totally clueless - e. tiscia

I

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"Cher the Mis-Match is totally bugging!" I call to my sister as she brushes her straight, dirty blonde hair in front of our shared vanity.

We share everything, clothes, a room, a bathroom, etc. We don't need to. Our dad is a litigator and makes a ton of money arguing with people, so he can afford the giant mansion of a house we live in. It's just that we've shared a room ever since we were babies. We're each other's built-in best friends! So we've never seen a reason to move out.

I tap the screen of our Mis-Match again with my manicured nail. "Ugh! Flannel and wool? Together? CHER!"

"Relax, I'm right here," she laughs and types a few panels on the program. "See, it works just fine!"

I roll my eyes with a smile before flipping through a few top options. "We should go shopping today," I tell her.

She squeals, getting an idea. "We should totally match for school today!"

"What about Dionne?" I ask, reminding my sister about our friend. "She'd be left out."

Cher pouts.

"We can still match jackets?" I propose. Cher nods in agreement.

We both choose different shades of tartan plaid. Cher chooses a bright yellow with a matching skirt, knee-high white stockings, and white kitten heels. I pick an ink-blue jacket with a white satin dress underneath, complete with a pair of black Mary Janes.

"You. Look. Fabulous," we say at the same time. Then we walk downstairs and grab lemon yogurts out of the fridge just as we hear our maid, Lucy yelp.

We give each other a knowing look. Lucy is terrified of our dad.

Cher picks up a glass of orange juice to hound our father with. And she does. The SECOND he walks into the kitchen.

"Morning, Daddy," I chirp.

"Good morning, Samantha," he replies tiredly. I don't mind it, he's been working on a tough case.

"Daddy!" Cher greets.

"Cher please don't start with the juice again," he begs, holding up a hand.

I watch my family bicker and chuckle to myself.

They walk a lap around the kitchen, Cher following Daddy with a glass of orange juice clutched in her hand. Cher says something about his flu shots but he changes the subject.

"Josh is in town, he's coming for dinner," he tells, making eye contact with me because he's had enough of Cher's commotion for the moment. I shake my head, taking another bite of yogurt.

"Why!" Cher whines.

"He's your stepbrother," Daddy sighs.

"Ex-stepbrother," I correct from behind the kitchen island.

"You divorced his mom five years ago! Why do we have to see Josh," Cher continues.

"You divorce wives, not children," Daddy says, with a tone of finality.

"I like Josh!" I comment.

Cher sends me a look of disgust. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"I'm always on your side! But, Josh is nice and it's been a while since we've seen him." I cross my arms over my chest.

"Listen to your sister," Daddy warns before leaving through the kitchen door.

"Wait, your orange juice!" Cher calls.

"Forget it!" he yells back.

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For our 16th birthday, Cher and I both got matching white jeeps. Neither of us has a license, but we both drive anyway. I'm definitely the better driver. Cher likes to drive through stop signs and hit mailboxes and such.

I drive, top-down, and tap my steering wheel to the beat of the radio. Cher has to pick up Dionne so I usually get to school 10 minutes before she does.

I park in my usual spot and re-apply my cherry red lipstick with the help of my rearview mirror. I'm touching it up when a voice calls my name. I see a tall brunette boy jogging over to my car. My best friend.

"Elton," I beam.

He leans against my car door and flashes me his award-winning smile. He's all dimples and pearly white teeth.

I almost allow myself to get lost in his dark mahogany eyes, but he speaks again. "Let me walk you to class." He opens my door for me and picks up my book-bag from the backseat.

I blush but I step out of the car, locking it behind me as we walk toward the courtyard together.

"Where have you been all weekend?" he asks me.

I laugh a little. "I was just at your house at the pool party on Saturday!"

"I feel like we don't see each other enough."

"We're literally always together," I point.

"You know what I mean, Sammy. When's the last time we hung out, just the two of us?" he fake pouts.

My heart flutters. He is the only one who calls me Sammy. But that is the very reason we haven't been able to hang out. We've been the closest in our friend group since we started high school. He knows everything about me. But during the summer of freshman year, something changed. I didn't notice it at first, but he was just so sweet. He was- no is- the perfect gentleman. He'd changed his hair as well and it made me notice how nice his face really was. Then, it hit me.

I am in love with my best friend.

I stopped going out alone with him because I didn't trust myself. We still talked non-stop. We were still always together. But with other people around, I wouldn't get in my head. What if he found out? It would be mortifying. I felt bad, but what could I do? It's not like I could try to go for him. He always has a girlfriend. Pretty ones. Like Valette for example. His current girlfriend. She is gorgeous. How can I compare? Even if I could, I don't want to risk something happening to the stability of our friendship.

"Umm..." I trail off.

"Come over to my house today," he offers. "I'll pick you up. We can watch some tapes..." he snaps his fingers. "We can grab something to eat on the way. I'm buying."

Free food. Enticing. "Well-" I was interrupted by a shouting match nearby. Dionne and her boyfriend, Murray (who also happens to be Elton's best friend), are going at it again no doubt.

Dionne is waving a hair extension around and hitting Murray with it. Cher, who is next to Dionne, makes eye contact with me and made her way over to me and Elton.

"Let's go," she tells me, grabbing me by the arm. "I'm debating in Mr. Hall's class and I don't want to be late."

I shoot Elton an apologetic look as my twin drags me away.

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I hope you enjoyed my first chapter!

QOTD: what is your favorite 90's movie?

xx ⸺viv