Skylar scrolled through her list of contacts and frowned. As she made her way through the list, her frown deepened, and she ended her search with a long and exasperated sigh.
She set her phone down on the table and stared straight into the wall. It was time for her to face the facts: she had no real friends.
Like many young women her age, she'd poured so much time and effort into finishing college that she'd completely neglected her social life. What friends she did have were now nothing more than distant acquaintances, and she looked down at the clutter of wedding books on the table grimly.
She'd narrowed her wedding dress options down to five choices, and she already knew what she wanted as far as food and beverages were concerned, but she'd been putting off the chore of rounding up a few bridesmaids and a maid of honor. She wasn't terribly worried about finding bridesmaids; even though she wasn't close with any of her old friends from high school, she was sure that she'd be able to get a few of them to agree to put on some overpriced dresses and pose for a few pictures. What she was really worried about was finding a maid of honor. Jay had already asked his best friend Terry to be his best man, and her fiance had plenty of friends and acquaintances who would jump at the chance to be involved in their wedding.
Her mother entered the kitchen and smiled at her, "Hey, everything okay?"
Skylar nodded slowly, "Yeah, it's just...I gotta figure out who to ask to be my maid of honor."
"Oh, you haven't asked Julie yet?" Her mother asked with surprise.
Julie was Skylar's best friend, and the two had been friends since elementary school. They had stayed in contact over the years via social media, but both of their lives had taken such drastic turns that Skylar hadn't seen Julie in months. "I wanted to, but she's got a kid, mom. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on her, and she literally had the baby like six months ago."
"Hm, I guess I see your point. That's a real shame," Melissa laughed as she raised her hand, "Not the fact that she had a baby, the other thing!" Her mother paused, "It's getting pretty close, those last three months sneak up you like you wouldn't believe. Honestly I'm surprised you waited this long; when I married your father I already had all of my bridesmaids picked out. Heck, I had my dress picked out too, and..."
"That doesn't do me a lot of good," Skylar laughed. "I know I should have gotten on this a lot sooner, it just kind of slipped through my fingers."
"What about Jay, does he have all of his guys picked out?"
"Yeah," Skylar sighed once more, "He's got a whole deck of friends that he can draw from."
Melissa took a seat across from her daughter and took up one of the wedding books, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Send a message to some of your old friends and grovel a little bit. Buy them lunch and apologize; that kind of stuff goes a long way with a woman," her mother laughed brightly.
"Apologize for what?" Skylar crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "It's not entirely my fault, they could have called me too or kept in touch. Half of them moved out of state anyway, and I seriously doubt that they'd want to drop everything just to be in my wedding."
"Go make some friends, then," her mother encouraged her. "I'm sure it's still a little weird, going from having no free time at all to having all the time in the world, so why not go make some new friends? I know it's tough to prioritize on things right now, but having good friends is important to making a relationship work. After the wedding, you and Jay are gonna want to spend a lot of time together, which is great, but after awhile, you're going to want to hang out with other people. Take a little time to do something for yourself and go find a few people with similar interests. If you can't find anyone with similar interests, at least you can find a few people to go drink margaritas with," she smirked.
Skylar smirked in return, "Your advice was starting to sound really wise and motherly until you threw in the margarita thing."
"Look, honey, I'm telling you, there's going to be a point where you're gonna get mad at Jay, or Jay is gonna get mad at you, and the two of you won't want to talk to each other for a while. It helps to have a close circle of friends that you can vent to, or go to when you need help, and sometimes you realize that all you really needed was a drink and just to get out of the house a little."
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," Skylar gave her mom a wry look. "Are you sure you're just drinking tea when you go out with your church friends?"
"Usually," her mother smiled, deflecting the question. "Anyway, there was something else I wanted to talk with you about."
"Yeah, shoot."
"It's about your sister. Now that you're back, I think the two of you should spend a little more time together. You don't have to, but I think it would mean a lot to Jacey if you took the initiative." Melissa smiled widely, "Why don't you go to the mall with her today? If you were still planning on doing that, you should invite her. You guys could catch up a little, maybe see a movie or something."
Skylar tried not to frown. She knew her mother had the best of intentions, but she wasn't sure she was going to be able to breach the gap that had grown between them since jr. high. The closer she got to finishing high school, the further apart she and her sister had grown, and now they treated each other more like roommates than sisters. A quick greeting and some polite conversation, and then they each went about their business. "I don't know, mom, I'm not sure she wants to hang out with me and I'm pretty sure she hates the mall."
Melissa nodded, "Well, to be honest, I asked her about it a few days ago and she said that she might like to spend some time with you, but she doesn't know how to approach you."
"She really said that?" Skylar looked incredulous.
"Yeah, in so many words," her mother laughed. "my point is, what's the worst that can happen if you ask her?"
"Yeah... okay, I'll give it a shot," she replied to her mom with a forced smile.
It was a week day, and it was only a little past eleven in the morning, so the mall was relatively quiet. As Skylar walked along the bottom floor, coffee in hand, she felt simultaneously guilty and irritated at her sister's presence. Jacey had agreed to come with her easily enough, and Skylar had driven both of them in their mom's car. Jacey hadn't said a word the entire time, and even when they were ordering drinks her younger sister was as flat faced and quiet as ever.
The two hardly looked related at all, save for the fact that they both had the same nose. Jacey's hair was lighter than Skylar's, and she was a bit shorter. Skylar was wearing a pair of designer jeans and a yellow blouse that made her look like some of the mannequins in the clothing stores, and Jacey was wearing a pair of old (probably thrift store) jeans and a band t-shirt.
Skylar could scarcely take anymore silence by the time they made their way to the main strip, and as they walked past a video game store she broke the silence, "Jacey... what have you been up to lately?"
Her sister took a sip of her white mocha and shrugged, "Stuff. You know."
I really don't...
Skylar thought as she tried again, "How are your classes going?"
"Good. Nothing to say about them, really. They're pretty boring."
Skylar's eyebrow twitched as she remembered why she and her sister never hung out. She was about to ask another question when Jacey spoke again.
"You don't have to do this, you know."
The brunette tried to hide her surprise, "Do what?"
"You know what I'm talking about: you don't have to pretend to be all chatty and sister-like. I'm guessing mom talked you into this?"
