Mallory was running late to her own birthday party, and she didn't like it one bit.
She'd had her outfit all planned out - a cute little black skirt she'd bought herself a couple of weeks ago, and a white shirt - but Brian said he thought the skirt was too short, so then she'd had to figure out something else to wear. And, of course, she'd had the perfect necklace and earrings set to match, but they seemed too dressy to pair with her jeans.
She'd also had to battle with Brian; he didn't really want to go, but he didn't want her to go by herself. Mallory had no choice to put her foot down this time. She'd never hear the end of it from her friends if she cancelled on them at this late date; besides, she wanted to see them.
By the time they were finally pulling up outside JJ's, they were twenty minutes late, and Mallory was irritable with Brian.
"Happy now?" he grumbled, as they closed and locked the doors of the car. "We're at your precious little bar."
Mallory chose to ignore his snide tone of voice and instead rushed over to hug Laura, Josh, and Matt. She also chose to ignore the death glares that Brian sent in Josh's and even Matt's directions.