average american beauty

When I woke up in the morning, the snow had stopped, and outside the window was the world covered in silver under the sunshine. The neighbor's children were making snowmen downstairs, and the festive atmosphere enveloped the whole street.

The headache is that the trams are out of service because the snow is not cleared in time.

Caroline decided to go back to her apartment first. She and Vivienne agreed to visit her today, so she had to make some preparations first.

The snow-covered city was more beautiful than usual. Caroline stepped on the snow, listening to the "creaking" sound coming from her feet.When the feet first landed, they touched a piece of softness, but because the boots would sink into the snow, each step took a little more effort, and she finally knew what those clumsy and heavy snow boots were for. .

A taxi passed by, bringing up a splash of snow.

Caroline had already asked about the tram route from her apartment to Vivian's house, but now that the tram was out of service, she was still worrying about how to get to Vivian's.Seeing that there were still carriages for rent on the road at this moment, I felt relieved.

When I returned to the apartment, Isabella hadn’t come back from school. The school where she worked was far away from the apartment. Most of the time, she would wait for the tram to resume operation before returning home.

The first thing Caroline did when she entered the room was to turn on the stove, and then she took off her soaked shoes and socks, and waited for the stove to heat up, warming her numb and tingling feet. After recovering, he quickly put the boots aside to dry.She only has this pair of winter boots now, if she had known it would snow, she would have bought a replacement pair in advance.

Although it was agreed not to give gifts before, it is always inappropriate to come to the door empty-handed.

Caroline chose a dark blue wide-brimmed headband that she bought at the mall the day before yesterday. It should look great with Vivienne's red hair.

She tied the hair tie into a bow, put it in a dark green paper box, and put some candy on it. She imitated the packaging of later generations and cut out the stuffed brushed confetti with colored paper to make a small Christmas gift box.

Vivienne now lives in her brother's apartment near the Macwicka Theatre. This place is at the junction of the city center and the wealthy district in the north. There are beautiful apartment buildings and private villas. People who can live here Most of them have a bit of family background, such as a lively businessman's family, a golden salesman in a trading company, or a hotel manager with an annual salary of more than 2000 yuan.

Caroline also came to this district for the first time. She got off the carriage at the address given by Vivienne, but the fare was a whole yuan for a [-]-minute journey. I don't know if it was because of the festival or the snow. up the price.

"You're finally here, Caroline. I was just worried that you wouldn't be able to make it because of the bad road conditions!" Vivienne was wearing a long blue printed dress with a home sweater on top. She pulled Caroline entered the room with joy written all over her face.

The apartment is very big, with about three or four rooms. The decoration is simple but very tidy. It can be seen that the people who live in it often take care of it.Perhaps because of the lack of popularity, the house looked a little empty.

Vivian took Caroline to the living room and tidied up the table.Vivienne was reading a book before hearing the knock on the door, and put the book on the table when she opened the door.

"Are you home alone?" Caroline saw no one else in the house.

"Yeah, my brother and sister-in-law stayed in New York for Christmas, and they said they would take advantage of the end of the year to sort out the company's accounts during this period." Vivienne made a helpless look.

Caroline guessed from her expression that Vivienne should have been alone on the day when the family was supposed to be reunited yesterday. Thinking of this, she felt sorry for this girl.

"It's a bit late, but Merry Christmas", Caroline took out the gift prepared in advance.

"Thank you." Vivian took the box with both hands, looked at the exquisite packaging and smiled, "I found that you haven't worked for a long time, and the packaging is getting better and better."

Meisi Department Store packs products for customers in various cartons and then puts ribbons on them. When Caroline first started working, it was very difficult to do packaging for customers, and she often asked Vivienne for advice.

Until later, she had more and more opportunities to practice, and learned a lot of tricks from magazines, so she became more and more handy in doing it.On the gift box prepared for Vivienne today, she tied Vivienne's favorite French double bow with the same color ribbon of the box.

"I didn't prepare a gift for you, except this." Vivian turned around and went to the cabinet to take out a glass jar, which was full of dark brown coffee beans.

"The coffee beans they mailed are roasted and will not be fresh in a few weeks. Why don't you bring some back to you as a gift in return."

Caroline walked over and looked at the coffee beans in the jar.The grains are full and the surface is shiny. As soon as Vivienne opened the lid, a faint aroma of coffee wafted out and melted into the air.

"Thank you, but I don't have a tool for making coffee," Caroline said regretfully.

A set of coffee pots and grinders is not cheap, and she doesn’t have enough time and money to regain these former literary hobbies. An occasional cup in a restaurant or coffee shop is already enough.

"Wait a minute," Vivian moved a chair from the dining table, stepped on it, and took out a small wooden square box from the closet. Caroline hurried forward to help put the dusty box in the On the table.

Inside is a set of hand grinder with porcelain core, wood grain base, exquisite design.

"This is left by my sister-in-law Margaret, see if you can use it." Vivienne brushed her somewhat messy hair.

Caroline took it out and turned the handle, but she didn't see any problem. The filter next to it seemed to be working. She asked curiously, "Why didn't she take it away?"

"Of course there are better ones," Vivian pouted, "I probably haven't told you about my family."

Caroline and Vivienne didn't discuss much about their own family affairs.

Caroline used to feel that she was separated from the "family" here by some inexplicable things, except for asking about work for Minnie before, she hardly mentioned it.And Vivian seldom talked about her family, so far Caroline only knew that she had an older brother who was doing business with his wife in New York.

"My brother used to work in Margaret's father's company. She later married my brother with a large dowry. Even the principal of the two people's business came from her dowry. This apartment is also She made the purchase."

Weiwei clasped her arms and continued,

"She actually didn't like our family, so when I first came to Chicago, although I had family members here, I could only rent out with my friends. My brother didn't ask until they moved out, hoping that I could live in. Otherwise, this apartment will probably be rented out by Margaret."

"Your brother also has his own difficulties," Caroline comforted. If there is gain, there must be loss. It sounds like his brother still has more gain.

"However, from your point of view, Ms. Margaret should be very fond of her own possessions. Is it okay for us to just use her coffee machine?"

Vivienne raised her head and waved her hand, "Anything left by her is unwanted. When she moved, she even took the umbrella stand with her. I suspect that she has no intention of coming back at all."

For Caroline, other people's stories are not as interesting as the antique hand grinder in front of her.

With Vivienne's help, she cleaned the machine, scooped coffee beans for two people from the glass jar, poured them into the groove of the grinder, and ground them.

Hang a fine gauze cloth on the filter, soak it in hot water, then put the ground coffee powder in, slowly pour in the hot water, and let it stand for a while, waiting for the aroma of the coffee to rise with the water vapor.

Caroline gave Vivian a cup of filtered coffee, and poured another cup for herself.

"Where did you learn to make coffee? I don't remember it being done in restaurants," Vivienne asked.

"In my hometown," Caroline said vaguely. She learned it when she was pursuing "literary style".

"Then how did you drink it to make it taste good? In fact, I think pure coffee is bitter, sour and astringent. I can't drink the oriental tea that Margaret was addicted to before."

"Do you want to be honest? I don't know how it tastes good." Caroline took a deep breath of coffee.In the past, she bought mostly blended coffee in coffee shops. At the beginning, she also tried traditional filter foam for the pursuit of "feel".

"For me, it was a symbol at first," Caroline said softly, "later it became a need and a habit."

Vivienne blinked, accepting the statement.

After a while, Vivienne remembered something again and asked Caroline, "Has Laura contacted you recently?"

Caroline shook her head. She didn't know about Laura's recent situation. Since the last time she went to visit with Charlotte, the two of them hadn't contacted each other.

She had sent Laura a Christmas card to the address of her new apartment the other day, but there had been no response.

"She contacted you?" Caroline looked at Vivian as if she had something to say, and asked.

"Well, we met last week. She came to me to ask something." Vivienne nodded and said, "She said at the end that she might not have time to go to you, saying that she was afraid that you would be worried, so I had a chance to tell you that she and Drouet got married, but because of some haste, the wedding was not held in Chicago, and besides, it was inconvenient to invite us former colleagues."

After listening to Vivian's words, Caroline was relieved for Laura.For the time being, Laura has won this one-person war.

As for her not telling herself, Caroline can understand.After all, she and Laura had only been working together for a few months, and her words were a little shallow at that time.

If it weren't for Drouet's involvement with sister Carrie in the story, Caroline would not have been so excited at the time.

"Do they still live in that apartment?"

"Drouet sent her into the country, and Laura said she'd probably give birth and come back, which would be more convenient in her case."

"Actually, everyone knew at that time, right?" Caroline recalled later, and felt that everyone's reaction was too calm. In fact, Laura showed a lot of small flaws during that time, otherwise she would not have let herself see them all.

"No, Annie guessed something, that little fool Joanna still thinks that Laura is going home to recuperate."

After being in contact with Vivienne for a long time, Caroline felt more and more that she was a very interesting person.Vivian seems to be indifferent to things that have nothing to do with her, but she has a lot of affection for her friends, and she can always know all kinds of new things at the first time.

Especially when I saw Vivienne in private today, it felt like erecting a hard shell to cover up the softness and curiosity inside.

The two chatted, played card games for a while, and made some sandwiches for dinner, and never left the living room with the fireplace.

"Do you know what we are short of now?" Caroline sat on the sofa, pointed to the wall not far away and said, "A home theater."

"A theater at home? What are you kidding?" Vivian rolled her eyes. After a long time, she didn't even bother to maintain a ladylike appearance in front of Caroline. She took out the only bottle of white wine from the wine cabinet. Wine, pass it to Caroline.

"This is the next arrangement. If you don't get drunk tonight, you won't go home."

Caroline doesn't drink too much, either in her previous life or now, and she doesn't know much about all kinds of alcohol except for going to bars once or twice with everyone.Looking at Vivienne's effort to fight against the wine bottle, one can see that she is not usually a wine lover.

"Why don't we have a sleepover meeting!" Caroline had a whim, since it was to enhance the atmosphere, what activity could be better than a sleepover meeting, she patted the sofa, "It's right here."

"What's the meeting?" Vivienne finally opened the wine bottle, and carefully poured the light yellow liquid with the aroma of wine into the glass.

"It's just like it is now, nestled by the stove, it's better to cover it with a quilt, eat, drink, and talk."

"Sounds good." Vivien carried two blankets from the bedroom, and the two huddled on the sofa and chatted casually.Living near the Grand Theater, Vivienne has been able to know all kinds of news about the actors in the past few months. Girls can chat for hours on these topics at any time.

After drinking for three rounds, both of them were a little drunk.

"When you first came, we all thought you were the kind of little girl who didn't understand anything. After a long time, we couldn't see you through." Vivien drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.

"But I always feel that you are the kind of person who can make people feel at ease."

"I'll tell you secretly," Vivienne lay on Caroline's shoulder, with one hand in front of her lips, as if whispering,

"At that time, you said you were looking for a house. I wanted to tell you that you should just move here. Anyway, these rooms are vacant, so I just wrote them a letter. As a result, you found an apartment in a blink of an eye." The corners of her mouth drooped down, like an unhappy child.

"Then why didn't you say it earlier?" Caroline asked with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't have time, you moved too fast. It's boring to live alone. When my brother and sister-in-law were still in Chicago, I always thought about when I could move here. After I moved here, I was the only one. Instead It's even more boring."

Vivian poured another half a glass of wine into the glass, held it up to the light and looked at the clear liquid in the glass, she became a bit talkative after getting drunk.

"The theater is closed these two days, and even the restaurants are closed. I can only read books at home. What's so good about books? You like to read them, and Ms. Green likes to read them too. It's really boring."

"I read it for my column."

"What column?"

"Column to make money."

"Make money? Yes, I'm so poor, I'm actually envious of my sister-in-law."

"I'm so envious too."

"But at least you all have someone to accompany you. You, Anne, Joanna, and Charlotte all have families in Chicago. Even Laura got the marriage she wanted. I'm the only one."

"You still have friends."

"That's true. Caroline, let me tell you another secret. There is a boy on the second floor who..."

"Hey, Caroline, why aren't you talking?"

"..."

Caroline had fallen asleep on the sofa.

She and Vivienne chatted until midnight, and with the effect of alcohol, she couldn't remember when she fell asleep. She only knew that when she woke up, it was already past nine o'clock the next morning.

When she woke up, Caroline was reclining on the sofa, her mind was still a little dazed, her whole body was cold and sore, the coal fire in the stove had already been extinguished, and the blanket fell off the sofa after falling asleep.Vivienne, on the other hand, was lying on the floor with a blanket rolled up and a cushion on her head, unconscious.

Caroline originally wanted to move Vivian to the sofa, but after trying it, she found that she was not strong enough, so she had to squat down and shake her awake.

Vivienne tried to open one eye and looked at Caroline. She put the blanket over her face for a while before she regained consciousness.Looking at each other's embarrassed appearance, the two regretted why they stayed up late yesterday to drink and chat.

The tram on the road has started to pass again. Caroline declined Vivienne's invitation to let her take a rest, and planned to go back to her apartment. She really couldn't bear the wrinkled feeling on her body, and wanted to go back quickly while the hot water supply was running. take a shower.

Vivienne didn't force it either, she was still in a daze, and asked Caroline to close the door for her, and then went back to her bedroom with the help of the wall, saying that she planned to sleep all day.

After returning home, Caroline took a good hot bath first, then changed into another gray-blue long dress, and wiped her hair in front of the mirror.

Caroline has never had her hair cut since she came here, and the brown curly hair is almost waist-high now. She brushes the hair aside, combs it, and carefully puts a little pomade on the end of the hair.

There seemed to be a knock on the door outside, but there was no response for a long time. She remembered that Isabella was also at home. Could it be that she forgot to bring the key when she went out just now?

Caroline turned around and went to the front hall to open the door. Probably because she was still drunk, she forgot to ask who was outside the door, so she unscrewed the lock and opened the apartment door.

"My dear Isabella!"

The moment Caroline opened the door, a tall and thin figure rushed towards her. The instinct of self-defense made her subconsciously raise her hands and push her forward.

"Wait," she wanted to say, but it was too late.

The moment Francis leaned over to hug him, he also realized that the person in front of him was not his sister, but he was holding a lot of things in his right hand, so he could only grab the door frame with one hand and take a step back, but he didn't expect his own inertia Coupled with the girl's push, he actually fell backwards and sat down on the ground.

Caroline bit her lower lip in bewilderment, looking at the young man sitting on the ground.He has the same black hair and light brown eyes as Isabella, coupled with the natural movement and address just now, his identity is obvious.

Only now, those light brown eyes were filled with disbelief.

Isabella, who was dragging the last few strokes on the canvas, was finally willing to come out of the room, and what she saw was this:

My younger brother, whom I hadn't seen for several months, was sitting on the ground outside the door with a flushed face, surrounded by scattered gift boxes.

And his roommate was standing inside the door with a comb in his hand, with an awkward yet polite smile on his face.