Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

“Turn left here I think.” The girl squinted and pushed her face closer to the road map that was spread across her lap. “Wait no. Next light turn left.” She positioned her neck in awkward position and continued to study the map that was bombarding the passenger seat of the little 1996 Honda Accord. “Yes. Definitely next light, turn left.”

“Jade, could you please get the map out of here?” the driver said impatiently. The unfolded road map was now pervading Bailey’s view of the road ahead of her. “Jade! Move the stupid map, please,” Bailey repeated again through clenched teeth.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

Bailey rolled her eyes but her aggravation was hidden by the sunglasses that covered her green eyes. Their green eyes were perhaps the only, or one of the very few, traits that both of the girls had in common.

Jade, older by 24 minutes and 52 seconds, outshined Bailey with her personality. With eagerness to please and outspoken wit, Bailey often found herself in the shadow of her twin sister. It seemed everyone knew Jade. Jade was here and there, she said this and that and she did and didn’t. Bailey didn’t mind though, she loved her sister more than she maybe should and even though Bailey’s enthusiasm for the social scene was lacking, she made up for it in determination and sweet words. Both were on opposite ends of the spectrum, but they balanced each other out perfectly. Though the sugary atmosphere that the younger gave off was pleasant, it didn’t withstand the given; bickering was a constant. Jade and Bailey could squabble for hours about the tiniest detail, the lone deciding factor. Whether it was the amount of time spent in the bathroom to who was supposed to grab the keys before walking out the door, when the fighting finally ended, the two were even closer than before, if that was possible.

That’s what filled their car; debates, love and green eyes.

“Oh! Take this exit! Take this exit!” Jade yelled loud. The car crossed over five lanes and cut itself into the exit ramp, leaving other cars honking in displeasure. “Honest to God, Bailey, you could have gotten us killed!”

“You’re the one who never told me to be in the left lane. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have had to skid over there,” Bailey kept her eyes focused on the road and surrounding landmarks as she spoke. “When is it your turn to drive anyways? I’ve been driving for three hours.”

“In twenty minutes.”

“That’s what you said twenty minutes ago.”

“Look, since you suck at reading the map, you’re driving.” Jade kicked her knees up and placed her feet on the dash. After scrolling through Bailey’s iPod, she selected a song and went back to talking, “Besides. We would have been there by now if you wouldn’t have gotten us lost.”

That’s what she did best. Jade could always guilt Bailey into anything and get her to apologize in almost every situation. “This was your decision,” Bailey said coldly. “You didn’t have to come with me.”

It was Jade’s turn to role her eyes. She didn’t want Bailey’s small selection of words to get at her and make her feel bad for snapping at her sister. They were nearing upon a touchy subject that both of them wished not to think about. “Yeah, I know. Look, just forget I said anything.”

There was a silence that loomed over them as Blink 182 clashed through the speakers. Bailey cleared her throat after a minute. “Anyways, I’m sure Aunt Clara will be excited to see us again.”

Jade slumped a little farther in her seat and swallowed hard. With her feet still up on the dash, she gazed out the window. “Yeah.”

The car pulled up to a red light on a county road and Bailey took the time to change the music to something a little more calming. With that being done, Jade pulled out her own iPod from her pocket and stuck the buds in her ears, ready to listen to something heavier.

A half an hour later, they were still on the same road. Bailey was daring to fall asleep as she grew bored of the same scenery over and over and over.

“20 miles to Lutherville!” Jade sang loudly and pointed to the green sign the loomed over their heads as they drove under a bridge in Baltimore, part of their unwanted detour. “Finally!”

Bailey smiled, agreeing with Jade. “Could you get the map out again to see where we need to go, Jay?”

After scooping up the map that was on the backseat floor, which was impossible to fold, Jade directed them to suburbs. Definitely a change of scenery from constant highways.

“Keep going straight and then take the right--ow!” Jade complained as the car started to bump along the road.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Bailey raised her voice and pulled over to the side and stepped out to take a glance under the hood. Once the hood was open, a poof of smoke arose and Jade joined her sister’s side.

“Fuck,” the said in unison.

==========

“Yes, Clara. We are okay! I swear on your grave,” Jade said in a biting sarcastic tone as she spoke to their aunt on the phone. “The car is just toast.” Bailey was sitting in the passenger seat now with her sister resting on the back seats as she talked to Aunt Clara, clearly becoming annoyed with her useless questions that consisted of “was anyone hurt?” and “are you okay?”

“Hey Clara,” Bailey said shyly when Jade handed her phone to her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Um, I think we are just east of Ellicott City if I remember correctly. Okay, bye.” Bailey hung up and turned to her sister. “She’s on her way.”

==========

“Here we are,” Clara announced as she pulled up into her almost unsafe, steep driveway. The car bounced up as she ran over the deep cracks that were eroding the once nice black surface. The girls looked up at the house on the hill. It was visibly only meant for a young couple or early family, which was definitely not Clara’s case.

Clara was Jade and Bailey’s Dad’s older sister. To summarize the big story, Clara chased her boyfriend to California once she graduated high school instead of enrolling in college, her boyfriend broke up with her and she was left with nothing. So she enrolled in beauty school and has been a beautician ever since. She never had children and didn’t get married even though she dated plenty of bastards. Moving to Maryland was probably the best decision Clara had made; she bought her own house and finally earned enough money to stop borrowing from her family members.

Why Clara’s life was such a disaster, it was unclear. Clara was only in her mid-thirties and she was pretty. She had a round rectangular face with a defined jaw bone that was sometimes overlooked because of her premature wrinkles that were forming around her mouth and eyes. She was tall, a little over weight, but still sexy and it was clear Clara was highly regarded earlier in life, when she at least had a little dignity, before she ruined her life.

The girls grabbed the numerous trips of luggage in the trunk and unloaded into the house.

“Here’s the kitchen,” Clara waved nonchalantly. “Eat whatever, whenever. I’m probably not going tot make a lot of meals.” The moved forward past the kitchen towards the stairs. “The TV room is to the right and the laundry room is to the left.” She waved uncaring again in the general directions of the rooms.

“My room is at the end of this hallway,” Clara said once they got up the steps and moving forward across the hall she opened two doors that were next to each other. “And these, are your rooms. You can pick which one, doesn’t matter. Although, I will warn you I don’t have the bed set up in the purple one yet. Oh, and in the red one, when someone is showering in the bathroom, the running water can be heard through the wall. Enjoy!”

The girls arched an eyebrow at each other as their aunt walked into her room to dress for work. Both the blonde and brunette rushed to the purple painted room, shoving the other aside to get it.

“I call this room!” Jade belted. Her voice echoed off the empty walls.

“No way, I do!” the brunette spoke.

“Bailey, I got in here first.” Jade eyed her sister; Bailey knew there was no way she was going to win this argument, so she didn’t even try. Instead, she trudged to the red painted room, where she would be woken out of her sleep every morning by the shower next door.

“Girls, I’m leaving for the salon and I’ll be back around ten. Have whatever you’d like from the cupboards or order pizza or whatever!” Clara called as she went down the steps. Bailey crept out of her room quietly and went to Jade’s. Jade was popping around her, listening to loud music, which Bailey could hear through the ear buds, while she unpacked.

Once Jade finally realized Bailey sitting on her bed, bored, she spoke up. “Let’s do something.”

“Like what? We don’t know anyone here.”

“Hey,” Jade countered. “Wasn’t it you that said you wanted to get out of Essex? Out of New Jersey? Yes, it was and here we are, so don’t complain.”

Bailey rolled her eyes; she didn’t want to think about all the reasons she was here. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She gave into Jade once again.

“So should we…take a walk? Explore?” Jade suggested as she pulled out her beloved guitar and set it by her clothes. Bailey nodded and followed Jade out of the house. Jade looked back over her shoulder, making sure Bailey was following as they walked down the steep driveway. Bailey was pondering all the possible scenarios that might happen Monday on the twins’ first day of school. The classes? The friends?

While Bailey thought over all the changes presented in the new town, Jade did too, but with more excitement. She looked forward to the change. Even though she moved because Bailey wanted to, the pressure did seem to be lifted. All the kids wouldn’t be looking at the two; they wouldn’t be sugarcoating their words and stepping on glass around the two. Jade and Bailey Bates would be starting out fresh.