The Class Gets Confused
Chapter Four:
"Which looks better, the red one or the brown?" Lina asked her sister as she held two shirts from her closet up against her chest. "The red one is sexier, but the brown one is more comfortable."
"Who cares?" was the mumbled response from Lina's bed where Kat lay splayed out staring up at the ceiling.
She dropped the shirts and stared at her sister. "You have got to snap out of this already. It's been two weeks and if anything you're just getting grouchier by the day. This is bad, even for you. Now which one?"
Kat groaned and glanced at the two shirts. "Red. More cleavage. Howdy Doody over there will appreciate it", she said nodding in Richie's direction.
Richie smirked at his fiancée's twin before engrossing himself back into the latest issue of Scientific American. As usual when the two sisters were together, he did his best to fade into the background as the Warbler women had a tendency to be a bit overpowering. However over the course of the last few weeks his alone time with Lina had gotten awfully slim as the sullen Kat had taken to hanging out with them practically twenty four seven. He was a pretty understanding guy, but even he had needs.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm no fun", Kat sulked.
"Are you ever?" Richie supplied.
"Not helping." Lina gave her boyfriend the look before turning back to address her sister. "We know you're hurting, but we just want you to be better. You've got to pick yourself up and move on", Lina added cheerfully.
Kat sat up on Lina's bed. "Well, rah rah to you too", she said mocking her sister. "Besides, I'm totally getting better. You know how I've been telling you how I was having all these dreams where Benjamin was dying all these brutal miserable deaths. Now in my dreams he's just horribly maimed. See? That's totally progress."
Richie put down the magazine. "Your therapist would be so proud", he deadpanned.
Kat rolled her eyes at her soon to be brother in law. "We can't all have lucked out like you did finding Ms. Perfect over there", she said pointing at her twin sister. "Look, I told you guys I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're engaged. I am. Long as Red here understands he has to get divorced before he takes the plunge for a second time", Kat offered.
The thing was that as much grief as Kat gave Richie, she had actually grown to quite like him. He made her sister happier than she had ever seen her, so that had to count for something. But she still liked to keep him on his toes. She was the big sister, if by only five minutes, and as far as she could tell it was in her best interest to keep Richie a little afraid of her, for Lina's sake.
"The divorce is almost final", Richie added. "Just waiting for Fern to crawl out of her hole long enough to sign the papers."
"And you took us out for that lovely engagement dinner last week", Lina agreed as she patted her sister on the back. "That was fun, right?" she offered uncertainly.
"Ah, the engagement dinner", Kat reminisced. "And a good time was had by none. Even you two have to admit that it was a little weird."
Lina started to put away some of the discarded clothes she had tried on back in the closet. "Well, it was, uh interesting. But the important part was that everyone was there!" she offered, as always trying to be the optimist and finding the bright side.
The truth was on hearing news of her sister's engagement, despite Kat's own misery, she had been happy for her sister. It was a little rushed, but they weren't getting married anytime soon. So she had offered to take Lina and Richie out to celebrate, assuming it would just be the three of them. However, Lina had misinterpreted and invited the whole gang—Nicole, Duncan, Ethan, Kyle, herself and of course the guests of honor.
Nobody had wanted to disappoint, so they all showed. Except she and Ethan weren't talking and it was obvious within the first five minutes that Nicole and Duncan were also not on speaking terms. Yonk, while doing better, was still in the hospital. Oh, and then there was the fact that she and Duncan had slept together and Ethan (and most likely now Kyle) knew.
Weirdly, Kat and Duncan had wound up seated next to each other and that turned out to be the least awkward part of the meal. He wasn't the kind of guy she was attracted to, nor was he an Ethan type, but he was nice enough. The kind of guy you could have a few beers with at the local dive bar on Friday night.
Even better was that every time Kat spoke to Duncan during dinner she found herself on the receiving end of death glares not only from Ethan, but also Nicole. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Nicole must have been the woman Duncan was so upset over. Sure, Nicole was married but since there was a cheating epidemic in Philly these days anyway, she wasn't all that surprised.
Kat rose and started to paw through the clothes in her sister's closet. "Yeah, it was a blast", she said as she held up a vintage tee in front of the mirror trying to picture how it would look on her.
"So, have you spoken to Ethan yet?" Lina asked.
"That's a negative. I'm not talking to that jerk", Kat sighed as she finally gave up and pulled her own shirt over her head, quickly replacing it with the one from Lina's closet.
Richie realized a beat too late what was going on tried to shield his eyes. "God. I wish you would warn me before you do that", he said as his face went beet red. She was always doing that to him.
Kat looked at Richie innocently. "What? We're going to be family soon. I don't have anything you haven't seen before."
"But he hasn't called?", Lina asked, knowing that it probably was killing both Kat and Ethan to not be in contact with each other in some capacity. "You know you never did tell me what your huge fight was over anyway."
"I don't want to talk about it and no, he hasn't called." Kat sized herself up in the mirror. "Can I borrow this?"
"Yeah, sure", Lina said absentmindedly as she watched her sister flop back onto the bed, trying to figure out what she wanted to say and how to say it delicately enough as to not piss Kat off. "Do you want to know what I think?"
Kat stared squarely at Richie. "Is she about to shrink me?"
"Better you than me", Richie offhanded before engrossing himself in yet another magazine article.
Lina stood hands on hips. "I think you're upset about Benjamin, yes. But it's been two weeks and frankly I think that deep down what you are more upset over is this stuff with Ethan. You guys spent practically all your time with one another. He's your best friend. You miss him."
Kat scoffed. "I do not", she insisted as her sister shot her a look. "Okay, okay. Maybe I miss the dork a little bit, but just a little", she swore up and down. " And I have you!", she countered.
"Yes", Lina agreed. "You do, and I love you dearly, but don't you think you need to hang out with someone other than me? Richie and I just got engaged. We need a little, you know, alone time. Just the two of us."
"Are you trying to get rid of me? Your own flesh and blood?"
"No", Lina quickly added just as a quiet "Yes" could be heard escaping Richie's mouth.
"Of course not. But this isn't healthy. You've got other friends. Call them up. Go have some fun", Lina encouraged.
Kat rolled her eyes. "I would, but I think Ethan got custody of Kyle in the break-up. Every time I call him he's with Ethan. And I've kind of lost touch with most of my other friends since I started…"
"Hanging out with Ethan?", Lina finished.
Kat shrugged not wanting to prove Lina right. "Possibly."
Lina smiled in satisfaction. "Just call him. I'm sure Ethan misses you as much as you miss him. I know it. You'll make up in no time."
"You're sure a pushy son of a gun, aren't you?", Kat said as she got to her feet.
"I learned from the best", Lina laughed.
Kat grabbed her own discarded tee from the floor and reached for her purse. "I gotta go. I've got a freelance gig about a half hour from here. A thirty pound eggplant. Oh, what a glamorous life I lead" she snickered as she planted a quick kiss on her sister's head.
"Just think about what I said", Lina urged. "Okay".
Kat groaned as she opened the door. "I'll think about it." She waved in Richie's direction. "Bye Red."
As the door closed behind her, Richie rose from his chair to wrap his arms around Lina. "And we're finally alone. I thought it would never happen", the smile on his face reaching from ear to ear.
Lina kissed him. "Me either." She kissed him again as she wrapped her own arms around his neck as she melted into him. "And we'll have plenty more alone time once my sister and Ethan finally man up and admit they love each other already."
Richie leaned in to plant kisses on Lina's neck. "Do you think that will happen anytime soon?"
She smiled coyly. "If I have anything to do with it it will."