Love Is Hell

I sighed as I sat at the table, bored beyond belief. They said that the dinner would only last about an hour or so, yet here we still were, four hours later. The first hour I managed to get through listening to all the stuck-up people at the table with a smile like I actually cared about what they had to say. The second hour I picked at my food, pushing the salad around on the plate, never actually eating it. The third hour I entertained myself by texting and playing games on my phone, but that was short lived when mother confiscated my phone. Now, nine o’clock and four hours later, I was eyeing the butter knife in front of me, contemplating who I should kill first, myself or everyone else at the table.

I should have been used to this; long, boring lunch and dinner parties. Except they were hardly parties. And yet, these were the social events that I was dragged to against my will almost every weekend. These were just some of the disadvantages of being Tom Andrew, the governor of Arizona’s daughter.

While no one was looking, I quickly reached into my mother’s purse, pulling out my phone. I checked the time and softly groaned. 9:12. I then quickly texted Amy, my friend from college, letting her know that I would be home late. Amy was supposed to be picking me up at 9:30, but even if we left now, I wouldn’t make it home and changed in time.

“Alright,” my father said, “It’s been wonderful talking to you all, but it would probably be best if we got going.”

Finally, I thought.

As everyone got up and said goodbye, I politely smiled at everyone and made my way towards the entrance of the country club. My father and mother followed not far behind and when they finally reached me outside, the limo pulled up in front of us. I quickly opened the door, not even waiting for the driver to get out and do so, and got inside. I rolled my eyes as my parents waved for the paparazzi that were now swarming our limo before getting in as well.

As the limo drove off, I wasted no time in un-tucking my pink blouse, taking my painful heels off and untying my hair from the neat bun it was in.

“Sorry sweetheart, it wasn’t supposed to last this long.” my father apologized.

Before I could respond, my mother scoffed, “Oh please, don’t apologize to her. She was rude and was texting during dinner.”

I rolled her eyes and looked out the window. I learned by now that as long as I didn’t respond to her, I wouldn’t get in trouble. Therefore, the rest of the car ride home I was silent.

When we finally pulled up at our house, I quickly grabbed my shoes and jumped out of the limo. I hurried inside and to my room. When I got to my room I was already pulling my blouse off. I tossed it aside and then took off my black pencil skirt and stockings. I then quickly went through my closet, searching for an outfit.

I found an outfit and quickly put it on. As I was pulling on my acid wash jeggings, I heard my phone beep. I walked over to my phone reading the message from Amy saying that she was waiting a few houses down.

‘Be right there’ I replied. I quickly redid my makeup, substituting the soft eye shadow for black smokey eyes. Finally, I grabbed my phone and quietly made my way downstairs.

When I got to the front door without anyone seeing, I pulled the door opened. “I’m going out, be back later!” I called over my shoulder before quickly shutting the door in order to avoid my mother’s questioning. I ran down the driveway and walked two doors down to Amy’s waiting car.

“Hey,” I greeted as I got into the passenger seat.

“Yo,” Amy replied, turning on the car, “Took you long enough.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah well the dinner party ended up lasting four hours.” I explained.

Amy nodded, “Sucks.”

“So, where are we going?” I asked.

“We,” Amy said as she sped up when the stoplight turned yellow, “Are going to a party that a friend of a friend is throwing for himself and other friends.”

I laughed. A friend of a friend throwing a party for other friends, of course. Amy had a lot of friends. She’s always been the extreme social butterfly that could become friends with anyone. She was probably my only friend in college or pretty much at all. It wasn’t that I was antisocial, it was just that everyone either just wanted to be friends with me because I was the governor’s daughter or they didn’t want to be friends with me because they thought I was stuck up. Either way I ended up giving up trying to make friends.

Amy was different though. We first met at ASU orientation last year and have become best friends since. Amy was the kind of friend that my mother would not approve of. She was wild, outgoing, a party animal and a heavy drinker. Stephanie Andrews would certainly not approve and that might have been why I wanted to be Amy’s friend at first. Besides that though, Amy was always fun to hang out with.

I noticed that we were driving on one of the main freeways that led from Scottsdale, through Tempe. About fifteen minutes later she pulled off the main freeway, making her way into Gilbert. We drove off the main road and turned into Pine Bridge Valley subdivision. The houses were all nice medium sized Mediterranean styled homes. We kept driving down the street until it finally led to a cul-de-sac. Cars lined the cul-de-sac and you could clearly see people roaming around the front lawn of house number 33.

Amy turned the car off and turned towards me with a smirk, “You ready to get your freak on?” she asked.