BANDIT II

•5•

Whatever happened to _____________?

The Next Night...

India...

My mom, Aunt Piper, Penelope, my friends Yoko, Kam and myself are having a girls night. Imani is out with Derwin since this is his last night in LA before he goes back to Cleveland. The guys went out to the sports bar to watch the game since we took over the whole downstairs. My father and uncles included. 

"Whose next?" Aunt Piper questions, taking a shot of tequila.

"You are! You just took the shot." My mom laughs, flinging her hair over shoulder.

"Oh shit. Paha! Aight so I gotta ask you. Truth or Dare my chile." I tap my chin, looking up at the ceiling.

"Truth." I say. My mom smacks her lips, falling back on the rug.

"Y'all are no fun! That's all you guys been picking. Truth, truth, truth. Damn what's y'all scared of a dare from one of us?" She hiccups. We all laugh. We're playing the adult truth or dare. Everyone keeps picking truth, except for my mom and Aunt Piper. They switch back and forth.

"Party poopers." Auntie Piper points with furrowed brows.

"Forreal. And they're dares are so ass. I dare you to run to door and flash your boobs. Like bihhh, Ima model. They seen enough of my jugs, take that shot!" My mom rants on.

"Right like what are we? 18?" Aunt Piper teases.

"Ooooooo! Oooo! Hey is your refrigerator running?" My mom questions.

"Yea, I believe so." Aunt Piper responds.

"Well you better go catch it!" They both burst into laughter falling out and my friends and I looked around confused. Old people shit we didn't get.

"Ooo! Bitch my stomach hurt. You funny as fuck." Aunt Piper says as they both sit up. They take a sip of whine, sighing at the same time. I swear people in this family who aren't twins, act more like twins than the people who are. 

"Can we play something else! We're bored." My mom whines. 

"Yea this shit is boring." Yoko says.

"Right and it's only eleven o'clock." Kam sighs. It is a boring night, and it seems the only two having fun was my mom and Auntie. They remind me so much of Penelope and I, it's crazy. But Penelope didn't seem up to drinking tonight anyway.

"Pizza is here!" My mom sings as her and Aunt Piper go to answer the door. I stand to my feet, grabbing Penelope's hand to follow me into my dad's office. I just wanted to know what was up with my cousin, any other time she's ready to party and curse people out. 

"What's wrong Penelope?" I question in concern. She sighs, crossing her arms while walking over to the window. She sniffs wiping the tears as I took the glass globe off the table, throwing it up and catching it.

"I have something to tell you." She says. I sit down in the big comfy chair, spinning in 180 degrees semi-circle.

"Ok wassup?" I question.

"You know how every time you asked me about the twins, and I always came up with a stupid excuse?" She questions. I furrow my eyebrows confused.

"Yeaaa." I drag out.

"Well Ima just tell you wassup. The twins were born, conjoined at the chest. My mom was in labor for hours, and she had to get a C section. The babies made it fine, but they had to get surgery to get separated. I remember them, they were little chubby babies and when I asked my mom what was wrong, she just said they were sick. They needed to get fixed, she told me. I was too young to understand but I could see the hurt in her eyes. And one day we all left and I was dropped off here. Then after a long wait, I remember waking up in the house and hearing crying but it wasn't my sisters. It was my mom. She had told me that the twins didn't make it when getting fixed, and I couldn't understand what happened. I mean I was 5." I sigh heavily, shaking my head. I mean I knew I should of known something was up when I haven't seen them as we gotten older. But the lies Penelope was telling me sound legit. Boarding school, punishment anything of the lines of them not being seen.