“With what?”
“Food, Mom.”
“What kind of food?”
I threw an exasperated “help me” look at Claudia and she instantly cried out in mock pain.
“What was that?”
“Got to go, Mom. Claudia is going into sugar shock.” I hung up and grinned at my laughing friend. “I should switch it off before she calls back.”
We jumped as the phone buzzed in my hand but when I looked down, it read, “Andie Calling.”
“I cannot catch a break. Hello,” I answered.
“Hello to you too,” Andie said. “You’ve been gone two days. You don’t write, you don’t call …”
“I just got off the phone with Mom two seconds ago.”
“Right. How’d that go? Did she give you the food chat?”
“Did you get that too?”
“When I did my study abroad? Yeah. I think she thinks non-Americans aren’t from Planet Earth and that they somehow subsist on weird alien food that our bodies can’t process.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that.”
“So? Do you like Edinburgh?”
“So far. It is weird being so far from home, but it’s a beautiful city.”
“How’s Claudia?”
“Enjoying the chocolate.”
“It’s not as good as ours.”
“That’s what I said!”
“You’re both wrong,” Claudia interjected as she got up to put her chocolate wrappers in the trash. “Now can you tell your sister you’ll call her back? If we stay here any longer, I’m going to smash your phone.”
“I heard,” Andie said. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “I need to get to work anyway. It’s early here, remember. It’s early and the first thing I do is phone my baby sister to see how she is and it’s an expensive long-distance call but does she care?”
I laughed. “I care. I do. I just don’t have time to fully appreciate it. Claudia has an abnormal hatred for our perfectly nice apartment and I brought her back here for lunch. I’m pretty sure she’s going to break out in hives.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that. Speak soon, Supergirl.”
“Later.” I switched off the phone and gave Claudia a look. “That was rude.”
“This,” she gestured to the room, “is not an apartment. It’s a common room with a hallway outside that leads to five identical rooms with fire doors that lock.”
“There’s also a bathroom that locks. I’d call that an improvement upon most student accommodations.”
“You’re funny.”
“And you’re spoiled.”
Claudia narrowed her eyes. “I miss our apartment. It’s bright and airy. We have a balcony. Plus, there are only two of us living there.”