False congratulations and fake smiles were the sort of thing Joanie had grudgingly gotten used to. When you were raised by a family that kept their real feelings under lock and key for fear of being impolite, you learned a thing or two about spotting fakes. Of course, Joanie had never gotten the hang of this game herself. She was just too damn easy to rile.
"Yeah, it's great," she said, her voice actually sincere. Her Uncle Zim lived in New York, making it the home of most of her good memories. However, any sort of warm fuzzies dropped the second Gabby asked about where she lived. Yeah, because she really wanted to talk about Batshit Letale to this bubble-head in public. She visibly tightened at the question, a starburst of fear showing in her eyes that disappeared quickly. "Yeah," she said tersely. "Just a few blocks from here, it's..." She tripped on her tongue. "...convenient. You?"