It Had to Be You by Ellie Adams

fallen off her chair twice. David had just spent half an hour regaling them with tales of when he used to work in the music industry.
    ‘Top you up, Lizard?’
    ‘Go on then. Thanks, Dad.’
    There were worse ways of spending a Saturday afternoon than in the sun being stuffed full of food and booze. Lizzy gazed fondly at her parents. They were pretty awesome. Why didn’t they all hang out more often?
    Mr Spellman continued round the table with the bottle. ‘More wine, Hayley?’
    She put her hand over the top of her glass. ‘No thank you. I’ve had enough.’
    ‘Very sensible.’ Jacqui sighed. ‘I suppose that’s how you keep your figure.’
    Lizzy was suddenly feeling very light-headed. That was the problem with white wine. You could chuck it back until the cows came home and then you hit The Wall.
    ‘I just don’t think it’s very attractive to see a drunk woman. Men don’t really like it.’ Hayley gave Lizzy a patronizing smile. ‘Maybe that’s why you have problems settling down.’
    ‘Or maybe the problem is with the blokes Lizzy meets,’ Robbie said nicely.
    Hayley gave him a warning look. ‘You know, it might be a good idea for you to go and see some sort of counsellor,’ she told Lizzy. ‘My friend Sam went to see this woman after she kept getting dumped by blokes. She’s been with her new one nine months now!’ She shrugged daintily. ‘Anyway, it’s something to think about.’
    Until now Lizzy had always managed to rise above Hayley’s jibes. But she had enough alcohol sloshing round inside her to sink a battleship, and she was fed up with people declaring open season on her love life.
    ‘Let me give
you
something to think about,’ she said, vaguely aware of a voice of reason frantically jumping up and down telling her to SHUT UP NOW! ‘You know I think you’re a great girl, Hayley. I’m really happy you’re going out with my brother. I really am. I am, Mum! Don’t look at me like that!’
    In Lizzy’s bleary drunken state Hayley’s features seemed to be melting into a giant puddle of MAC make-up. ‘The problem here, Hayley,’ she continued, ‘is that you’ve always been defined by a man. And you can be so much more! You don’t need a man to be fulfilled in life! Amelia Earhart didn’t need a
man
to fly solo round the world! Florence Nightingale didn’t defer to a
male
doctor when she was saving thousands of soldiers’ lives! You think Sandra Bullock needs a
man
just because things didn’t work out with Ryan Reynolds? She didn’t hang about waiting for a
man
to get her pregnant, she went straight out and adopted a baby by herself!’
    ‘Hear hear!’ Jacqui cheered. ‘Bloody men! Shits, the lot of you!’
    Hayley was glaring at Lizzy from across the table. ‘Because
you’re
single and such a big success?’
    ‘Hayley, Hayley, Hayley.’ Lizzy groped for her hand and knocked over the salad dressing. ‘I’m not trying to upset you. I’m just saying us women need to realize our full potential. You could be anything you wanted! Think about how good you were at netball at school!’
    ‘You’re suggesting I become a professional netball player?’ Hayley asked sarcastically.
    ‘If that’s what makes you happy, then yes! The point I’m trying to
make
is …’ She lost her train of thought. ‘What is my point?’
    ‘You were saying Hayley should retrain as a professional netball player.’ David’s eyes strayed over Hayley’s chest again. ‘I think it sounds like an excellent idea.’
    ‘The point I’m trying to make, Hayley, is that you need to get a life.’
    ‘Lizzy,’ her dad reprimanded.
    ‘I’m not being horrible! I’m just saying what’s in my heart because I want the best for Hayley. And because …’ Lizzy slurred, holding her glass aloft, ‘I am a modern
feminist
.’
    The next morning Lizzy walked into an Arctic chill in the kitchen.
    ‘I was wondering when you might surface.’ Her mother didn’t look up from
You
magazine.
    Lizzy