Sue sat in her car for ages, parked outside the driveway of Gerard’s mansion. She kept the windows rolled up and tried to calm herself down. She hadn’t responded to his email or his secretary’s, but on Sunday evening, she suddenly decided to crash his dinner party. The black silk jumpsuit she was wearing fell gracefully around her figure, adding the illusion of a few pounds to her slight frame. She had even taken the time out to paint her nails a light coral. She adjusted the rear-view mirror so she could see her face in it. Her cheeks looked flushed and her coral lips contrasted her pale complexion. She had meticulously brushed out her hair and it fell elegantly in waves on her shoulders.
She dabbed her lipstick on again and smacked her lips, a welcome distraction from her racing heart. The magnetic lock on her small velvet black clutch snapped shut and she shoved the door open. Her heels clicked against the pavement as she stepped out of her car and walked towards the looming wrought-iron gates. She stood outside the gates for a few moments, till she found an electronic security screen and pressed the only button on it.
“Good evening. Your name please,” she heard the voice of a man boom through.
“Sue Lawson,” she squeaked.
“Please drive through, Mr. Tate is expecting you,” the man replied and she could hear the creaking of the gates as they slowly opened up. Sue felt stupid for having walked up to the gate and she went back to her car to drive in.
The driveway was short and she reached the front door of the mansion in a matter of minutes. She could see a few expensive cars parked as she climbed out of her car again.
“You made it!” Gerard’s voice caught her off guard as she noticed him standing on top of the few steps which led to the front door. A uniformed gentleman stood beside him and he immediately reached for her trench coat when she walked up the steps and stood beside them.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t RSVP. I wasn’t sure of my schedule,” Sue said as she wriggled out of her coat and Gerard led her inside. He had placed his hand on the small of her back and his touch gave her goosebumps. He smelled of coffee still, even though he was in a three piece suit with a red handkerchief peeping out from his front pocket. Sue didn’t want to turn to look at him, the proximity to him was enough to make her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She felt like a young teenager with a crush on a senior.
“That’s all right. We’re glad you could make it,” Gerard said politely and she couldn’t stop from throwing him an utterly confused look. His house distracted her. It was gorgeously decorated, even though a bit too modern and minimalistic for her taste, but she couldn’t have expected anything different from a tech-genius.
White, silver and black was the color palette and everything that was not one of those, was made of glass. Sue looked around her in awe, hoping that her jaw hadn’t dropped as they walked across the entrance hallway towards an inner room. She could see a glass staircase leading up to the upper levels of the house and she had an incredible urge to run up the stairs.
“What do you mean by “we”?” She finally turned to him and he simply smiled.
“Sue Lawson!” she heard the shriek of a woman and Sue froze in her spot. It was…it couldn’t be! Mary Jenkins!
Mary ran towards her with arms outstretched as they entered the sprawling living room. Mary had aged, but Sue would have recognized that high-pitched singing voice anywhere.
“Sue!” she screeched again as she flung her arms around her and they both hugged.
“Mary! How are you?” Sue was fumbling with her words, but she couldn’t stop herself from grinning like she’d won the lottery. Mary had definitely aged, but aged gracefully. She was in a sleek black maxi dress and her platinum hair had thinned but still remained curly and unkempt as she brushed a few strands away from her face.
“When Gerard said he met you, we didn’t believe him for a moment,” she said in her usual, overly dramatic fashion as she kept a strong grip on Sue’s arm. Sue looked up to see the smiling face of Jake Milton, a few feet away from them.
“Sue!” he said when she caught his eye and he took a few steps forward to give her a hug as well. She couldn’t believe it. Mary Jenkins and Jake Milton. In the flesh!
“I’m here too,” she heard a voice and Sue whipped around to find Gerard’s best friend standing behind them, a glass of wine in his hands. “Carl!” Sue was the one who nearly shrieked now and she lunged towards him to give him a hug.
It was strange for her to see them all in the same room again. She hadn’t seen any of them in twenty years, if not more, and the three years that they had spent together in college, they had spent it in each other’s company every day. Mary was her roommate, Jake was Mary’s boyfriend and the five of them were instantly drawn together as a group.
“You guys all kept in touch?” Sue was even more confused than before. What were they all doing in Gerard’s living room after all these years? The silence in the room answered her question and she could feel her heart sinking, a bitterness crawling up her skin as she eyed Mary’s embarrassed exchange of looks with Jake.
“Jake and I got married after college,” she screeched out instead and Sue gave her a forced polite smile.
“So you’ve been married for twenty years and been friends with Gerard all that time as well?” She couldn’t keep the sound of betrayal out of her voice as she said the words.
“I was the best-man at the wedding,” Gerard said as he passed her a glass of wine. Sue snatched it out of his hands and turned to glare at Carl.
“You too, Carl?” She walked towards him and he exchanged looks with Jake.
“Yeah, we all kept in touch,” he said nervously and took a sip of his wine.
“If hanging out twice a week is called keeping in touch.” Gerard came over and thumped Carl on the back. He gave Sue a winning smile and she turned away from them.
“Is this all true, Mary?” Sue asked her, her voice was shaking now.
“Why would I lie to you, Sue?” She heard Gerard’s voice behind her and she whipped around to face him. This was about enough. Her nerves were wrecked, her divorce was bitter, she was alone and lonely, and now she was finding out that her best friends had chosen her ex-boyfriend over her, and they had made that choice twenty years ago.
“I’m speaking to Mary, if you don’t mind,” she hissed at Gerard and she watched him raise an eyebrow.
“Is this true, Mary? You guys all hung out, every week, while I assumed we all went our separate ways?” Sue was the one shrieking now. Jake’s arm was on Mary’s back now and she could see the two of them exchange continuous nervous looks.
“Now, look here Sue,” Carl tried to interrupt her rage, but she would have none of it.
“Did you guys have a meeting and decide to vote me out? Did you have inside jokes and shared high-fives every time you heard some gossip about me?” She had inched closer towards Mary. She didn’t even want to begin to imagine what she looked like at that moment, but her appearance was no more her top priority.
“It wasn’t like that, Sue,” Mary finally spoke and her words broke her heart even more. She wished Mary would fight with her, yell at her and put her in her place, like all the other times she had done when they were still friends.
“You drifted away,” Jake added, only adding fuel to the fire.
“No. I broke up with Gerard. You guys chose to drift away,” Sue said and was sure she was going to break into tears.
“So what if they did?” Gerard’s voice interrupted her thoughts, but she didn’t turn to look at him. She couldn’t bear to look at him.
“You broke my heart. You deserved it,” he said quietly, in the stillness of the room. Sue turned to look at him slowly. He was standing next to an open window now, not looking at anybody in the room while he took a few sips of the wine from a glass in his hands.
“What did you say?” Sue’s anger had reached new heights. She was inches away from picking up the large Chinese vase on the floor next to her and flinging it at him.
“I said, you deserved it. You deserved to be alienated.” He met her eyes, but he didn’t look happy.