Gone Girl

Nina, I

Nina

The morning sun blazed through the curtain-less windows. A mattress and some sheets were all that Nina had in her new room, but there were still mountains of boxes that needed to be unpacked.

She and her twin sister Dina Caliente had just moved into the newly-built (and conveniently cheap) condos of Pleasantview after graduating from La Fiesta Tech just last month. The twins' father pressured them into going to Tech; Dina jumped at the chance to learn the intricacies of money at a university level, but Dina didn't exactly feel like she needed anything at La Fiesta Tech—except for the guys.

Unfortunately, Dina was the one scoring the older guys and Nina was stuck with the overeager freshmen.

Despite getting attention from a wide variety of suitors, Dina set her sights on one particular (and noticeably older) grad school student named Michael Bachelor. In fact, the only reason the twins moved to Pleasantview instead of moving back to Strangetown was because Michael was moving there to be closer to his sister, Bella. Dina took this as an opportunity to start "anew" in Pleasantview.

Dina, ever the early riser, could be heard across the hall chattering on the phone from the moment Nina woke up. From the tone of her voice, Nina assumed it was Michael.

Nina slugged out of bed, slipped into a bathrobe and some slippers, and threw her mid-length ginger hair into a messy bun. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, only to find more boxes. Sighing, she trudged back up the stairs and knocked on Dina's door.

There was a pause, then a whiny "Whaaaat?" from the other side.

"We need to unpack," Nina said.

"But I'm talking to someone!" Nina knew her twin would protest.

"Call him back later, or better yet, ask him to help us unpack!"

Another pause "How do you know it's a guy?"

Nina sighed, exasperated. "It's always a guy, D; just tell him you call him back in..." Nina remembered how much stuff they had downstairs. "Two hours."

Dina sighed her signature whiney sigh. "I'll call you later, Mikey," she said before blowing a kiss into the phone and hanging up. Nina could hear stomping before the door flung open. "Do we have to unpack right now, Nini?"

"Actually, we should've unpacked yesterday but you were too busy acquainting yourself with all of Bluewater Village. We have a budget, you know."

Dina rolled her eyes and walked past Nina to tiptoe down the stairs. Dina always tiptoed barefoot around the house. Nina thought it was kind of gross, especially since the condo hadn't been properly cleaned yet, but Dina's habits were hard to break.

"You know, Nini," Dina yelled from downstairs, "You need to find a man. Maybe then you'll loosen up." Nina scoffed. It seemed like a man was the answers to all of Dina's problems. Nina walked down the stairs to find Dina not unpacking boxes, but instead sitting on them, holding up the round purple mirror she always seemed to keep on her. She was tousling her shoulder-length blonde hair and making kissy faces in the mirror. Nina wanted to be mad, but she knew that Dina would put off any hard work until it was almost too late, which is why she barely passed any of her Finance classes at LFT.

"I'm serious, Nina, when was the last time you dated someone? Far too long, I bet." Dina was right. Nina's first and only boyfriend had been some cardboard-cutout jock from high school back in Strangetown.

Nina was growing impatient. "Could you at least find the kitchen stuff? I'd like some breakfast."

Dina giggled. "We don't have any food! Besides, there's this lovely little café in the Village called... What was it? Oh, Café Petite! I'm sure they do breakfast."

Nina was the type of person to spend a couple hundred simoleons on groceries and not worry about food for a month, while Dina wanted to eat at the chic little coffee houses nestled in street corners. It was nice every once in a while, but it eventually got expensive.

"You know," Dina said, drawing out the ow in know, "I saw this really handsome guy in scrubs at Amelia's Closet in the Village yesterday, I bet he's one of the new doctors at Pleasantview Municipal. He said he lived in one of the new condos around here." Dina dramatically slapped her hand to her face. "He would be perfect for you, Nini! He was totally your type."

Nina suppressed a sigh. "Did you get his name?"

"No," Dina said, "But there are only a few condos around here, so we'll find him eventually." Dina giggled at the look Nina gave her.

——

It was 2 PM by the time the twins finished unpacking, and they still had the boxes upstairs to deal with. Dina was complaining the entire time, but Nina learned to block her out.

"Why do we have so much stuff?" Dina complained.

"It's mostly your stuff, D. I told you to sell some of it."

Nina knew Dina would sell her things just for a quick simoleon, but also wouldn't, just to spite Nina.

"Nini, you know me! I always hold onto things. They're memories!" Nina couldn't help but laugh at her sister. "Ooh," Dina exclaimed, her phone buzzing in the pocket of her gray sweatpants, "I forgot to call Michael!" She swiped the phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

Speaking of the devil, Nina thought, seeing the wide smile appear on Dina's face. "Hi Mikey," she cooed. "Um, no, just finished unpacking. ... Dinner? When? ... Six? Okay... At your sister's house? Where is it? ... Wait, that's her house? I could've sworn it was the Landgraab estate. ... Yeah I'm surprised! I didn't know your little sister was loaded. ... Of course I'm coming, Mikey! ... Bring my sister?" Dina glanced at her twin. "Well, I'll ask her. I can't guarantee anything, though. ... Okay, I won't forget." Dina giggled. "Love you too."

Dina smiled. "Well sis, drop everything. We've got a dinner to go to!"

It's not like Nina had any plans to begin with.