5:30PM: Kitty and Shelby
It was exciting. A new year in a new city; it wasn’t Boston, but Shelby really liked Austin. The people had been good to her so far, and not just because they had embraced her Gram’s doughnut shop. Although that helped a lot. Even her classes had been going really well. They weren’t quite like traditional college courses, but she liked the new experience, she thought it fit Austin as a city. Besides, she wasn’t going to turn her nose up at finishing her education.
The New Year’s Eve party was a little different than Halloween also, since Shelby could more easily pick out friendly faces in the crowd this time around.
Okay, so maybe it was a little forward to take the chair across from Kitty, but it wasn’t like she’d pulled it right out from underneath someone else. She wasn’t that rude.
“Hey!” Shelby greeted. “How’s your night been? You’re missing you’re entourage, though.” Kitty had been into the Doughnut Hole with her two adorable kids a few times now, and they’d gotten to talking once or twice. “Is it hard finding a babysitter?” Shelby couldn’t imagine juggling mommyhood on top of anything else, but Kitty always gave the impression that she had it all covered.
A bright smile pulled at Kitty’s mouth as Shelby claimed the seat across from her. The table itself had been snagged from a couple just minutes prior and Kitty had settled in expecting to spend a few minutes alone, she was more than pleasantly surprised that wasn’t going to be the case at all. Not that she would have minded sipping her drink alone, after all she knew sooner rather than later she would find someone to head back out onto the dance floor with -- but company was always better than sitting alone in her book.
“Hi!” Kitty greeted the other woman, laughing softly at the entourage remark. “My entourage is a bit young for this party,” She replied with a small smirk. “And I suppose it might be, but my family is from Austin and my parents live in the Capitol district so I guess you could say I have readily available babysitters.” Her mother always enjoyed taking the kids for a couple of hours, or even for the night -- which she had tried to convince Kitty of. But without a date for the evening Kitty hadn’t seen much reason to stay past curfew at The Bar. Plus, the idea of sleeping in her own bed was far more appealing than sleeping in a booth.
“Are you staying for the evening?” Kitty asked, curious about Shelby’s plans. “Or just until curfew?”
“I haven’t really decided yet,” Shelby admitted. “I was going to see how things went. If I stay I’ll probably end up sleeping in a booth, but they’re huge and I’m not, so it’s probably not any worse than trying to sleep on a plane.” She smiled across the table. “My grandmother would probably make me promise not to get assaulted, but not really because she believes it would happen, she just thinks those are the kinds of things she’s required to say to maintain her responsible parental figure status.” Shelby air-quoted the last part.
“Seriously, if she didn’t think this crowd was so young, she’d probably be here too. She only tries to make me believe she’s a stick in the mud, but I’ve heard all the family stories.” And Shelby knew she was babbling just a little bit, but it wasn’t like Kitty wasn’t used to her doing it.