Twin Switch

Scene 2

I feel an arm grab me and shake me as I turn and groan in my sleep before the shaking becomes more violent. "What?" I ask still sleepy.

"Mia, get ready. We have visitors coming over in an hour," I hear my mother's voice.

"But it's Sunday," I whine sitting up and kicking off my bed sheets, making it to the washroom to wash my face and brush my teeth.

She takes a light pink lace dress out from my wardrobe and places it on my bed. "Your father and his friend's family are coming over. Be ready within an hour and try not to look too pretty," she tells me before walking out. Huh? It's a little hard for me not to look this ravishing.

I quickly shower, well not quickly, this part takes me around half an hour. I then put on my dress before leaving my hair in my natural loose curls and walk out without applying any makeup. The years of various natural moisturizers and serums have graced me in the looks department, and my dress doesn't seem to require an intense makeup look.

"Help your sister get ready! They'll be here in another ten minutes," I laugh at the nervousness in her voice before walking to Jade's room.

I see her sitting there in a black skater dress and take the chance to tease her as she's struggling to straighten her hair, keeping it way too far from her face. The tough twin is scared of being burned by a straightener. "Awwww. Is my sister wearing a dress?" I coo.

She frowns while looking into her dresser mirror at me, "Shut up. Can you help me with this?" she asks, motioning to the straightener as I take it out of her hands and straighten her hair before looking at her amateur eyeliner work.

"You have so much to learn about makeup," I shake my head as I take a makeup wipe and remove the dreadful work. "I don't understand how we're even related." I expertly wing her eyeliner. "Done," I say turning her around to look at the mirror.

"I look like you," she says touching her face as I laugh.

"Obviously, we're twins. That's the whole concept. We're identical twins so we basically look exactly the same," I say in a duh tone.

She shakes her head smiling, "No, I don't even think mom will be able to tell us apart." I furrow my eyebrows at her. "Never mind," she says.

"Do you know why our dad is coming home?" I ask her, still curious.

Her smile immediately turns into a frown, "Dave is just doing what he does best. Not letting us be happy when we finally get to a good place." I wait for her to elaborate, but the explanation never comes.

"Should we go downstairs?"

She holds my wrist and looks up at me seriously, "Please. Can we stay here a little longer?"

My sister saying please?! I finally believe that our lives are a simulation and this is just some glitch. Oh my God! I've been so ignorant all these years. "Um...yeah. Okay. Cool."

She laughs a little and I'm a little relieved, "You know I know how to say 'please,' right? I used to say it all the time to make mom let me go to boxing tournaments."

"We were like sixteen. That's different. It's been a long time. I was just taken back a little."

I hear the doorbell ring followed by my mother's voice, "Girls, come down." Ugh.

We both walk downstairs with Jade following behind me to see our dad with a couple and a man that looks to be around the same age as us. "Come in, make yourselves at home," our father welcomes his guests and I have to hold back a scoff. He's asking his guests to feel at home in a place that he didn't have the right to call home anymore. "These are my daughters. This is Jade, she's the lead software engineer at GenZ Inc. and this is Mia." What a pleasant introduction. What a caring father.

He leads his guests into the dining room as the both of us follow, not even making an attempt to acknowledge his guests. He isn't even welcome here. What makes him think his snobby rich friends are? Okay, I'm sorry for judging, but I don't take back what I said about my dad. Mom breaks the silence, "Would you like some more lasagna?" She's a pleasant host as always, while Jade and I look like we'd rather be doing anything else at that moment.

"Yes please," the lady says. "It's very good. I would really like to hear the recipe later." She seems so pleasant. How does she know my dad?

I see my mom looking down coyly, blushing, "Thank you." She looks expectantly at my dad for a second, but her look is immediately replaced with disappointment as she sees my dad looking down at his phone.

After the very awkward and silent dinner, Dad speaks, "Jade, why don't you go upstairs with Zayn and the both of you talk?" Even his voice sounds evil. Was he trying to get Jade and Zayn to date? Couldn't he just once mind his own business? Jade glares at dad, which is probably obvious to our guests too.

"Go on, dear," mom says with her voice shaking slightly. What's happening? I see Jade looking at our mom with pleading eyes. Does she know what's going on?

Jade pushes out her chair abruptly and looks towards Zayn, "Are you coming?" to which he gets up quickly, almost looking amused.

What is going on? Why didn't Jade just start yelling at dad? This was so out of character for her and mom was just letting dad tell Jade what to do? What was happening right now?

We all sit around in silence until the lady speaks up again. "Mia, I just wanted to say we're a huge fan of your work. You're so talented for someone so young. My son is a fan of your work too," she says smiling.

"Thank you," I say.

"Humble too," the man notes.

"But the life of an actress?" my dad scoffs. "It's not the most dignified career."

I look down awkwardly, but look up to see the man looking uncomfortable and the woman looking at me apologetically. I smile kindly at her. She's actually a decent human.

A minute later Jade and Zayn come back downstairs and for the first time in a long time, I see sadness in Jade's eyes. Zayn looks back at his parents angrily and turns suddenly to look at me probably because of my staring, making me immediately look down at my hands on my lap.

"You guys are done talking already?" my dad asks, narrowing his eyes at Jade.

Jade nods, "There's not much to talk about, but if you would like, you could tell me exactly what to say as well," she says, challenging my dad to question her.

"Very well," he says, clearing his voice, not wanting to make a scene.

His guests get up, ready to make their way to the entrance, "It was a pleasure to meet everyone, but we should really get going. Zayn has a meeting shortly and he wouldn't want to be late," the older man says.

"We should meet soon," my dad says, almost sounding hopeful. How annoying can he get? The couple nods and bid their farewell before everyone walks out of the house.

Jade runs upstairs and I run behind her, but I could hear the conversation happening downstairs. "Is this how you raise our daughters? Pathetic. That girl doesn't know her place, just like her mother," he yells and I could hear my mother trying to calm him down.

I wish he left forever.

I wish he never came back.