Old Orchard

Annabelle

I stare at my sister, who looks almost identical to me except for our hair colors. She was born blonde while I came out as a strawberry blonde. My mom picked my name, and my father picked out Carla's name. The other thing about my sister and me that is different is our fashion sense. We are on a road trip; I am in yoga Capri pants, a comfy high school t-shirt, and my hair pulled up in a headband. My sister is in cute Capri jeans, a floral tank top, and her hair straightened and makeup applied. I have to stop the urge of rolling my eyes since I know how long it took her to get ready this morning.

I am still in amazement with everything she has told me, and the more questions I ask, the more she gets annoyed with me. Logan... I never really thought much about him, but I did notice how attractive he was when I first saw him. Of course, many of the girls did but being a small school; it was hard to let newcomers in, especially with one year of school left. He had this bad boy exterior that did not help him make friends easily either. I knew some girls who had tried to date him despite protests from their friends, but he never accepted any passes made at him. I had a feeling that he did not want to be at our school as much as the guys wanted him there. He befriended my sister apparently and how the rumors did not float around the hallways at school is beyond me. I lived in the same house as my sister and went to the same school as her, so it is sad that we had gotten so far away from each other without me realizing it until now. Last year I didn't talk to her as much as I used to.

Her phone text signal goes off, ending our conversation sitting in silence while she drinks her screwdriver and I eat my wings.

During junior and senior year, anytime I asked her to do anything remotely fun, she would shake her head and say she had to go to work or do more application stuff for college. She often used the excuse that she had to go and do more SAT practice tests; not once did she tell me she was off hanging out with bad boy Logan. I am no longer the fun, spontaneous one like usual. Tonight my sister has taken that spot. Not to mention her fake ID is ten times better than mine.

When we find our hotel later, I decide to text Craig.

Annabelle: You will not believe what I found out tonight...

Craig: Tell me – It is boring here. It is dead, and tips have sucked.

Annabelle: My sister has been hanging out with Logan and has a fake ID; she even ordered a drink tonight.

Anytime I think about leaving Craig behind for our last summer of high school, my stomach feels like a huge rock has hit it. To push that feeling aside, I start to think about how I will be able to see the ocean every day and go to bed listening to it instead.

Craig: I am calling in ten.

I take Frasier outside so I can retell everything to Craig. "Hey, " Craig says, sounding tired, and I know he is driving home from work.

"Hey, my sister has blown my mind tonight," I say back and retell everything to Craig. I head inside after Frasier is ready too.

Waking up early the following day to get on the road, knowing we would have a detour when we got closer to Newark, New Jersey because I had to find a kennel that would take Frasier since there were no pet-friendly hotels. I had no one to watch him while we went into New York City.

It is my turn to drive, so I pop in the aux, choose my music and sing along with Taylor Swift at six o'clock in the morning. Carla hearing my voice, grumbles as she tries to sleep in the passenger seat.

The first song ends letting Carla and I hear whimpering from Frasier, who is in his dog bed behind us since Carla refuses to hold him.

"You know you say that dog is attached to you, but I think you are more attached to him," Carla says, looking back at him after seeing my eyes keep glancing up to see him in the rearview mirror. Frasier turns up his whimpering with her looking at him, which I am sure he thinks will get Carla to pick him up.

"He is cute," I say to Carla. We have not brought up Logan or her drinking yet. I was hurt that she did not feel like she could talk to me about everything going on and that I had to pry to find anything out. This was my twin sister; she was the one who had fallen out of the tree in our back yard while playing Indians and warriors with Craig. I had sat in the car with her the whole way to the emergency holding her hand. I had helped her decorate her cast with flowers and stickers that we had to glue on since they kept falling off. Even before Craig, this was the same sister that I thought was my best friend. She was the one that had taught me how to ride my bike even though she had the skill of riding a bike perfected a whole month earlier. It was strange looking over at her and having no clue what was happening in her life.

"What?" She asks me after noticing I was glancing at her. I just shake my head, turn up Taylor Swift, and sing along to Tear Drops on my Guitar.

We get to Newark, New Jersey, just before 8 PM, which is still light out. We find the boarding place easily, but the hotel is a different story. We find the hotel on the main street, but the parking garage is hard to find the turn in.

"It is right there!" Carla yells at me as I pass the hotel again.

"Where am I supposed to turn in at Carla?" I yell back at her while I am trying not to hit anyone on either side of us. We had driven to the Mall of America in Minnesota, and the traffic was worst than New Jersey tonight. But when we drove there, it was not dark out like it is now. We are staying at the Hilton Penn Station hotel. It was direct downtown Newark, but my dad picked this hotel because it has a skywalk to Penn Station, meaning we would not have to go out into New Jersey. Our GPS has to reroute us three times since we passed the hotel three times. After getting our suitcases and settling into bed, I want to sleep. Carla does not have the same mindset as me.