Between the Lines | ✓

Cliche 19: Supposedly One-Sided Pining

"So, Xander's parents are actually never around, huh?" Amber slurred through her mouthful of Thai curry, the two of us sprawled out on the couch as a trashy teen movie played on the large plasma screen in front of us. Of course, it involved someone getting piss drunk and blah blah choo choo train goes through the tunnel as someone gets railed etcetera etcetera. The two of us were only half watching the trainwreck of a movie as we basked in each other's newfound presence.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'P', nudging my sister's leg with my toe to get her to pass me the curry puffs. "And I'm guessing your body's mum doesn't care about whether you stay out or not?"

"Please," Amber snorted, rolling her eyes as she bit down on a fishcake. "She was barely a character in the original story, Lex. In the past four weeks I've been stuck in boob-for-brains, I have seen her a whopping two times. Single mother, working late shifts, the classic teen novel excuse for allowing underage kids to swap cock snot at all hours of the night. You know, I think the author could've explored the whole 'childhood neglect and trauma can make a girl seek comfort in the bodies of others' thing, but nope. They decided to just spend 113 chapters writing terrible smut and making Amber one-dimensional bitch instead."

"Either way, that works out well for us. Feel free to move in, sister-of-mine-in-the-body-of-no-sister-of-mine," I said, grinning as Amber nodded enthusiastically, putting her empty bowl down before tackling me on the couch with a rambunctious squeal. 

"I missed you! Missed you, missed you, missed you, Lex! Don't you dare disappear on me again, you hear me!" Amber yelled, the two of us giggling as we hugged each other tightly. 

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on it," I vowed, knocking Amber's forehead with mine, my sister dramatically crying out in pain and pulling back to sit on her knees beside me. My twin looked down at me with an amused grin. I raised a brow at her questioningly, which only made her giggle. "What, Ambs?"

"It's just so weird seeing you in a body like... this," Amber said, gesturing at me vaguely with her manicured nails, eyes alight with mirth. "I mean, Xander was a nasty ass character, but visually he's hot as fuck, I'm not blind. Recognising that someone is hot doesn't mean that I don't recognise all of their red flags, don't get me wrong. But then... But then you open your mouth, and it's like... just you," Amber snorted, suddenly dissolving into a fit of giggles as she slapped at my harder than rocks stomach, which only made her guffaw even louder.

"Well, excuse you," I huffed, rolling my green eyes and kicking my sister in her unrealistically narrow and toned stomach. "Are you saying I can't pull off Xander's look?"

"You can't pull it off at all!" Amber chortled. "It's like... It's like... the body of a total top but the soul of a bottom! And not even a power bottom, just like... a bottom bottom! Like when your mouth is closed I expect you to be all 'kitten, come to daddy', but then... Oh God, but then you're more just like 'b-baby just wants c-cuddles' and it kills me! It's like, you legitimately have the biggest dick, but zero big dick energy! The incongruity? Juxtaposition? Oxymoron? I'm dead. Literally and figuratively!"

"You're the only moron here," I grumbled. "I make Xander's appearance very charming, alright?"

"Riiiight," Amber drawled, grabbing my shirt and rucking it up to slap my abs with another loud snort. "You need to say sorry to these bad boys, Lex. These abs are honestly wasted on you!"

"You're one to talk!" I retorted, crossing my arms over as I pointedly looked at my sister's chest, the girl gasping with feign modesty, cuddling her ample bosom in her arms like she was carrying a sack of apples. "You're like, mega hot and look like you could impale me with your nails if I looked at you wrong, but instead you're fucking terrified of Aubrey, who wouldn't hurt a fly!"