A persistent ringing sound woke Carol up from her deep sleep, and she groaned pitifully, blindly grabbing the spare pillow on her bed and covering her head with it in the hope that it would block the sound from disturbing her. She had slept very late last night and needed to get as much sleep as she could get before her alarm went off at six. The pillow succeeded in blocking out most of the sound, and Carol was about drifting off to sleep when her other phone started ringing too, and this one was right beside her on the bed. To make matters worse, this one's volume was much louder than the other one's own so she could not ignore it, even if she wanted to.

"Who the fuck calls someone at 2 in the morning for chrissakes?" She wondered to herself as she sat up, but in her heart, she already knew who it was. A quick glance at her phone, which had stopped ringing but started ringing as she picked it up again confirmed what she had guessed. It was Victoria calling. Carol was tempted to ignore the call, but she knew it was better to just pick up once and for all and find out what her sister wanted. If she ignored the call, Victoria would only blow up her phone with more calls and if she turned it off, her dear sister would call their parents to cry on their shoulders and they would be at Carol's house no matter the time of the night to express their anger at her ignoring their dear daughter.

Sighing, Carol answered the phone, but before she could even say one word, Victoria's loud screech filled her ear, so loud that she had to hold the phone away from her ear until her sister stopped screaming.

"Hello, Victoria."

"Oh my God! You're not going to believe what just happened!" Victoria screeched excitedly into the phone, and Carol could almost visualize her bouncing on her toes. It seemed that Victoria failed to realize that she was now twenty-seven years old and no longer a teenager or a five-year-old girl.

"Really?" Carol drawled sarcastically. "This really important thing could not wait until morning? Do you have any freaking idea what the time is? I was sleeping for chrissakes. Some of us have to work, you know."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Oh, right. Well, as I said, it's really important and I bet you will be green with envy when you hear what it is."

"Alright, bye. I'm turning off my phone now."

"Wait! I got engaged. That's what! I'm getting married to this super-rich guy and I won't ever have to lift a finger to work in my life again." Victoria exclaimed over the phone happily.

"Excuse me? You got what?"

"Engaged. You know, that thing whereby a man gets down on one knee, opens a box, and asks you to marry him? Yeah, that one. Oh my God! It was the most romantic thing ever."

"Um...congratulations?"

"Yeah. Thanks. You'll be my chief bridesmaid, of course. Don't worry, there's nothing for you to be ashamed of that your younger sister is getting married before you. We're only 8 months apart in age, after all."

"Who on earth are you getting married to? You were just ranting to me the other day about how dumb Joe was and now you're marrying him?" Carol asked, wondering if her sister's brain cells were working at all.

"Oh no. I could never marry that blithering idiot. I'm getting married to this very rich guy..."

"Yes, you said that before. How did you meet him and how long have you known him?"

"Oh. I met him two weeks ago when I went on a vacation. You remember when I went to France? Anyway, we're heads over heels in love now and he wants to get married to me. Can you believe that? I'm so happy."

"You want to marry someone you met two weeks ago and barely know? I must say you've done a lot of stupid and dumb things over the years, but this takes the cake. Do mom and dad know? What do you think they'll have to say about this?"

"Oh. They're very happy for me. You know that they let me have whatever it is I want and my happiness is their priority. I thought that you'll be happy for me too. But I'm not surprised. You've always been a jealous cat. Anyway, the wedding is next week and all my friends are busy, so I'll need someone to go shopping for wedding things with me. That's why I'm calling you."

"That's so sweet of you. I'm not interested in doing that. I have my own life to live and work to do, you know. Oh, and one last tip...when next you need a favor of such magnitude from me, it would be in your best interest not to wake me up at 2 in the morning to ask for it." Carol yelled and cut the call, sure that her sister was drunk or high or something of that nature. The last person in the world who wanted marriage was Victoria. She turned off her phone, got up to pee, and went back to sleep so that she could wake up in time for work.