Page 244 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“White.” I was licking my lips, smacking them together actually.

“That doesn’t sound palatable. The chilli will obliterate the mild taste of the asparagus and the monk-”

“Don’t care,” I interrupted his chatter. “I want hot prawns with monk fish and white asparagus.”

Matt pursed his lips then commanded his phone to call Hannah. I softly clapped my hands in eager delight as he relayed my wish.

“That sounds ghastly, Matty.” Hannah’s voice came through the speaker.

“I can hear you, Hannah. I’m right here.” I said.

“Oh, hello dear, we’re so looking forward to seeing you this weekend. I’ve made plans.” Hannah’s recovery was smooth.

“You can tell her when we get there,” Matt grimaced over the prospect of Hannah divulging her plans, perhaps he thought I would make him turn the car around if they didn’t meet my approval. “Make sure the food isn’t too spicy,”

“Matt,”

“In fact,” he spoke over me. “No spices at all. Bye. End call.”

I frowned at the side of his head while he studiously ignored me. Then a wave of exhaustion swamped me and it took too much effort to keep up the scowl. With my lower back throbbing, I charged Matt with waking me before we arrived at his sister’s and decided to take a little catnap. He did wake me on arrival and he did kindly help me out of his car, what he didn’t do was save me from six back-to-back hours of his sister and mother monopolizing my time. Natty and Nicki loved it and were of no help, they loved it because neither their mother nor their grandmother batted an eyelid as they cheerfully imbibed spirits. They all did while I was stuck with still water and serious alcohol envy. It was good whiskey, the fumes were heavenly while I rubbed my tummy and visualized a future time when I could once again down a pint.

Grumps had made an attempt to extricate me from their female clutches, for his own purposes, mind you; but I did appreciate the attempt. Matt hadn’t even tried, he was busy shooting the breeze with his dad, brother and brother-in-law. After lunch he had made Hannah promise to take care of me then shooed me away, laughingalong with Adam as Stuart commented on the barely there sway/waddle I had when moving from one place to the other. They all found that hilarious until Portia made a waspish retort that I wasn’t there for anyone’s amusement and if Stuart didn’t apologize she would personally deal with him. He made the dutiful apology, kissed Portia’s cheek in penance and promptly directed her anger towards her sons for laughing at his teasing words. I continued to harbour ill feelings towards Adam, and Matt had made me promise to be nice to him this weekend. His laughter at my allegedly changed gait decreased my promised niceness by a large dollop.

“New gen,” Nicki’s condescending sneer brought me back to present time and she showed Natty something on her phone. They were in the room I was staying in, keeping me company while we awaited our call to dinner.

Natty scoffed and they exchanged identical smirks as she drawled. “And they think this sort of behaviour will endear them to our group.”

“What?” I tried to crane my neck over Natty’s shoulder to see. “What’s a new gen? Is it something cool? I’m losing my edge girls. Just last week some of my students were having a chat and I didn’t understand half the things they were talking about.”

Nicki stretched her hand out and showed me the Instagram page. “New gens.”

I took the offered phone and scanned the page. It featured some rich kids and what they spent their parent’s money on. Yuck. Spoilt brats.

“Pathetic isn’t it?” Natty said with a shake of head. “You can spot a new gen from countries away.”

“Explain what a new gen is. Is it a new party term?” If I sounded desperate it was because I felt desperate.

I was no longer hip, at least I felt that way. Ok, no one wanted to be that person…the one acting as if they were still a teenager when they were damned near seventy, but I didn’t want to lose my coolness. It had steadily been leached from my frame as I got larger. I wasn’t a rocking black ballerina chick anymore, I was a pregnant lady. I overheard one of my intermediate students gossiping about the fact I was up the duff. Liam reminded me it meant ‘knocked up’ when I asked for a definition, there was a reason I had blanked it out of my memory. Now there were babies inside me, I had crossed someinvisible line which meant a portion of my coolness had suddenly been stolen from me. What the hell was that all about? I was still me, just slightly larger…and carrying life…I was still freaking cool.

“A new gen is someone born into high wealth for the first time in their family’s generational history. Yes they may have all the same trappings and whatnot as we do, but their parents weren’t born into extreme wealth, they had to work for it. You know Uncle Matt’s best friend, Nathan. His wife is a new gen.”

“Wait,” Nicki puckered her mouth into a pensive frown. “I’m sure her grandfather was related to one of the landed gentry.”

“Barely,” Natty scoffed. “If that. Her parents were from middle class stock though, so they at least had some semblance of merit.”

“You snob.” I frowned at Natty then transferred the frown to Nicki. “Both of you are snobs.”

Natty waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Honestly we’re not, Madi. It’s people like these we can’t stand.” She shoved the phone under my face. “They have no idea what it means to be wealthy. There are certain responsibilities that people ignore,”

“Because they haven’t got the right background,” Nicki added while giving me an eager sort of innocent look. I continued to frown at the twins.

“Perhaps,” Natty quipped. “But even some 2ndgens are behaving appallingly now.”

I blinked. Natty was suddenly sounding more and more like her mother, wait, more like her grandmother I should say.

“It’s gauche,” Nicki said. “Flaunting your wealth like that. Wealth does not make you better than anyone, it affords you an easier life,”

“Gives you opportunities,” Natty explained.

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