“I worked hard my whole life, since middle school. I had to. You know that.”
Sweat beaded on Peyton’s forehead from the glaring sun above before sliding down her thin nose. She stabbed a fry with the fork she gripped with her fist, dipped it in Oakley’s gravy and then lifted it to her lips.
“I remember you never had time for anyone. Making excuses was the only homework you ever did. No-one could ever rely on you to finish anything, like they could me.” Peyton’s cough didn’t deter Oakley. She remembered, Peyton often choked when eating, “Are you enjoying sucking on my gravy? I bet the hardest thing you’ve done today is to make sure you don’t spill gravy onto your new blouse? Is that Zegna? I’ve cleaned 3 homes already this morning and sent 2 girls to clean others. I don’t need to show off my money.”
Oakley ignored the grilled cheese sandwich that had been placed in front of her. She would offer to pay for lunch but knew Peyton wouldn’t let her, which made her happy. “Do you think she wants to do this?” Snorting as the waitress walked away, “she gets bossed around by people all day to get this and get that and it’s never fast enough or the food isn’t good enough with the sun beating down on her?
“Peyton leaned forward with a smile that made her tiny nose dwarf within her wide cheeks and grabbed one of Oakley’s sandwiches, “She is your sister, why dont you ask her? Mia, come back.
“What is it like to get everything you want?”
Oakley could feel Peyton’s anger storm through her eyes as they stared at eachother.
“I work for everything. Why are we really here? You made it clear we weren’t friends anymore.”
Oakley’s smile was gone and the air groaned through her tightened throat as she leaned into Peyton’s face, tasting the cheese and gravy as the scents smacked her. She grabbed Mia’s hand softly, “Was she the first person to pay you for sex?”
The finger outlines on Oakley’s left cheek started white but went red as the heat and pain from Peyton’s slap grew. Oakley brought her hand to her face. Mia, who had wrenched her hand from Oakley’s grip, slapped her sister’s other cheek and ran off, soaked from the tray of champagne glasses that had spilt before crashing onto the painted marble floor of The Rooftop.