My Sister's Fiancé

GINA The first time I met Lucas, I was fourteen years old in middle school. I was seated in front of the class silently flipping through my novel as always, oblivious of the noise going on around me until the door opened and my teacher walked and shouted, “Silence!” I raised my head up only to see this cute, fidgety boy in large framed glasses. A smile crept up my face as I watched him fidget with his bag strap while keeping his gaze on the floor. “Class, we have a new student,” my teacher said. Turning her direction to the boy, she motioned and said, “Introduce yourself.” The boy darted a sharp and nervous glance her way, obviously mortified. In his moment of hesitation, I found myself eager to hear his voice. “Hi….hi……” he stuttered. “I’m…..Lucas Murray.” His voice was like music to my ears and I wanted to continue listening to him talk forever. I kept staring at him until our gazes met and I gave him the biggest smile I could muster. But the moment our gazes met, he looked away, leaving a big feeling of disappointment in me. “Alright, Lucas, why don’t you find a seat?” she said, patting his back as he nervously moved around to look for an empty space to seat. “Students, please endeavor to make Lucas feel welcome. Be nice to him,” our teacher said, and I was determined to do just that. So, during break, while everyone rushed out of the class, I made my way towards Lucas where he was packing his bag. “Um, hi….Lucas.” He glanced up at me and gave me a small smile that had me blushing. “Hi.” “Hi,” I repeated. “Right, hi. I’m Gina.” “Hi Gina.” “It’s actually Georgina but everyone call me Gina,” I blurted out, suddenly feeling nervous. “You….you can call me whatever you want,” I told him with a shy smile. He said nothing in reply, so, I quickly asked, “Do you….do you want to, hmm, go to the cafeteria with me? For lunch.” He smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah. Let’s go.” Together, the both of us walked out of the classroom and I led him to the cafeteria. My heart kept beating loudly and my palms started sweating out of nervousness. Unable to hold it in, I blurted out, “You are cute.” My eyes widen and when I glance up at him, he had a small smile on his face. “You are cute too,” he answered and I nodded, my heart warming pleasantly. We walked to the cafeteria, picked up our plates of food, sat on an empty table and began to eat. Hardly had we settled down when the door opened and my sister, Daphne, rushed in, yelling, “Gina! Gina!!” while attracting the attention of hundreds of students. My twin sister, Daphne, had a knack for attracting attention wherever she was and even when people weren’t paying attention to her, she forced them to by shouting or doing anything extreme…..like right now. She was screaming my name and everyone was looking at us. She made her way to my table. “Gina! Where have you………” She trailed off as her eyes landed on Lucas. “Oh….hi. I didn’t see you there.” I recognized that tone and that smile. She was in her flirtatious mode. She was smiling coyly and was starting to twirl the ends of her hair with her fingers. “Hi,” she repeated, all her attention now on Lucas. “I’m Daphne, Gina’s twin.” “Hi,” Lucas answered. “I’m Lucas.” I recognized that look on Lucas’ face too. It was the look every guy of our age and even guys a couple years older than us had whenever they saw Daphne – the dreamy, enthralled look. I instantly knew he was attracted to her like every other guy. He liked her. Inside me, I let out a sigh of disappointment. This was something I was used to. I was used to my sister taking up the attention of everyone I knew, including guys I liked. The only reasons guys and most girls talked to me was so they could get close to my sister and I wasn’t even offended by that. I had resigned myself to my fate has my sister’s shadow. Whenever I liked a guy, he would end up falling for my sister and I’d immediately give up on him. I had expected to give up on Lucas too, except he was actually different. He was nice to me. He wanted to be my friend. He liked Daphne but he still wanted to be my friend and considering the fact that I had no friends then, I quickly grasped the chance. He would come to my house often; we will lie on my bed and I would listen to him talk about how amazing my sister was. He would complain about how she was always with another guy and not him. When we turned sixteen, he excitedly announced to me that he had his first kiss with my sister. Two weeks later, he came crying to me that my sister friend-zoned him again. I would hug him and try to comfort him. When we turned seventeen, he lost his virginity to my sister who had long-lost her virginity to someone else. I sat down, torturing myself as I listened to him excitedly explain how the s*x was just so good and how he was more in love with my sister than he had ever been. When we finished high school, Daphne finally agreed to date him exclusively. They agreed to go to the same college and somehow, Lucas managed to convince me to come along. In college, Daphne and Lucas were off and on. She would cheat on him, they would break up, he would come to me crying his eyes out, until she came to beg him. He would accept her apology and they would start dating, until she cheated again. The cycle continued all through college. By that time, I already knew what a toxic relationship was and I was so sure that Lucas would soon realize that their relationship was toxic and he would come to me. Except…..six months after college, Lucas and Daphne announced that they were engaged. And I knew that I had lost the love of my life forever.