There is someone moving into the big house down the street; the big, purple Victorian that a lot of neighbors openly wished would be torn down. There was even a petition, but still the house stood. It was past it's prime, they said, and no one wanted to take the time or money to fix it up. It was a waste of money as Lauren's parents said.
Lauren didn't agree. She thought the house was beautiful. She'd taken pictures of it ever since she was a kid. Season by season she clicked away, and she told herself that someday she would buy it. She didn't want to make it over and put in a designer kitchen and tear out all the character. She wanted it the way it was including the cob webs and the heavy front doors that creaked when they were opened.
She would sometimes go inside and sit in the living room where she imagined families on Christmas morning, children running out the door for the school bus, and wondered what happened to them. All that was left were a few pieces of broken furniture and garbage from kids that broke in for fun.
Now the old house would be home to a twenty something girl. She cut down the tall grass, and the broken windows were repaired. She hadn't done anything else from what Lauren could tell from down the street. Lauren hoped she wouldn't change the house too much.
That wasn't the only change that summer. Lauren's sister Ruth came home from her vacation to Paris with her boyfriend Alex and his family with a diamond ring on her finger. Her boyfriend of nine months asked her at sunset on the top of the Eiffel tower. He was the youth minister of their church, and Ruth liked him from the moment she saw him.
Ruth had always been involved in youth group, but suddenly she was hosting bible studies at their house, and she joined the choir because he was in charge of it. He noticed her right away, and they were dating within two weeks. They went on group dates with other couples from their church that soon included Lauren and her boyfriend Jake. He was Alex's younger brother. Jake came home from college that summer, and Lauren became quick friends with him, and it turned romantic a few weeks later. Lauren really liked Jake. They made each other laugh. She thought he looked a lot like a young Matt Damon, but Ruth told her she was delusional.
"It's too bad about that old house," Ruth commented as they stood out on the porch and watched a beat up Volkswagen van pull up in front of the purple Victorian house. "I thought when you and Jake got married you could buy it and live there with your spiders."
"Funny," Lauren said as she watched the girl carry in boxes from her car; she'd been slowly moving in all week, and Lauren had been spying. Ruth said she was a busy-body.
"I doubt Jake will ever settle down actually," Ruth mused. "You'll be doing missionary work with him the rest of your life. I think that's his real calling."
"Probably," Lauren said as Jake was currently on a break from college as he did missionary work in Haiti.
"He'll be home in only a week," Ruth said and squeezed her sister's arm. "So don't get sad on me."
"I'm not sad," Lauren said as she followed her sister into the house. "You're the one who brought it up. I just said probably."
"I know you're sad when become quiet, and what girl wouldn't be sad about their boyfriend being so far away all the time?"
"I'm not sad, and I'm not being quiet. I was just thinking."
"Okay."
"And I know he'll be here in a week. I have a ton of stuff planned for us."
"I hope you leave some time open. He's coming for the engagement party too."
"No, that just happens to be at the same time. He's coming to see me.
"You should talk him into staying," Ruth said as she settled onto the couch to start the Jane Barker essay she had been complaining about all week. "You know how much I admire his work over there, but I can't see how he can stay away from his family. He'll want to get to know his nieces and nephews too."
"So you're planning on having kids right away?" Lauren asked; they hadn't discussed this before. Alex and Ruth had only been engaged for a month, and they were already talking about kids? The whole thing made Lauren's head spin.
"I'm almost done with school so why not?" Ruth shrugged as she paged through her book. "Alex really wants kids, and I'm twenty-two. It's the perfect time. My body will bounce back quicker, and I always wanted to be a younger Mom. Now leave me alone and let me finish my homework. You're in a grumpy mood, and it's no fun talking to you when you get that way."
Lauren wanted to ask why her sister thought she was in a grumpy mood, but she stopped herself and went upstairs. She heard her sister's phone ring on her way up the stairs, and she stopped to listen. Eavesdropping was a bad habit she could never break. And spying apparently she thought as she thought about spying on the girl down the street.
Lauren recognized the voice right away. It was their mutual best friend Monroe, and the conversation automatically bee-lined to wedding talk. Lauren continued up the stairs. She was already tired of wedding planning. Her bedroom was in the attic; it was the smallest room in the house, but she loved it. Her bed was set up high up so she could see out the octagonal window that was the center piece of their house.
Their white Victorian wasn't as beautiful as the purple one down the street, but it was still one of the most striking houses in the neighborhood. Every house on their block was large and historic, and it was the kind of place Lauren would want to have kids even though she supposed that was a sad plan.
Ruth was right. Jake would never go for it. He wanted to travel, and he had a whole list of places he wanted to visit. His parents had already done missionary work in twenty different countries. Traveling was in his blood, he said once.
Lauren just wanted to curl up in her bed and look out her octagonal window most of the time. She always felt tired. Traveling was the last thing on her mind. She knew all the symptoms of depression from health class in high school, but she knew better than to talk about it with Ruth or any of her friends. They didn't go that deep. And her parents would just tell her to pray about it. What would that help?
Lauren didn't have much time to sleep or to look out her window though. She worked part time at the Antique Button. It was a thrift shop that her best friend Monroe's Aunt Janet owned. All three girls worked there and made minimum wage, but it was a fun job. They got to work with one another, and they were allowed to take home anything that they liked.
The store was filled to the top with junk, but Lauren thought it was lovely. Ruth often tried to organize it, but her attempts always failed because of how much junk Janet dragged in. She was constantly on the road in search of estate sells, and taking pictures of the big houses she visited. Lauren knew her obsession with architecture was because Janet. She was the only one who understood about Lauren's fixation on the purple house.
Monroe, Lauren's best friend, also worked part-time at the store. Lauren was glad as the two barely got to see each other now that Lauren had graduated. Now at least they worked the occasional shift together, but not tonight. It was a school night. Monroe was still a senior in high school, and she was busy with her charity work, after school activities and volleyball.
Sometimes Lauren wondered if they were even still best friends. They rarely saw each other outside of work. All of her friends were like that though. Even Lauren barely had time for them. It was what she was supposed to do as an upper class Midwestern kid. They joined every activity they could, volunteered everywhere possible, and then they went to college and got married.
This made Lauren feel depressed now, but she hadn't even noticed it until she was in college and done with soccer, gymnastics, chorus, band, bake sales, and her hours at the store decreased to fit in her new class schedule. It left Lauren a lot of time to think about her life and what was missing from it.
"Are we going shopping on Saturday?" Monroe would ask at least three times a week, but something usually came up. It was the same with Lauren's other friends Hope, and Wren even though they were going to the same university as Ruth and Lauren. There just never seemed to be enough time. Sometimes it felt to Lauren they were all waiting for their real lives, and this was just the practice phase so it didn't matter.
She knew they loved her, and she loved them, but she wondered if they would ever have time for each other, or if they would end up like her Mom with her church friends that she hung out with every six months for 'Mom's Night Out' at a Chinese restaurant.
"Do you still talk to your high school friends?" Lauren asked Janet as they folded clothes during Lauren's Saturday shift.
"Oh, online sometimes," Janet shrugged. "I didn't really like any of them though now that I look back on it."
"... You didn't like any of your friends?"
"I was a bitter kid with an over-bite, clothes my Grandma made, and I thought the universe was plotting against me. I didn't like anyone."
Lauren locked up the store at ten. Janet had gone home hours ago, and Lauren was exhausted. She didn't know why Janet kept the store open as many hours as she did. Hardly anyone came in except college girls, and they rarely ever bought anything. The store would have went under ages ago except that Janet owned the building. Her father had owned most of the downtown when he was alive, and he passed the buildings off to his children. Most were sold off, but Janet held onto her shop and the apartment upstairs where she lived. It was prime real estate in the college area, and wedged between a bank and a grocery store, but she would never sell it despite lucrative offers.
Lauren's parents were in the living room when Lauren let herself in the house. Her Mom was on her laptop, and her Dad was watching a man in an expensive suit preaching on TV. He told his daughters the only thing worth watching on television were the religious channels and the occasional football game, but only when the Colts were playing.
As children Lauren and Ruth were limited the programs they could watch, and only for a half an hour a day. They weren't allowed on the Internet until they were fourteen, and Lauren finally got sick of using the family computer because she suspected he still checked the history. She bought herself her own phone and computer with her earnings from the store, and she knew he wasn't happy about it.
"How is old Janet?" Her Dad asked as Lauren came in and dropped her bag on the couch.
"She's fine," Lauren tried to fake a smile. She hated when her Dad made mean comments about Janet's age.
"Still not married?"
"No, Dad."
"We really ought to fix her up with someone nice," Keith said to his wife who was searching for new curtains online. "She's over forty now. She must get lonely being by herself all the time."
"Not with her two little dogs," Melanie said, "and not to mention her store and church. She's a busy woman."
"A woman needs more than pets and work," Keith said with a sigh as he leaned back; his eyes never leaving the television.
Lauren didn't say anything as she was used to her Dad going on about Janet being unmarried, and she went into the kitchen to warm up the burrito she had picked up on her way home. Ruth was in the kitchen and loading the dishwasher. She smiled at her sister when she came in the room.
"It was my turn," Lauren said with some surprise.
"I know, but you had to work, and I knew you would probably forget," Ruth said as she rinsed out the bowls. "It's no big deal."
"... Well, thanks," Lauren said as she put her burrito in the microwave .
"How was your shift?" Ruth asked as she made a face at Lauren's choice of supper.
"Fine." Lauren's burrito was finished, and she was falling asleep at the table. "Oh, Monroe texted me on my way to work. She wanted to know if you wanted to go to her house after church tomorrow for lunch."
"I know," Ruth said. "She dropped in while you were working, and we hung out here. We found so many great ideas for the wedding online. I can't wait for you to see them."
"Oh," Lauren said as she tried not to get annoyed as she always did when Monroe and Ruth hung out without her - after all, Monroe was Lauren's best friend first. "Well, I'll look at them tomorrow."
"No, please look at them now," Ruth said pleadingly; as she turned on the dishwasher on as she finished up her work. "Come up to my room, and I'll show you. It won't take long."
"Ruth, I'm almost asleep here," Lauren said with a yawn. "I just want to finish my food and crawl into bed."
"You eat in bed? Are you trying to draw in mice?"
"Yes, yes I am. I think they're adorable, and I make them clothes like Cinderella."
"Fine, I won't show you the plans. You'll just be in the dark," Ruth sniffed. "I guess you don't want to see the beautiful dress you're going to wear, or do you even want to wear it? I can get someone to replace you if you don't have the time for something so frivolous..."
"... Shut up and show me the dress."
Ruth grinned and pulled her sister towards the stairs. "The plans are in my room. You'll love it. Unless you want the mice and birds to make you a dress, of course, Cinderella."
"I'm sure whatever you pick out will be amazing," Lauren said as she rolled her eyes at her sister's joke.
"Oh, and could you leave the burrito though? It smells like garbage," Ruth said with clear distaste.
"It smells delicious, and I'm not leaving it," Lauren said as she took a big chomp out of it as they headed up the stairs. "Don't worry I will try my best not to drop it anywhere. I mean, you still haven't forgiven me for spilling a tiny bit of grape juice on your carpet when I was nine. I swear you were born thirty-five."