The Wrong One

Sian slammed her trunk closed and walked to the driver’s side of her car. She climbed in and started her car, pulling out of her apartment building. She turned onto Highway 5 and made her way down past Los Angeles and down the state.

Just as she was five minutes away from her house, her phone rang. She lifted it up, seeing “MOM” on the screen, and pressed it to her ear.

“Hi, mom.”

“Hi honey. I know you said you were coming in town, but I’ve got to leave for business for the weekend.”

“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” Sian asked as she turned onto her road.

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Sian.”

“Sorry, mom.”

“Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Kyle’s in town, so he’ll be at the house.”

“Alright.”

“Also, not that I mind, but why were you coming home again?”

“Samantha wanted me to come in to spend some time with you.”

“Well that’s a bit weird, don’t you think?”

“That sisters want to spend time together? No, not really.”

“No, smartass,” Sian’s mother said. “It’s weird that she would invite you in town when she’s not even here.”

“Where the hell is she?!” Sian asked, suddenly mad. She pulled into the driveway and put her car in park.

“She went to Europe to study for the summer. She left about two weeks ago. She didn’t tell you?”

“No, she didn’t tell me anything.”

“She went to Europe for her art class. She’s going to be gone all summer.”

“Well, what the fuck,” Sian said, her mouth hanging open.

“Okay, sweetie, I have to go now, but enjoy your time at home, alright? Love you!”

Sian didn’t even get a chance to say anything because her mom had already hung up. She unplugged her phone and took her keys from the ignition. She mumbled curses at her sister but got out of the car anyway. She went to the back and opened the trunk, taking her backpack out of her car when she heard Kyle’s voice.

“Hey, can you grab the mail, please?”

She rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses and dropped her bag. She walked to the mailbox and pulled out the wad of envelopes. Turning back to the house, she sifted through the letters when she heard a horn honk. Without even glancing, she stuck her hand up in the air as a wave. When she heard tires squeal, she turned around to see a black SUV stopped in the middle of the road. Brushing it off, she turned back to the house and kept walking.

She heard someone holler and turned around again and saw a guy with sunglasses on running toward her, yelling something. As he got closer, she looked at him closely. His hair was almost slicked back, his sunglasses were big, and he was wearing a black shirt and jeans. Tattoos covered his arms and gloves with the fingers cut off covered his hands.

“What the hell!”

“Excuse me?” Sian asked.

“You want to explain to me what the fuck is going on?”

Sian raised an eyebrow, and transferred her weight to her right leg. “You want to explain to me what the fuck you’re talking about?”

“I was hollering your name. Why didn’t you say anything…and what the hell are you doing here?”

“What the fuck do you mean ‘what am I doing here’? Uh, this is my house. Who the fuck are you?”

“No, you live with me, but that’s not what I’m saying. You’re not supposed to be in America right now, Sam. Not only that but we haven’t talked in days. I should’ve believed Matt and Brian when they said they saw you at the bar last night. How do you not know who I am when we’re supposed to be engaged?”

“I hate to bust your bubble, asshole, but I’m not engaged to anyone.”

“Samantha, you said you would marry me three weeks ago. We’re engaged.”

Suddenly Sian realized who the guy was.

“You’re Zackary aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. Why are you acting like this? And why are you in the U.S.?”

“Zackary—”

“You know I hate being called that.”

“Fine, Zack,” Sian started again. “I’m not who you think I am.”

“You’re Samantha.”

“No, I’m not. I’m Sian, Samantha’s sister.”

“What?”

“I’m Sian Avery Paladino. I’m Samantha’s sister.”

“Wait…you guys are…”

“Yeah, we’re twins. I was born five minutes before she was.”

“Holy shit,” Zacky said really looking at her.

She didn’t dress like Samantha at all. She was wearing a USC t-shirt, grey shorts and tennis shoes, and her hair was in a quick braid over one shoulder. Her hair was the same length and color of Samantha’s. Her eyes were the same bright brown-hazel color. She had the same smile and face. The only difference was she was a bit thicker and her chest was bigger than Samantha’s.

“Wow,” he said, taking a step back.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a shock, but surely you knew.”

“No, actually, I didn’t know.”

“You’ve been together for two years and Samantha didn’t mention she was a twin?!” Sian asked, shocked. At Zacky’s head shake, she barked out laughter. “Well that’s priceless.”

“I mean I knew you guys were sisters and you are older, but I guess it never really came up. We didn’t know each other real well when we got together, and she just went with me on tour. We haven’t had a whole lot of time to talk.”

“Yeah, but you’d think after two years you’d know your girlfriend was a fucking twin,” Sian said, getting angry.

“Hey now, no need to get mad. She probably did tell me, I just didn’t pay any attention,” Zacky amended.

“That just really kinda pisses me off,” Sian said, transferring her weight to her other leg now.

As Zacky watched her, he noticed more differences. Sian’s nails were cut completely down and painted where Samantha had hers longer and hated nail polish. Samantha was all over the place and more outspoken while Sian was calm and collected. That much he hadn’t expected.

“I feel really bad now,” Zacky said.

“Wait, did you say you hadn’t talked to my sister in days?” Sian said suddenly.

“Yeah, Samantha and I were talking every day, but now she hasn’t sent me pictures or emails or anything in the past four days.”

“That’s weird. Where is she?”

“She was somewhere in Italy the last time I talked to her.”

“Who did she go to Europe with?”

“You don’t know?”

“I didn’t even know my sister was gone to Europe until about ten minutes ago.”

“Wow, you guys don’t talk much, do you?” Zacky asked.

“No, we don’t.”

“She went with Erica, Bryce, and Delia.”

“That explains it. Bryce has probably got them on some wild adventure and has revoked her cell phone privileges. She probably hasn’t been able to.”

“It’s still weird, though.”

“Yeah, so is coming home at your sister’s request to find she’s gone gallivanting off to fucking Europe for the summer without telling you.”

“Wow,” Zacky said again.

“What?”

“You’re like…two different people in one.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You not only said that sentence funny, you used a word I don’t know, and then cussed. That’s just weird. It’s like you’re two different people combined in one.”

“Well, the story keeps getting better,” Sian said and lifted her sunglasses to her head. “I was born on June 20th at 11:58 pm and Samantha was born on June 21st at 12:03am. Technically, we have different birthdays, and I’m a Gemini. Samantha’s a Cancer.”

“That’s interesting,” Zacky said.

“Sian! What the fuck is taking so – Oh, hey Zacky,” Kyle said as he came out to the front yard.

“Hey Kyle,” Zacky said back, reaching out to shake hands with Kyle.

“I see you’ve met my other sister,” Kyle said, throwing his arm around Sian’s shoulders. She rolled her eyes and looked at her brother.

“Yeah, the other twin I didn’t know about.”

“You didn’t know about Sian?” Kyle said incredulously.

“No, I knew about her. I didn’t know they were twins.”

“That’s weird.”

“Can anyone say anything else besides ‘that’s weird’?” Sian said, throwing her hands up.

“You’re weird,” Kyle said from beside her. She hit him in the chest and he laughed.

“Hey, we’re getting ready to hit up Johnny’s Bar,” Zacky said motioning toward the SUV where Sian could see a guy with blonde hair and sunglasses on waiting in the driver’s seat. “You guys want to come?”

“I’m not really sure—” Sian started.

“We’ll come,” Kyle put in.

“Kyle, I was going to go back to college.”

“Why the hell would you do that?” He asked, confused.

“Sam’s not here. She’s the only reason I came home; I’m going back to Pasadena.”

“Hell no, you’re not,” Kyle said, putting his hands on his hips. “You’re going to stay here and fucking hang out with me, dammit.”

“Why?”

“When is the last time we saw each other?”

“Christmas,” Sian said, thinking.

“That was five months ago. You’re staying here, we’re going out tonight, and we’re going to have a good fucking time.”

“Kyle, I don’t think—”

“Great! It’s settled!” Kyle said. “We’ll see you guys there in like thirty minutes!”

Zacky nodded and waved. He walked back toward the SUV, turning back to get a good look at Sian again. She closed one eye against the sun, and lifted her hand to shade her eyes as she watched him leave. Her entire gut was telling her this was all going to be a bad idea, but she didn’t have anything else to do.