Chapter 19 - "Lovefool" - Michaela's Story
March 31st, 2000 - Beverly Hills, California

"Michaela!" Tweedle-Tay yelled impatiently. "Come into the kitchen. You can watch 'The Bold and the Beautiful' any time. There is no way I'm going to cook the whole dinner!"
I rolled my eyes but got up. "I'm coming...." I whined. 'B & B' was only on once a day and it was always on when Tay wanted to make dinner. Why we couldn't eat dinner half an hour later was beyond me. It was probably because Tweedle-Tay didn't want dinner to interfere with 'Baywatch'. Stupid, plastic, Barbie dolls.
Despite the fact that Tweedle-Tay was a guy (and feminists can shoot me right now) he was the better cook of the two of us. I didn't see why I couldn't let him do the cooking and take up some other job that he didn't like doing, like..... the washing? I DID change my clothes more often than he did, and he ate more than I did. That would be more fair and more pleasant for both of us. I walked into the kitchen. "What do you want me to do?" I asked reluctantly.
He pointed towards the fridge. "Get out some vegetables and make a salad," he suggested, turning back to the steaks on the stove.
I obliged and picked out some carrots, lettuce, capsicum, tomatoes and onion. It wasn't as though either of us had anyone to kiss so who really cared about bad breath? I looked at the steak. At least Tay wasn't being totally mean. I hated touching raw meat. It smelt so bad and looked so germy. Probably a hang-up from Junior High biology classes. I smiled. "Taylor's pregnant to Jordan......" I said absentmindedly.
Tweedle-Tay looked at me, surprised. "Huh?"
I smiled smugly. "'Bold and the Beautiful'," I explained.
"I see."
"Taylor and Jordan have been having an affair but Taylor's supposed to marry Clarke so she's pretending that it's Clarke's baby. But, the funny thing is, Clarke's having an affair with Grace, who's Jordan's wife and Clarke's long lost sister," I went on.
Tay shook his head. "I can't believe you watch that stuff," he said. "And you call it entertainment......"
I smiled. "It has a better plot that 'Baywatch'. And it's probably more true to life. Or at least," I said bitterly, "It is if your life is anything like ours," I said, peeling the carrots.
There was a silence. The phone rang. "I'll get it," I said quickly, dropping the peeler and running to the phone. Not that it would be for me. "Hello?" I said, picking it up. It was Alisha, for Tay. "Sure, I'll just get him," I said, beckoning for him to come over.
I handed Tweedle-Tay the phone and went back to preparing the vegetables. It was kind of boring so I subtly eavesdropped on their conversation. It was so sickening, the way he was cooing at her and everything. She was nothing special, she actually seemed kind of bitchy, if you asked me. My brother could do much better. Tweedle-Tay deserved someone who was smart, and pretty, and witty, and fun, and most of all, someone who understood him. There was no way Alisha could understand Tweedle-Tay - she didn't know anything about him. One day Tay would find someone worth while. One day I would too...... I frowned. Stupid Alisha. Tweedle-Tay was never that nice to me. He never offered to do anything nice for me. I mean, who was it that gave him half her fortune? Certainly not Alisha. Tweedle-Tay should learn to hold on to the people who really cared about him. Like...... well, not Alisha. I smiled to myself. She was probably putting out.
I arranged all the vegetables nicely in a bowl but I didn't put on any dressing. Dressing smelt bad and it gave me a headache. I looked at the salad and smiled. Very nice. I checked on the steaks. They looked really ready, like if they were any more ready they'd be burnt. I still didn't want to touch them. "Tay!" I yelled.
"You sound so sexy when you talk like that," he said, making his voice deeper, like our father's.
I was taken aback until I realised he was talking to Alisha. "Tay!"
"I love you too Gorgeous. And you know what I want to do to you...."
I grimaced. This was bad. Really bad. Even when Tweedle-Tay had been in love with me he hadn't been this obsessive. He'd been more innocent and childlike. He hadn't treated me like I was a goddess. And next to Alisha, I was a goddess. I walked over to him and grabbed the phone. "Sorry Alisha," I said sweetly, "Our dinner's burning and I don't like touching meat, so I need TJ's help. Bye!" I hung up on her.
Tweedle-Tay frowned. "I was talking to her. She'll think I don't like her...." he said sadly.
I rolled my eyes. "No, I don't think she's caught on yet," I said. His face fell. "Sorry Tay," I said apologetically, "But our dinner is burning. Just get the steaks off the stove," I said, pushing him towards it.
We fixed up the dinners and went out into the lounge room to watch TV. I grabbed the remote control and turned the TV to 'Entertainment Tonight'. It was good to keep up with the news. They were showing some story about David Hasselholf's face lift. Boring. "So," I said to Tweedle- Tay. "How's Alisha?"
His face lit up like a light bulb. "She is so great. You know Michaela," he said smiling, "I have never met anyone as wonderful as Alisha. She is the best girl ever....."
Really? "I'm glad you feel that way," I managed to choke out. "It's nice to have someone you care that much about." I felt like crying. Weird. There was no reason for me to feel like this. Tweedle-Tay had a right to have a girlfriend. I had absolutely no reason to feel..... jealous? No. That couldn't be right.
"She is soo pretty, the prettiest girl I've EVER seen. She's ever prettier than Cindy Crawford. She's really smart too - and funny," Tweedle- Tay gushed.
Tweedle-Tay was in love. Why did that make me feel so bad? I used to have Rod. Tweedle-Tay hadn't complained much about that, and when he did it was only because he knew Rod was a bastard. So why did every kind word my brother said about Alisha make me feel like someone was stabbing me? "Prettier than Cindy?" I asked light-heatedly, stretching my face into a smile. "I thought that was impossible," I said, thinking on all the Cindy Crawford posters on his wall.
"I did too," Tweedle-Tay said wistfully.
I felt like punching him. All these hidden insults! I was pretty too, everyone always said so. I was quite possibly the prettiest girl in the eleventh grade. That sounded bad, didn't it? Well I couldn't help it. I didn't ask to be born this way, did I? Anyway, I didn't think I was prettier than Cindy Crawford. No way. I wasn't supermodel material. But...... oh well, it was all too complicated to explain. "Good for you," I said shakily.
"I love her so much," Tay continued.
Didn't he know when to shut up?
"She makes the funniest jokes," he went on. "Like the other day we were talking about you and she said you probably weighed over 100lbs and I said you weighed 120 and she said 'what a rhinoceros!'. Rhinoceros! Get it?"
"Tweedle-Tay!" I snapped. "Not everyone is five foot tall like Alisha. I wear a size 4 dress, I hardly think I'm overweight!"
"Oh you're not," he said quickly. "But-"
"Fourteen year old, ex-child star Grubbery Manson -" the presenter on Entertainment Tonight said.
Tweedle-Tay and I paused our conversation and turned out attention to the television set.
"Is in a come after an accident with a truck yesterday afternoon. Grubbery is staying at the 'Mae Ashton Hospital' in West Tulsa and has not yet come out of the coma. It just goes to show what so much attention at such a young age can do to a child...." the presenter continued. "On a happier note Cameron Diaz and Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys married last week and we have exclusive footage...."
This was the final straw. I burst into tears. "Oh my god..... You don't think it's true do you?"
Tweedle-Tay's face, that had been so happy two minutes ago, had crumbled. "I guess so, 'Entertainment Tonight' doesn't lie. Grub's not exactly a big star anymore. They'd have nothing to gain by the rumour."
"Poor Grub! What do you think happened?"
"Something close to what happened to us?" Tweedle-Tay's lip began to quiver and he began to cry.
I gave him a hug. "We're going to have to do something."
"Like what?"
"Maybe we should go and save him before he becomes as fucked up as we are...." I said softly.
"Go back to Tulsa?" Tay asked, surprised.
"It'll give us a chance to face our fears..... Grub needs us. He will come out of the coma," I said, with far more certainty than I felt. "And when he does, we'll have to stop him from going any further."

To find out what happens next, check out Return To Stoneybrook Crescent, part 4 in the Tweedle-Tay Saga.