I'm Not Saying That I'm Not Breaking Some Hearts Tonight

“Cara?!” said Kaitlin, shocked. She hadn’t seen her sister in years, and here she was, standing in her doorway. She looked terrible. Cara had lost so much weight; you’d think the sweatshirt she was wearing would break her at any moment. She had circles under hear eyes from lack of sleep, and her hair looked dirty. Despite all of this, her sister somehow managed to be wearing makeup.

"Katie!” said Cara beaming. Kaitlin had no idea what to say.

“You look like shit,” she said, giving her sister a once over.

“It’s so nice to see you too,” replied Cara smugly. “May I?” asked Cara, eyeing the inside of Kaitlin’s apartment. She was too much in shock to say anything so she just moved aside. She looked down the hall way to see if any more unwelcome visitors had arrived, maybe her ex-fiancée or her third grade teacher who made her cry, but no it was just Cara, lucky her. “Nice place you got here,” she said looking around. “Where’s your husband? Kids? Boyfriend? I know you’re not single.”

“Well, it’s complicated, but yeah I’m single,” she replied still staring at her sister, unsure if this was some weird twilight dream.

Cara snorted, “Not tan enough for you?”

“Don’t insult me, especially when you want something. And no, he’s actually not tan at all, bit pale.”

Cara laughed, “You’re actually not dating someone straight out of an Abercrombie magazine?”

“Just get the fuck out, okay?” snapped Kaitlin.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry! Geez! So what’s so complicated about it?” asked Cara as she ran her dirty fingernails with chipped nail polish over her CD collection.

“Nothing, what do you want?”

“I need a place to say,” she said carelessly.

“So you ask me?” spat Kaitlin.

“No one else it talking to me anymore! Mom and Dad wont talk to me, Corey won’t talk to me. Even Uncle Gabe won’t talk to me and he’s been to jail, twice. Everyone hates me Katie, I don’t have anyone.”

“Wow, our family really is fucked up,” said Kaitlin.

“Your family, I’m practically disowned,” she sighed, playing the up the guilt card.

“Look Cara, I have my own life, and bills to pay. I don’t need any trouble…” she trailed off.

“Spoken to Corey lately?” she said smugly.

“Oh, so you’re going to stand their and tell me you’re not on drugs?” she said.

“Clean for two months,” she said proudly.

“Cara, I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Look, Kaitlin, please. I have no where else to go! I’m a homeless, jobless, ex-junkie! All that I own is in a backpack that I carry around on my back!” she said as she held up a children’s school backpack.

Kaitlin stared at her sister and sighed. She was her sister after all, and in some weird way that she would never admit to anyone, she sort of thanked her. She would have married Drew if it wasn’t for her. And then what? She would have found out he was cheating on her and they would have gotten divorced. What if she didn’t find out until they had kids?

“You can stay on the couch for a week at the most,” she said.

“Yay!” squealed Cara as she threw her arms around her sister’s neck. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Mhm,” mumbled Kaitlin as Cara threw her shoes into the hall closet. “What about you? No boyfriend?”

“We broke up hence the whole ‘homeless’ thing,” she said rolling her eyes. “So, why is Miss Perfect having relationship problems?”

Kaitlin glared at her, “Because I have a conscience.”

Cara rolled her eyes, “Life is so much easier without one. So, really what’s the problem, you going to spill?”

“I really don’t want to talk about,” said Kaitlin with a yawn, “I’m totally over it.”

“Sure you are. What does your boyfriend look like?” she asked.

Boyfriend. Gerard, her boyfriend. Her head swam with the idea of how perfect things would be if that was true. How come she had to be so damn stubborn?

“He’s not my boyfriend,” said Kaitlin.

“Okay, seriously you have to stop. I’m sure he’s the most perfect guy ever. Does he work out to much? Use too much gel in his hair?” said Cara.

It was really hard for Kaitlin to casually talk with her sister like this. She was her sister, but she was the one person she thought would always be there for her, but she turned out to be the person who had hurt her the most.

“Okay, he is the most perfect guy ever, but I doubt he works out religiously, and I can guarantee you he doesn’t gel his hair,” said Kaitlin as she walked over to the kitchen table to sit. Cara followed suit.

“Ha, wow. We’re really stepping out of the box, aren’t we? What does he look like?”

“I have a picture on my phone,” said Kaitlin as she grabbed her phone off the counter. She showed the picture to Cara, she wanted more than anything to just let go of all the anger and hate she felt.

“Damn, he really isn’t your type,” she said. “He has a really cute smile though; I don’t see the problem.”

“Like I said, it’s complicated,” said Kaitlin, “I’m going to go to sleep, there’s linens and stuff in the hall closet. The bathroom is down the hall, you can take a shower whenever and help yourself to anything in the kitchen, okay?”

Cara nodded and Kaitlin turned to walk towards her bedroom.

“Kaitlin,” she called. She turned around to face Cara. “Thanks for everything, and I’m really sorry…for everything.”

Kaitlin nodded with a small smile, unable to forgive her little sister. She turned and walked to room, falling to sleep almost the second her head hit the pillow.