“Yeah right. They made fun of me.”
“Who told you that?”
“Who do you think.” Ivy told me everything. We were best friends. We talked about everything.
“Yeah, well you can add that to the list of lies.” He started picking up and putting the leftovers away in the refrigerator.
I walked over and stuck a plate in the sink. “What are you talking about?”
He turned around and wiped his hands off on a dish cloth. “Your sister is a liar, Willow. If you knew the web she’s spun, you’d never be taking up for her.”
I put my hands on my hips. “You’re just saying that.”
“No, I’m not. Sit down and I’ll give you a hundred reasons.” He was scaring me. Surely he couldn’t have a hundred reasons for me to hate my sister. He had to be the liar.
“No! She wouldn’t. Ivy’s a lot of things, but she’s not a liar!”
“Wake up, Willow! She’s the fucking Devil!” He picked up a plate and slammed it down so hard it shattered inside of the sink. Then he held on to the edge of the countertop like he was trying to control his anger.
I tried to touch his shoulder, but he pulled away. “Obviously, she’s done something to anger you.”
“That’s not even the half of it.” He turned around and looked at me, but didn’t touch me. “I could tell you what I know. I’m sure there’s more. Hell, I just found out about some of it this past week.” He grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and handed me one. “I don’t know if you like beer. I should, but that was taken away from me too.”
He walked back up top-‐side. I followed close behind him. As much as I was confused and angry, I was also curious. If my sister was lying, I deserved to know. I had to be there to take up for her when he tried to drag her in the mud behind her back.
We sat down across from each other. He drank half of his beer while never taking his eyes off of me. I played with my bottle, peeling the wrapper off. “I’m listening.”
He started laughing. “Have you ever felt sorry for someone, so much that you want to be the one to help them?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, I do save my sister whenever she calls.”
He made a sound and shook his head. “Not after tonight.” He took another drink. “Everything changes tonight!”
I cocked my eyebrow. “Are you going to explain why you think that?”
“Do you remember when you saw me with your sister before Prom?”
When he shattered my heart? Yeah, I remembered it in detail. “I think so.”
“She told you we were going together. I never asked her to go with me, Willow. I gave her a letter that I wrote for you. I wanted to ask you to Prom, but I couldn’t find the words. You were so determined to stay focused on school. You never talked about Prom or any other dance. So, when your sister laughed in my face and read the note in front of me, I felt like a fool. She said you told her that I’d never be anything more than a friend. She said you weren’t attracted to me and that I didn’t have a chance with someone like you. She said you didn’t like jocks and that dating was the last thing on your mind.”
I started shaking my head. A new set of tears filled my eyes. “She wouldn’t! I mean, I didn’t tell her I liked you, but I didn’t want her to know.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Tell me why you didn’t want her to know. Better yet, let me tell you why I think you didn’t tell her. I think you were afraid to tell her because she always had to have what you had. I think you were afraid she’d try to take me for herself.”
What a douche. “Do you hear yourself? You’re making it sound like you are royalty.”
“Would you just listen?” He sat his beer down and grabbed my hands again. I started to pull away, but he held them tighter. “You know I’m right. Trust me, I’ve lived with her for four years. All she does is take what she wants.”
I gritted my teeth. “Fine. Say that was the reason. It still doesn’t explain why she would do that. She didn’t even know.”
“I thought about her motives, too. I guess she could have had two reasons. She could have just wanted to sabotage your chance of happiness before you could have it, or, maybe she knew how you felt without telling her. I think she did it to spite you.”
I stood up, pulling my hands away from him. “You’re an asshole!”
He chased me to the front of the boat. When I was cornered, I had to turn around. “Take me home or I swear I will jump and start swimming.”
He just stood there. “You wouldn’t!”
I climbed up and steadied myself to take the leap. I was so angry at him for accusing her. I couldn’t see his sincerity. All I saw was him trying to swoon me into believing she could be so evil.
I felt him grab me and throw me over his shoulder. I kicked and screamed, but he refused to let me down. Once we were in the bedroom, he tossed me down onto the bed and climbed on top of me. He was intent and I was afraid. I’d never seen him look the way he was. He grabbed my arms and put them above my head. He straddled me with his heavy body. I couldn’t move.
“Let go of me, Stosh. You’re scaring me!”
“I don’t have a choice. You won’t listen. Why can’t you just hear me out, Will?”
I realized he wasn’t going to get up unless I agreed to listen to him. I didn’t think he was going to physically hurt me, but I was a little concerned about his motives. “I’ll listen.”
He leaned down and kissed me, holding his lips over mine. I turned to the side to break away. I hated that he was in total control. It was like he brought me here to take advantage of me. I was alone and nobody could help me.
Was this the same man that I had always been in love with? Was he capable of being someone else? Maybe my sister was running from him.
“I never agreed to go to Prom with your sister until she started crying, saying that she didn’t have a date. She said we should go as friends. She told me it would make you jealous and make you want me. My stupid ass believed her. I was willing to pretend to be with her, if I had a chance to be with you.”
He finally sat up and stopped holding me. I didn’t try to move away from him, though. “That kiss outside of Biology?”
“I knew it was you the whole time.”
The butterflies were back. Unless he was really a twisted person, his story was making complete sense. I’d always wondered why he’d kissed me. It wasn’t to put on a show for the teachers. He wanted a chance to kiss me, not Ivy. “That’s why she wasn’t mad when I told her?”
“Now you’re catching on.” He smiled, like he had finally made some ground.
“It doesn’t explain how she ended up pregnant. Obviously you liked her enough to sleep with her on Prom night.” Saying it out loud was like a nail being slammed into my beating heart.
He scratched his head. “Will
ow, I don’t remember that night. I remember being at the dance and us being invited to the party. I hated being there with her, so I started drinking heavily. The next thing I know, it was morning and she was asleep next to me with no clothes on. I felt horrible for what I’d done. I swear to God that I never wanted to be with her.” He started to laugh a little, which was weird, considering we were talking about something so serious. “It turns out, that I never did. She staged the whole thing as another notch in her ultimate betrayal.”
Even I started to laugh. “Is this some comic? Ultimate betrayal? I can believe that she did the first things, but this is going a little too far. Are you trying to get me to forgive you or something?”
He got up off the bed and paced. “I knew it would be too hard for you to understand. I didn’t want to have to show you this. It’s going to hurt and I don’t want you to feel that way.”
He pulled out a little brown book. I recognized it immediately, because I’d gotten the same one as her one Christmas. “She didn’t?”
He slid it over toward me on the bed and sat down on the edge. “Willow, I have never lied to you. I meant what I said earlier. I’ve never stopped loving you. I can’t change the past four years. I am responsible for those years. Had I have known what was really going on, I never would have let it happen. I never would have married her and promised to take care of a child. I would have spent every single second doing whatever I had to do to make you fall in love with me. It was all I wanted. It’s all I still want.” He kissed me on the top of my head and stood up. “You’re going to be reading for a while, so I’ll be outside when you’re ready to talk. Please keep in mind that I was also a victim in all of this. I hope you don’t hate me too much. I’d at least want to be your friend, if that’s all I can be. I’ve missed you like a fat guy misses a hamburger.”
I started to laugh. “I missed you, too.”
He walked away, leaving me staring at the book.
I traced Ivy’s name on the front and the words ‘keep out’. Obviously, Stosh wanted me to read it. It felt wrong, but I had to know the truth, no matter what it was.
I took a deep breath and opened it to the first page.
Chapter 7
Back Stabbing Bitch.
We got the little books when we were fourteen, so the first couple pages were her complaining about her hair and talking about crushes she had. It wasn’t until I got halfway in when things became apparent.
Jan 26th
Once again my parents praised Willow for her perfect report card. Do they even pay attention to me at all? I kept my room clean for the whole month and they never even walked inside. Of course, little Mrs. Perfect got to go out to a fancy dinner at the country club with dad for getting straight A’s. Can’t they see that I need help with my school work? I guess they only need one child to make them proud.
Feb 10th
My sister is so oblivious to life. She hides behind those books, like she’s too good for everyone else. Now she’s all up in that new guy’s ass. They make me sick, smiling at each other the way they do. It’s so damn obvious they want each other. If that dude thinks the Virgin Mary is going to give it up, he’s going to have a shriveled up dick while waiting. PATHETIC. That’s what they are!!!
I was already crying after reading just those two. I couldn’t believe she was saying those things about me and then acting like we were best friends.
April 15th
Shoot me now! I hooked up with someone at a party and I can’t remember which guy it was. Randy is hotter, but Ben is built better. I wouldn’t want to date either of them exclusively. Shoot me now!!
Why does this always happen to me? I didn’t even drink a lot. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken the ecstasy. My period is due in two weeks. Hopefully I get it and this nightmare will be over with. My parents will kill me if I get pregnant. They offered to get my sister an apartment at college, but haven’t offered me shit. I can’t wait to get out of this Hell hole. I will find a way.
April 27th
I have got to figure out how to get away from this cesspool of assholes. It’s exhausting trying to pretend that I give a damn. Now I know why kids scheme to kill their parents. I’d do it myself if I wasn’t scared that they’ve left everything to Willow. It’s apparent who their favorite is, so clearly they’d leave me on the street. The sad part is that Willow would feel sorry for me and share. Why does she have to be so pathetically sweet? Ugh! I hate her so much!
May 20th
I am so sick of hearing about my sister getting into her dream college. Gag me please. The worst part is that she doesn’t know if she wants to go. She says she doesn’t want to leave me. I just want her gone! I am so sick of living in her shadow. I want my own life.
May 22nd
Something amazing happened today. Willow won’t know what hit her. I’m going to get that little bitch for everything she’s ever taken from me. When I’m done with her she’ll leave and never come back. The best part was that I didn’t even have to look for it. It came looking for me.
May 23rd
Can this guy be anymore lame? I mean, who wants a guy that acts like an old man. He actually opened the door for me. We aren’t even really dating. He thinks I am letting him date me to make my sister jealous and like him. What an idiot.
I will never forget the look on her face when we told her we were going to Prom. She looked like she was going to throw up.
I hope she did. She deserves it.
I wish she didn’t exist.
She gave me some excuse for not wanting to go to Prom, like she was too good to be acting like a teenager. Gag me! I hate her so much.
May24th
Hearing my sister cry herself to sleep, never gets old. That’s what she gets for making me cry myself to sleep for years. She doesn’t know what it’s like to hear her own parents saying that she’d never amount to anything.
She’s so upset over this guy. Soon, she will pack her shit and leave. My plan couldn’t have worked out better. Only a few more little details and I’ll be waving goodbye to that bitch once and for all.
I slammed the book shut and began to bawl. Everything I ever knew about my sister had been a lie. She’d set me up and watched me fall. I’d never felt so much hatred in my entire life.
Stosh must have heard me. He came running in and wrapped me in his arms. “Willow, I’m so sorry, babe. God, I’m so sorry.” He rocked me back and forth as I let out all of the pain and frustration. I felt like I’d been abandoned. Everything that I ever thought was true had been a lie.
“How could she do this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?” I could barely talk, but somehow he understood me.
“I asked myself the same thing.”
There was nothing he could say that would help. He just held me and let me cry. We’d both be
en betrayed by my sister. She’d cost us our future together and we didn’t even know it. I couldn’t believe that I knew someone that was that vindictive.
A little while later, after I’d cried so many tears that I didn’t think I had any left, Stoshua got up and got me a drink. I sipped the water slowly, feeling like I was going to throw up.
“You’re going to be okay.” He tried to assure me.
“I appreciate that you think that, but everything that I’ve ever known about my sister has been a lie. I shared everything with her and she pretended to care. I should have known. I should have done something. She blames me for everything.”
I looked over at the diary. He saw what I was doing. “How far did you get?”
“The night before Prom.” It was hard to talk about it, without getting choked up. A couple more sobs escaped.
“You don’t have to read anymore tonight.” He grabbed my hand.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this when you found out?” He should have called. He should have told me right away.
“I guess I didn’t want to try to explain on the phone. You wouldn’t have believed me anyway. Besides…,” he pulled my hand up to his lips and placed small kisses over my knuckles, “I think it worked out better anyway. You’re here, with me. This is where you belong.”
As much as I wanted to know more, it was finally sinking in that we’d been kept apart. I was tired of hurting and I knew one thing that would take my mind away from all the pain. I looked up into his eyes, while he kept kissing my hand. “Make love to me, Stosh.”
He stopped kissing my hand and slowly sat it back down on the bed. We stared at each other for a few seconds. “What about the diary?”
Twinsequences (A Twisted Twin Series) Page 6