It’s been awhile since I dropped a chapter. Here’s to what I’m sure many enjoy in P&P stories- the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet and Mary take the spotlight in this chapter as Kitty goes to her morning classes.
Chapter 3
Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee
Today would be the cast list, Julia and Frank had been certain.
That’s why she had tried to not think about the audition too much. Instead, she obsessed over today’s outfit and corralling her hair into a bun. She put on one of Lydia’s videos, this time about the opening of a pop-up boutique in Chinatown, so her sister could get more views on her social media, but she wasn’t really listening. The knots in her stomach made her reluctant to eat breakfast and her clammy hands made her make-up application take longer than usual. There was nothing she could do to affect the outcome, but she still tried to envision the cast list with her name next to Roxie’s and manifest it into the universe. She had almost made it out the door when her mom stopped her.
“You’re going to do wonderful, querida, I know it,” Mom hugged her, “Your audition went well.”
“Uh huh,” Kitty nodded, but didn’t offer more description or argue the point even though Mom had been fishing for information since last night.
“Call me as soon as you find out. This is going to be such a fun experience. Actors are some of the best boyfriends. So talented, they can serenade you, and they care about grooming.”
“I know, Mom,” she nodded automatically, having heard a variation of these musings almost every day. But this time she instantly thought of two options. Frederick, and Jaimie. Two very handsome men that she’d met on the same day.
“Yes, maybe,” Kitty agreed, internally shaking the image out of her head. A by-product of Mom working as a secretary for one of those old-fashioned, in-person matchmaking companies, which meant that her first priority was the potential love life of her daughters before any of their professional goals. Find a man who would cherish them and keep them comfortable so they could pursue their dreams without worrying about budgeting.
“Financial stress is the number one cause for divorce so when you find a man you love, make sure he can work. Better yet, make sure he has a safety net.”
This was one of the many bits of advice she garnered from her boss, Mrs. Jennings, and shared over dinner. How to attract a man and keep him in 10 steps or less, Lizzy jokingly called the dating tips chats.
Maybe she would have last year, before Lydia ran over to LA, but she was trying to prove that she was different now. She could be serious, and disciplined, and focus on something other than clothes and boys.
“Kitty, hurry up!” Mary’s irritated voice sounded through the front door.
Kitty snapped to attention. “Mary’s driving me? I thought she had already left in an Uber. I thought Lizzy was taking me!”
After graduating from Boston University, Lizzy had chosen to take a gap year instead of going immediately to graduate school. She had found a job at the Fairfield Minuteman as a junior journalist and moved back home to work, exempting the weekends she spent at her boyfriend’s house.
Mom sighed. “Her boss told her to go early to cover a sanitation strike. They’re striking all day. They’ll still be there if she leaves after breakfast.”
“But Mary’s driving me? Can’t I drive myself? I know the way to school.”
“It has nothing to do with that. You know you have to share the car,” Mom reminded her.
Kitty sighed, knowing she was beaten. When they had been going to the same college, carpooling was a given. Now that they were all going to different places, and only had two cars, they had come up with a new schedule. Dad walked to his job as usual while Mom took her car. Mary Ubered to the T to her university, and Lizzy would drive Kitty since the newspaper offices were in the same direction.
“It’s nice that your sister is driving you.”
Because you told her to, Kitty wanted to yell. Mary was a lot of things, but “nice” wasn’t the first descriptor. A snobby nerd was Kitty’s choice, and Mary had only become more insufferable since she transferred out of PCC to Harvard and got an internship at the U.N.
Before, Mary would shut herself up in her room, studying like a robot. She still did that, but now she would point out all the opportunities Kitty was wasting by not being a nerd with no social life.
“Kitty, come on! I have class at 9, so get your butt over here!”
“She’s going to talk about her internship the whole time.” Kitty couldn’t help the whine in her voice. “I don’t know what she’s saying, and she talks to me like I’m an idiot if I ask a question.”
“Mary’s like your father. They’re very smart and you have to indulge them when they discuss what they love. I found that when I don’t understand what your father’s saying, I think of a fun ditty in my head. I’m partial to “Yes, We Have No Bananas,” Mom said.
Kitty sighed with defeat. Mom hugged her again and the feel of the feathery imprint of her mom’s ruffles against her stomach made Kitty look down and truly see her mother’s outfit.
Kitty had spent twenty minutes trying to find something Audrey Hepburn–worthy, wanting to emulate the casual elegance the star brought to all her roles, musical, comedic, and tragic. Now she saw that she should have cut back looking at herself and helped her mother instead.
Lydia had posted a video last week of her shopping haul at Bella’s Boutique, florals on every hanger. Mom had obviously jumped on the trend by burrowing into Jane’s closet. She recognized her oldest sister’s favorite lilac-patterned ruffle dress. Unfortunately, Mom had a delusion that if she wore a size 6, her body would magically shrink, and none of them had been able to dissuade her. So, Jane’s size 10 dress was stretched over her mom’s bust that left nothing to imagination.
A blush crawled up Kitty’s neck in secondhand embarrassment. She could imagine customers entering the Connections matchmaking office and her mother bouncing up from the front desk to deliver her spiel: “Mrs. Jennings is going to ensure that today is a day you’ll remember. She has lots of potential women or men that will make your dreams come true, and if you pay her $50 premium, she will personally help you find the connection to true bliss.”
Ay Dios Mio, she hoped they didn’t think it was a front for a brothel.
Kitty linked her arm through her mother’s to guide her where she wanted to go, “Mom, you look so . . so stylish. But I think Lydia left a dress that would turn you from milf to a supermodel. Why don’t we go check her closet?”
“Really? I didn’t see many florals when I looked,” Mom said.
The horn sounded again, longer like Mary was leaning on it.
“Check again,” Kitty insisted, “If you don’t see any, try that magenta dress. Jewel tones will make your auburn highlights pop.”
“Kitty!!!”
She kissed Mom goodbye and clambered into the shotgun seat of the Audi, shoving aside the bag that Mary put there.
Mary shifted the car into gear, starting the drive in silence. “You’re welcome, you know,” Mary said haughtily.
“You didn’t volunteer, I don’t need to thank you,” Kitty replied tersely.
“So ungrateful,” Mary said in a stage whisper, and Kitty bit her lip. She wasn’t going to retort. Perhaps if they didn’t talk, she wouldn’t get a headache before her first class. They managed to ride in silence but Kitty found that Mom’s suggestion to think of a song popped into her head anyway as she checked her phone for a “Good luck” text from Lydia. Nada.
She hummed “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” under her breath, thinking how fitting it was for Mary. She didn’t drink, swear out loud, curl her hair or wear anything stylish. All she cared about was her perfect GPA and judging everyone for failing to be her intellectual equal.
Like now, Mary was giving her the side-eye as she turned up the volume of the classical radio station. You’d think they have something in common as the only two in the family who had a musical ear. No! The one-time Kitty tried to sing along to Mary practicing piano, she had snapped, “You don’t sing to Beethoven. Kitty, you’re ruining my concentration!”
Mary had no love for it. Music was another way for her to show off and puff up her resume.
They drove in silence until Mary pulled up sharply at the curb to the single-floor, flat-roofed, green brick building of what used to be Pemberly’s textile mills, now converted to a community college.
“Try to pay attention in class. Education is important if you want to get somewhere,” Mary said when Kitty bent down to pick up her bag. Like me went unsaid but the proud smile was enough.
“Uh, I do that anyway. I can multitask, you know. School and the musical, ‘cause I’m going to find out if I got the lead to Chicago,” Kitty said.
Mary sighed. The patent sigh that must come from all older sisters who believed themselves to be intellectually superior when they were so not, “A community college musical isn’t going to change your life and it won’t mean anything to casting directors. Maybe you would have a chance if you started acting eight years ago.”
This was why Kitty didn’t like talking with Mary. If she didn’t like something, then it had to be frivolous.
“So what? I shouldn’t try?” Kitty said, her teeth instinctively grinding in the way only Mary could cause.
Kitty knew She-who-only-speaks-in-facts was right. It was ridiculous to put so much pressure on the musical to change her life but she didn’t know what else could. In their busy family, little things like helping without being asked or rising grades didn’t get attention. It didn’t make them realize she wasn’t their silly little sister who follows others around anymore.
She needed something drastic that would make them stop and see she had her own thing.
Wow, Kitty is so talented and grown-up. I’ve never seen this side of her before. What else have I missed?
“It would save you a lot of time, and heartbreak. Not to mention money. You had to dial back your days at Perky’s right?” Mary shrugged heartlessly.
“Just from five to three. Besides, not everything is about mo-” Kitty took a deep breath and tried to sound as sensible as Mary always prided herself on being. It was useless to argue. Mary had been on debate teams since high school, but maybe if she could explain her feelings. . .
“Yes, it is, Kitty. I know you don’t live in the real world,”
Kitty clasped her hands together and inhaled deeply. “I’m just say-”
“You say, but you don’t think. That’s your problem. You should check out a newspaper sometime because People magazine is giving you screwed up priorities that your-”
“Will you let me finish talking!” Kitty snapped.
Mary adjusted her glasses, a sure sign she was getting into prime debate mode. “Will you let me finish or are you interrupting me because you know you don’t have a coherent argument to counter my facts?”
Oh God, save me.
“Kitty, hurry. Frank said the cast list is up!” Kitty heard Julia calling and turned to look out the car window. In the foreground, she could see Julia’s petite figure weaving through the morning crowds loitering near the front of the building.
Thanks, God!
“Coming!” Kitty waved at Julia who waved back before turning toward the front doors.
Kitty gave Mary the finger as she swung her hobo bag over her shoulder and got out of the car.
Although excitement thrummed in her veins, butterflies multiplied in her stomach.
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