“Why did you do it?” I ask her, unable to keep the question in any longer.
“What?”
“Why did you fuck Tally over like that? She’s your twin sister.”
When she doesn’t speak I look over to her, she’s staring straight ahead, her jaw firm, lips pursed. “Priss I asked you a question.”
“Why do you keep calling me Priss?” she demands, swinging her face in my direction. “I have a name.”
“I know what your name is, Carrigan,” I say, enunciating her name sarcastically. “But I think Priss suits you better.”
“You’re a dick,” she hisses, turning back to look out the windscreen again.
“I may be a dick, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
She sighs and the sound is pained. “It doesn’t matter why I did it, I know what you all think of me.”
“Just be honest,” I snap.
“Fine,” she hisses. “When it all started, I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong. I was fourteen and terrified of screwing up and losing my family billions of dollars. When I realized that maybe we weren’t being fair to Tallulah I was too far into it to turn back. My parents were so sure that it was the right thing to do, that we all had our roles to play and that, that was hers. I guess I had no idea how bad things had gotten or maybe I just didn’t want to see until the day they attacked her.” Her voice cracks on the last words.
Glancing at her again, I’m shocked to see her hurriedly wiping away a tear from her cheek. I didn’t realize she was capable of feeling bad. Honestly, from the moment Tally dragged her out of that party, drunk off her ass, I thought she was just doing this to save her own skin, but maybe there’s more to it than just that.
“So all this, trying to break the will, it’s for her?”
I feel her turn to look at me, so I risk another glance away from the road. Her eyes are downcast, her teeth worrying her lower lip. “I’d make myself sound better if I said yes wouldn’t I?” she asks.
“Not if it’s a lie,” I say simply.
“Part of it is because of what they did to her, but mostly it’s to save myself,” she admits quietly, and that honesty, even though it’s ugly, impresses me.
“It’s okay to look after yourself, to be selfish,” I find myself saying, even though I don’t necessarily think it’s true, at least not all the time.
“Maybe, for some people, but when selfish is one of your defining characteristics I’m not sure it’s so acceptable,” she says, laughing dryly.
“Is that how you see yourself?” I ask, finding that I genuinely want to know her answer.
“Selfish, stupid, vain, weak minded, yeah pretty much,” she says soberly.
“I don’t think you’re stupid.”
“So just selfish, vain, and weak minded then,” she scoffs.
“I think we all have the capacity to be all of those things, it’s our choices that define us. Maybe what you’re doing for your sister now is your chance to be different. Tally think’s you’re as much a victim in all of this as she is.”
“She’s wrong,” Carrigan says, cutting me off. “I might not have understood what I was doing in the beginning, but in the last couple of years I was fully complicit, I knew what I was doing. I’m not innocent, and I’m not a victim.”
With her words we both fall silent and stay that way until we reach the mall and I pull into the underground parking lot. “Come on, let’s go and get you something to wear,” I say, killing the engine and opening my car door.
Rounding the car, I find Carrigan sitting primly in the front seat waiting for someone to open her door and I can’t help but smile at the difference between her and her sister. Tally would open the door, even if you wanted to do it for her, that’s just the type of girl she is. Maybe it’s because she’s been hiding for the last few years, that she’s forgotten that’s she’s an indulged rich girl, but Carrigan hasn’t. She’s every inch the socialite and I can’t help but want to play with her a little.
Standing beside the door I cross my arms across my chest and wait. After a minute or so she looks out the window and spots me standing there. It’s obvious I’m not planning to open her door and after a second she looks down at the handle and opens it herself.
“I wondered how long it would take you,” I drawl.
“You could have just opened it for me,” she snaps peevishly.
“I could have, but I promise you, you’re not too rich to open your own door,” I say with a smile.
Muttering beneath her breath she stomps away from me, but I don’t move.
“Priss,” I say, using the nickname I’ve given her as a demand. I’m shocked, but pleasantly surprised, to see her stop and turn toward me. Tipping my chin in the direction of her still open car door I stand impassively as she rolls her eyes; marching back over to me and slamming the door shut, still muttering what I’d guess are curses beneath her breath.
Smiling to myself I lock my car and stroll after her, enjoying the shape of her bare legs and the way her almost non-existent curves are emphasized by the dress. At first glance her and Tally are completely identical, but now I’m taking the time to really notice there’s some obvious differences between them. Tally is curvier, neither girl is fat, but Tally’s body is more natural, where Priss looks skinny. In jeans and a tank, she’d be waif like.
The longer I stare, the more dainty she looks and some instinctive urge to feed her comes over me. I’m an active person, my entire family are, but we love to eat. In fact my
