“you need to pack cute things!” for lucy chen
a girls trip was very much needed after the day / week / month / year lucy had. and she was so excited to just . . . disconnect for the week. no work, no responsibilities just sunshine and sand and water as far as the eye could see. there was only one rule. there was no testosterone on this trip. no boys— or no men, whatever. same thing. they weren't bringing any of the guys in their lives, and they weren't supposed to talk to them either. that was going to be very hard for her, not to talk to tim. but this was for the best. they weren't together, she didn't have to talk to him. this was fine, everything was fine. and come on, it was a girls trip. just because they weren't bringing the boys didn't mean they weren't going to talk about the boys, because gossiping was one of the foundations of girlhood.
"i . . . am packing cute things," she replied offensively, lifting the shirt she just folded to put in her suitcase so she could hold it up in front of her, looking in the mirror. "this is cute, right?" she tilted her head. it was cute. it was . . . right? but maybe it was just, you know, cute for her age. "my closet it right there if you want to help," she relented, gesturing toward the closet after she discarded the apparently-not-as-cute-as-she-thought-it-was shirt. "are you going to check everything in my suitcase before we leave? or is this an honors system kind of thing? do you trust my packing skills? not all of us can look like supermodels, maggie." she was just teasing, but also . . . she wasn't wrong. margaret sterling was gorgeous.