Chapter 4

The evening had, thus far, been a tad uncomfortable. Everyone had used the spaghetti in front of them to indulge in silence, for no topic was yet brought forth, and no one wanted to be the first to do so. However, an icebreaker soon came by a most unexpected means. Something small and fuzzy pushed up against Sophia's leg, making her start. She peered over the side of her chair to see a pair of green eyes staring up at her. A small black and white kitten took the eye contact as a sign of invitation and immediately hopped up on her lap. A moment later, the kitten was curled up quite comfortably and running his throaty motor in approval of the new guest.

"Well," Estelle said, "it appears you have received the official seal of approval from the cat. That's always a good sign." She winked as she said this to Sophia, who smiled back.

"What are we listening to?" Inquired Sophia, thankful for her brain to finally have thought up a topic.

"It's electronic classical remixes" answered Amelia, "this CD is very difficult to find."

"This guy takes popular classical songs and re-interprets them. This one's..." Estelle said as she tried to remember the name of the song.

"The Nutcracker Suite," Amelia finished for her.

"Oh," said Sophia, "I thought the melody sounded familiar."

"Wait'll you hear what they did to Bolero!" Estelle exclaimed, her face unable to hide her delight.

"It's... alright." Interjected Sophia's boyfriend, trying to sound as though he were merely trying unsuccessfully to hide his displeasure. Everyone at the table gave him a displeasured look of their own, although each bore a slightly different expression; Sophia appeared a little embarrassed, Estelle looked slightly offended, while Amelia's face betrayed the fact that she knew something like this would happen eventually.

"What's wrong with it?" Amelia asked, in a returning gesture, as though she were merely trying unsuccessfully to hide her dislike of him.

"It's just..." the boyfriend tried to find his words, "this kind of remaking does a great disservice to the original composers. I'm sure they would have never wanted their music to be withered down to a common fad."

"Industrial music is not a fad," Amelia retorted through her teeth. She was clearly having a difficult time controlling her temper.

"Well, it's like using classic rock in car insurance commercials."

"Don't you mean BEER commercials?"

"Well that's a bit different I think."

Amelia's eyes bulged slightly at this hypocrisy as she took a deep breath with the intention of raising her voice in order to drive her point home with more authority.

"What do -"

"Wine time everyone!"

Everyone had been so intently listening to or involved in the current conversation that no one had noticed that Estelle had slipped into the kitchen and prepared glasses of Chardonnay. Estelle stood at the door frame with two filled glasses and an expression that clearly had every intention of changing the subject.

For a long moment, everyone was silent. The music pulsed in the background just loud enough to be heard clearly without being overwhelming. Familiar melodies were accompanied by unfamiliar mechanical rhythms. Yet, after hearing them, one would not think to question their harmony with each other. Many strings filled the air gracefully, while industrial drums kept them from floating too high.

The silence had ushered the four over to the two couches in the living room. Sophia and her boyfriend had chosen to sit on the couch closer to the middle of the room, while the other two planted themselves on the one against the wall. It was not long before the kitten had joined them, placing herself in between the two laps. Estelle had given the guests the full glasses, after she poured Amelia and then herself some. Eventually the tension left them, and they discussed the various trivial matters of the world that we all discuss at one time or another. At one point, Sophia and her boyfriend intertwined each other's arms and took a sip from their lover's glass. This caused Estelle to widen her eyes and look to Amelia, who only shrugged. The other pair took no notice of this.

Finally, the time had come to change the topic.

"So, you like to go to parties?" Amelia spoke into the air, curious to see which of them would answer.

"Hell yeah," the boyfriend responded arrogantly, "a party's just warmin' up until I get there."

Sophia looked a little uncomfortable as her boyfriend began to brag about how he was, without exception, the life of the party. Amelia seemed to be oblivious to his egotistic remarks, however, for she just continued to ask questions that would prompt his self-edification.

"So I bet you can really hold your liquor, huh?"

"You know it! Even when I'm smashed, I can remember everything the next day, and I never do anything stupid-"

The wine glass hit the carpet with a soft thud just as his head began to wobble. He tried to pretend that there was nothing wrong and kept talking, but his words were too slurred for anyone to understand. The kitten stopped purring and lifted her head to see where the noise had come from. She looked on curiously.

"Honey?" Sophia shook his shoulder worriedly as his head slumped to the side. "Honey, what's wrong?"

She shot a look of desperation over at the girls, only to find the both of them smiling wickedly. This confused her terribly, and the fixation on her boyfriend's state did not allow her brain to process the meaning behind the expressions she had just witnessed. Finally, after a panicked sigh and two more glances, she froze while catching their faces with her eyes.