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Nelle is putting a huge pile of her own laundry into Andrea’s washer when there’s a knock at the door. Somehow, in the three months that Nelle and Andrea have been dating (with Nelle’s knowledge), her entire wardrobe migrated to Andrea’s house, living on the floor more often than not; a fact that endlessly bothers Andrea.
Wearing only a pair of basketball shorts and one of Andrea’s crop tops, she makes her way to the door, a pair of random pants in her hands. When she opens the door, propping it on her ankle, she’s staring directly into eyes that should be familiar, but aren’t.
“Um,” Andrea’s twin says. This is the first time Nelle is seeing her in person, of course Andrea has told Nelle all about their big falling out two years ago, but stories didn’t prepare her for ever actually meeting Erin Minyard face-to-face.
“Uh,” Nelle says, just to be an asshole. She tosses the pair of pants off to the side somewhere, and Erin raises an eyebrow—a motion too similar to Andrea’s, yet it means something completely different.
“Is Andrea here?” She finally asks. Nelle pretends to think about it for a second before shaking her head solemnly.
“No, sorry. She’s actually somewhere in Mexico; she smelled your awful perfume and decided to bolt before you came here.” She pretends to wipe a tear. Andrea never said that if she met Erin she wasn’t allowed to be an asshole, though it was heavily implied. So was the thought that Nelle would never go within a hundred feet of Erin, yet here they were.
Erin scoffs, crossing her arms, most likely trying to look intimidating, but with Nelle’s upbringing, it does nothing. “Can you be serious? I’m in a hurry.”
“Well, hurry your way out, because Andrea’s not here,” Nelle says, copying Erin’s stance, but she’s much more intimidating. When Nelle sees that there’s no way Erin is going to leave, she sighs and opens the door more. “She’s not going to be happy you’re here, but I guess you can wait for her to get home.” She walks back inside, finishing putting her clothes in the washer and starting it. When she gets back to the living room, she sees Erin sitting tensely on the couch.
“Who even are you? Why are you in my sister’s house?” Erin’s eyes narrow and Nelle feels her lips twinge slightly in amusement.
“I’m actually a figment of your imagination,” she says, waving her hands in circles before making her way to the kitchen. The kitchen isn’t messy, just a few dishes here and there, a shirt on the counter, a half-empty pot of coffee from this morning. The walls are beige—way different than the boring gray of Nelle’s apartment.
Getting a glass of water for her and Erin, she makes her way back to the living room, turning a documentary on the TV. Erin takes the water and sits through the documentary in silence for the next hour. On the start of the third episode, the door unlocks to reveal Andrea in all her glory: black skin-tight leggings, a black sports bra and a black and white flannel, paired with her chunky boots. Nelle runs her eyes appreciatively over her body before settling on her eyes. Andrea sees Erin, and looks at Nelle with the familiar look that says What did you do?
Nelle gives a similar look back that says Who, me? I didn’t do anything. Andrea sighs and tosses her gym bag on the floor by the door, and bending over to unzip her boots. Nelle peeks at Erin, who is looking between the two of them like she’s missing something—she is—and doesn’t know what.
When she’s done taking her boots off, she levels Erin with a look. “Why are you at our house?” Nelle’s heart gives a small lurch at that. Sure, she’s been staying here for the past few months, only returning to her house when she needs something, but she never assumed that this house was hers, too. Andrea’s eyes flick to Nelle, and it’s obvious Nelle’s face did not conceal her thoughts.
“Because, Andrea,” Erin says, crossing her arms once again. “I called, because I had news to share with you, and you hung up on me.” Andrea makes a face that says not my problem, but doesn’t say so out loud. She makes her way to the kitchen, opening the freezer.
“There’s no spoons clean,” Nelle warns, earning a grunt from Andrea.
“Really?” Erin growls. Nelle can’t find it in herself to care. “Andrea, can you just listen for five seconds?”
Andrea returns, Ben & Jerry’s in hand, a fork in the other. She makes an impatient gesture with her hand, silently telling Erin to get on with it. “Okay,” Erin says, taking a big breath. “I’m getting married, and even though we’re on bad terms, I want you there.”
Nelle can tell by the way Andrea’s fingers twitch that this is not the thing Andrea expected Erin to say, and she makes a subtle face that, were Andrea anybody else, her jaw would be on the floor. “You’re getting married?”
“Yes.” Surprisingly, it looks like Erin might hold her ground. Nelle knows all about the deal Andrea ad Erin made when they were teenagers—how they weren’t allowed to be with anybody until graduation in exchange for Andrea’s protection. How Erin kept breaking the deal, so Andrea ended it. How Erin saw her with a girl at Eden’s twilight and abandoned her sister because she decided to be homophobic. “I’m getting married to Kaiden.”
Andrea says nothing, pushing her way into the spot between Nelle and the side of the couch, as far away from Erin as possible. Her hands lightly grazes Nelle’s thigh, barely a squeeze, but it’s the acknowledgement Nelle needed. Erin’s eyes immediately zone in on the action, and Nelle feels some sort of twisted satisfaction at the sight. Andrea makes a face that shows she’s thinking about the wedding, though she masks it with with taking another bite of ice cream. “Did Nichole set you up for this?” She eventually asks. Erin’s eyes narrow.
“Am I not allowed to want my sister at my wedding?” she asks. Andrea points her fork at Erin.
“Not when you can’t stand me because,” and then she makes a gesture at Nelle’s body. “Nichole, being the only other lesbian in this family, probably told you that you had to invite me. I don’t want your pity.” She sets her now empty container on the floor next to the couch. Erin’s face turns red in anger.
“I haven’t even told Nichole that I’m engaged yet. I--” she cuts herself off, standing up and in front of Andrea. “We aren’t doing it immediately. Probably next year at the earliest. You are the first person I’ve told. Kaiden made me go to some LGBT progressive things, to try to, I dunno, cancel out the Jesus shit my mom and Luther made me participate in. I see Kaiden with his siblings, and I.” She sighs, long suffering like this is the most painful thing she’s ever had to say. “I know you grew up in foster care and we didn’t meet until late. But, when I watch Kaiden with his siblings, I wonder what it would be like if we got to be siblings, too. Neither of us are perfect, both of us have made mistakes, so, can we just put it behind us and start again?”
Nelle’s a little bit impressed with the speech. From everything Andrea has told her, Erin is not the person to admit her wrongdoings, let alone try to amend broken bridges. Andrea stays silent beside her for about twenty seconds, though it’s obvious she’s trying to draw it out as long as she can to make Erin more nervous.
“Are you going to be a bitch?” Andrea eventually asks. Erin breathes out a subtle sigh of relief and looks between Nelle and Andrea for what might be the hundredth time today. She shakes her head.
“Seriously, though, who even is this?” she gestures to Nelle, who leans back on the couch with a newfound sense of pride washing over her. She knows that a few months ago, Andrea would not have accepted anything Erin had to say, so the amount of growth she’s shown is something Nelle will never stop thinking about. A huge part of Andrea’s growth is because of her therapist—the first one that didn’t turn Andrea away.
“I’m Nelle.”
“Nelle,” she repeats. Nelle nods like one would to a toddler saying their first words. “Great. She’s an asshole.”
“Not an asshole, a figment of your imagination,” Nelle corrects. Andrea huffs a breath that is slightly faster than usual that can pass as a laugh.
“We’re having steak for dinner,” Andrea says, picking up her trash and making her way to the kitchen. Nelle happily follows—watching Andrea cook is one of her favorite pastimes (those arms)—knowing it’s an invitation for Erin. Erin obviously does not know it’s an invitation, because she deflates slightly and starts to make her way to the door. According to Andrea, Erin lives a three hour drive away, so leaving now would be dumb.
“That was an invitation,” Nelle calls, hoisting herself up onto the counter. Andrea sighs when she realizes that Nelle has no plans to help, so she starts setting up the pans and steak.
Erin nods dumbly and joins Nelle at the counter, but instead of sitting on it, she sits on the bar stool. Not long after, the heavenly smell of steak fills the air and weasels its way into a small part of Nelle’s heart. None of them talk until they have plates in front of them—medium rare steak, potatoes, and salad, Nelle’s mouth waters.
“Thanks,” Erin says awkwardly. Andrea shrugs, and Nelle starts to eat. The meat is warm and practically dissolves in her mouth. If Erin wasn’t there, she would have moaned at the taste, but for now, she decides to be normal. Her plate is empty long before she’d like it to be, but she’s full, so she takes Andrea and Erin’s empty plates, putting them in the sink.
“There’s a room down the hall on the left. Use it,” Andrea says before heading down the same hall and to the right. Nelle doesn’t even spare Erin a look before she’s following close behind. Inside her room, the shower is running and Andrea is nowhere to be seen.
“Can I come in?” she asks, knocking on the bathroom door. There’s a sound of affirmation from the inside, so Nelle steps through the door, ridding her clothes on the floor and pulling the curtain back to join Andrea. “Washing your hair, yes or no?” She gets a nod, so she lathers her hands in shampoo, moving it to Andrea’s hair.
Nelle figures that what Andrea needs right now isn’t words, so she stays quiet until they’re out, the cold air of their bedroom replacing the warm steam and making Nelle shiver slightly. After they’re dressed, they get in their bed together, and Andrea pulls her phone out. Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, Nelle puts her own headphones on, watching some random show on her phone.
This is a routine for them, more-so on bad days, but a routine nonetheless. Andrea’s calls with Betsy are important, and Nelle understands, so she always finds different ways to occupy herself, even though she’s right next to Andrea.
The boring voices continue to drone on until she sees Andrea put her phone on the charger from the corner of her eye, so she takes her own headphones off to lie down and face Andrea. “Good?” She gets a nod in return. Nelle lifts her hand to Andrea’s cheek, resting their foreheads together. Neither of them talk, letting the silence speak for them. Andrea presses her lips to Nelle’s before pushing her shoulder, forcing Nelle to roll over and give Andrea her back.
She falls asleep not long after that, wrapped in Andrea’s scent wrapped around her warm and safe.