The car ride to the lakeside is silent, tense. And I don't dare to break it. Occasionally, I chance a glance at her. Her entire posture is rigid, eyebrows pulled together and lips pressed in a thin line as if she's trying hard not to cry.
It's okay, you can cry it out. It's only me, I want to tell her, but decide to wait.
After what seems like hours, we reach the lakeside. As soon as I stop the car, Amy gets out of the car to sit down, her feet in the water. I join her.
It's quiet for a while; but this silence is suffocating. I turn to look at her, and tell her that she can open up to me, but she's already crying. The scene of Amy crying doesn't settle well with me. She's supposed to be happy and laughing, with beautiful eyes shining with joy, but here she is, eyes brimming with tears, hands covering her mouth and crying into them, as if she doesn't want to be heard.
I instantly close the gap between us, and engulf her into a hug, which she instantly returns, like she really needed this right now. My hand goes to her hair, I pull the rubber band, making her hair tumble down. I begin caressing it, while whispering 'It's okay' over and over, knowing it's not okay. But this is a lie I'll willingly speak, to make her stop crying.
She cries into my chest and I can feel the tears seeping through my T-shirt, but that, I'm least bothered about. All I want to do is make her smile. But that can't be arranged right now. So, I settle for the next best thing- at least make her stop crying.
We stay like this for God knows how long; until she stops crying, and is only sniffling. I pull away, and hold her face in my hands. Her eyes are puffy and red, and she looks so fragile it breaks my heart.
"It's okay. At least, it will be some day. Don't worry," I whisper. I don't even know why I whisper. Maybe it the quiet atmosphere I don't want to break.
She nods, and a stray tear rolls down her cheek. I gently wipe it away with my thumb.
"Want to talk? It helps a lot," I say, throwing her words from that night back at her. She faintly smiles, like she remembered it too, and then nods.
"We don't have ice cream this time." I try to joke, but she doesn't laugh.
"She wasn't like this always," she says, her expression stoic.
"Huh?"
"Laura," she explains.
"Oh."
"We were the typical sisters you see in the movies and cartoons. We shared everything- clothes, food, accessories and secrets. She was like my human diary, like I was hers. We trusted each other more than we trusted ourselves. She was the first person I went to. Always. Be it good news, sad or bitter. Everyone talked about us. We were the favorite sisters; they were like two peas in a pod. Peas are supposed to be similar, right? But we were so different! She was the popular girl in school, while I was the shy, cute geek. She had beauty, I had brains. She preferred parties, I preferred books. Despite all this, we were best friends. I only had two friends in high school- Laura and Rachel. But I didn't mind it. The quantity doesn't matter. What does is quality, and they were the most genuine people I knew.
"And even though Laura had many friends, I was the one she trusted her secrets with. I knew where her secret stash of Oreos and Kit Kats were! She was the one with whom I celebrated my first salary." She sighs.
It's hard to imagine Amy and Laura the way she described. The only word I can use for their relationship is- fake.
"And then a new guy came into our lives." She scoffs. "Typical isn't it? Sisters fighting over a boy. Jeremy here."
"Both of you liked him?" I ask.
She smiles a sad smile.
"He was so charming, you know? If his looks weren't enough to make you swoon, his words definitely were. He was the ideal guy a girl wished for in her life. A ladies' man. That's what he was.
"He had joined our firm. And as fate would have had it, we were assigned as each others' partners. We were supposed to design houses together. We grew closer, and the next thing I knew, he was asking me to be his girlfriend! And I accepted. I was so happy that evening.
"I went home and told Laura, and she squealed and hugged me, like she was genuinely happy. Of course she would be, he was my first boyfriend after all! We celebrated it as well. Not anywhere fancy, but at home, with her secret stash!
"We continued dating for maybe four months. By then, my infatuation with him had developed into major liking. We were happy. But then . . ." She starts crying.
"You can stop if you want to," I say.
I decide to give her a little space. "No, I want to get this out of my system."
"It was Rachel's birthday. I got her tickets to the amusement park because she was so fond of them, since forever. We had a blast that day, sitting on almost all the joy rides, eating cotton candy, clicking funny selfies and what not! When I came back in the evening, I was still high from all the adrenaline rush. But what I saw on my doorstep threw me from the high, to the lowest point in life. Laura was kissing Jeremy, and both of them seemed to be enjoying it!
Flashback.
I didn't shout, no, I didn't. I didn't even cry. Hell, I couldn't bring myself to believe what I was seeing. I kept standing there, watching them shatter my heart.
And when it finally struck that this was no nightmare, I decided that I will not show them that this affected me. I went all cold, emotionless.
I just walked towards them and with a neutral voice told, "Kindly move out of my way."
Hearing my voice, they sprang apart, both of their eyes wide, racking their brains for an excuse. But I didn't want to hear it. I walked up to the door, turned back and smiled at them. "You can continue now."
Th guilt on their face made me want to cry. So, I turned to the door to go to my room, but then turned back to say, "Oh, and Jeremy? We're done."
This brought him back to his senses. But it was too late. I didn't want to look at him or Laura anymore. Laura! How could she do this to me?!
Jeremy came behind me. "Wait Amy, what you saw was nothing. It meant nothing! Please, it's not over between us. We can work this out, can't we?"
I could only look on in shock.
"You are kidding right? Which sane person would like to go back to a cheater?" I made sure to keep my voice stoic. I wouldn't allow him to see me as weak.
But all this came to an end when Laura came, her head down, as if she was ashamed of herself.
"Amy, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done this! But . . . " she tried to give me that puppy face, which worked every time but not this time.
"But what, Laura? You couldn't control yourself?" I barked.
"I'm sorry okay?"
I lost it. I lost it. I. Lost. It. I burst into tears. I don't know for how long I cried. My sobs were the only sounds I could hear. Mom and Dad were out on dinner date.
"You're sorry. After all this, you're sorry? Sorry isn't going to change anything!"
This was the first time we were fighting. So obviously, being the emotional girl she was, she started crying.
"Oh! And now she fucking cries!"
She cried harder. I then decided that there was no use standing there. When I turned to go, Laura stopped me. "Wait Amy. Actually, I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry that I kissed Jeremy. You know why? It's because-"
She never got to finish that sentence because I slapped her. For the first time in my life, I raised a hand on my sister! "You bitch!" I snarled.
She looked stunned, just like me. There was so much hurt I could see in her eyes. She quickly recovered and her eyes became cold, emotionless.
"Yes, I'm a bitch. Yes, I kissed your boyfriend! So what? What'll you do about it, huh?" She yelled.
This made me cry. With tears streaming down my face, I told her, "I never imagined that it'll be you who will make me cry."
She huffed and flipped her hair.
I looked at Jeremy, who was looking at the floor. When he saw me staring at him, his expression changed to that of pleading. "Please Amy, tell me that you will consider it again. We can be back together!"
"No! You won't be together, I'll make sure of that!" Laura warned.
At that moment, the intensity of the dislike I felt for her was indescribable. How could she turn so evil? What was wrong?
I turned to Jeremy and slapped him hard. "Even if you were the last male on Earth, I wouldn't date you. Now get out from my house!"
"Fine. You were boring anyways." He went out and shut the door behind him.
Bipolar much?
I turned to Laura, who was smirking at me. "Laura,what the hell is wrong with you?! Did someone threaten you or something? Tell me, I'll throttle them. Please!" I held her shoulders, begging her to tell me.
She just shook my hands away. "No Amy, I felt bad for the guy, he was dating you! So I decided to let him free of the curse, that's dating you. I don't even know how he liked you in the first place! Look at you. So boring and . . .bland. I think you're going to die single. Good luck with that! You are going to be the old lady with sixty cats, knitting by the fireplace. Buh- bye!" She waved at me, and went to her room, all the while smirking.
Me? I broke down again, falling to the ground, and sobbing into my hands. I fell asleep there itself.
End of flashback.
"The next day, when Dad saw my puffy eyes, he demanded to know what happened. But what could he do? The damage was already done.
I knew there was nothing I could do. I had to ignore and forget what happened. I began to ignore Laura. In the office, I asked my boss to change my partner, and luckily he did. I kept to myself, not daring to look at anyone.
"But it wasn't possible. Jeremy still was in the office right? Now he had a new girl hanging off his arm. He kept showing her off. At least then I got to know how I looked when I dated him.
It was so embarrassing and humiliating. Wherever I went, there were whispers about my life. Like, do they know how I felt? They just judge. The pain I went through can't be described. Every evening, I prayed I wouldn't run into Laura at home. Every morning, I prayed I wouldn't get to meet Jeremy. Words travelled fast in our little town. People gave me this sad smile, and that made me feel worse.
"In the end, I got fed up. I was fed up of those smiles. I was fed up of feeling miserable. I was fed up of avoiding them. So, I did the first thing that came to my mind, that was, coming here. As Dad was an Indian, we kept visiting during our vacations. That's why, I resigned from my job and as soon as all the paper works were over, I told my parents of my plans and took the first flight to India." She takes a deep breath.
And here I thought I went through a lot.
***
Another update! This was my longest chapter till date.
Hope you enjoyed it! Vote and comment your views! And, thanks for the read. ❤