Gossip Girl (Gossip Girl 1) by Cecily Von Ziegesar

Gossip Girl (Gossip Girl 1) by Cecily Von Ziegesar

Author:Cecily Von Ziegesar
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780316910330
Publisher: Poppy
Published: 2002-04-01T22:00:00+00:00


Tea for Two

The setting sun cast patterns of light on the dark blue, late-nineteenth-century Japanese carpets covering the gleaming parquet floors of Grandmother Avery’s town house. Avery sat with Sydney Miller. Sydney Miller of nipple-piercing fame. Sydney Miller, the only guest at her tea party.

Just last year, this very room had been featured in Vogue after a Drama League party the elder Avery had hosted, and now, with files from the lawyer’s office stacked in messy piles on the ground, it looked more like a museum installation that was in the process of being taken down.

Except with fewer people.

“Give me those.” Avery pointed to the collection of delicate mini tarts decorated with tiny raspberries that sat untouched on a tray. The pink tray perfectly matched the Chanel suit she had borrowed from Grandmother Avery’s closet.

Wordlessly, Sydney handed her the tray. Glasses of carefully prepared homemade iced tea sat untouched on the side table, condensation fogging their outsides. Avery had thought people could take them as they came in, and that serving iced tea would be a cute way to modernize the time-honored tradition of the tea party.

If cute servers came with the iced tea, that is . . .

“I don’t think anybody’s coming,” Sydney said finally as she gazed around the room. The antique Chippendale chairs Avery had dragged over from the dining room were all lined up, facing the small wrought-iron balcony that jutted into the solarium from the second-floor study. Grandmother Avery had had it constructed for its sight lines—when the sun set, whoever stood there appeared to be illuminated. Edie had always scoffed that her mother had gotten the idea after seeing the musical Evita. Still, it was dramatic, and Avery had been planning to go up there and give a short speech, and then use the rest of the time to mingle and get to know the other Constance girls.

The doorbell rang. Avery shot an I told you so glance at Sydney and her matte-black lipstick, and sprang up from the oversize armchair. She winced in pain as her size nine feet strained Grandmother’s size seven Ferragamo pumps.

If the shoe fits, wear it. But if it doesn’t fit . . . don’t.

She opened the heavy oak door to greet Baby, flanked by three dogs lined up in size order. “Surprise!” Baby smiled mischievously as a large poodle-cross wiggled his butt against Avery’s bare leg, grinning and slobbering maniacally. Two tiny puggles were winding their leashes around the bigger dog’s legs.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Avery blurted, pushing the dog away with her knee. Was this Baby’s idea of a joke?

“Nemo, you freak, didn’t you get enough of that in the park?” Baby wrestled the dog away. “I’m just heading back from the park. I was so close, I thought I should stop by. Do you want me to come back after I drop them off?” Baby held up the leashes. The large dog lunged toward Avery’s crotch once more.

“No!” Avery cried, slamming the heavy oak door.



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