Photo: On Foodie Trail
Aubree, Scarlett, & Laila
Aubree met Scarlett during the second semester of her freshman year at Yale while rushing their sorority Alpha Phi Tau. Aubree pledged because she had been having trouble making friends her first semester. Scarlett pledged because she wanted to be one of the girls wearing letters around campus. The sorority parties were an incentive for both of them.
At the start of pledging, Scarlett and Aubree bonded instantly. Well to be accurate, Scarlett took a liking to Aubree right away and eventually Aubree caught up so that the feeling was mutual. By the end of pledging, while they were close to the other ten girls in their pledge class, the two of them had the strongest relationship. It was an obvious choice for them to be roommates their sophomore year and for the two years following that.
Laila was Mrs. Woodhouse’s personal assistant when she met Scarlett. Not too long after, Scarlett started inviting Laila out with her friends. Mrs. Woodhouse was not overjoyed by this friendship, but did see Laila as a positive influence on Scarlett. She had reduced her partying from seven days a week to four or five. Mrs. Woodhouse considered this to be a vast improvement. Laila has since moved on from Mrs. Woodhouse’s employment, but the friendship between she and Scarlett stuck.
As was the case with most new people she encountered, it took Aubree a bit of time to warm to Laila. She is the type of person who makes judgments quickly and waits for people to prove her wrong or right. Aubree assumed that Laila was a social climber who was using Scarlett for her kindness (and money). It took a few months, but she eventually thawed and saw that Laila was coming from the right place. A friendship between the two blossomed shortly after.
Saturday brunch had become a tradition for the three girls. It did not happen every week, but they tried to do it once or twice a month. They would rehash the current state of their love lives, grumble about their jobs, gossip about their mutual friends, and on occasion gripe about their mothers. It was like a therapy session that includes mimosas and a tasty breakfast/lunch entrée. This Saturday they chose Sunshine & Co., an adorable bistro on the Upper West Side which had an entrée plus five mimosas deal.
Always the prompt one, a white summer dress and Chanel espadrilles clad Aubree walks up to the hostess to check-in, “Hi, I made a reservation for three—Aubree Bennet”.
The hostess with bright blue hair and wide brim glasses is playing with an app on her phone and does not look up, “Is your entire party here?”
“No, but they should be in a few minutes,” Aubree replies politely.
“Well, I can’t seat you unless your entire party is here. Also, we only hold reservations for 15 minutes so if they are not here by then we will have to give away the reservation,” the hostess says rudely while still avoiding eye contact.
“Okay, I’ll let you know when we are all here,” Aubree whips out her phone.
Aubree: At the restaurant. Hostess won’t seat me until you guys get here and also says we will lose the reservations in 15 minutes. She is sort of a betch by the way…
Laila: Just got off subway. Be there in a few!
Scarlett: Same! In a cab…tons of traffic.
Aubree: Are you actually in a cab or are you just leaving your apartment?
Laila: Lol knows you too well Scar! Literally about to walk in, where are you?
Aubree: Can’t miss me…Scarlett eta?
Scarlett: Okay… now I’m really in a cab.
An out of breath Laila bursts through the door and spots Aubree, “Hey! Sorry I’m late!”
“No big deal, let’s just hope Princess Scarlett graces us with her presence before we lose our reservation,” Aubree responds, “I love your sandals by the way!”
“Oh thanks!” Laila says as she looks down at her feet. She is wearing python gladiator sandals she found on sale at Urban Outfitters with a grey midi-length shift dress.
Ten minutes later, Scarlett makes a grand entrance. She is in her signature Céline sunglasses, a mint green jumpsuit, and wedges.
“Thanks for joining us, we were legit a minute away from losing the reservation,” Aubree greets in a tone that could be construed as joking or actual annoyance.
“Well, I’m here aren’t I?” Scarlett says mimicking Aubree’s intonation.
The blue haired hostess manages to not look up while checking their reservation and seating them. She throws three menus on the table, lets them know that a waitress will be with them shortly, and promptly walks away while typing away on her cell phone.
“Did we say something to offend her? She was like really cold,” Laila inquires.
“I spoke to her and I guess with people like her who probably spend all their free time in a dark room playing video games that can be construed as offensive,” Aubree replies.
“Yeah, she definitely got a vibe off you,” Scarlett quips in a matter-of-a-fact way.
A now grumpy Aubree retorts, “I literally said ‘Hi I have a reservation for three’. How is that a vibe?”
“It definitely had to have an air of condescension,” Scarlett counters.
Aubree is about to come back when Laila, the peacemaker, declares, “So! The menu looks great!”
Aubree and Scarlett are similar in several ways. Having been friends for so long it can cause petty and sometimes big arguments. While Aubree does not have a trust fund or an endless supply of cash from her parents, she did grow up quite comfortably in Land Bay (a wealthy town in Northern New Jersey). Aubree took private tennis lessons, went to a prestigious all-girls school, and summered in Martha’s Vineyard. Her childhood home is what most would call a mansion with six bedrooms, a heated pool, and a live-in housekeeper.
Aubree made a vow after getting her Bachelor’s degree in journalism that she would do it on her own from then on. After a year and a half of working and saving, she moved into a studio apartment in Williamsburg. She could proudly say that she did this with no help from her parents.
Unlike Scarlett, Aubree’s parents weren’t born into money. Her mother was the daughter of Jamaican immigrants whom moved to this country for a better life as the story goes. Now an English professor at Columbia, she put herself through undergraduate and graduate school by working three jobs (even cleaning houses at one point) before she got there. Her father grew up in Queens, New York. The son of a construction worker, it seemed as though it was his fate as well. He decided that rather than going down the same path, he would study architecture. Now, her father has one of the biggest architecture firms in the city.
Aubree’s parents gave her a good head start, but she wanted to follow in their footsteps by making something of herself on her own. This made it hard for her to understand how Scarlett could be so lazy and dependent on her parents money. It also was the underlying thing that has caused them to clash throughout their entire friendship. Prior to Laila being in the group, they would go periods without speaking to each other.
The dust settles from the near debacle and the girls make sure to put in an order for mimosas before all else.
“What’s new with you two?” Aubree questions.
“Things have been going well with Liam,” Scarlett jumps in.
“That’s so good!” Laila squeals, “Have you guys been hanging out a lot?”
“Well so far, we’ve been on 5 dates,” Scarlett professes.
Aubree smiles, “5 dates? That’s really good!”
Scarlett tries to not show her own excitement, “Yeah, we shall see I guess.”
“Stefen wants to see where things go and apparently hasn’t been hanging out with other girls,” Laila mentions shyly.
Scarlett wrinkles her face into confused expression, “Who’s Stefen?”
“The millionaire,” Laila replies.
“Ahhh, the millionaire has a name! And you’re doing that thing where you freak out and start to back off because things are getting serious?” Aubree asserts.
“Not yet!” Laila denies.
“But you will! You always do,” Aubree firmly states.
“You can blame it on your boss or your job, but when you worked for my mom you did the same thing,” Scarlett butts in, “Except back then, you blamed just getting out of relationship and said you were looking to have fun.”
Laila was 22 years old when she met Scarlett. She had recently graduated from University of Connecticut and decided to move out her small hometown of Sandbright, Connecticut two months post graduation. She left behind her high school sweetheart Eric. They tried a long distance relationship for about a month before Laila ended it. Going back and forth was preventing her from making friends in the city.
After deducing that Laila did not have many friends or much of a social life for that matter, Scarlett decided to start inviting Laila to outings with her friends. Several of Scarlett’s male friends showed interest in Laila, but she always turned them down. When asked why, Laila would always mention her recent breakup.
Having been broken up with Eric for four years now, her excuse has evolved to the adult response of it being work related. While Laila is not struggling for dates, her last serious relationship was with Eric. There have been promising moments, but Laila has always found a way to end it or push the guy away. Laila herself is unable to pinpoint where the hesitation comes from.
Aubree narrows her eyes at Laila, “I can’t believe it took me this long to realize what a commitment phobe you are!”
Laila gets defensive, “I am not!”
“Totally! You just come up with good excuses,” Scarlett chimes in.
“Do you know what happened on my last date?” Aubree huffs, “I got groped. I was sitting with a Tinder guy for less than an hour and he was stroking my thigh and propositioning me.”
“I don’t get your point,” a perplexed Laila says.
“Yeah you lost me there too,” Scarlett agrees.
“My point is, some of us don’t have hot millionaires saying they want to take things to the next level,” Aubree sips her mimosa, “Some of us are getting their thighs groped by fuckin’ hipsters.”
Scarlett nods and snickers, “Agreed.”
“I don’t know,” Laila sighs.
“Groped,” Aubree says flatly.
“Okay, okay!” Laila chuckles.
“I give it a week,” Aubree announces.
Scarlett chimes in with a sneer, “Hey now! Maybe 2 or 3!”
Laila pouts, “I hate you guys!”
Scarlett and Aubree exchange a glance and burst into laughter before Aubree says, “Prove us wrong then Lai.”
Scarlett pats Laila’s hand and then changes the subject, “Did Lucy tell you guys that she is engaged?”
“To Peter?!” Laila asks.
“No this guy she met in the elevator looking for a green card,” Scarlett replies sarcastically.
“Is she aware that he cheats on her every chance he gets?” Aubree slices into her red velvet waffles, “The last time we were all together he hit on me the entire time.”
Scarlett looks pensive and spears her omelette with her fork, “I think she either has no clue or knows and doesn’t care.”
Lucy was a girl who Aubree, Scarlett, and Laila met one night while they were clubbing a few years ago. Her friends had left her alone at the club while she was waiting in the line for the bathroom. In her typical friendly manner, Scarlett brought Lucy into the fold and even exchanged numbers with her at the end of the night. Eventually, Lucy became a member of the group causing their trio to become a quartet.
The quartet was going strong until Lucy met Peter, a hedge fund manager born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He now lives in the penthouse of a luxury Tribeca building. To call him “preppy” would be an understatement as even his boxer briefs were argyle and/or plaid.
Initially, it felt as though Lucy had hit the jackpot. Summer weekends at the family beach house in Nantucket, the holidays were spent in Aspen, and couples trips to St. Barth. On her birthday, after dating a mere three months, he bought her an Hermès Birkin bag. Yes, the really expensive one. The one that could be a down payment on a house. Yes, that one. The rest of the quartet was extra impressed that he was able to get it on such short notice considering the fact that it usually involved getting on a lengthy waiting list.
Soon enough Lucy’s long brunette beach waves were cut into a sensible, but chic bob. She lived for Lily Pulitzer shift dresses, had tea with Peter’s mother Muffy at the Waldorf Astoria once a month, and began to refer to weekends out of the city as “going to the country”. The ever cynical Aubree referred to her as pod person. The quartet went back to being a trio as they only saw Lucy every couple of months. These sightings were really just an excuse for Lucy to boast about her latest trip or gift from Peter.
Peter seemed relatively perfect until Scarlett’s holiday party one year ago. It was an ugly Christmas sweater theme, but somehow Scarlett had found a way to make her look promiscuous. She was wearing just an oversized sweater vest with Rudolf’s face on it and over-the-knee Louboutin boots. She garnered many stares, but Peter paid the most attention (when Lucy was not looking).
Though she has a flirtatious side, Scarlett has a very strong “girl code”. She rebuffed Peter’s advances, but made sure to let Aubree and Laila know what had happened. It was decided between the three of them that they should not say anything. Laila said he was probably just drunk while Aubree believed in the shoot the messenger theory. They all agreed that it could lead to the demise of their friendship with Lucy no matter what.
So, they kept quiet. They kept quiet when he tried to kiss Laila outside of a club one night. They kept quiet when he grabbed Aubree’s behind on that same night. It was just assumed that surely they were not the only targets of his affections so Lucy cannot be completely in the dark. It was even rumored that he had a girl in Astoria that he would spend the night with once per week. Her name was “Huge Deal” as he would tell Lucy he was working late on a big upcoming deal so he would not be free those nights.
They all figured it would not lead anywhere serious because again Lucy had to know what her beau was really like. Then, this week Peter took Lucy on a private boat ride on the Hudson. Right as they were passing the Statue of Liberty at sunset (of course), he got down on one knee and asked her to be with him for all the days of his life. She said yes.
“Well all I know is that bitch better be inviting us to the wedding,” Aubree declares.
“Why would we want to go a wedding that is celebrating cheating and lies?” Laila queries.
“Open bar,” Scarlett says seriously.
“Doesn’t it feel like everyone we know is like married or engaged these days?” Laila asks.
“Well, we are at that age. It’s like when you are old and everyone you know is dead or dying,” Scarlett replies.
“Oh my god Scarlett,” a shocked Laila says.
“You are seriously a terrible person,” Aubree adds.
“Well misery loves company and I say we all are pretty terrible,” Scarlett hits back.
“True,” Laila agrees.
“Anyway, besides the fact that marriage scares the crap out of me,” Aubree says, “If the girls with cheating boyfriends and rushed engagements are the ones getting married, I’d rather wait.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Scarlett concurs.
Laila raises her glass, “Cheers to not being cheated on!”
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