everybody falling down
falling down – space cowboy feat. chelsea korka

Massie Block was glad that the horrendously long travel to Westchester was over.

Her sister was dropped off to a friend's house, seeing as she might get too emotional about letting Massie go. So it was only her and her mother, and the car was suffocating with tension. They were quiet the whole ride, not even looking at each other. And, obviously, it was the uncomfortable kind of quiet, the quiet Massie despised.

She stepped on the gravel sidewalk, and looked up at the Plovert residence. Her uncle was a commercial tycoon, descended from old European nobility, while her mother and her aunt were from old oil money, but the house didn't show it. Yes, it was big, but only if you looked at it long enough. It was certainly not as big as the mansions around it, but that fact made it more special. It was a Mediterranean style house, a pleasing shade of light orange with a dark brown roof. Behind it was the biggest and best garden she has ever seen, and she knew that her aunt liked to tend to it herself; her aunt was the humble twin.

They've been here many times, but usually, they've only stayed for a day; never two. One time, her and her family only stayed for two hours. That was the last time she visited this house. That day was the day of the funeral. She hasn't been here since.

She forced herself to wipe away all the memories of that day. She's done it so much, she thinks she could be an expert.

Massie Block, Expert at Wiping Away Bad Memories.

Her aunt came out of the door, wearing an apron and looking like she just came from baking cookies. Mmm. Massie's mom stopped baking cookies three years ago. Massie already forgot what they tasted like.

Thinking about it, Massie realized that Kendra Block stopped being her mother three years ago.

Massie looked back at her aunt, noting how different she is from Massie's mom. If you put them beside each other, yes, it's easy to see that they have the same face, even though Massie's aunt smiled more. But Massie's aunt was wearing a pastel pink shirt, regular jeans, and an apron. She looked like the embodiment of the perfect housewife. Massie's mom had on a sharp pantsuit and a stern look on her face. The perfect businesswoman.

"Massie! Look how much you've grown in three years!" Massie's aunt said as way of greeting. Katherine Plovert engulfed Massie in a hug.

"Kate," Kendra said, addressing her twin sister as a way of greeting.

"Kendra," Kate said, smiling.

Kendra turned to Massie. "Behave yourself. I'll be back next weekend with Madison."

"Bye, Mom," Massie said, not even bothering with a hug or a kiss on the cheek. Not even a smile.

"Go on in, Massie. Chris is in the living room. Oh, tell him to go out here for a moment, will you?"

Massie nodded, moving towards the trunk of the car to get her luggage out. If there was one "shallow" and "sexist" thing she believed in, it's that females should never carry their own luggage inside when a man is available to carry it in for her. And she also believes in being a gentleman and she finds nothing wrong with being chivalrous.

But seeing as how Chris and her uncle are inside, and she really didn't want to tell them to go out just to bring in her luggage, she would have to do it herself.

"Massie. I also believe in the "luggage carrying equals to men" thing," her aunt said, and Massie smiled. Her first in days.

"Thanks."

She walked to the front door, which was ajar. She gently pushed it and peeked inside, spotting Chris Plovert, her cousin, sitting on the couch in front of the TV. She was positive that he was watching the door open slowly and her uncertain head peep inside, because his eyebrows were lifted up and there was an amused smile on his lips.

"Still the same Massie. You know, you could go in. Unless you like standing there, peeking from the door," he said, and Massie stepped in, looking around. Nothing changed much, just a bigger TV, a new DVD player and sound system, and different game consoles scattered on the ground in front of the TV.

"Well, you look different. You got taller. And there's something else, I just can't name it," Chris said.

Massie shrugged, knowing full well what that "something else" was. "Your mom told me to tell you to go out for a moment."

He stood up, and Massie noticed that he was towering over her now, while they were the same height, give or take a few inches, when they last saw each other.

"You got taller, too," Massie commented.

"Yeah? Good. Oh, wait. Do you remember where the guest room is?" he asked. Massie nodded. "Good. That's where you'll be staying."

He went out the front door, and Massie made her way up to the second floor, where she headed right and stopped in front of the third door on the right. She pushed it open, and stepped inside.

She'd only been there once before, but she could tell that it was different. The walls were still the same cream yellow, the floors were the same chocolate colored wood. But the arrangement of the furniture was different. The bed was pushed to the far wall, with the bedside table. Beside that was the desk, which was made with the same dark wood as the bedside table and the floor. Beside the desk, at the corner of the room, was a low bookshelf, also made with the same dark wood. In the middle of the room was a rug, covered with floor pillows, and in front of the rug, across the bed, was a TV. Beside the TV was the door that led outside, and on the other side of the TV was a door that led to the bathroom, and Massie knew that there was a door inside the bathroom that led to the closet

It was simple, yet it was beautiful, with its dark wood furniture and pale cream yellow walls. The guest room was at the corner of the house, giving it two big windows on different walls. One was directly above the desk, while the other was in the middle of the TV and the bed. Sunlight streamed through these two windows, illuminating the room.

She looked out the window in the middle of the TV and the bed. She had an amazing view of the garden and the pool. She smiled. Then she moved to the one above the desk. She had a view of the driveway, and she could see her mother getting in the car while her aunt waved goodbye. Chris was making his way inside the house, carrying her five bags of luggage (she was known to over-pack). Knowing Chris, he was probably too lazy to make a second trip, so he just opted to bring her all her luggage in just one.

A minute later, he was in the guest-room-slash-her-room.

"So, even you believe that guys should carry girls' luggage inside," he said, putting down all her bags on the floor.

"You know, it would've been easier if you just took two trips," Massie said, moving to the pile of bags in the center of the room.

"Meh," he shrugged. "If I can make it in one, why bother making it in two?"

"Can't argue with logic like that."

She spread the five bags on the floor, opening all of them to see which should be put where.

"Sooo…" Chris said, standing inside the doorframe.

Massie looked up. "Yeah?"

"Remember when we were young, and I asked you if you wanted to meet my friends, and you got mad at me because you thought that I thought you had no friends or that you were incapable of making your own…" he started. Massie smiled at the memory. They were nine, and Massie genuinely thought he was insulting her. After that day, he never offered for her to meet his friends anymore.

"Chris. I was nine. I'm seventeen. I'm more mature than that. Of course you can introduce me to your friends," Massie said, smiling.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. My girlfriend wanted to meet you, and she told our friends, and our friends wanted to meet you too, and…yeah."

Relief washed over Massie, too. She was worried about meeting one friend, and here was her cousin, offering to introduce her to a whole bunch. "Thanks."

"There's still something different about you that I can't place," he said, scrutinizing her.

Probably owing to the fact that their mothers were twins, Massie looked like Chris. Massie looked like her mother. Chris looked like his mother. Most people just don't see it at first because Chris is a boy and Massie is a girl. They had the same nose, the same lips, and, once upon a time before braces, they had the same teeth..actually, their teeth still looked somewhat alike. They had the same smile, their faces were the same shape, although Massie's face was rounder. Chris just had the boy versions of her looks, except for the eyes. They had their fathers' eyes, which meant that Chris had bright blue eyes while Massie had amber ones.

They even had the same hair color.

"Your hair!" Chris realized, as if he read her mind.

"What about it?" Massie asked, knowing full well what he meant. He crossed the room and stood in front her, squinting his eyes, studying her hair. He gently grabbed a lock of hair and studied it.

"Right. It's dyed. Raven black. Did you dislike our hair so much, Twin?" he asked, using an old joke they had between them. They used to call themselves twins, since they looked alike.

"Not at all," she said. And it was true. She loved her golden brown hair. The dyeing was a result of on of her many bouts of anger. She looked at herself in the mirror after a big fight with her mother, and she noticed that she looked just like Kendra. So she immediately went to a salon to dye her hair, since that was the only thing she could really change.

"Then why?" he asked.

"It's a long, stupid story that I'd rather not tell you. Can we just pretend that I've had black hair ever since we were born?" Massie requested, hoping he'd say yes.

"Sure," he said uncertainly.

"Thank you!"

"Okay. Well, you wanna meet my friends later after you unpack? My girlfriend's getting impatient," he said.

"Sure."

Hmm… how was that?

Do they seem too close for cousins who have been apart for three years? I mean, they were really close when they were kids. And…they exchanged emails, and the occasional IM…