, Ester winced at herself.
"Oh," Kate said.
Margot and Vanessa drained their wineglasses. Their eyes rolled back as they did so.
"Interesting," Julie said. "What about animals?"
The question was a curious surprise for Ester.
"I don't know. I've never thought about it. I suppose they are also hanged."
"Onto happier topics," Teresa said as she filled up Margot and Vanessa's wineglasses. "Like, weddings!"
