5:30PM: Kitty and Shelby
Kitty glanced towards the booths and then back to Shelby. “Sleeping in a booth is precisely why I’m not staying,” she admitted with a faint laugh. It wasn’t that she was above sleeping in one, but if she had the option between that or her bed at home, well, the bed at home wins every time. “See, my mother would warn me not to get assaulted but she would also mean it.” Kitty couldn’t for the life of her imagine her mother in this crowd. The political types at the Capitol were far more her speed and Kitty kind of liked that -- it meant she had some privacy and separation from her parents.
“Is your family the type to embellish family stories or do you think they’re mostly truthful?” Kitty asked curiously. She had never met Shelby’s grandma, but now she was definitely intrigued. “My aunt has a whole book of stories on my mother, but I was never allowed to hear them.” Which only made her wonder if there had been a time when her mother wasn’t so prim, proper and perfect.
“They’re totally the truth,” Shelby replied with a laugh. “I think I probably wasn’t supposed to hear any of the ones they told me, but I did, so now I can tease my Gram’s about them.” Though she usually kept that to very occasional instances since her Gram was still responsible for the roof over her head and her employment.
Kitty laughed. “Parents, or grandparents, never want us to hear the stories that might paint them in a different light,” she remarked with an amused smile. “Although I would never dream of teasing my mother, if only because I wouldn’t want to sit through the lecture that would follow.” Kitty loved her mother, but the woman sometimes spent way too much time trying to enforce proper behaviour that she forgot how to let loose and relax.
Scrunching her nose, Shelby could commiserate with parental lectures. Maybe not about that subject, but she’d been on the receiving end of a few from both her mom and dad. “If I had a brother she probably would have sent him along, just to make sure I was safe.” Shelby shrugged, like it wasn’t really something to think about too much, since it wasn’t a possibility. “I think I’m okay though, the staff seem super responsible, like they wouldn’t let anyone scary in.”
“Oh god, I do have an older brother and I would literally die if he had been forced to chaperone me,” She had actually seen him earlier in the night, but thankfully they had a very clear understanding that Kitty wouldn’t comment or judge his behaviour if he gave her the same kind of courtesy. With a glance towards the bar, Kitty gave a nod. “I don’t know all of the staff personally, but I know the owners --” she paused. “Actually the owner is my boss at the Department of Justice and I can’t imagine him or his girlfriend hiring anyone that wasn’t trustworthy.”
“Check, I can definitely send my Gram’s the ‘don’t worry, I won’t get assaulted’ text then.” Shelby was always a little impressed when Kitty mentioned her job. It wasn’t quite like managing a family doughnut shop, it seemed so much more grown up. “And if I get into trouble I’ll just tell her that I have an in at the DoJ,” she added with a wink and another small laugh. “She’ll love that.” It had never happened, but she had always believed her grandmother was the kind of parent that would let her sit overnight in jail if it had ever come to that.