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Model Sister: Ep 1 Side B

A lot longer than I meant it to be...

By Bianca WilsonPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 12 min read
1

Check out Side A if you haven't read it first.

Was that supposed to be lasagna or burnt brownies? She'd rather play it safe with the chips instead.

"Nalani?!"

Taken aback by her sudden appearance, the young woman politely smiled but before she could speak.

"Hurry and go get washed up for dinner!" Merida's mom told her.

Merida raised a brow her eyes widening at the untouched dish of what looked like untouched semi-burnt lasagna. Their Dad did most of the cooking in the house for a reason.

Merida looked to Nalani who was quietly eating chips.

Why did she always do things she doesn't normally do whenever Nalani visits home?

"...Okay?" Merida forced a smile and turned to head upstairs when she bumped into her Dad.

He didn't see her however but the lasagna on the table.

"What- he began to say but seeing Nalani at the kitchen table he silenced any form of admonishment in his throat.

"Nala."

Nalani lifted back her head her eyes curving as she smiled.

"Dada."

He greeted her by wrapping an arm around her and pressing the side of his face against hers.

Her smile sweetened as she continued to chew.

But his eyes were on his wife. "Honey I forgot to tell you we're eating out today."

Her jaw dropped a flicker of disappointment lived but only for a second as she nodded and smiled.

"You should have told me sooner."

"I'm sorry."

Merida breathed out in relief.

"What?"

She ran into her sister in the hall.

"Mom was about to cook..."

Marina didn't seem upset about being left behind at all. She raised a brow.

"So Nala IS here."

Merida was grinning from ear to ear as she nodded.

Marina pretended not to care as she trudged towards the stairs but Meri caught her poker face cracking as she made her way hopping upstairs.

Nalani Keating, their older half-sister by seven years. She didn't speak much but her thoughtful gifts compensated, eventually, when the family learned from their Dad her modeling career had taken off the ground, the twins, Merida especially became fans and began to keep an eye out for her work.

Their Father took them to "The Spot". An indoor-outdoor restaurant that specialized in barbeque and burgers. It's main point of attraction was it's double-sided pool bar; the bar itself was indoors, but the bar stools were outside. And then the second point of attraction, of course was an outdoor pool and a series of tables. Booths with umbrellas neatly placed outside, for seating with it's comfy ice cream cone-shaped Wiccan chairs. One could sit down and fold in their legs using the sheets left behind in each chair, which is exactly what Nalani did. The moment she sat down she looked at the menu. Her sisters followed her graceful example, finding the blankets warm.

It was "their" spot. "Theirs" as in Nalani and their Dad. The twins had always heard about it from their conversations but they never really knew what the place was up till now.

The dinner was for the most part quiet as the family enjoyed the latin music and watched a couple step out onto the concrete clearing and begin to samba. It was beautiful. Nalani watched with a hand tucked underneath her chin completely enraptured as did their Father, and Merida. Marina could only stuff her face. Her eyes widened at the blue cheese ranch bacon chicken burger and began to slowly chew to savor its flavor before reaching for fries covered in chives and sour cream.

The crowd whistled and cheered the couple on, and for a moment all eyes seemed to be on them.

That was, until their Mom, Larissa, perhaps not able to wait any longer, cleared her throat and decided to drop the news.

"Girls, Nalani has agreed to take you in for the summer."

In the beginning, they didn't hear her over the blaring music and the skill and fiery chemical exchange between the two dancers, people were pulling out their phones and trying to get a shot of the two to share on social media.

"Hello, ladies? Hubby. Stop eating Marina and look at me, are you trying to become a pig?!"

Merida heard nothing, she simply sensed something was off after a while as she finally turned to stare at her Mom whom's lips were tightly pursed.

"What's the matter, Mom?"

Hearing the words "matter" their Dad finally left his trance, blinking he looked around. "What?"

"So now you're all ready to listen?"

Their Dad looked at her a bit confused.

"What?"

"Tell them the thing, dear."

His expression looked blank.

"Huh?"

Her voice hardened. "You know, the thing...Dean, come on!"

Hearing the name "Dean" Nalani looked away from the couple to the table and observed the expressions on everyone's faces.

Marina only focused on food, a bug-eyed Merida, a confused Father, and an agitated Step-Mom.

Finally, Larissa looked to her, her gaze pointed.

"Why don't you tell them?"

Nalani blinked.

Dean finally caught on. Before she could answer he did.

"Ahhh. Nalani's on break for the summer, do you girls have plans?"

The twins' gazes became shifty before finally exchanging looks. Larissa seemed to hold a sigh from impatience as she watched him.

The twins finally spoke.

"No."

"...No."

"Great! Then you can spend the summer with Nalani. Your Mother and I have other plans so we won't be home. Make sure you pack up everything you need before you go."

"Especially you Merida," Larissa added. "No one will be home to send you your Mr. Freezy Buns."

Marina snickered while Merida lowered her head and tried to hide from Nalani who was sitting on her left.

However, Nalani wasn't staring at her at all.

She wasn't really staring at anything at the moment, just sitting there with her chin propped by her hand. She tended to space out a lot, during that time it was hard to not admire her exotic features.

After a while, she finally blinked, and quickly scanned her right side as if to make sure everyone was still there.

"We'll be by the beach, so make sure you bring your swimsuits." She said.

Marina's face lit up like Christmas while Merida's rotted like a fruit in fall. Unlike her older twin, she didn't have curvy hips and a bust to show off.

"I don't really plan to do anything special, so if you want to go somewhere just let me know." She fished out her phone from the pocket of her overalls hidden by her blanket shawl and tapped at the screen.

The phones of the twins beeped. They looked at the contents.

"We'll be going to New Zealand?!"

"You didn't say you'd be taking them out of the country!" Larissa spoke up.

Nalani raised her eyebrows and blinked at her. "Is... that a problem?" When she spoke to her Father about it on the phone he didn't seem to care at all.

"Well..."

Larissa nudged Dean who looked indifferent. Larissa bulged out her eyes at him.

"What?"

"The girls have never left the country before. Don't you think this is a bit... dangerous?"

"He raised a brow, I traveled the world with Nala when she was only four. It's not that big of a deal, travelling broadens the mind, it's nice."

Seeing how care-free he was Larissa let out a huff and closed her eyes as she tried to maintain her composure. "Dear... but these are OUR kids."

The twins stared.

Nalani reached for her glass of lemonade, her face was tranquil but she downed the glass while pulling out her phone to check the time.

Dean slowly turned to fully stare at Larissa. His voice quieter than before.

"Yes, Reece, they're all my kids."

The two hard stared at each other for a bit before Larissa finally pursed her lips and looked to her daughters hopefully.

"Girls, do you want to go?"

The twins' gazes shifted from the loaded question. Of course, they wanted to go but if they said it they'd be betraying their Mom. It was that kind of feeling.

Dean leaned forward in his seat, his brows furrowing but he would wait for their response before speaking.

Tension hung over the table, but when the girls didn't speak, the silence was finally broken but not by them.

"...That's an unfair question."

"What?"

"Please, don't involve the kids in your arguments."

Larissa tucked a wavy strand of blonde hair behind her ear, her gaze narrowing.

"We're not arguing. I just asked them a question."

"No. You're asking them to pick a side. I was also a kid once, I think that makes me an expert here. This sort of situation is like holding your kids at gunpoint. The fact they haven't answered yet means they're scared who will get shot."

"Pffft." Marina reigned back in her smile under her Mother's gaze. The shoulders of the twins relaxed slightly.

Larissa closed and opened her eyes, before finally sighing. "Don't exaggerate. No one's getting shot."

"Not physically at least, but emotionally one of you is bound to take it personally." Nalani looked to Dean. "I'm an outsider after all, so it might not even be my place to comment on this."

Dean frowned at her but before he could say anything Larissa cut in.

"I did NOT mean it like that."

Nalani stretched, obviously unconvinced. "Well, I will be going to New Zealand, whether it be alone or with the girls that is up for you all to decide." Nalani looked to the girls. "What do you two want to do for the summer?"

"They're going to New Zealand." Dean said.

Larissa opened her mouth.

"They're not children anymore, we didn't raise them so loosely that they'd do anything we need to worry about."

"Teenagers are teenagers, and that is beside the point. It's a dangerous world out there!"

"This island is just as dangerous."

"But out there anything can go wrong and we won't be able to reach them!"

"We'll be out of the country as well so even if something were to happen we wouldn't be able to reach them in time regardless."

Larissa huffed. Nothing she said seemed to be getting through!

Dean nodded in Nalani's direction.

"That is why we're leaving them with Nala. Remember?"

"..."

"Or we could just cancel our trip and look after the girls ourselves."

Having laid that out on the table everyone began to squirm uncomfortably. Marina felt slightly irritable, they acted as if they were still babies. Merida was feeling slightly disappointed, if she went to New Zealand she'd be able to make an interesting video for her assignment, beach aside it's still a good experience but...

Larissa turned in her seat and stared at her plate. She closed her eyes.

"I need you to take this seriously."

Dean's voice was calm. "I am."

"No, you're not! Not everyone wants to raise their children as freely as you do! We have all been teens we don't always do what our parents say!"

"Yeah, but I've never done anything that would get me into any kind of danger, I know you've had your own experience, but..." He wanted to say something but instead, he left his sentence unfinished.

". . ." Larissa stared at him hard.

"Wait," Nalani held up a hand, seeming to have had an epiphany. "If you don't trust me to look after them then why am I here?"

"What? That's beside the point."

"No it's not, clearly you take me for decoration here. What your saying is not only that you can't trust your own children but you can't trust me either, since I've been raised so freely."

"What I'm saying is I just want them in the country, why can't you just vacation in the country?"

"Because." Nalani leaned back in her chair, a glint of defiance shimmering in her hazel grey eyes. "I don't want to. I've planned this for a while and I've already booked the plane tickets."

Merida recalling that she also blew the money she saved over the years on tickets for a play knitted her brows listening.

Larissa stood up from her seat and began to point at her. "You, you, you! It's all about you, you are SO selfish!"

Nalani folded her arms. "Why do I have to change my plans for you?"

"Because they are YOUR sisters, you have a responsibility to help out!"

Nalani raised a brow. "Since when? Also, what does them being my sisters have to do with changing MY plans for YOU?"

Not understanding Larissa just blinked, her expression souring.

Nalani propped up her chin with her hand once more. "You're the only person here who has a problem. Merida barely leaves the house and Marina always comes home after hanging out with her friends. If Dad can trust them, why can't you?"

"Don't you know your Dad? Men... they're oblivious to things like this! The girls can be a handful..."

Question signs hung over the heads of the twins. Handful?

Merida could see Marina's mood swings could be annoying to deal with but she wasn't always like that.

Marina tried to think about it but all she remembered was her Mother inviting over her friends to talk and eating Meri's pastries, there was an instance where they said she thought she was a boy when she walked in, and criticized her boyish way of dress, before proceeding to ask if she was a lesbian. Her Mother sat through the whole thing not saying much until Marina talked back, only she was reprimanded. Ever since then she couldn't help giving her Mom some sass every now and then. But she was talking about both of them, Merida baked whenever she came home. Did Meri give them a hard time? That couldn't be she was always in her Meri room doing... Meri stuff.

The girls loved their Mom and they didn't want to make her feel bad, but the comment made them feel bad. They felt wronged.

"A handful? How is it a handful when Dad does all the cooking, the cleaning, and I know I haven't seen everything but whenever I visited I've seen the girls do their own laundry, make their own food, they clean up after themselves too! Is there anything you even do around the house?"

Larissa looked to Dean who rubbed his forehead, averting her gaze. The truth had been outed long ago, and it didn't actually take anyone saying anything for Nalani to realize it. He sighed. "That's enough Nala."

"In terms of self-sufficiency, temperament I'd say they completely take after Dad."

"Nala!" Dean warned. "That's enough."

Larissa's lips were tight. "Well, you're not being discreet with your dislike at all now are you?"

"You've been blessed with my Dad and good kids..." Nalani shrugged. "You've had an easy life so what are you so uneasy about?"

Larissa opened her mouth, Dean stood.

"We're done." And then a little firmer, looking at them both. "We're DONE here."

Dean lifted a hand.

A gesture that was long overdue. He called for the check.

Series
1

About the Creator

Bianca Wilson

Author of Dream of the Cabbage Spirit on Amazon. Webnovel writer, simmer, poet and daydreamer.

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