by Lee Hollis
Finally there was quiet.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Sabrina said, with a fake smile on her face to cover the fact she had just witnessed such an uncomfortable domestic drama.
“Well, Liddy and I had a chance to talk before you got here . . .” Hayley said.
“Since you were all so late,” Liddy barked, almost as piercing as Ivy’s dogs.
Hayley quickly brushed past the comment. “Anyway, we think since time is such an issue we should just keep things simple and not go overboard because, after all, the whole point of the reunion is to just reconnect with old friends and catch up after so many years apart, right?”
Sabrina, Nykki, and Ivy exchanged glances before Nykki motioned for Sabrina to speak on their behalf.
“Hayley, we appreciate you and Liddy taking the initiative and trying to make our lives easier but this reunion, it’s not like the tenth, when we were still kids, finding our way in life. This is the big one. Twenty years. We’ve all accomplished so much in life. Well, a few of us anyway. Why treat it just like any other run of the mill cocktail party?”
“We should go big. Have a live band. Maybe a singer or group who were really popular the year we graduated,” Nykki said to nods of approval from Sabrina and Ivy.
“Yes! Like Seal or Mariah Carey!” Sabrina said, clapping her hands.
“Or Tupac!”
“He’s dead, Ivy,” Liddy said, scowling.
“Oh. Okay. Well, then maybe we can also get a celebrity from that era to give some kind of welcome speech. I may have an in with Jason Priestly.”
“Oh my God! Maybe Luke Perry could also come and they could be like co-speakers! That would be so fabulous!” Sabrina added, excited about their spitballing.
Liddy stared at them, skepticism written all over her face. “With three days notice?”
“You know, Liddy,” Nykki said pointedly. “Maybe if you weren’t so negative you’d sell more houses. A positive attitude is the key to success.”
For a moment, Hayley thought she was going to have to tackle Liddy who looked like she was about to lunge at Nykki and physically assault her.
But surprisingly Liddy showed remarkable restraint.
Although she did look like she was about to cry.
“And decorations! We should recreate that simpler time in our lives. With lots of crepe paper and streamers,” Sabrina said to nods of approval from Ivy. “Really dress up this rather staid and architecturally outdated golf club.”
As Hayley and Liddy watched the three former mean girls chatter away about their big ideas, it was very clear they had officially been pushed out of the planning.
Nykki suddenly held a finger up for silence as she read a text on her phone. “Girls, I have to adjourn this meeting for now because I just got a last-minute showing out in Town Hill. A couple wants to take a look on their way out of town so it has to be now or never. They’re already there waiting.”
“But Nykki, I have to pick up Mason at the rental house because we’re going on a sunset cruise with Patty Simcox from high school who married one of the Rockefellers,” Sabrina said frowning.
“I have an idea,” Ivy said. “Sabrina can drop me off at the house when she picks up Mason and you can just take my rental car, Nykki.”
“Works for me,” Sabrina said.
“Perfect. You’re a doll, Ivy,” Nykki said. “I think this was all incredibly productive. Let’s reconnoiter later tonight and dole out specific tasks.”
As the three of them hustled for the door, Hayley called after them. “Wait. What about Nigel? He’s still out walking the dogs.”
“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Ivy said, rolling her eyes. “He can walk home.”
“But your rental is like seven miles outside of town.”
That didn’t really seem to be an issue with Ivy.
“Okay. Well, don’t worry,” Hayley said. “Liddy and I can just wait here and give him a lift back to the rental house when he gets back.”
“Absolutely not,” Ivy said, shaking her head. “Nigel’s getting fat around the middle, it’s like he’s wearing a Michelin tire. He needs the exercise so don’t you dare!”
It was clear to Hayley that she was no longer on the receiving end of Ivy’s cruel streak like she was in high school.
The new target was her husband.
Chapter 6
“You know, seeing Nykki and Ivy reunited with their queen bee Sabrina after all these years wasn’t really what I expected,” Liddy said, gripping the wheel of her Mercedes as she drove Hayley home.
“Not as bad as you thought?”
“No. Worse!”
“Oh, come on, Liddy. I think it’s safe to say they’ve all mellowed just a little bit,” Hayley said, not really believing her own words.
“Were you in the same room as I was?” Liddy asked incredulously as she whipped her head around to look at Hayley.
“Keep your eyes on the road!” Hayley yelled as she watched the Mercedes slowly drift over the yellow center dividing line into the opposite lane.
Liddy jerked the wheel back to the left and shook her head. “Once a nasty bitch always a nasty bitch. If that walking demon seed Nykki thinks she’s going to encroach on my territory, I will fight her to the death!”
“You have to admit, Sabrina has calmed down a lot since high school. I mean, she’s been through two painful divorces, and since leaving her job as county coroner, she’s definitely not as manic and career obsessed.”
“Why are you cutting her so much slack?”
“Because it’s not healthy to hold a grudge. I’m practicing forgiveness.”
“Well, stop it! It’s irritating! Have you forgotten how they treated you in high school? How awful they were to you?”
“Of course not. But it’s been twenty years. I think it’s time to let all that go and just put it behind me.”
“They despised Mona and me but mostly ignored us. Which was fine by us. But you, they especially had it out for you. At least with us, they didn’t pretend to like us. They’d string you along and make you believe you were part of their clique and then without warning they’d just freeze you out and make you feel like nothing!”
“What part of putting this behind me didn’t resonate with you?”
“Remember that night the summer after graduation? It was the weekend after Fourth of July and Mona went on a fishing trip with her Dad and I flew to New York with my mother to meet my college roommate in the fall, and you were left to your own devices and once again fell into their trap?”
Hayley did remember.
In fact, it was impossible to forget.
July 1995.
Hayley stood in front of the bathroom mirror staring at the unsightly pimple hovering just above her upper lip.
Maybe it was a cold sore she got from making out with Mark Peterman during Senior Skip Day.
Oh God.
Why isn’t it going away?
She resisted the urge to pop it.
Her dermatologist forbade her to ever try ridding her face of a zit using that method. He warned her it would only grow back. Twice the size as before. Maybe he was just trying to scare her.
She was about to turn eighteen.
How could she still be fighting such an adolescent malady as acne?
Of all nights to be sporting a big fat ugly white pimple.
Sabrina Merryweather had invited her over for a party. Her parents were away on business, and she had secured a keg from her college-age brother and was inviting a few of her closest girlfriends along with an impressive selection of boys for an intimate party in her backyard.
And looking back at her through the mirror was Qua-simoto’s frizzy-haired gawky younger sister.
She couldn’t go.
Not looking like this.
She had already lied to her mother and told her it was an innocent slumber party. They were going to the Criterion Theatre to see that new Alicia Silverstone movie Clueless. It was supposed to b
e a hoot. But that was just the cover story. No boys were interested in seeing a romantic comedy loosely based on a Jane Austen novel.
Why did she have to lie anyway?
She was on the verge of adulthood.
But as long as she was under her mother’s roof, she had to follow her annoying rules. Hence the elaborate girls’ movie night and slumber party yarn.
She had gone to so much trouble concocting the fake scenario; she couldn’t bow out of the real one now. And Sabrina seemed so happy when she told her she would come. Graduation had seemed to melt away the friction between them. Hayley wasn’t actually certain what had caused their rift that began sophomore year, but she was relieved it was finally coming to an end.
They had been best friends in grade school. Slumber parties at each other’s houses. Science partners in eighth grade. Sat together on the school bus and shared math notes. But when they reached high school, Hayley had felt Sabrina pulling away by Christmas of freshman year. By sophomore year, the mean girl cliques took root and that’s when Sabrina officially froze her out, sacrificed their years long friendship in order to secure her own place with the “in crowd”, the fashion conscious, backbiting, ostracizing, rumor spreading, name-calling girls who stick together in order to feel a sense of security, a sense of identity, a sense of superiority. Sabrina had always been insecure for as long as Hayley could remember and she craved that kind of acceptance, and she was willing to do whatever it took to become one of them—even if it meant losing Hayley as her most trusted friend. It devastated Hayley, and it took her a long time to trust again. But now as their high school years were coming to a close, Sabrina seemed to be holding out an olive branch with this invitation. Maybe she wanted bygones to be bygones.
No, she couldn’t disappoint Sabrina and be a no show.
She would just have to live with the zit.
Her mother was out shopping at the grocery store so it was now or never. She slipped past her younger brother, Randy, who was stretched out on the couch watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (she would later learn he was more interested in star Kevin Sorbo’s biceps than the rip-roaring sword fighting action sequences). He never even noticed her leaving.
It was a short walk to Sabrina’s house and it was getting dark by the time she arrived. The lights were off in the house.
She rang the bell.
No answer.
She rang it again.
She stood outside five minutes.
Then it was ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
She sat down on the steps, folded her hands, and checked the zit on her face.
It was still there.
After two hours, it slowly dawned on her that Sabrina wasn’t coming home.
And there was no party.
Hayley dreaded going back to her house on Snow Street.
Her mother would be full of questions.
Where was Sabrina?
Why didn’t she call if she needed to cancel?
Should I call her parents?
Hayley was embarrassed.
Humiliated.
She knew deep down that Sabrina and her gal pals Nykki and Ivy had probably just gotten a better offer.
And whatever it was, they weren’t about to include her.
Hayley went to a pizza joint on Cottage Street teeming with tourists and had a pepperoni slice and a Diet Coke by herself before walking home while fighting back tears.
Sabrina never bothered to call the next day to explain what happened.
In fact, it was two whole weeks before Hayley ran into her on the street.
Sabrina stammered some half-assed apology.
She looked haggard and upset like she hadn’t slept in weeks.
She looked terrible.
That at least made Hayley feel a little better.
And though she wanted to ask Sabrina why she and her friends had so cruelly stood her up, why she didn’t even warrant a phone call to let her know the party was canceled, she just shrugged it off and continued on her way.
She wasn’t the least bit interested.
She was done trying to be friends with Sabrina and her Teenage Witches.
Hayley’s chirping cell phone snapped her out of the memory.
She checked the caller ID.
“It’s Ivy,” Hayley said.
“Don’t answer it!” Liddy said, turning onto Hayley’s street so fast Hayley nearly banged her head on the passenger side window despite the seat belt restraining her.
Hayley pressed the answer button and held the phone to her ear. “Hello, Ivy.”
“Hi, Hayley. Listen, I called my caterer while Sabrina was driving me home and she tried gouging me with her price. I mean, come on, I like a good stuffed mushroom, but I’m not going to take out a second mortgage just to try one. If we pay her what she wants, we’d have to charge a hundred bucks a head. Now I know that doesn’t mean much to you and me . . .”
Says who?
“But we really should think about our classmates who aren’t doing as well as we are. They can’t pay that and it would be unfair to shut them out of the reunion, don’t you agree?”
“Of course, Ivy. That’s sweet of you to consider them,” Hayley said, pretending to gag herself with her finger.
“I don’t even want to know what she’s saying,” Liddy growled. “What’s she saying?”
Hayley shushed her.
“So after talking it over with Sabrina, we’ve decided to downsize. At least when it comes to the food.”
“I think downsizing is an excellent idea, Ivy.”
“Like we already suggested?” Liddy screamed, craning her neck closer to the phone so Ivy could hear her.
If she did, Ivy chose to ignore it. “I’m going to make my world famous cupcakes. I think they’ll put everyone in a festive mood. And don’t worry. I’ll pay for the ingredients myself and not charge for my time.”
“That’s very generous. And if there’s anything I can do . . .”
“Well, since you volunteered . . .”
Why?
Why did she say anything?
She knew what was coming.
“I’ve read your column. You are apparently the Queen of Party Treats. So if you wouldn’t mind whipping up a few appetizers. Keep in mind we have a hundred and fifty in our class, most with spouses, so I wouldn’t prepare anything for less than three hundred. Thanks, Hayley. You’re a peach!”
Before Hayley could protest, the line went dead.
So much for sitting on the sidelines and letting the mean girls do the heavy lifting.
Chapter 7
Hayley thought recruiting Liddy and Mona to help her prepare appetizers for the reunion would lighten the workload if they adopted an assembly line system in her kitchen, but after two bottles of BV red wine were quickly consumed within the first hour of their gal pal cooking night, the responsibility of preparing the jalapeno mozzarella sticks and the salami and cream cheese roll-ups was pretty much left to Hayley.
But Hayley wasn’t complaining. At the very least, she was grateful for the moral support after being strong-armed into single-handedly catering the reunion with the exception of Ivy’s self-proclaimed world famous cupcakes.
Mona teetered on top of a stool next to the small kitchen high table as she struggled to open a third bottle of wine while Liddy was still railing against Nykki Temple threatening her livelihood.
“I swear if she tries to steal one client away from me, just one, I will take her down,” Liddy slurred, waving her wine glass around and coming dangerously close to dousing Mona with the little bit of Cabernet swishing around in the bottom that she had yet to slurp down.
“Should I make those delicious parmesan garlic chicken wings I served at last summer’s Fourth of July barbecue?” Hayley asked, opening her fridge to inspect its contents for the right ingredients. “I think I have some frozen wings in the freezer out in the garage.”
“Are you even listening to me?” Lidd
y wailed.
“Never. So why start now?” Mona chuckled as she finally popped the cork on a fresh bottle, nearly toppling off the stool in the process.
“Liddy, you have plenty of competition and you’ve still done incredibly well for yourself. I don’t think Nykki moving back here is going to affect your business one bit,” Hayley said, stacking the roll-ups in rows between wax paper and sliding the platter on the top shelf in her fridge.
Mona jumped down from her stool and reached for one before Hayley had a chance to close the refrigerator door. Hayley gently slapped Mona on the wrist and blocked her with her body before she had the chance to grab one. “Oh no you don’t. You only get to try them if you promise to come to the reunion.”
“Not happening,” Mona said defiantly before turning back to the bottle of wine on the counter she had just opened and pouring some into her glass.
“Don’t you have one fond memory of high school, Mona?”
“Yeah. Graduating,” Mona barked.
“Just barely, as I recall,” Liddy said before grabbing the bottle away from Mona and filling her own glass.
The back door swung open and Gemma breezed in, as if walking on air. She had a dopey grin on her face, but before Hayley could ask why she looked so euphoric, she noticed a tall boy around Gemma’s age following behind her. He was strikingly handsome. Hollywood handsome. Like one of those pin up boys from a CW show about sexy teen vampires or hot young ghost hunters. Blond. Built. And a megawatt smile that took your breath away.
“Mom, this is Nate. Nate Forte. We’re going to prom together,” Gemma cooed before catching herself and trying to strike a cooler, less overly excited girlish pose.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Powell,” Nate said, extending a massive hand and squeezing Hayley’s so tight it almost hurt.
“It’s a pleasure, Nate.”
“And these are my honorary aunts, Liddy and Mona,” Gemma said, staring at the empty wine bottles and silently imploring them not to embarrass her.
To Liddy and Mona’s credit, they simply waved at Nate and offered perfunctory smiles.
“Thanks for walking me home,” Gemma said. “I’ll e-mail you the history notes later so we can study together tomorrow before the final.”
