Lucy felt like screaming.
She usually only felt like this when she was forced to write essays on
hideously boring people. It was a feeling of being trapped under a huge pile of
triviality that she just didn’t care about but that she knew was going to mean
huge trouble for her if she didn’t do anything about it soon. One more minor
irritation could push her over the edge, she knew it.
The doorbell rang.
“Joe! Get the door!” Lucy yelled.
“I’m going, Hun, don’t worry.” He
opened the door to find Carter standing there with a concerned expression on
his face.
“Hey, Joe, what’s going on?” he asked
“Oh babe, thank goodness you came!”
“You said it was an emergency with
Lucy, I was worried. Of course I came.”
“Aw you’re so sweet, darling.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going
on?”
“She’s nearing a nervous breakdown,”
Joe explained, “Unreliable people really get to her.” Carter nodded. Joe showed
him through to the living room and they waited outside the door, listening to
Lucy on the phone.
“How can you say that? It’s on a
Saturday night and it’s here!” there was quiet as whoever was on the other end
attempted to make excuses. Then Lucy replied, audibly getting angrier, “Claire
and Jill are coming from Leeds. James is coming from Exeter. What excuse could
you possibly have not to come from Warwick? … You what? Do you realise who
you’re saying that to? Don’t even try and talk to me about workloads. Sue’s
coming from Oxford, giving up her weekend even though she has an exam on
Monday. … I know she is, but you’re taking photography and she’s taking
Economics so that comparison doesn’t really count, does it? … You already said
you would come … Yes I’m angry! … Fine, do whatever you want but this is one of
the only opportunities we have to see everyone until summer and everyone always
goes away in summer anyway. I’ll just tell Georgia you have too many pictures
to colour in to come and celebrate her 21st with all the rest of our
friends. Sorry, what? I can’t hear you over her disappointment. You're breaking
up now, bye!” Lucy hung up the phone and took a big breath, getting ready to
let out a stress-releasing scream. Joe saw an opportunity, pre-scream, and ran
in, dragging Carter after him.
“Look who came to visit you, babe!”
Lucy saw them and converted her scream
to as excited a cry as she could.
“Carter! I thought you weren’t coming
until later?”
“Joe sent me a distress message.”
“Joseph, you utter babe,” Lucy cried as
she flung her arms around Joe. Then she turned to Carter, “I missed you.” she
told him as he engulfed her in a hug.
“I missed you more.” he replied.
“I look like shit, I’m so stressed out
I haven’t had a shower yet today!” Lucy realised, panic levels rising.
“You look gorgeous, don’t worry.”
“Although maybe changing out of your
pyjamas would be a good idea,” added Joe, “And a shower probably wouldn’t
hurt.” Lucy looked at him sarcastically as they all sat down on the sofas. She
buried her face in Carter’s chest and told them about her stresses so far that
day.
“ … so now I have to find cups and a
way to tell Georgia that Billie isn’t coming to her birthday. And that’s just
today’s problems, this has been going on all week!” Carter stroked her arm to
comfort her.
“So how many people are coming in
total?” he asked.
“About 72, I think.”
“You’re joking,” said Joe, “that’s
tons! What are you worrying about?”
“I invited 134.”
“Oh, right.”
“Doesn’t Tillie’s have a 100-person
limit?” asked Carter.
“On paper, but it always has loads more
than that in there. It’s going to look so empty and everyone’s going to laugh
at me!”
“Everyone’s only going to laugh at you
if you look like that.” Joe gestured to her pyjamas, her messy bun and smudged
makeup that she couldn’t be bothered to take off the night before. “Go have a
shower and get dressed and I’ll keep Carter company down here.”
“Good plan. I’ll try to be quick,” she
said as she gave Carter a kiss.
“Yuck, get a room,” said Joe. Lucy stood
up and pointed sternly at him.
“You. No trying to convert my boyfriend
to your bus again. 3 in a row is enough, got it?” Joe smirked and
nodded resignedly. Lucy walked away.
“Mate, what was she on about?” Carter
asked.
“I may have accidentally-on-purpose
converted her last three boyfriends to being gay. All I did was encourage them
to try something new but she thinks it’s like this big deal or something.”
Carter looked surprised.
“Wait, are you gay?”
“You are kidding, right? Lucy always
says I’m the gayest gay who ever gayed, she calls me her sister!”
“I thought that was just a joke! I knew
she had a gay friend but I thought it was Michael!” Carter cried. Joe burst out
laughing, “How could you not have known? Michael’s straight, trust me.”
“Trust you? Sounds like you're pretty
sure. You didn’t…?” Carter asked. Joe coughed loudly and pointedly.
“You know what? I think there’s a really
good documentary on the T.V. Or a re-run, or something. Anything.”
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