Free It Was You by Anna Cruise Page B

and leaned against the dolly. “Gonna be weird living here without your sister?”
    I shook my head. “No. Not at all.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Not at all?”
    “I just think it's time for us to go our separate ways,” I said.
    “ Why's that?”
    There were a million reasons I could give him. A million reasons he wouldn't want to hear.
    “Just is.”
    He nodded slowly, then sighed. “Your mother and I...I think we always thought you guys would be like those twins you read out. Close, attached at the hip.” He shook his head. “But even as little ones, you refused to wear the same clothes as Annika.”
    I'd heard the story before. My mom had purchased tons of matching outfits. She'd put them on me and I'd strip them off, crying, preferring nudity to looking like my sister. We didn't have any of those cutesy pictures of us looking the same. Most of our family photos had us on opposite sides of our parents.
    “ We're different people,” I said. I didn't add that she was more like Satan's spawn than an offspring of theirs.
    “ You can say that again,” he said, then wheeled the dolly past me and down the ramp, back toward the house.
    Annika passed him, then stopped at the bottom of the ramp, a roller bag in each hand. “What are you doing?”
    “Dad asked me to carry something. Don't worry. I'm not touching your precious belongings.”
    She stomped up the ramp, struggling with the bags.
    I watched.
    She finally made it up and slung them against the boxes, exhaling loudly. “Whatever.”
    “Enjoy,” I said, descending the ramp.
    “ Could you grab...”
    “ No.”
    “ Hag.”
    “ That's me,” I said, smiling.
    “ Heard you on the phone with your boyfriend,” she said. “He must be super special if you're talking to him first thing in the morning.”
    I hated that it stopped me, but it did. Had she stopped to listen? I tried to remember exactly what I'd said, how much I'd revealed.
    I turned around.
    She smiled at me, but there was no warmth. “You know what's gonna be really sad?”
    I didn't say anything, just glared at her, my arms folded across my chest.
    She came down the ramp, taking her time, enjoying the fact that she had my attention.
    She upped the wattage in her smile. “When lover-boy, whoever he is, decides he wants somebody who puts out.” She touched my cheek. “Because we all know that won't be you.”
    I knocked her hand away. “You're such a bitch.”
    She pushed past me. “A bitch who puts out, Abs. Just remember that.”
     
     

    FIFTEEN
     
     
    “It's a wonder she's still alive, you know.”
    I nodded at Tana. We were sitting at an outside table at In-N-Out, burgers and fries spread out between us. The steady hum of cars on the 5 freeway were loud and I had to raise my voice a little to be heard.
    “Right?”
    “ Every time I think I've heard the worst about her, you tell me something else.”
    I knew exactly what she meant. After all, I'd had to live with my sister. I wondered how many things had happened that I hadn't told Tana about. Not because I'd forgotten but because I just got tired of talking about my sinister sister.
    She took a long drink from her soda. “Best decision ever, not going to State.”
    I grabbed a fry and dipped it in the pool of ketchup. “Seriously.”
    I hadn't even said goodbye when Dad started up the U-Haul. Annika was following him to the campus in her car, Mom riding in the passenger seat. They'd left one of their cars at the U-Haul dealership and were heading to a client's house immediately after.
    “ Alright, enough about the wicked witch.” Tana bit into her burger, chewed and swallowed. “I wanna hear about your man.”
    I felt my cheeks redden. “What about him?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Uh. Like, everything. You said he called this morning. You're seeing him tonight. Dish.”
    “ There's nothing to tell,” I said. “We're meeting at the beach.”
    Tana nodded. “Right. But what are you going to do? Do you really like him?