"Babe. Yeah. I mean, there are plenty of religious people out there."
"You told me that they had Friday fish fries in every restaurant. Like everyone eats fish on Friday!"
He sighed. "It's only during Lent. For cripes sake, Mel, McDonald's offers discounted Filet-O-Fish during Lent. It's not some heathen Midwestern custom."
I sniffed. "Like I would ever eat at McDonald's."
"Baby girl, it will be good for you to see something new. Try something new. Think of it like a trip to Paris. You'll eat new foods and see new people."
"This is nothing like going to Paris. People in Paris are normal. They don't milk goats or cows or whatever. They drink wine with dinner. They're civilized, while Wisconsin..." I grimaced. "Wisconsin is a much more foreign country than France will ever be."
"Darling, you are only saying that because your dad has that office in Paris for foreign sales and has been taking you there several times a year for basically your entire life."
"Well, yeah."
"You've spoken French since you could speak."
I tossed my hair. "True. I definitely haven't spoken hick since I could speak."
Andrew sighed. "It will be good for you to see how normal people live, not the kind of girls who have Daddy's plastic and can wave it like a magic wand."
"Hey! I have seen how normal people live."
"Yeah, normal people in one of the most highly educated metropolitan areas in the entire world. This is a pseudo-reality right here. You're acting as if DC is The Capitol and the rest of the country is made up of the lowly Districts, like in the Hunger Games."
I stared at my high heels. They had Swarovski crystals on the toes, and they were made from very well-hydrated leather. I should know. I had polish
ed them myself. I didn’t trust anybody.
"Oh my god," Andrew groaned. "You think that it's all District 13 out there, don't you? Baby girl, the world is made up of more than the Boston-NYC-DC supermetro."
"I know that!" I replied hotly. "I've been to LA."
"It's also not just SF-LA-SD, either."
I flipped my hair. "I'm sure there's plenty of the country that's extremely nice. But seriously, why do I have to go to it?"
"You didn't answer me earlier. Why do you have to go to it?"
"I told you. My dad is making me meet this guy that he wants to take over our company. He was talking about a merger. Acquisition. Whatever, I don't know, I was more thinking about whether or not I should go to the wine bar with that new guy I told you about last week or to the club with that rich one."
"Babe, the answer is always both. But you still haven't told me what your dad said."
I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, he wants me to marry some guy. So gross, I know.”
"He wants you to marry some guy? Girl, this isn't the Middle East. It's not like he can sell you off into some harem."
"I know. Try telling him that, though."
"Your dad is a pretty reasonable man. Why on Earth would he decide that you needed to be married to a stranger?"
"He said that because I was growing up, I needed to start settling down."
"Pretty true."
I hit him again. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours, always yours."