Nicole woke up the next morning feeling like hell, she couldn’t get enough sleep the previous night because she couldn’t stop thinking of the kiss which made her feel shitty, then guilt too for kissing her sister’s man, compounded with the fact that her period decided to come two days early, in conclusion, she was in a horrible mood and didn’t want to get out of bed for the whole day, she still didn’t know how she will face her sister after sharing a passionate kiss with her fiance, God knows she has tried her best to stop thinking of the kiss but each time she does it all keeps coming back.
“Fucking hell,”
She muttered wanting the thought out of her head, she got off the bed and staggered to her restroom, brushed her teeth without looking at her face in the mirror she knew she would like hell with dark circles from not sleeping, she took her bath and came back to her room and laid naked with just the towels on her bed, the event of the previous night playing over in her head again.
“Leave me alone,”
She whispered, covering her ears with her hands but the thoughts weren’t going away, why just why couldn’t she think past it, she was Twenty-six for fuck sake and should not be down because of a mere kiss, then again it would have not been bad if the person she kissed was someone else, anyone else but her sister’s man.
“You are going to rot in hell, you man stealer,”
The voice in her head whispered.
“Shut the fuck up,”
She responded getting up from her bed, she walked into her closet and pulled on a pair of oversized t-shirt and a short, she came back to the bed and laid down, looking up at her ceiling, again her brain started playing back scene from last night.
“Stop it, Nicole,”
She told herself getting up and going over to her reading table, she decided to browse it and see if it was a normal reaction to a first kiss or if she was just going out of her mind.
“Oh, so it’s perfectly normal to act like this,”
She said out loud when she read the answers, she let out a sigh of relief, she didn’t suddenly fall in love with her sister’s fiance, it was a completely normal reaction, it kind of gave her some peace knowing it was normal human reaction but then the peace washed away when a knock came from her door, she asked whoever it was to come in, she knew it wasn’t Natalie because she never knocks.
“Good morning Miss Nicole, your parents said to tell you to come over for breakfast,”
The help disclosed, she was new maybe because Nicole didn’t know her.
“Are you new?”
“Yes, I started work on Monday,”
“Oh, because I haven’t seen you around, what’s your name?”
“Ina,”
She responded she liked the name it was easy to pronounce and easy to memorize.
“Alright Ina, my name is Nicole, just Nicole okay?”
“Okay, ma,”
“Not the ma please, just say okay”
“Okay,”
“Tell them I am coming,”
She said and Ina left, she knew she couldn’t avoid going down, she hasn’t had a meal with her parents since they got back as she had used different excuse this time she didn’t have an excuse so bracing herself for the worst, she stepped out of her room and walked downstairs to the dining room, her parents were already seated but Natalie wasn’t around, maybe she left home early, she thought. She hoped that it would be true that would give her enough time to come up with something she would tell her sister.
She greeted her parents and sat down silently she was wearing her glasses so they knew who she was a bit unlike before they didn’t seem to be unfriendly to her in fact her mom asked her how her night was, she had been too shocked to answer for two whole minutes and when she did she had said she wasn’t Natalie and her mom had responded that she knew, shocking right?
“Good morning fams,”
Natalie said announcing her entrance and Nicole’s heart skipped a beat, good luck with having enough time, she spared her sister a glance before facing her food again, all she could think about when she faced her sister was the kiss, there was no way Natalie won’t be offended if she found out she kissed her man, if she was in Natalie’s shoes, okay she didn’t know yet because she has never been in that shoe.
“What’s up Nicole? Aren’t you hungry? You are not eating?”
Natalie asked touching her which made her jump.
“Are you okay Nicole?”
“Yes, sure, why won’t I be?”
“Why were you shocked when I touched you?”
“Hmm, nothing, I just have a lot on my mind and I didn’t get enough sleep yesterday,”
“Oh, when did you come in?”
“About nine pm,”
She answered before remembering her parents were listening in on them.
“Did you go somewhere yesterday Nicole? I thought Natalie was the one that went out, are you ladies up to no good again?”
Their dad asked and the two twins concentrated on their food after sharing a glance.
“What did you guys do?”
Their mom asked.
“Nothing mom,”
“No, you guys did something, did you go out with Rafael instead of your sister Nicole?”
“Mom,”
“Don’t lie to me young lady, did you guys switch places again? I knew that something was off when I saw you leave the house yesterday, so that’s it? I thought you guys stopped doing that, is that why you don’t want your fiance to meet your sister Natalie?”
Their mom questioned not even giving them room for answering her numerous questions, Nicole wanted to tell her but Natalie stopped her and talked to their mom instead.
“Mom, Nicole left the house before I did, when I got back I didn’t see her because I was too tired to check on her which is why I am asking when she got back, and besides isn’t a shame that you can’t recognize who is who among us?”
Natalie asked her parents and Nicole could only look on amazed, her parents were convinced and didn’t ask any further questions, her twin was unbelievable.
“So, we are going on a family vacation, just a weekend thing, we will leave by Thursday and come back to the city on Sunday evening, I sent it on the group chat but looks like you guys didn’t check it,”
Their mom announced to their amazement, Nicole exchanged a glance with Natalie who looked shocked just like her, the last time they went on a family trip was ten years ago for their sixteenth birthday and that trip had not ended well because their parents had left them there and they had been brought back to the city by the driver and their nanny.
“Wow, suddenly? What’s the trip about?”
“Well, you will be getting married soon and leaving the house, so I thought it would be best if we had a family trip before that,”
“Huh, sounds nice but as you said I am getting married not dying and I still don’t get the trip though, what if we are busy? I for one have a wedding to prepare for and I am sure Nicole has the stuff to do too so why the sudden announcement?”
Natalie asked.
“Family is more important than anything, and you can take two days off to be with your family, just two days won’t ruin your wedding plans, beside you don’t have much work to do, everything is covered, plus for Nicole, she doesn’t really do much, no offense but you can do your work anywhere right?”
Their mom asked, Nicole didn’t have anything to say so she just remained silent, her mom just shaded her but she won’t let it get to her.
“I am okay with the trip though, Nicole, don’t you have anything to say?”
Natalie asked, turning to her, she just shook her head and continued picking at her food.
“Okay, does this mean I have everybody’s consent, I don’t want to hear any excuses, we are using our vacation home, so we won’t be all that far from home anyway,”
Nicole spared a glance at her dad who had been silently eating through it all, she just didn’t get the man, he doesn’t talk much, and let her mom do all the talking, she just didn’t know if she hated her dad or just don’t care about him, most times he looked like a total stranger to her, she could count the number of time her dad had interacted with her since she became an adult and it wasn’t much, and those time they did talk it was never about something nice, it was always because he didn’t like a choice she was making, like when she had dropped out and took up art or when she had given her shares to someone he didn’t like, her uncle, well that one time he had been right because her uncle had turned out to be a gambler and had sold it off to settle his debt.
“Well count me in, I need a break from this city,”
Natalie said in excitement.
After breakfast Nicole excused herself and spent the rest of the day in her room, Natalie left the house so she didn’t have to tell her about last night which she was glad for, she wasn’t ready to tell her.
“Just woman up and tell her when she gets back, postponing it will only make it worst, besides it’s not your fault the man thought he was kissing Natalie,”
She said out loud to herself as she sat on her balcony that evening, of course, it was easier said than done because how would she say it? Maybe.
“Oh, Natalie your fiance and I kissed,”
That would be hard to say.
“I don’t know,”
She said giving up and going back to her room to sleep…
“We have all we need right?”
Her mom asked as they boarded the car that was taking them to their vacation home, they would part the car at the shore and take a boat to their final stop, Natalie answered her and they were off, Nicole sat at the back of the car with Natalie while her parents were in front, they didn’t take a driver as her dad was driving, the last two days had gone by uneventful, she spent the days at her studio and the night in her room, she avoided Natalie as much as she could in fact this was their first meeting since after the breakfast morning, she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep, her parent’s attitude towards her so far had made her excited for this trip too, her dad talked to her and it wasn’t about an argument, he actually complimented her work and her mom hadn’t said any harsh words to her, maybe they finally decided to treat her as their daughter.
The first day of their vacation went smoothly, they went hiking and did family stuff together, she had fun and was happy she agreed to come, she sat in her room, the room she used about ten years ago when they had came here, she wasn’t doing anything just sitting lazily.
“Nicole?”
Her twin called entering her room.
“Yes, Natalie?”
“Mom wants is to come by the palm house, they have something to tell us,”
She revealed and Nicole got off her bed wondering what are parents were going to tell them? Was it a new child but her parents were too old to have kids, so that wasn’t it, or maybe they just wanted to hang out with them like they did yesterday, she thought as they both walked silently towards their parents…