Mad as a Hatter, Thin as a Dime

“Come on, Ves!” Kyra pouted, tugging on her sister’s arm. “Let’s go shopping for new stuff to wear tonight!”

“Do we have to?” the younger girl groaned, dropping her book on the table.

“Please?” the red-head begged. “Since when do you not want to go shopping with me?”

“I’m just not really in the mood today,” she sighed.

“Come on Ves. It’ll do you good to get out of the house. There’s only so many times you can read ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. Besides, you said yourself that it creeped you out.”

“I like books that challenge my psych, and Alice is a classic. Besides, in a couple of weeks we’ll be away for months. Is it so wrong to want to spend time at home?”

“Ves!” Kyra persisted, ignoring her sister’s question. “I need you! I hate shopping with the guys. They spend the whole time trying to make me buy skanky underwear!”

Vesper had to let out a laugh at this one.

“Come on…” Kyra urged. “You know you want to… I’ll buy you sushi…”

Vesper narrowed her eyes, considering the offer.

“Make it sushi, a coffee and a hoodie and you’ve got a deal.”

“Fine. Sushi, coffee, but you’ve got enough hoodies. I’ll buy you a nice top or dress or something.”

“Do I get to choose?”

“You can choose out of the options I give you. And you have to wear it tonight.”

“Deal. Wait… what are we doing tonight?” Vesper’s dark, sculpted brows were slanted in confusion.

Kyra gasped. “How could you forget?! We’re meeting Panic! At the Disco!”

“What?! Since when? You never told me this! I thought we weren’t meeting them till tour starts.”

“No. We were told a week ago that Pete Wentz wanted us to meet them so he can force us to get along if we don’t.”

“Well why do I even need to be there?” Vesper questioned half-heartedly. “You’re the only one who’d miss me.”

“Don’t you dare argue,” Kyra warned. “You’re coming whether you like it or not. Besides, you used to love Panic! At the Disco. Why would you pass up a chance to meet them?”

“I still love their music,” Vesper defended. “I just… I’ll probably make an idiot out of myself or they’ll completely ignore me and I’ll have a thoroughly miserable time.”

“No one’s going to ignore you, Vesper!” Kyra sighed, exasperated. “I’ll force them to talk to you if it comes to that, which it won’t. Besides, you’ll have to meet them on tour eventually.”

“Don’t bring that up,” she growled. “I’m already mad enough that you’re forcing me to go with you.”

“I’m not forcing you,” Kyra rolled her eyes. “I just know that you won’t be able to pay the rent without me here. It’s easier and cheaper for you to come, not to mention I’d miss you like Hell.”

“Well we’ve already had this argument,” Vesper brought her fingers to her temples and massaged them gently. “I’ll just lose again. But why do I have to come tonight?”

“Because I say so,” Kyra said with an air of finality. “You know deep down you want to. Now come on, let’s go.”

Vesper sighed as she stood up and Kyra pushed her in the direction of her room.

“Get changed and meet me at Starbucks in ten,” Kyra ordered, grabbing her keys. “I’ll get you a mocha with a shot of vanilla.”

“Thanks,” Vesper called back quietly, but Kyra was already gone.

***

“Ooh! Try this one on!” Kyra squealed excitedly.

Vesper tried to stifle a yawn behind her empty coffee cup as Kyra threw more articles of clothing into her arms. Usually she would have been fine with this, but she hadn’t been able to get to sleep the night before and she really wasn’t in the mood to even be window shopping today, let alone trying clothes on. Kyra, however, had other plans for her younger sister.

“Ky, I don’t wear yellow. You know that.”

“But it would look so sweet on you!”

“No it wouldn’t. Only people with tanned or dark skin can pull off this bright yellow. Quite obviously, I have neither.”

“Fine,” Kyra huffed, placing the yellow dress back on the rack. “But I still think it would look great. Anyway, I already know exactly what I want so you get your ass in the change room and make up your mind.”

Vesper let out an incomprehensible sound of annoyance as she walked into the change room. Kyra waited patiently outside, admiring the red and white dress she intended on buying.

“Ves? You done yet honey?” She called after about five minutes.

“There is no way I’m even letting you see me in this,” Vesper’s muffled voice floated through the cracks around the plastic door of the small room.

“Don’t be silly,” Kyra argued. “Come and show me.”

“No.”

Kyra sighed. “If you don’t come out, then I’ll crawl under the door. Either way, I’m seeing it.”

There were a few moments of silence before Vesper groaned loudly and unlocked the door. Kyra’s jaw dropped.

“Sis, that looks amazing!”

“Are you kidding me?” Vesper said in disbelief, looking down over herself.

The black and white dress was striped vertically in lines of different widths, but apart from it feeling like a tight corset (as the top part was) it wasn’t the design that made her uncomfortable. It cut off higher than mid-thigh, making her almost die of embarrassment at her exposed legs and maybe it was just today, but her arms felt about twice as big as usual. Kyra couldn’t see any of this as she stared at her sister, shaking her head at how ridiculously good she looked.

“Honey, I am buying you that dress whether you like it or not and you are going to wear it tonight,” Kyra decided.

“No way in Hell,” She shook her head and walked back into the change room, hoping that she’d peel off ten kilos along with the dress.

“Yep,” Kyra muttered to herself. When she made up her mind, there really was no going back.

Vesper shuddered at her reflection as she changed back into her black skinny jeans, white tank top and oversized red mens hoodie, a Clandestine bat embossed on the front. She slipped on her cherry-decorated flats (converse were too difficult when getting changed) and scraped her long dark hair back into a messy pony tail. What point was there in trying to look good when she would be standing next to Kyra?

“Give me the dress,” Kyra said simply, looking for the nearest check-out desk.

Deciding that she’d had enough arguing for one day, Vesper just passed her the damn fabric before fishing in her purse for an aspirin and dry-swallowing it as quickly as she could, coughing when it lodged itself halfway down her throat. Kyra had already rushed to the desk to pay for the dresses. Vesper waited outside for her sister and when Kyra came bouncing out of the shop with a smile, supporting the happy aura she always carried so effortlessly, she linked arms with her sister as they began to make their way back home.

The two girls were very similar at times, but they were also very different. Kyra was always happy and full of energy, great at almost anything she wanted to be great at, and drew positive attention towards her with every breath. Vesper could be like that too, but only around people she trusted with her life. That pretty much narrowed it down to Kyra, and Kyra only. Around everyone else, she was more introverted, always just out of the limelight, and had only one talent. Kyra and Vesper were born less than a year apart, naturally looked similar but were differentiated by choice, and although they argued a lot of the time they could usually relate to each other pretty well. Usually.

“Let me do your make-up tonight?” Kyra asked.

Instead of answering, Vesper just let out a sigh of defeat. There was no point arguing with Kyra’s persistence.

This was going to be a long night.