Chapter 4
My mother got her way, and Saturday morning found me packed into the car with Lony and on our way to the mall. The official orders from both of our parents were to stay gone all day, but Dad said I could stop by his new place Sunday afternoon to help him settle in.
It’s not like I hated my sister or anything…we just had nothing to talk about. It’s not like when we were little and inseparable. Then, she’d been my best friend, more than that even. We finished each other’s sentences and spoke in a secret language all our own. When our parents finally moved us into separate bedrooms at seven years old, it was six months before I stopped sneaking into Lony’s bed after our parents went to sleep.
High school ruined everything. The summer before freshman year, puberty struck with a vengeance. We each gained five inches of height and added the perfect curves to compliment our slender frames. Lony loved her new body. She relished in the attention it brought her from boys at the public swimming pool. She would parade back and forth in front of the concession stand in her striped bikini, giving coy glances to the boys as she passed. I was slower to accept the changes. I’d always been more athletic than Lony, competing in cross country and track at school and gymnastics on the weekends at a local club. But the growth spurt had knocked me off my rhythm. That summer I spent almost every day at the YMCA reacquainting myself with my body and its limits. While I was too bulky to stay competitive in gymnastics, I was running sprints like Hermes. By the time school started, I was in great physical condition, ready to compete for a shot on the Varsity track team. Lony was ready to compete in a whole different way…she wanted the title of Most Popular Girl in School, and was willing to step on anyone to get it.
Since we had an entire Saturday to kill and the Dubuque mall was pathetically inadequate, Lony crossed the bridge spanning the Mississippi River into Wisconsin, heading toward Madison. Three hours later, I sat outside a dressing room reading a comic book on my e-reader while my sister modeled a seemingly endless series of homecoming dresses for me.
“You really should go to the dance. I mean, it’s Homecoming. Isn’t that like a right of passage or something?” She’d been badgering me the entire ride up to Madison about my lack of interest in school activities.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” she rattled on. “I know like five guys who would take you if you wanted to go. If you were desperate, you could even ask Shawn. Not very romantic, but at least he can dance. What do you think of this one?”
My sister stood before me in a rose-tinted halter dress with a dangerously low neckline.
“I think you’d never get out of the house in it,” I muttered.
Her face fell into a pout. “You’re right. Too bad, though. I look hot.”
Lony slipped back into the dressing room to wriggle into something else. A moment later she was back out in a silvery-blue number, twirling in the three-way mirror.
“What about that emo guy?” she asked.
“Huh?”
“You know…that guy you were walking with yesterday…Byron?”
“Bryan,” I sighed. “What about him?”
Lony planted her fists on her hips and gave me an exasperated look. “Aren’t you paying attention? You should ask him to Homecoming! I bet he looks good dressed up. Just don’t let him wear all black, it’s depressing.”
“No, Lon,” I said, slipping my e-reader back in my bag. “I don’t want to go. I dance like an idiot, I hate the music they play, and there are no boys in school that I’m even remotely interested in.” My stomach ached with hunger, so I decided to move Lony along. “Maybe we should hit the food court. I’m starving.”
“Fine,” she replied, even though clearly she was not. She gave the dress one last twirl. “But what do you think about this one?”
“I don’t know. It’s kind of plain. I like it, but it’s not really your style.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Well, give me a sec to change and we’ll go.”
We were sitting in the bustling food court, surrounded by a circle of fast food places, when Lony started in again on my boring social life.
“Why don’t you come out with me tonight?” Lony asked, dipping her French fry in mayonnaise before eating it. “A bunch of us are going out to the Mines of Spain. You should come. We never hang out anymore.”
“That’s because we don’t have anything in common. It’s not personal; it’s just the way it is.”
“No, you just have a thing against my friends. I don’t know why, they like you well enough.”
“Well, you don’t like to do stuff with my friends, either.” I argued, shoving a forkful of salad in my mouth.
“Not true! I went to the movies with you and Shawn just two weeks ago.”
“Yeah, but Cane came with, and you made out with him the whole time. Do you even remember what movie we saw?”
“So that’s it?” she asked, dramatically tossing her fry back onto her tray. “Are you jealous that I have a boyfriend and you don’t?”
“Oh, please,” I muttered. I set my fork down. “How can you even ask that? Of course I’m not jealous of Cane. Maybe the reason I don’t like to hang out with you is because you’re constantly lecturing me. Back off!”
I stood up from the table, dumped my garbage in the trash can and waited for Lony on a bench by the mall exit. If I’d had the keys to the car, I would’ve been tempted to leave without her. Lony followed a few minutes later, with a look of apology on her face.
“I’m sorry, Cady,” she said. When I didn’t answer, she sat down on the bench next to me and continued. “I was being bossy again, wasn’t I? I don’t mean to be that way, but you’re my little sister.”
I kicked my shoe at a scuff mark on the tiled floor. “Eight minutes does not make me your little sister,” I said for the thousandth time in my life. The familiar joke cut the tension between us somewhat, and I broke into a reluctant smile.
Lony put her arm around me in a half-hug. “I just miss you, that’s all. We used to be best friends, and now I hardly see you. It shouldn’t matter that we have different friends and like different things. We’re twins, not clones.”
“I know. I miss you, too,” I replied honestly.
“So does that mean you’re gonna go out with me tonight? I promise if you’re miserable, we can go home.”
Being miserable was virtually guaranteed, but I’m not one to fight a losing battle. “Fine…”
With a triumphant grin, Lony pulled me off the bench and drove us home.