Keep It True.

I sighed plopping down on my couch after spending all day in the airport flying home from college on the East Coast, it felt weird being home. It started with a bad day, which turned into a bad week which eventually snowballed into a bad past couple of months. Basically, school was kicking my ass, my roommate was psycho and I was terminally single.

"Livy!" My twin sister came running into the room, her dark brown hair swinging in waves behind her back, she never had to do anything to get hair like Giselle, her smooth skin sun kissed from being able to go tanning already since Arizona weather was warm enough to early in the year, I looked at my pale skin. I was literally ghostly.

"Hey Ava," I smiled standing up, my legs pouting by shaking underneath me from the long drive back home. I stood up adjusting my black shirt over my stomach, feeling a little self conscious from the freshman fifteen I had gained while Ava seemed to be perfect as always. Her long legs accentuated by her short denim shorts, if I tried to wear those shorts, well let's just say I wouldn't even try.

We stayed silent for a while, both of us staring at each other soaking in the changes until she hugged me tightly, this took me back. I didn't even realize how much she had missed me, but then again she was a hugger and I wasn't. "So how's ASU?" I asked, I liked to rub in the fact she hadn't gotten in anywhere else. In the basic sense, I got the brains and she got the looks, it wasn't that she wasn't intelligent we just didn't applied ourselves differently.

"Eh, it's school, but the parties are sick. What about you, little miss Yale?" She asked just as peppy, she was always resilient to my little comments. I had moved across the country and whenever people found out I had a twin sister they asked me if I missed her terribly. I suppose she was really never that present in my life to miss her that much.

Before I go any further, this requires a back story. It all started when we were five years old and I realized I needed glasses, had a gap in between my teeth that I could fit a pencil through and my hair was one big tangle. Ava, meanwhile, had 20/20 vision, hair that looked impossibly good no matter what she did and perfect teeth.

In kindergarden, she got marriage proposals and I got ignored, but no one ever picked on me because Ava would always have my back, but I resented needing her help. When Ava made a plethora of friends, I stayed to myself and read books, reading about places far away daydreamed of adventuring off. Ava got her school pictures centered on the fireplace mantle and my A's got stuck on the fridge.

In middle school, while I was wearing glasses that were made for bats and had a mouth full of orthodontia, for every single thing. I couldn't talk without a disgusting lisp, so I spoke only when it was a complete necessity. I had my frizzy hair up in a bun the whole time, and Ava's dark brown hair seemed to have perfect beach waves and had successfully become an it girl. To everyone, I was always Ava's sister and it was exhausting.

After all that, I was shy. I liked reading more than going out and in eighth grade I met a new kid who moved next door named Garrett. We immediately bonded by being shy and awkward and not the most attractive people in school. He was my first really good friend, he introduced me to comic books and video games, we hit it off on and we both spent lots of time together. Needless to say, Ava went a little different route.

When high school came to an end, Ava won homecoming queen, best personality and cutest couple, while I maintained anonymous and remained boyfriend-less, keeping my mind on school and just getting through it. I finally was done with my orthodontia, but was in the habit of speaking rarely. No one would believe that we were related and I could easily understand why. But aside from my few acne scars and being pale, and her golden tan with perfect freckles, we were twins.

Throughout high school, Garrett and I stayed friends, bonding even more from our hatred of the majority of our class. We spent hours looking at old records and playing video games, sometimes just talking. We both skipped prom and went to a zombie mock prom, and it was more fun than anything our high school could've planned.

"Olivia? Olivia Jane Hartford, are you there?" Ava asked tilting her head, her eyes starting to grow wide with concern for me, the more she observed me. There was one difference between us, Ava had heterochromia iridium, which meant her eyes were different colors, her hazel eyes which were the exact shade as mine had a green blob in her left iris.The doctors said it was a one in a million chances that she would have a genetic disorder, but she made it beautiful. Once she saw my eyes shift and meet hers she smiled, "so did you meet any sexy boys out there on the East Coast?" She smiled suggestively.

"No, uh, I was really busy with school," I felt a blush rush to my cheek, truth be told I still had my mind preoccupied with a boy I left here in Arizona. I wanted to think she was asking me this on purpose because she knew I would still be single, but I knew she didn't have a mean bone in her. "Did you meet any guys here?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Well, I am glad you asked. I did indeed, he's gorgeous and smart and sweet and he's in a band. You remember Garrett? He's in that band too!" She said excitedly I thought my head was going to explode, I just wasn't that peppy.

"Wait, so you hang out with Garrett now?" I asked feeling the familiar envy for the first time since being home. Garrett had always been the one thing I had that Ava couldn't touch, until graduation nigh at least.

"Well, yeah, I mean he's one of my boyfriend's really good friends," she hesitated, a wave of guilt washed over her eyes before she gave a half smile. "He misses you a lot, Liv," she shrugged, wondering if it was the right thing to say. That was the last straw, I needed to get away from her. Back in school I was independent no one knew I had a twin sister and I loved it more than anything, but being with her just made me feel like I was a sixteen-year-old loser all over again.

"Oh well, uh, that's nice. I'm gonna go say hi to Dad. It was nice seeing you, Ava," I smiled curtly trying to hide the fact I was hurt. I stood up grabbing my purse and putting it on my shoulder. The tension could be cut with a knife, I could see she was hurt at the fact I was dismissing her.

"Liv, are you ever going to forgive me? I really wanna be close again, like before," she said not concealing her disappointment. Now, when Ava says again she meant before our mother left us to be with her boss. Last we heard from her, she was living in St. Cloud, Minnesota with a new husband and three new kids. We were both wounded, but I coped by diving into reading and concentrating on school. She clung to her sanity by socializing like crazy, because in her mind nothing bad ever happened to the girl girls wanted to be and guys wanted to be with.

My mind flashed back to the night I realized I could never be friends with Ava, the night she pushed it too far. "I don't know Ava," I sighed, "I really don't know." I turned, grabbing my car keys and practically running out the door, leaving my twin sister with her eyes staring at me sadly.

I noticed a boy coming out of the house next door, double taking when he saw me, I simply backed out of the driveway and drove off as fast as I could, butterflies fluttering in my stomach and my chest tightening. I wanted to cry just with the fact that despite the fact life had changed so much the things I wished would changed the most hadn't. I didn't want a sister who was outrageously more attractive than I was and I didn't want to have my palms get sweaty around a boy who had been my closest friend. The wound in my heart felt fresh, like it had just happened all over again.