Ashley walked into the lavish living room as she entered her house, and threw her book bag onto the floor. The radio was on, and she caught her mom dancing to oldies in the kitchen. Laughing, she cleared her throat to make her presence known.
"Oh! Hi sweetie, how was your day?" she asked, turning around, startled.
"Super, yours?" Ashley replied.
"Oh, fine. Mark called; he's going to the Italian Alps today with Susan. I hope he doesn't break his neck…" she said, unsure. Ashley laughed. Mark was her older brother of 26. He and Susan were newly weds and were on their honeymoon. Suddenly, Ashley's father walked in the room, carrying the latest print out of the Wall street Journal.
"Hey hon," he greeted her. She smiled as he kissed her on the cheek. "Who was that you got a ride home from?" he asked.
"I made some new friends today, one of them offered to give me a ride home." They looked at each other, smiles across their faces.
"Oh honey, I knew you would do just fine here! We're so proud of you," her mother squealed. Ashley laughed nervously. "So what are their names? Do they live around here?" her father asked.
"Paul and Billy. They live a few streets over. Actually, they invited me to a little get together at their house tonight. Would it be okay if I went?" she asked.
"Absolutely, what time? Dad can give you a ride, I'm certain," her mother replied.
He nodded. "Of course."
Ashley looked at her watch. It was already four o'clock, so she had plenty of time. "Around eight," she said.
"So what kind of party is it? Birthday? Do you need a gift? Or a new outfit? There's a Sax Fifth Avenue in the mall, we can go and pick something up if you'd like," her mother said frantically, making sure everything she needed was taken care of.
"No no, it's nothing like that. We're just hanging out, that's all." They nodded.
"Well, I'm going upstairs to check my e-mail. Thank you for letting me go," she said. They beamed and nodded, and her mother pressed her hands together in excitement. They were, by far, the cheesiest people in the entire universe. Ashley flumped up the stairs and into her room, closing the door. She pulled out her secret stash of punk CD' s and put on some Rancid, concealing it from her parents by wearing headphones. Signing onto AOL, she was ecstatic to hear the words "You've Got Mail". She skimmed through it and realized it was filled with nothing but junk, except for a letter from an old friend.
Hey sweetie! Just checking to see how life is in Waldorf. Nothing
compared to Times Square on a Saturday, I'm sure! We all miss you
and hope to hear from you soon. Call anytime, and visit now and then!
You're always welcome here.
Love always,
Dan
Ashley smiled and almost welled up at the thought of seeing Dan again. He was her best friend while she was in New York. He introduced her to punk, and took her to shows behind her parent's back for some harmless fun. He was practically her soul mate. Gorgeous, single, muscular, popular, and gay. Oh well. She missed him more than anything in the world, and longed for New York again. She decided she would write him back after the party so she could tell him every detail. Closing her laptop, she turned on her flat screen TV and headed over to her closet. She knew she needed something classy to wear, especially to a party. Everything she owned was J. Crew, Gucci, Versache, D&G, or some other outrageous New York style. She didn't dress anything like Billy or Paul. But she decided that whatever she wore would be okay for the occasion, and threw on a black turtleneck sweater and some khaki flares. She found some Mary Jane's under her bed and put those on as well, and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She looked very New York, like she was heading to an art gallery. To make matters worse, she wore her glasses. "Here we go…" she said to herself.