Roses & Cigarettes

I.

; This is life, not heaven. You don't have to be perfect.

"You know, you could have at least covered for me, right?" I tell my identical twin sister as I'm climbing the stairs two-by-two so I can get to my room faster. Serena had tattled on me, not surprised, to our somewhat of a strict mother. I was "working" tonight but left on bad terms with her just before I left. Not a good idea once our mother got home not soon after and found my whereabouts pretty soon from little Miss Perfect. Typical.

Mom was furious but let it slide due to my very convincing lie.

She had to go work at the hospital so there was no time to think about the consequences for me. Thank God she had other things to do than actually ground me all at once.

Which brings me back to my current hatred for my sister.

I look down the stairs to see her following me into my room. God, can she leave me alone?

"As you said, I could have covered for you, I just decided not to." She says nonchalantly. She examines her nails as to say she could care less about my annoyance towards her. Serena knows that that makes my skin crawl. I turn my back on her and drop my duffel bag on the floor. I can feel her behind me, probably leaning on the doorframe waiting for my usual snarky response. 

"Do I need to remind you of how many times I've done the same for you? Oh, wait, my bad. You only think of yourself." I turn around to see her still looking at her nails. "Forget it, don't expect any favors any time soon." 

I quickly grab my small stereo remote on my nightstand and turn on some music.

The Weeknd, Perfect.

Music is the perfect escape at the moment.

I go back to my duffel bag and start emptying it out. I hear a shuffle behind me and turn around to see Serena sitting on the window seat. I simply cross my arms waiting on what she can possibly say. Looks like she isn't leaving anytime soon.  

"Look- " she starts sounding exhausted "-I'm sorry you got in trouble and I couldn't cover for you, I was busy with Brent." 

That's no surprise at all.

"Of course you were, you always are these days, " I whisper loud enough so she could hear me and I don't have a doubt that she did. I roll my eyes as I see her face turn from guilt to embarrassment.

My anger shortly subsides when I see her cheeks start turning to a cherry red all the way down to her neck. How cute.

I hate that I can never hold a grudge, not even when I want to. But I would never let other people know, a horrible weakness I must say.

I go back to my duffel bag while Serena is still overthinking her obvious embarrassment. I shuffle around my bag looking for something in particular but I can't seem to find it. All I saw were my everyday personal items. Wallet, phone, change of clothes, keys, perfume, condoms...