My Sister's Fiancé

better twin

GINA

The door bell rings and I jerk out of the couch in a mixture of eagerness, anticipation and nervousness. I glance at the wall clock - six o'clock in the evening. Seems like Lucas' friends are finally here. As I move closer to the door, I can feel my heart racing and with every step I take, my palms get wetter. I'm about to meet Lucas' friend. This is a part of his life I had never really experienced - his friends - a part of his life that Daphne had the advantage of being involved in. Despite Lucas and I being best friend, I don't know any of his friends on a personal level. A couple of faces I have seen though - the popular ones - but asides that, I have no idea who they are.

I unlock the door and pull it open, and I'm immediately confronted with a group of five people - three men and two women. "Hey," I say, forcing myself to sound calm. I smile brightly - a little too brightly. "Come in, we've been expecting you." I step aside and wait as they all walk into the house before closing the door behind them. Before I can say 'jack', they are all slumped on the couch comfortably. It's obvious they feel at home here.

"We brought wine," One of the women - a red haired, with a very pronounced hawline- says, placing a bottle of wine on the small table in the middle of the living room. She looks up at me. "Hi, I'm Lola," she says.

I smile as I take my seat on the armchair across her. "Hi," I answer. "Georgina."

"This is my husband, Andy," she says, gesturing to the huge brown haired man slouched beside her.

The man glances at me, then, in the direction of the stairs. In a very deep voice that shocks me, he bellows, "Where is that jackass, Lucas?"

"Um..he's....he's on his way," I answer, taking aback slightly by the deepness and roughness of his voice.

His wife, Lola, looks at him disapprovingly. "Andy," she chides in a warning voice to which he rolls his eyes but with an amused smile on his face.

The bald man with a lot of beards pulls himself off the couch and walks to the kitchen. He returns a minute later with a bottle of wine already opened. I watch as he places the bottle at his lips and gulps the content down.

"Drinking before dinner?" The second woman, a blonde beautiful woman who is so beautiful she reminds me of Daphne, says, a frown of disapproval on her face. "Not a good habit, Chris."

The bald man, Chris, snorts but says nothing in reply, simply sitting on the couch and drinking the wine.

I suddenly feel suffocated with all these people sitting in the living room. They seem nice enough but I feel like I didn't belong yet. So, I quickly rise to my feet and grab the bottle of wine Lola placed on the table. "Thanks for the wine," I say, "let me put this away." And I quickly walk away in the direction of the kitchen.

I open the freezer in the kitchen, gently placing the bottle in it and then I pick a bottle of iced water and a cup. I start too pour myself some water but I stop midway. Water isn't what I need. I need liquid courage. I need wine. So I return the water and cup back and grab the nearest bottle of whiskey I can find. I pour myself a glass and pour the contents down my throat in one gulp.

I drop the glass in the sink, return the half empty bottle to the refrigerator and walk back to the living room.

As I move nearer, I can hear jumble of voices, chatters and laughter coming from the living room. I hear Lucas' voice clearly and when his laughter rings out, I feel a pang of pain and guilt in my heart. I hasten my step towards the living room.

The moment I appear at the doorway, Lucas notices me and rises to his feet. "Gina," he says, reaching his hands out for me.

I look at him, confused, but move closer to him anyway.

He puts his arm around my shoulders. "Gina, these are my friends. Andy and Lola," he says, gesturing to the burly man and the red-haired woman who I already know. "Susan and Jake," he continues; Susan being the blonde and Jake, her husband. "And that's Chris. Guys, this is Georgina......my wife."

Only I know how bitter the word wife tastes on his tongue.

I wave slightly. "Hi."

"It's nice to meet you, Georgina," Susan says.

"The pleasure is mine. And just call me Gina, please."

"Yeah, we met your sister a couple of times," Chris suddenly says and the room goes silent.

I blink at him, wondering if he's saying that because he's drunk or if he's just an asshole.

Susan is the first person to recover from the tension and she reaches out to pull the bottle away from him. "Give me that," she snaps, narrowing her eyes at him and go drink some water.

Chris mutters under his breath but stands up anyway and heads to the kitchen.

As he leaves, Susan's husband, Jake, says, "We all know he's just going to drink more wine," and Susan rolls her eyes.

"So, is he like an alcoholic or what?" I ask and I feel Lucas tense up beside me.

Jake chuckles. "Nah, he's just a dick."

"So," Andy bellows. "Where's this dinner your promised us?"

"You expect me to come serve it to you?" Lucas answers in an equally rough tone that surprises me.

"I mean, yeah, why not?" Andy asks arrogantly.

I'm a little surprised at the interaction but when I see the ghost of smile on Andy's face, I slowly relax.

"Dinner is the dining," I announce. "Mrs. Miller is an excellent cook and she did a wonderful job with today's dinner."

Andy gives me a smirk. "Honey, we know. We've eaten here many times before."

"Oh, right," I flush in embarrassment. "Sorry," I mutter.

"You keep half empty bottles of whiskey in your fridge now, eh, Lucas?" Chris asks as he saunters back to the living room.

I tense up, waiting to hear what Lucas will say. If he knows that I took a swig of his whiskey, he'll probably be pissed at me and I can't afford that to happen today. At least, not right now.

But instead of asking what Chris means, Lucas asks, "Didn't we just ask you to stop drinking for tonight? Why are you still scouting my fridge for a bottle of whiskey?" earning a glare from Chris.

"Oh....Kay," Lola quickly interrupts. "I think we should start heading for the dining now," she says, rising to her feet. She sends a sharp look in her husband's direction and he quickly follows suit. Lucas rises to his feet also and I do the same, the four of us heading to the dining while Susan, Jake and Chris follow behind us.

We all take our seats, me beside Lucas, Andy and Lola together, Susan and Jake beside each other and Chris in the middle of me Lola and Susan.

Small talks fill the air as we all open our dishes to start eating. I say nothing, only listening intently to their conversation and observing their interaction. Andy and Lola seem like such an unlikely couple; Andy with his burly, loud behavior and Lola with her quiet nature, yet they seem to fit so perfectly and it's obvious they are really in love. Then, there's Susan and Jake, both really beautiful people in a relationship with each other; Jake is somewhat like Lucas in his calm but firm manner and Susan, like I said earlier reminds me of Daphne, except I don't think she's as conceited as her.

Chris, on the other hand, rubs me off the wrong way with his reckless and careless attitude and manner of speaking. He doesn't seem to like me either.

Halfway into dinner, he asks, "So, Gina, you and Daphne are twins, right?" And I nod affirmatively. He continues, "How come you don't look alike?"

His question makes me freeze, suspending my fork mid-air as I stare at him, my jaw agape.

He stares back at me, his face blank, waiting for my reply.

I clear my throat, dropping my fork and folding my hand on my lap. "Hm....yeah. We....we don't."

"What a pity," he murmurs. "Daphne is really pretty."

I stare at him, speechless. He just called me ugly, didn't he? I glance around the table. Lola and Susan are looking at him - Lola with a furious look on her face and Susan with a baffled look. The men on the other hand, are quite oblivious to the insult, Lucas especially. He keeps on eating like I wasn't just insulted by his friend.

"I'm sure she was," I murmur in reply, suddenly exhausted.

"So, how do you feel, marrying your sister's husband?" He asks again and this time, I can feel a swell of anger, rising in me.

"Chris, shut the hell up," Susan snaps.

He smirks at me. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

I stare at him blankly, quite pissed off by his attitude. "Yes," I snap, taking him aback. From my peripheral view, I see Lucas staring at me. He's probably angry at me, which is something I've been trying to avoid. Ugh.

Chris says nothing in reply. He simply narrows his eyes and turns back to his food.

I let out a sigh and turn back to my food.

I'm definitely going to pay for that later.

And I do.

The moment Lucas' friends walk out of the door, he slams it close and turns to me, fury in his eyes. "What the hell was that?" He demands in a very harsh tone.

I swallow the knot in my throne. "What?" I ask, feigning ignorance.

"The way you spoke to my friends," he thunders. "I introduce you to my friends and you act like such a b***h to them?!"

I flinch at his words, hurt twisting into my heart like a sword. Lucas just called me a b***h. "They were mean to me too," I whisper.

"All they did was ask about Daphne," he snaps. "You could have just answered nicely. This is another reason why Daphne will always be the better twin!"

I can feel my eyes prickle with tears at his words. I want to talk but my mouth fails me. My lower lips tremble as a son threatens to fall out and before I can prevent it, a year slips down my cheek.

Lucas' gaze falls to my tears, he twist his lips into a sneer. Then, he turns around and walks away.