Chapter 2: Hundreds of Miles away
Laila
Hundreds of miles away from Corrigan a young girl stepped out of the shower and wiped the mirror off with the cotton towel. She held her breath as she dried herself off and walked into her peach painted walls. She avoided looking in the mirror to make sure she didn’t freak out over a zit or something so small. Lilia, unlike Corrigan, was scared for this day. The day where all her classmates could outshine her once more, before they all parted ways.
I looked at the lime green dress with pleats and thin straps and felt light headed. My heart raced as I felt the cold silk touch my bare skin. The thought of this night made my insides turn cold. My twin sister walked in the room with grace in her three-inch high heels. She smiled and led me over to the vanity. She sat me down and turned the chair towards her. She smiled and reached behind me for the eyeliner.
She glided it over my waterline with ease. She curled and applied mascara to my eyes. She applied a hint of gloss to my lips, a brush of blush and a touch of eye shadow. When she turned the chair around I could not believe I was looking at myself. The girl who usually wore thick black eyeliner and loads of mascara looked back at me with a grace of beauty I had never seen. I knew my sister could work magic, I had seen it before, but I had always thought it would not work on me. As I looked in the mirror I was completely taken back.
Tara smiled and plugged the curling iron in. She grabbed the hair spray and comb and began to section off my hair while it heated. She teased the top to create a poof then placed a thin fake diamond studded hair band in front of it to make it look like it stood up higher. Once the curling iron was hot and ready she curled small sections of hair, hair spraying each right after she had them the way she liked. Once she was finished she smiled and bounced the curls. I could not believe in how she made me look. For the first time in a while I felt beautiful.
Tara slipped into her short black and white dress. The black made her tan stand out and the white made her mid-back black hair stand up. Her hair made her sharp face stand out which drew you to her amber coloured eyes with hints of blue and green. Tara and I may have been twins but we were not identical. Tara was born with beautiful loose curled, thick black hair. I was born with thin light brown hair with a hint of orange. I was born with plain hazel eyes. She was born with honey coloured amber eyes. I was born at an average height and average weight. Tara was born with a petite body in everyway. She was everything I wanted to be. Beautiful, smart, confident, graceful and amazing.
Tara looked up at me and smiled. She extended her hand towards me and I stood up with her. Holding her hand we walked down the stairs to our parents. I imagined by holding her hand I was taking some of her confidence, grace and beauty for tonight. Tara squeezed my hand as if she was sensing my thoughts. We walked side by side to the car and I looked out the window the whole time he drove to the hall. I didn’t want to face him tonight, I didn’t want to know the news Ryan had been waiting to tell me for months now.
When we pulled up I held my breath and we slipped into the hallway surrounded with graduates. I avoided Ryan through out the whole introduction and ceremony but after the father/daughter dance I ran right into him…talk about karma. He looked down at me and smirked.
“So you try and avoid me only to actually run right into me when this time I am not looking for you.” He laughed but I was only confused.
“What?”
“Never mind now. Anyways, have one dance with me before I tell you. This way you’ll always remember this.” Ryan touched my arm while I spoke and as he spoke his arm slid down my arm and he intertwined his fingers in mine. I nodded and he led me onto the floor surrounded by the rest of our classmates. The one song led to another as I stalled as much as I could. When it came to a song I hated, I excused myself to go to the washroom.
When I walked in Tara was fixing her makeup in the mirror. She looked over and smiled.
“Avoiding Ryan again?” I nodded and she sighed.
“You are going to have to talk to him one of these days. Even I know what is going to happen and you really need to know.” I nodded knowing she was right. She checked every stall then walked out. A few minutes later Ryan walked in and I heard the soft click of the lock closing.
“You can’t be in here, this is the girls washroom.” I said panicking. Ryan walked over slowly looking nervous. He placed his warm palms on my biceps and turned me to look at him.
“Tara is watching the door for us. You have to stop running. I know you don’t want to be hurt but you have to know.” I nodded looking up with tears in my eyes expecting the worse. As a warm salty tear slid down my cheek Ryan reached up and wiped it away making me want to just ball my eyes out right there.
“I have to move this summer. I have to move to Trenton. It’s sixteen hours away. I have to leave in a month because my parents got a job at the base down there.” I guessed wrong, this way the worst thing that could happen. I was losing Ryan and I had no control over it.
“Well why can’t you stay here and live at my place?”
“Because they have an amazing program down there, that I can take to have a higher chance of getting in university. Look around Laila, this tiny town isn’t doing anything for me and I want to go places. That’s why Trenton is a great opportunity. You are the only thing keeping me here and I can’t be stuck in this stupid town anymore. I have to go Lilia and I am so sorry I have to leave.”
Ryan tried to pull his arms around me but I pushed him backwards and ran for the door, tears now pouring down my cheeks. I banged on the door thinking the lock was on the outside and after a minute I decided to just slid down the door. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I put my head on my knees and just gave up. I let the tears stream down my cheeks and let my mascara run. Ryan walked over sat on the ground and pulled me into his lap. As he stroked my head and whispered to me, I cried into the curve of his neck.
We left early from the dance that night. Tara helped me in the car and when Ryan offered to come she closed the door and got in the front seat, locking the doors leaving a sad looking Ryan standing in the rain. I watched him until I couldn’t see him and even then I waited hoping I would wake up from this horrible dream.
