“I’m going to keep that 4.0. You’ll see. Now that I am in college, I am actually going to do well. It’s not like high school where I cared more about being popular. I’ll show you all. I can be smart too. Anyways enough about me. Who is the guy? Stop lying to me, I know that there is one because every time you get a new boyfriend you end up ignoring me for weeks!” She wined even louder this time.
“Let’s make this interesting. If you maintain the 4.0 throughout the entire semester I will pay you one thousand dollars,” She said slowly. “But now if you don’t maintain it, you have to clean my apartment every weekend for a month. So do we have a deal?”
“A whole month? Are you kidding Cathy? You know I don’t get along with a mop and a broom or a sponge for that matter.” She got up and started pacing around her living room. “Although I could use the money. I want to get a dog.”
“A dog? Carly, you can barely take care of yourself.” Cathy stated pointedly, glad that Carly was distracted for a minute and had stopped asking about Marc.
“Hey! I can take care of myself! This morning I woke up all by myself and drove to class. I made it there on time I will have you know! Of course I ate a balanced breakfast beforehand as well.” She threw back, finally stopped pacing and sat back down on the couch.
She hated the floral couches in her mother’s living room. They were white with pink roses thrown all across them. She couldn’t believe that her mother had kept them all of these years. The white was full of stains, she could barely stand sitting on them. When she begged her mother to get rid of them she had always said the same thing; the couches were a part of their lives. She didn’t understand how a couch could be so significant, but she didn’t ask questions any longer. She knew that her mother was set on keeping them, so she let it slide nowadays.
“Yeah, yeah big deal you woke up one day by yourself,” Cathy answered back in a mocking tone. “So what kind of dog would you even get? And are we on for our deal?”
“Of course we are on! I want a Chihuahua. Just like in Legally Blond! I could be just like Elle!” She said dreamily. “I’ll walk him all throughout the park and dress him up in these little cute outfits and…”
“Carly!” Cathy interrupted her sister. “You do realize it’s a dog right? It’s not a guy. You don’t have to act so in love.” She started laughing.
“Right! Sorry I get carried away sometimes.” She covered her hands over her face as her eyes lit up. “Oh that reminds me, you still haven’t mentioned who your new guy is, spill already so I can stop being annoying and asking.”
“Fine,” She sighed in irritation. “His name is Marc, he goes to grad school with me. Now are we done here? I have to shower and do some homework.”
“Sheesh! If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s not a big deal. I don’t mind.” Even though it was obvious to both her and Cathy that she did. “I just thought you would be excited to tell me. You always used to talk my ear off about every single guy that you dated.”
“Well, he’s not like any other guy I dated. He’s different.” She pointed out as she curled a lock of her blond hair around her finger.
“Like I haven’t heard that before!” Carly spieled out exhilarated. “You said the exact same thing about Jason. Don’t you remember?”
“No I made a specific effort to compress all the memories that I ever had with him. I was so dumb when I was in high school. I’m glad those years are over. And I never said that about another guy before! You are so making that up!” She squealed as she opened the refrigerator. She dug through the compartments searching for her favorite snack, strawberries. She ate them every day, no matter what the season. Nothing tasted as good as the sweet berries rushing through in her mouth.
“Well, you did say that. I read it in your journal. Did you know he’s clown?” She snickered softly.
“Duh. We all knew he was a clown. All he ever did was try to be funny. He could never be serious.”
“No, no. He’s an actual clown. He works at the San Francisco Circus.” She heard her sister laughing hard over the receiver as she joined in with her. “Anyways, I got to go. I start my new job tonight and I don’t want to be late. You will have to tell me about your new boyfriend later.”
“And you will have to tell me about your new job. Have a good first day. I will call you soon.” She paused and added before her sister could talk, “Don’t say anything! I will this time I promise. You have my word. I haven’t forgotten about my rambunctious little sis.”
“Alright, but you better! Bye have a good night!” She hung up the phone fast and ran to her room hurriedly to get ready.
“That girl drives me up a wall, but I love her to death.” Cathy said to herself as she set the phone down on the counter where she had been eating. She took the plate she had eaten all of the strawberries off of and brought it over to the sink to wash it off. She could still taste the sweet berries on her tongue as she used her hands to scrub the plate. She started looking out the window daydreaming.
“Daddy!” She yelled as she screamed loudly across the blanket. “Carly took my last strawberry! I was just about to eat it and she just took it. She didn’t even ask!” She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked out across the beach, momentarily forgetting what her sister had done to her.
“It’s in my tummy now! So ha!” Carly stuck out her tongue at her as she dug in the basket for more food.
“Girls, please stop fighting. All you have been doing since we got here is fight. Now we came to the beach to have a picnic and to relax. Now here, I have some grapes for both of you.” Her father ran his hand over his forehand, wiping the perspiration off from the hot, summer day.
“No, Daddy! I wanted the strawberry!” Cathy cried as a tear ran down her eye. “Carly already got more of them then I did. That was my last one. She just ate it because she knows it’s my favorite!” She pointed at Carly accusingly.
“Cathy, she’s only three years old. She didn’t do it on purpose. She just eats whatever is closest to her. Please eat the grapes. They are really delicious.” He handed her the plastic bag of ripe, green grapes only to find a second later she threw them back in his lap.
“No, Daddy! I said I wanted the strawberry. I’m not going to be happy until I get another one. Plus you always take Carly’s side because she’s younger. She’s the baby! It’s not fair!” She pulled off her pink sunhat and threw it to the ground as she took off running from the blanket. As she ran, she threw off her sandals. They hit the sand with a big thud as grains flew all over. She didn’t stop running. She kept running for what seemed like miles.
Her body forced her to stop when her legs gave out and she fell head first into the sand. The tiny grains burned her entire body like a fire in the forest. For the longest time she couldn’t get up, until she used all her willpower to stand up. She felt dizzy and sat back down. She saw her father approaching in the distance with Carly secured on his left side. She had her arms wrapped around her neck, the same way that Cathy used to hold on to him when she was that age. She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she stared at both of them. She had always been a daddy’s girl, she didn’t like that Carly was taking her place.
Things were so much better when Carly was younger and couldn’t talk, she thought to herself. When Carly was a baby, they never fought and Cathy had still had her father’s full attention. Now that Carly was older, she wanted to be just like her older sister, which annoyed Cathy until no end. She didn’t want a toddler cramping her style or taking her place. Cathy was used to being the favorite. She didn’t appreciate Carly taking over. As her father and sister came within walking distance to her, she realized she had lost her energy to get away and just covered her face into her knees as she sank in the sand in shame.
“Cathy! You can’t go running down the beach like that. Daddy couldn’t see you. Someone could have taken you. You know that you’re not supposed to go off alone.” Her father knelt down to her level and brought her face up
to look at his. “Please don’t ever do that again. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I know Daddy. But I was really sad. Carly ate my strawberry and you were just defending her. You like her better than me!” She said crying.
“Now you’re just being silly.” He set down Carly next to Cathy so he could look at both of his girls. “I love you both the same. You both know that. And running away isn’t the solution. It doesn’t solve anything, it just makes matters worse. If we have a problem, we sit down and talk about it. Now why don’t you both apologize to each other?”
The girls looked at each other, shook their heads to mean “no” and crossed their arms across their chest, turning their faces away from each other in protest.
“Come on girls. You are sisters. Sisters are the best friends that you can ask for. You’re meant to be lifelong friends. Nobody will ever have your back like your sister,” He stated with reason. “You girls have to be there for each other. One day I won’t be here and you two will have to take care of each other.”
“If she’s supposed to have my back, why did she eat my last strawberry?” Cathy pointed out. “Best friends don’t do that!”
“Yeah, Daddy! Cathy blamed me too!” Carly chimed in.
“Be quiet Carly! Nobody asked you! It’s all your fault anyways. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t eaten my strawberry! Then you go and act all innocent like you didn’t know, when lord knows that you did!” Her blue eyes turned fiery as she continued on with the argument. “I can’t believe you Carly…I”
“Girls, STOP!” He waved his hands in the air grabbing their attention. “Now this pains me as a father to see you two fight like this! Let’s apologize to each other now and stop this fighting. The sun is out, it’s a beautiful day at the beach, but all of the fighting is ruining it. Carly, say you’re sorry for eating Cathy’s strawberry.”
“Okay Daddy, I am sorry I ate the strawberry.” She said with apologetic eyes.
“No, don’t tell me. Tell your sister. It doesn’t do any good to apologize to me.”
“Cathy, I am sorry I ate your strawberry.” She said as she turned and faced her sister.
“Good. It was your fault the day got ruined anyways! But thanks.” She crossed her arms again and looked away.
“Alright, alright. Cathy, stop being stubborn. Accept your sister’s apology. You can see she is being sincere.” Her father said as he intervened.
“Fine. I accept your apology, Carly. Just don’t do it again.” She said as she blew a strand of her curly blond hair off of her face.
“Now you know what happens next. It’s your turn to apologize, Cathy.” Her father patiently said waiting.
“Apologize for what? I didn’t even do anything!” She wailed.
“You could apologize to your sister and me for running off. We ran all the way down this beach to come get you. Believe me, it was a tough jog. I’m not in good enough shape to be doing this anymore.” He sat down in the sand in front of his two girls to face them.
Cathy shrugged as she looked away. She saw the seagulls flying high above in the sky. She counted them one by one as they flew up higher and higher away from her. The way that they circled around her as she laid down in the sand helped her get away from the seriousness of her life. She didn’t want to think about apologizing to Carly. She didn’t feel as though she had did anything wrong. As the sun glazed down on her, she could feel her entire body sweating.
She looked over at Carly, who looked merely like her twin sister but younger. It might have been the fact that they were dressed exactly alike. They each had on light blue jean shorts and a pink frilly tank top to match. Underneath they had matching pink whole piece suits. Ever since Carly had been born, her mother had made it a priority to always have them wear matching outfits. When Cathy was younger, she didn’t see a problem with it. She and Carly had always seemed to draw attention from on-lookers who thought that they were just “so cute.” When she got to be a little older she found herself getting annoyed with the constant matching.
She wanted to have her own identity. When she had asked her mom why she had always dressed them alike, she had told Cathy that she had always wanted a sister and had told her how lucky she was to have a sister who would love her the rest of her life. She had dropped the subject after that since she felt guilty upsetting her mom, kind of like how she felt right now with her dad.
Looking at Carly sitting right next to her she noticed that the similarities didn’t just stop with attire. Both girls had blond curly hair, fair skin and cool blue eyes to match. Her little sister even had painted her nails hot pink to match hers. Her little toenails glistened in the sun as the glitter danced in the light. Carly had made a specific effort to become her mini-me. She started feeling terrible about the way that she had treated her. After all, she was her only sister; she didn’t need another enemy, especially not inside of the family. She scooted closer to her sister and wrapped her arm around her.
“I’m sorry, Carly. You didn’t deserve to have me yell at you like that. It was just a strawberry, I can get another one, but I can’t get another Carly. I don’t want you to hate me. I love you.” She pulled both of her arms around her sister and held her. Carly’s arms were squished underneath her arms. After a few seconds, she could feel Carly pulling away. Cathy stared down at the sand upset that her sister didn’t accept her apology. Then she felt Carly’s arms wrapped around her back and smiled.
“It’s okay, Sissy. I forgive you. I love you too.” She tightened her grip around Cathy and held her as tightly as she could.
“Daddy is very proud of you, girls. You did a good job of apologizing to each other. Now always remember to love each other like sisters were meant to. It’s important to forgive anyone who has done something wrong to you, no matter what they did. You don’t want to live your life with regrets.” He pulled both of his girls into a massive hug, when Cathy suddenly tugged away.
“Daddy, I’m sorry I ran away. I know it was wrong. I won’t do it again.” She looked at him with earnest eyes. “Next time I will talk about my problem instead of running away.” She moved closer into her father to feel his warmth.
“Well, I am very proud of you for apologizing to both your sister and me. You did a good job today, Cathy. You girls both did. You made me honored to be a dad.”
“Oh Daddy, please stop!” Carly cried while giggling.
“Yeah, Daddy. We aren’t that great. You’re the great one.” Cathy said smiling.
He scooped up both of his daughters in his arms and held them as close as he could. “I love both of you so much. You both are my world.” He set them down and looked at their little faces burning in the hot sun. “We better head back now, you both are going to look like lobsters by the end of the day.” He poked them both in the stomach as they laughed.
“Let’s go Daddy! I am so hot!” Carly shouted as she pulled her pink hat down over her eyes. Remnants of her curly hair stuck to her forehead in perspiration.
“Me too.” Cathy looked up at her dad and ran to the other side of his body, grabbing his hand and leading him down the beach. She slowed down realizing that she was tired from all the running she had already done that day. For once in her short life, she had run out of her endless energy and trotted slowly next to her father as he used his other free hand to grab Carly’s. Cathy looked all around her, taking in all of the scenery, enjoying every minute of it. She felt free and carless, a feeling that could only be captured for a moment. If only life could stay like this forever she thought to herself peacefully. With her father holding her hand on his left side and holding Carly’s on the right side, they walked down the shore hand in hand without a worry in the world, never wanting the moment to come to a culmination.
Chapter 6
The hills were green, full of trees in bloom on a spring day. She felt the warmth in the air that summer was fast approaching. She could smell the sweet rain in the air as the birds chirped a song in the branches, t
he flowers blooming in on their petals. The mountains were a cool white in the distance. She would climb every one of them if she could. Rivers ran through all the turns in the land. She closed her eyes as she listened closely hearing the soft sound of their flow through the mountains. This was paradise. Her happy place that she came to when all was wrong with the world. This was the place where everything felt completely right.
He was sitting next to her. Her hand was in his and she didn’t want to let him go. His brown eyes were looking off into the distance and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he as happy as she was? Did he feel complete with her? She wondered if he thought about spending his life with her. She loved the way his brown hair curled when the weather was muggy outside. She loved everything about him.
“The mountains are so far away, yet so close.” He said observantly.
“What do you mean?” She asked closely studying his face as he looked out into the distance.
“It’s almost as if I can see them, but I can’t. I feel like I’m there, but I’m not.” Lost in his thoughts he stared into her eyes.
“It’s not philosophy class.” She joked mockingly as she moved closer to him in the grass. She put her hands on his knees and looked at all of the flowers blossoming all around her. Orchids, sunflowers and daisies; all her favorite flowers. She didn’t picture herself enjoying the mountains in Colorado, but it was perfect with him. Everything was perfect with him.
“I know, but doesn’t it remind you of life?” He asked questioningly.
“I don’t understand.” She looked at the ground, pulling out an orchid and twiddling the stem in between her hands. “We could move closer and it wouldn’t be so far away. Isn’t that life? You change what you can to make it want you want.”
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