Page 32 of Sweet Girl
Chapter Eleven
Kylah
There are certain aspects of being a twin that are automatically inherent with multiples. The biggest advantage is that you can read your twin like a book, without having to say a word. While Kady and I are vastly different in every aspect of our lives, she is still my best friend.
We share everything. So it’s no surprise that she knows how I feel about Van. In fact, the first thing she did when she got home was to pounce on me for information.
The other thing that is always associated with multiples? One of the two will always be the older one. In our case, Kady was born seven minutes before me. A fact that, like horoscopes often do, the birth order seems to dictate personality type. Between the two of us, Kady is the natural leader. The bossy one. The lion. And I’m...well, meek and moldable. More like a little lamb.
I’m in my bedroom, unpacking and unwinding after a long week of finals, when she comes bounding into my room, barefoot and in yoga shorts and a tank. Flopping down on my bed on her stomach, chin in her hands, she just grins up at me.
Knowing exactly what she is thinking, I play dumb, raising my eyebrow at her. “What? Hello to you, too.”
She rolls to her side and props herself up on her elbow, her blue hair piled high in knot on top of her head.
“You’ve got a goofy smile on your face. And you’re humming. You must be thinking about your dreamy boy-toy and the action you’re going to get tonight.” She chuckles at her witty remark. She already knows that Van invited me over and that I am super nervous to be alone with him.
She’s undoubtedly the more experienced of the two of us. Kady is self-assured and confident in a way that I could only hope to be. I wish I had her poise – or even an ounce of her level of self-esteem. She, on the other hand, has told me that she envies my singular focus and ambition, knowing exactly what I want to do and how to succeed. We hold a healthy dose of competition between us, but it’s never hurt our relationship in any way.
Where Kady is the wild one, who socializes like she was born to be the center of attention, I’m a homebody. A fact that my roommate, Sienna, would love to change. She’s tried valiantly the last semester to get me to go out and have ‘fun’ and has grown a little tired of my lack of interest in leaving the library or our dorm room.
But I’m okay with who I am. I’m not a girl who needs to surround myself with a lot of friends at all times. I have my sister – my confidante – and other close friends to share my life with. I’d also say I’m pretty close to Cade, too, as far as older brothers go.
But there’s no freaking way I could ever share any of my personal feelings about Van with Cade. He would freak out and find a way to sabotage any change I have at seeing Van, I’m sure. I’ll likely tell my mom about Van at some point, if anything progresses between us, but right now my mom is in her own little world of romance. She’s been dating our neighbor, John Roberts, for a while now.
Now that’s a little weird. I’m not opposed to my mother dating. She’s a beautiful woman who deserves to be happy. But it’s Mr. Roberts –our neighbor. He’s totally fine and all, albeit ten years older than mom. But he seems to treat her like a queen and is a very nice man. Anyway, it just leaves me no opportunity to sit down with my mother and spill my guts about my friend-slash-crush.
Plus, where would I start? I honestly don’t even know what’s going on between me and Van. He’s been unavailable since I’ve known him. As in, already taken. We haven’t really touched. Or kissed. Or made out. And definitely not hooked-up. Yet there’s a closeness with him and I feel more comfortable around him than any other guy I’ve ever known.
I whip a T-shirt that I pull from my bag at my sister, who grabs it with a giggle, falling back onto the bed.
“Shut up. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kady props herself back up on her elbow and she rolls her eyes at me.
“Come on...he’s free now. And he likes you. He’s going to want to fool around. Maybe even fuck you.” She mocks me with smoochie kissing against her hand and loud, dramatic moans, emphasized with hip gyrations. Good grief she’s disgusting. Next she’ll be dry-humping my bed if I don’t stop her now.
Yes, I think he likes me, but I’m not sure to what level. If it is more than a friend, and we end up having sex or whatever, I don’t think I’d want to be a rebound fling for him. I don’t want him to leave me high-and-dry when he realizes he moved too fast from one girl to another. Although, based on what I know of him, I don’t believe he’s a womanizer or a player. That title belongs to Carver Edwards.
“He’s not over Lyndsay yet. Nothing’s going to happen between us.”
I turn around and place my folded clothes into my dresser drawer. That’s another difference between me and Kady. I’m the neat one and she’s a complete disaster in terms of organization. I don’t know how her college dorm mate handles it. Thankfully, I never had to share a bedroom with my sister.
But I have been thinking about sharing my bed with Van. In the Biblical sense, that is. He lights me up from the inside like a Chinese lantern by simply the sound of his voice on the other end of the phone. My body responds in a way it’s never done before. Like it’s getting shocked from an exposed electrical wire, charging through my nerve-endings in high voltage watts.
“Bullshit,” Kady argues, pushing up to a sitting position. I can see her reflection behind me in the mirror. “It’s been over a month since they broke up. That’s more than enough time for a guy to get over a broken heart. Believe me. Chad was over me within two days after we’d broken up.”
I can’t argue that. Chad Danon was Kady’s high school boyfriend. They’d dated the last semester our senior year and broke up right before she left for college and he left for basic training. Sure enough, the week after they broke up, she spotted him at the mall with Deanna Burgman. They were making out like nobody’s business.
I shut my dresser drawer. “That’s different.” I protest. “Van was with Lyndsay for five years. He has history with her. She was the love of his life.” I’m not exactly sure about that. Van told me he loved her, but were they soulmates? He’s never said.
Kady jumps off the bed and begins rummaging through my suitcase, picking up shirts, shorts and various unmentionables while shaking her head.
“One thing’s for sure, Ky. You’re never gonna get laid in these undies.” She tosses a few pieces away on the floor like they are garbage. “What the hell? Why do you have granny-pants? Ew.”
She says it in such a scandalized tone. Maybe I should have considered my wardrobe and underwear situation a little more. It’s just never dawned on me to wear anything sexy. I dress for comfort. Not style or what I think a guy would like to see.
My face flushes as I bend down to pick up the discarded underwear, putting them in my top drawer. “These are my period pants, for the record.”
