Catching up over brunch [Charlotte and Irene]

The sun shone from an almost cloud free sun, and it was now over a week since the death of the crown prince. With the rays of sun spilling over the rooftops and down on the busy pedestrians who walked past on the main street. Charlotte, sitting outside, at Doreen's corner, her favourite café, was sipping an iced coffee and waiting for her best friend Irene to arrive. She was ready to get on with her life and go back to work. All this doing nothing was driving both her and Matthew mad. He had kept talking about how the prince dying was costing his firm money or something. Not that she cared that much. It was not like they needed money, living as they did in a nice main city apartment, a wedding present from his parents.

She had enjoyed spending time with Emily though. Her baby girl was almost 20 months now and seemed to grow so fast.

"Still waiting?"

Absentmindedly Charlotte nodded, waiting for the waiter to go away again. She checked her watch. It wasn't even 12, she had come way too early. She took out her purse and fixed up her lipstick while waiting. The small silver mirror had been a present from her grandmother. A family heirloom. She had liked spending time as a child in the house of her dad's mom. It had been a big house, or maybe she had simply been small. Her brother and cousins would spend hours playing hide and seek, or she would get to dress up in grandma’s old dresses! It had been a magical time. How she wished she would get some of that magic back. She even missed playing around with her own powers. Her smile faded a bit, but she caught a glimpse of herself in the café windows and put on a new as she put away the mirror and it's memories.

Irene hopped off at the subway station by main street, and made her way through the flourish of people with a phone pressed to her ear. She was clad in a black and white checkered tweed two piece set – consisting of a miniskirt and a matching jacket. Her heels clicked underneath her as she hurried up the stairs, with her Mesmery bag on her arm. One might call her a tad overdressed for a simple brunch date with an old friend – but Irene was of the conviction that dress made people, and it would be rude not to show up at her best.

It was her colleague on the phone, she needed a contact. “All I am saying is that we have yet to hear a statement from the group itself,” she spoke as she stepped out into the sunlight. She stopped for a brief moment to put on the sunglasses that had been previously sitting on her forehead. “Yes– Yes I know that’s not what people want to be hearing right now, but that’s exactly why we should– no, of course I’m not platforming extremism.”

She continued on her journey towards the café. “No. No, all I’m saying is that they’re getting all the blame, it should be natural to at least get them the chance to– Well, if it was for ideological reasons, someone would have taken the credit, would they not?” She saw her best friend sitting at their usual spot, at their usual café. The same place they’d come since they had both been students trying to make their way in the world. She smiled and waved, hurrying over to greet her with a hug. “Hey, how are you– No, not you, Kevin.” she mouthed a ‘sorry’ to her friend before turning her attention to the phone conversation one last time. “Well, I don’t care about that, I’m writing my piece… Yes, I’m sure you think that. Anyways, I have an appointment with my friend now, but this conversation isn’t over. Yes... Yes… Bye now.”
She hung up before letting out an exasperated sigh. “So sorry I’m late, love,” she said as she sat down. It was 12:15 now. “You know how it is. How have you been?” It felt like an eternity since they had last spoken.

"Irene!" Charlotte beamed, and got out of her chair, to hug her friend, who was still on the phone. Whilst Charlotte and she university had spent the week off work, Irene was a journalist. Meaning; the death of the crown prince meant even more work. Even if she was late, it was a wonder that she had managed to show up at all. A welcome familiarity after such a week. So, she sat down again, fidgeting with her now empty glass, and waited for the phone call to end.

"Oh, darling please, it's all right, I am just happy to see you, it's been too long!" Charlotte said with a smile, "I read your piece from yesterday, I understand you must be busy. I can't quite claim the same." She sighed and cast a look at the pedestrians walking past. "But I've been good. It's all very good. Oh yes, let us order, I am starving." She added the latter as the waiter from before approached their table. "I suppose you will just have the usual." She cast a quick glance at Irene but did not actually need any confirmation. It was always the same, turning to the waiter she said; "An oat ice latte, triple shot, and I would like another iced coffee. And two brunch menus, please."

When the waiter had left, she turned back to her friend. "Well, how have you been! You must have had an exiting week!"

Irene took her seat by the table, placing her bag on the remaining empty chair. She  offered a smile to  the waitress as her friend ordered for the both of them. She herself had been a waitress once, back in her student years and knew how much crap that job could be.

She then let out a dramatic exasperated breath when Charlotte asked her about work. “Love, it’s been endless trying to figure out how to attack this thing. It seems everyone already has settled on an angle, but you know,” she said, gesturing with her hand. “I can’t just run with the first and the best. I’m telling you, there’s details about this case they definitely do not want people knowing – we’ve basically already been spoonfed how the entire narrative is going to go.” The whole week had been an uphill battle trying to get one useful statement out of the Godia Sector 45, from politicians, from anyone who could give any light on the case. But she also knew this was a game where persistence was the only way to win. She would get to the bottom of it.

“Either way, there’s still so much work left to do. This is only the beginning of it all, I’m sure of it,” she insisted, smiling and thanking as the waitress returned with their food and drinks. She took a sip off her coffee. “But that’s this line of work for you.  But enough about my work. How have things been with campus closed down?”

Charlotte let the waiter take away her empty glass. But that left her hands idle. If only she had smoked, she thought, then she could at least do that whilst listening to Irene talk. She had never been a smoker, only touching cigarettes at parties in her youth. Additionally; Matthew didn't like smokers, she knew that, and so she hadn't smoked since getting together with him. Even if she had asked Irene for one, he would have been able to smell it on her later. Instead she was playing with the button of her shirtsleeve.

"Ooh," She exclaimed at Irene's rather juicy intel. She did not really care that much about the crown prince or his death. Sure it was very tragic. But she hadn't exactly grown up in a royalist household. Yet, it was interesting to hear Irene talk about how the narrative was screwed. And so she raised a brow, lowered her voice and asked; "I don't suppose you are allowed to share any of those details? I know the circumstances are tragic, but, if you think you can get something interesting out of this... That is exiting!"

Charlotte thanked the waitress when she returned with their order, and took a sip of her drink before speaking. "Well, you know Matthew, he keeps going on about politics and stuff," She waved it off. "I am not really sure I understand it all; the Nachon executions and whatnot. It's just a bit silly, right? To imagine a big conspiracy of Nachons being led by a demon, or whatever." She shook her head and took a bite of her scrambled eggs.

"Anyways, it has been lovely spending time with Emily, and speaking off," She took out her phone, and showed a picture of her toddler. The girl was grinning, blonde curls surrounding her face. To Charlotte she was the most precious, most beautiful thing to ever walk the earth. "She talks quite a lot, and has a lot of energy. She is driving Matthew nuts, and he is already talking about getting another. I don't know what he is expecting. He wants us to hire a nanny, but I really can't see why that should de necessary when she is already in daycare most of the time." She swiped through a couple more photos, also of the girl, and was now putting away the phone. "I am sorry, I know I keep talking to much. What are your plans for the weekend?

Irene watched the pictures her friend showed her with feigned interest. It wasn’t that she disliked children, per say, she had just never taken much of an interest in them. Especially at the age Emily was now. Sure, she was cute, she understood the appeal, but one couldn’t have a fulfilling conversation with a toddler who barely understood the world around them. They were helpless little things that would constantly cost time and money until the day they suddenly moved out. She supposed it got better when the child got older and more independent, but even that came with its own challenges. Still, babies were the worst. Always all over her social media feed, as if all babies didn’t look exactly the same. And they turned people so dull. She respected people’s decision to have them – she just did not see the appeal of having a child constantly at her side. In that way she supposed she was like Matthew, except Irene wasn’t stupid enough to have one anyways.

She did find something about Matthew inherently unlikable too – but that was probably because no man would ever be good enough for her Charlotte, so she kept her opinions to herself.

“She’s adorable,” Irene said with a smile as she took another sip of her iced latte. Then Charlotte apologized for talking too much. She hated when she did that, Charlotte should be able to talk for hours if she wanted to, whether it was about something as dull and mundane as a toddler or not. That she kept to herself as well. “I’m invited to a dinner party at the Jenkinson's this Saturday at their mansion in the Haling Dove. No doubt it’s a networking thing, it always is for politicians. But it’s been a while since I’ve seen Rob and Vera,” she spoke as she took a bite of her food. “And Rob is always such charming company, so no doubt it’s going to be a nice evening. He’s in a pretty good position for the upcoming election, have you seen the polls?”

Of course, Charlotte couldn't help herself; when her friend complimented her daughter, she proudly returned the smile. Emily was, after all, the best thing in her life. It was astonishing that she had somehow played a part in the creation of a human being. That Emily's growth and energy could be traced back to her. She blinked a couple of times and reached out to take a sip of her coffee, trying to avoid getting too caried away by her thoughts. Instead, she returned her attention to Irene.

"Oh, yes, the dinner party," Charlotte said, trying her best to keep her voice level, she wasn't sad that she wasn't going, of course she wasn't. It was as Matthew had said, someone had to stay at home and watch Emily, and both his and her parents were unavailable. She probably had some work to do anyways too, he had said, since she would be back at work the following Monday. "They have such a beautiful home, the Jenkinsons! Matthew is going too, for business of course," She sighed, he was so busy, with all the meetings and the networking parties and such. She had been to a great deal of them and was still not sure what to think of them. Being brought along made her feel like she was being showed off but being left behind was worse; it felt like she was not even worth showing off. Of course, she was just being silly. She did have her own life too. And perhaps she could do some writing? She cut the peel of a melon slice and took a bite.

"I haven't actually, but; is it going well?" She asked, with some excitement. Matthew was working on the campaign as a political law attorney, and the prognosis benefitting Robert, would therefore benefit them too. "Does he stand a chance of winning?"

“You haven’t been invited along?” She asked, frowning just a little. That seemed out of character for the Jenkinson’s. But she supposed it could be because Charlotte needed to keep an eye on their kid, of course. But then, why not just hire a babysitter or nanny? They could certainly afford it, she was sure.  Maybe it had something to do with Matthew. But she didn’t want to dig deeper into that, in the middle of an otherwise lovely brunch.

“He does,” she nodded, as she broke off a piece of her croissant. “The pro-Nachon medicalists have taken a huge hit on their campaign after the recent event, as one would expect. Rob's party already has the upper hand, so if they play this the right way he could be one of the top candidates. Besides, the media loves him. One can’t underestimate that. And people are always suckers for the image of a beautiful man, who cares for his family. Many won’t even go as far as looking at his politics, he’s inherently likable.” She finished her analysis by eating the piece of croissant. “People are all over him on social media, one would think he was a normal celebrity.”

"Oh no," Charlotte waved it off "I mean, of course I was invited. I just –– can't go." She smiled, then added, hastily, "It's really not that big of a deal." Before continuing with her food, hoping that that would be the end of that topic. There wasn't anything wrong, and she certainly didn't want to give off that impression. No reason to make a big deal of out nothing.

"That is wonderful, Robert is great!" She said to the news of Roberts campaign. Politics had never interested her that much. Apart from a brief rebellious period of her youth, but she could barely remember the demonstration she had then attended. She had always been content with the way things were, said things having benefitted her. So, while she understood why politics were important, it was just one of those things she let other care about. "He does have the perfect family," She sighed, in admiration. A beautiful house, wife, and daughter. Besides, He was very likeable. Charlotte had always enjoyed his company. Not all Matthew's friends were equally kind. There were even some she actively disliked, though of course, she would never admit such a thing. Well, her life was perfect too. Did she not have a successful husband, a wonderful daughter, and an apartment with a beautiful view?    

Still, she couldn't help but envy Irene a bit. She always seemed to experience so much. Knew so much. Of course, Charlotte knew stuff to. But her work was old books and university students. Authors and literary masterpieces. She realised she had gotten quiet again. Unlike her. She did feel a bit tired. The tiredness of having done nothing for a while.

She didn’t know entirely whether to believe her friend about it not being a big deal. She knew that if it was her having to stay home, she’d take great issue with that. Of course, it could be that Charlotte simply did not want to go, but from how she phrased it that did not seem to be the case. Then she would simply have said ‘I would rather have stayed at home’ or ‘stuffy politician types bore me to death’ or something along those lines. And if she was bored by stuffy politicians, she wouldn’t have married one. But either way, this was brunch, not an interrogative interview, so Irene simply dug into the cutely heart shaped waffle instead.

“Well, I’ll certainly be missing you then,” she remarked, taking a bite. She then noticed that Charlotte seemed rather quiet today. And, of course, she didn’t miss the sigh at the remark at Robert's perfect family. Curiosity was eating away at her, but she didn’t wish to put her friend on the spot. Such trouble was a private matter and, of course, Charlotte would come to her if something was truly upsetting her. If anyone understood troublesome men that weren’t worth the time, it was Irene.

“Either way,” she started, changing the subject. “I’ve started a new spin-class and the instructor is to die for gorgeous. And you will not guess who he has been getting involved with,” she paused, slipping right back into the kind of juicy gossip that was always easy to talk about. She found a picture she had secretly snapped on her phone and showed it to her friend. The picture was of a rather handsome man kissing Jamie May an actor that had been big for a few months, back in their twenties

Smiling faintly about Irene's comment about missing her, she cut a grape in half. Most likely Irene would be too busy to think much about her, but Charlotte could still appreciate the curtsey. She on the other hand, was always sorry to miss an opportunity to see Irene. Especially when she changed the subject and started talking about her life and gorgeous spinning director. As good as her friend was at her job, asking sharp, intelligent questions and digging up the truth, she was also a good enough friend to know when to let a subject go. And for that, Charlotte was grateful. Sitting at their café, in the fresh air, just hanging out, gossiping. It felt like the old days, where there had been no husbands or busy careers.

She nodded along as her friend spoke, continuing on with her food. Leaning slightly forward to ask; "Who?", before being shown a picture. It showed who Charlotte supposed was the spinning director with Jamie May. "Is that?" She gasped, with half-feigned excitement. She appreciated the gossip, she really did. But she could only half-heartedly bring herself to care. Yet she looked across the table at the woman holding the phone towards her. "Oh, Irene, where did you take that?"

As she spoke the ringtone of her own phone sounded. With an apologetic smile she reached into her bag. Her smile wavered a little when she read Matthew's name on the display. Was something wrong? She furrowed her brows. "Sorry, I should probably take this." Then she accepted the call.

"Matthew!" She greeted her husband on the phone "Anything the matter?"

"No." She paused. "No. Darling, I am having brunch with Irene, remember? No of, course, if you need me to... Yes, I can see why. Do you want me to–Now? No, not a problem, it's just..." She sent yet another apologizing smile at Irene. "Love, I promise it's not. I'll be there. Yeah. Love you – bye" He hung up, and she put the phone down.

"Sorry it was Matthew. Something came up, I am so sorry, but I will have to go." She got up. "I don't mean to be rude, it's just. I am so sorry. If you stay and pay, I can send you the money later? I'm so sorry." She really was. This was something she had looked forward to. But Matthew suddenly had a meeting to attend, and as he was at home with Emily, the daycare still not open, someone had to look after the girl. Of course. She would just have to see Irene again sometime soon.

Irene was just about to answer when Charlotte's phone rang. Irene had to hold herself back from not rolling her eyes when it was revealed to be Matthew. This probably meant that brunch was over, much to her dismay. It had been so long since she and Charlotte had seen each other. Who was he to control how Charlotte was to spend her time? And of course, Charlotte was too sweet to truly stand up for herself. Once again, Matthew had proved himself to be a deeply disagreeable person, Irene thought to herself while she took a sip of iced latte as her friend finished the conversation.

She let out a sigh and smiled at Charlotte as she started apologizing profusely. Though she was disappointed, she knew there wouldn’t be anything good coming from making her friend feel worse about the situation than she probably already did. Charlotte was a bit of a pushover, she knew that. But that was only because she was kind. Something men such as Matthew had no qualms taking advantage of. Irene’s issues were with Matthew and not with Charlotte, and thus she would never take something like this out on her friend. She held up her hand to stop her from apologizing further.

“Love, stop, it’s fine. Don’t apologize,” she said as she got up as well to bid Charlotte goodbye. “We’ll just reschedule. Give Matthew my best, alright?” It was a courtesy, more than anything, as she really did not wish any sort of good-will towards the man. Not when he was being openly unfair. The two women hugged each other and exchanged a few more polite goodbyes before Charlotte was on her way home.

Irene sat back down on her chair with a sigh as she went to finish off her brunch. She regrettably did not have her laptop with her, so she couldn’t exactly start working. Instead, she got out her phone and started going through her email, to distract herself from her anger over her friend's situation. Perhaps she should take this as an opportunity to look into that new interview she was planning to do?