The past few days had been horrendous, between the silent treatment from Dani, and the constant questions about what was going on from her parents. home had proved to be a shitty place to be in.  Why don't I move out like everyone tells me to do? Lauren thought, coming up with the regular excuse, free board, free food, and everything done for her my mother dearest, as the main reasons.  Lauren  ran a brush through her shoulder length blond hair, curling the ends slightly with a hairdryer, and checking the time.  8:45pm she noted, shutting off the dryer and setting down the brush, she had fifteen minutes to finish getting ready before Bobby got here.  Lauren stood up and smoothed her python print skirt in the mirror, adjusting the sleek black top and heading off to the bathroom to put on some make-up.

    Lauren leaned closer to the mirror in the bathroom, carefully applying a dark brown eyeliner, and thinking back at everything that had happened since Dani had returned.  Everything had been almost perfect for all those years she was away, she wasn't living in her sisters shadow anymore, so she was no longer dubbed 'the bad one'.  It hadn't been easy convincing Dani she should move away, but slowly Dani had begun to think leaving was her own idea, and that she had to do it because of her love for Brian.
 
 

    "Dani, you're going to spend all your college years pining after him the way you spent high school doing it.  You can't let him get to you that way or you'll just end up hating him for it.   You don't want to ever hate Brian, I know you too well." She said so sincerely.

    "I know Laur, but what if he wants me to stay?  What if.."

    "Don't do that Dani.  If Brian did want you to stay it's only because he'd miss walking all over you.  When he tells you about how much he likes this girl, or that girl do you think he cares how you feel?"  Dani sort of shook her head.  "No, he doesn't.  You need to do this Dani, live life on your own for awhile, and stop letting Brian hold you back." Dani hugged her little sister.

    "Thank you Lauren.  Look, I'll apply at a few places, if I get in, then I'll decide."

    "Dani you're smart, you know that, you could probably get in anywhere,"

    "Yeah but I took a year off."

    "To save money so you wouldn't have so many loans, that has nothing to do with college admissions." She assured her sister.  "Listen to me.  I might be younger than you, but I see how Brian affects you.  You can't live like that anymore." Lauren said firmly as she left her sisters room, seeing the agreeing look on Dani's face, and smiling with satisfaction.
 

        Lauren chuckled to herself in the mirror, remembering how gullible her sister had been, and how easy her thoughts and emotions were to manipulate.   Lauren had managed to keep her away for all those years with a simple phrase, sometimes mentioning Brian, or telling her how stressed out her parents were, and it always worked, Dani always ended up with some feeble excuse as to why she couldn't visit.    The hardest thing Lauren had to work on was convincing her that Brian hated her, it took a year to finally convince Dani that all the letters and phone calls she was making to Brian were only making him angrier, and she stopped.  Then in the years that followed Lauren would be sure to throw in some mention of Brian with whatever girl he had on his arm at the time, she even made up a few, knowing that Dani would say she didn't care, but knowing even more that it was like a knife stabbing in her heart.  Lauren spent every one of those phone calls with Dani, smiling with the most sardonic of grins, playing with her sisters emotions.  It was pay back, Lauren assured herself.  I was so sick of hearing her whine about Brian all the time, about his new girlfriend, or the hug he gave her, it was sickening.   She never once spent any time listening to anything I had to say to her, unless it had to do with Brian.
 

    But now things were back to the way they used to be.  Her parents looked at her like she was constantly doing something wrong, especially since they had notice Dani's attitude towards her, always questioning where she was going like she was sixteen and always assuming she was up to no good. This is all Brian's fault, she thought tossing down the eye lining pencil.  She wasn't supposed to find out from YOU, she was supposed to hear my version of the story.     Lauren didn't know what Brian had told her sister, but from the moment she had overheard them talking in Dani's room she knew her plan to get Dani to move away again was going to be ruined.  Granted, popping in to 'borrow' a CD had worked at the time, and so had her repeated fights with him on the phone, but the man had to suddenly grow a conscience, and had to tell her the truth.  Spineless and stupid, she thought of Brian.  I don't know what my sister sees in him.   She thought pushing Dani to call Brian when she came back was the right thing to do, that he would still be mad at her, and think she hated him that neither of them would ever speak again, and Lauren knew Dani couldn't handle living here knowing Brian hated her.  But she underestimated  their friendship, and if Dani managed to forgive him for this whole mess she started five years ago, than they were bound to find out that Lauren was playing them both.  That won't happen though, I'll be sure of that,  She thought.  You aren't going to win again Ms. Perfect.

    "Lauren, are you going to be out of there anytime in the near future?" Her father said knocking on the bathroom door.

    "I'll be right out." She sighed, applying a light coat of lip gloss and checking her reflection.  When she was satisfied she was beautiful, she opened the bathroom door, walking past her father without uttering a word, and taking off down the stairs as the familiar honking sounded from the driveway.

    "Where are you going tonight Lauren?" Her mother yelled from the kitchen as she opened the front door.

    "Out." Was her vague response, her annoyance with everyone was just something she needed to get away from and forget about, she needed to be somewhere happier.  Lauren closed the door and dashed into Bobby's awaiting truck, giving him a peck on the cheek before they sped out of her driveway with a squeal of his tires.