I grabbed his hand and raised it to my face. I wanted to look closer, in case my eyes were deceiving me. But they weren't. No ring.
"You lying bastard." I looked up and my dad and felt like spitting at him. I'd never spoken to him like that before, and would have never dreamt of it. But right now I had no respect for this man. Once my idol, he had fallen so far in my estimation right now. He was a liar and a cheat. Simple as that. And it was unforgivable.
"Mike, please can we talk." He sounded desperate and tried to grab hold of me.
"I don't talk to liars. I have nothing to say to you. Ever again." I ran off. I hated him right now. And I couldn't wait to get to Maria. To finish what we'd started. To pick up where we'd left off. To celebrate my win, but most of all, retreat to my safe place where I could tell her about all this and she would listen, and be there for me. Like she always had been.
But as I got closer....
"I can't believe you did this."
It was Maria's voice. Obviously I'd walked in on her reprimanding Mckenzie. I stopped to listen. I was dying to hear Maria put her in her place. I smiled instantly in anticipation of the moment. God knows McKenzie deserved it.
"Well I can't believe you did what you did either. Talk about pot calling kettle black sister. You lied to him. Made up all that bullshit about your parents being divorced. Pretended to be someone you weren't, mystery mint kisser. That's not ever a good pseudonym...Please, you should be the one who's ashamed of yourself!"
My heart sort of stopped. It felt like invisible hands reached down into my body and stole my breath. What the fuck was McKenzie saying? I didn't understand. That Maria was the mystery mint kisser. That would be impossible though, because Maria would never lie to me like that. Ever.
I inched around the wall, feeling a little like a zombie. Not really alive, not dead either.
"You lied to me?" I asked Maria. She looked up at me and nodded.
No, this was not computing. I did not understand. Maria would never do that to me. She would never lie about being someone else, and she would definitely not make up a bull shit story about her parents getting divorced too. Pretending to know what I was going through. That thought hurt me almost as much as her lying about kissing me.
"You lied to me about your parents getting divorced, when you knew what I was going through?"
But she nodded again.
"So everyday, when you were "helping" me find her, it was you this whole time?"
I looked at her. All I felt was desperation. I needed her to say NO. I needed her to say 'no' so badly right now. It was as if my life depended on it. Well, my heart did.
"Yes." Her voice was soft and reserved and tears began to well up in her eyes.
I shook my head, I still refused to believe this. "It can't be. I thought, but, you would never lied to me. We've always told each other the truth. Everything. You wouldn't do that to me.... Would you?"
"I'm sorry." Her words were so faint that I barely heard them.
But... surly.... There was only one way to definitively prove that Maria was the mystery mint kisser. So I moved towards her and kissed her. She kissed me back and within seconds, I was transported back onto the dance floor that night. She didn't taste the same, but she felt the same. She felt even better now. I kissed her hard, but soon slowed down as the kiss pulled me in and I felt myself getting lost in it. I slipped my hand around to the small of her back. Her skin felt so soft. I needed her so badly right now.
I pulled her closer and she moaned. This was the kind of kiss you could get lost in. The kind that made you foget everything. It was like a drug, and I was just about to forgive Maria of everything she had done. To take her back to my room and do everything I could to her... with her. I'd never wanted anyone more in that moment. I was just about to let go and succumb completely when a moment of sanity prevailed and broke through the thick haze.
She'd lied to me. For weeks.
My heart broke, right there and then. I let go of her and stepped back. I met Maria's eyes. She looked desperate.
"Mike, wait." She started walking towards me, but I didn't want her anywhere near me. I didn't want to see her now.
"Don't fucking talk to me again. Just don't." I turned and ran and had no idea where I was going to go.
Maria
I watched as Mike disappeared. I could hear myself breathing fast, my chest rising and falling as if I had just run a marathon. I didn't know what to do, so I just stared straight ahead of me, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Then I heard it. A crunch of a twig. A shuffle. I swung around and there she was. My "sister". So called sister. A strange, bitch that
