Alterlife ⇝ Bucky Barnes [1]

thirteen.

13. | A FAMILY DINNER.

HER DAY AT THE DINER WAS LONG, ESPECIALLY AFTER ALL OF HER BOYS LEFT FOR THE DAY TO KEEP HER BUSY, AND LYDIA WAS FINALLY HEADING HOME. The other waitress had come in a few hours early and insisted that Lydia could take the rest of her shift off. She hated missing out on money, but she knew that the Kings weren't that well off to pay them both to be there at the same time. Besides, she could use a few hours to herself.

Except, when she walked into her and Effie's home, the sight was anything but peaceful. The former socialite was pushing their sofa around with her curlers still in her hair, grunting and groaning with the effort because she didn't have a lick of muscle in her arms. 

Lydia frowned at her best friend, "What are you doing?" 

An obvious question that made Effie stop in her movements and sigh, leaning against the heavy furniture to look up at the other young woman, "Rearranging the furniture, what's it look like?" 

"Going insane. First, you demanded the landlord to repaint the walls and now it's rearranging the furniture, what's going on?" 

"Nothing! I just need a change of scenery." Effie moved off of the sofa and towards the kitchen. She probably had been working so long that she forgot to take a drink. Nothing much had changed about the living room, but Effie wasn't the most active person so it was going to take her a while. Hell, Lydia and Ken did most of the work when they moved into the place. 

The younger of the two crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow, "Effie you're an awful liar." 

"I'm not lying!" Effie through her arms up in the air before coming to a stop and turning back to her best friend with a sheepish smile, "I told you I need the apartment to myself tonight, right?" 

"What the hell are you up to, Effie?" 

"You got somewhere to go or not?" the other woman snapped back. 

Lydia raised her hands up to chest level and rolled her eyes slightly, "I'll find something to do. Don't throw a tantrum."

Whatever the woman was up to had to have been good or at the very least, important. Well, Effie thought everything that revolved around her was important, so there was really no choice but to leave on her own or be forced to leave. Not that big of a variety of choices, really. 

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Unsurprisingly, Lydia was nervous as she checked over her hair and outfit for the fifth time before she walked out of the door. She'd called around to her friends to see who was free that night and Bucky Barnes had been the only one. He invited her for dinner at his parents' house - insisting that his mom was a 'damn good cook' - and she wanted to look as presentable as possible. She never thought she'd be meeting anyone's family again. At least, not until she was ready for another relationship, but that wouldn't happen for a few more years, she was sure.