Viera raised her hand to clutch the skin over her heart. She had just had a memory - one about her sister. She had been living for weeks in her apartment with no signs of anyone else but just then, had realized that she had had a twin sister who lived with her. Without thinking, she rushed out of the bathroom, through her room and down the short hallway to the second bedroom. She pushed the door open to reveal an empty room. Her eyes darted around every inch of it to search out anything that would indicate that her memory was for real…but nothing was found.
There was no furniture, no clothes in the closet, no pictures on the walls, no papers lying around, not even a speck of dirt that would have belonged to someone else. “But I know I had a sister. I know it.” Viera stated as she felt herself more confused than ever. Her heart pounded harder inside her body and she began to sweat. She could feel her sister, her best friend since the day they were born, inside of her but couldn’t find the answers to why she wasn’t with her now.
All Viera could see in her mind was Shelly’s lifeless body - but where. She ached in the pit of her stomach with the thought of seeing the matching face of her sister’s, blood cascading down her cheeks, hearing a slight moan escaping her lips, and feeling the warmth of her touch slowly turning cold as her life was taken away - but Viera couldn’t see where they were, where she had died, HOW she had died.
She slumped down against the wall of the empty room and pulled her knees up to her chest to allow her head to rest on something solid. Her arms wrapped protectively around her legs and she laid her chin on the nubs of her knees. “How Shelly? How did you die?” She asked a loud, not seeing the exact details of why her sister wasn’t with her but feeling that it hadn’t been that long ago. She could almost picture herself sitting on Shelly’s bed, in this same room, laughing over something, crying for some strange reason, and even yelling at her sister - but the images were so cloudy that she didn’t know for sure what to make of them.
Viera’s only moment of peace came when she suddenly felt a smile break across her face and a calming voice whisper in her ear. “I love you V, you’ll find what you’re looking for, just give it time and listen to your heart.”
Her eyes closed and she inhaled deeply to let the faint scent of lavender and honeysuckles, invade her senses. Shelly always smelled like that and Viera hugged her knees tighter, almost feeling her sister’s arms around her, keeping her safe. ‘I love you too, Shel…I love you too.’
Her head slowly rose and she opened her eyes to let the silent tears wash down her cheeks and onto her legs. She quickly wiped them off when she heard the doorbell ring. She realized that it must be Holly at the door since she was on her way to pick her up. Viera decided that she wouldn’t tell her about this memory - it was too personal to be sharing with someone she didn’t feel comfortable with - but would keep it to herself until she saw JC again. He would be the one she leaned on and maybe he would have the answers to what happened to her sister.
She picked her body off the floor, sniffed a few times and even checked herself in the mirror as she walked through the hallway, to make sure she didn’t still look upset, then took a deep breath before answering her front door and seeing Holly standing there with an excited - yet slightly worried - look upon her face. “Hey, come on in.” Viera said as she pulled the door wider so her friend could enter.
This was the first time in days that Holly had seen Viera and knowing that her and JC were spending a lot of time together, worried her that maybe he had slipped and said something about what was really going on with them. “Oh hey, um how are you? You look a little flustered. Are you getting sick or something?” Holly asked as her thin body slid through the doorframe and she stood nervously beside Viera.
She shut the door as she walked past her to find her purse on the kitchen table before answering her. “Yeah, I’m fine. I might be coming down with something but I’m not sure. Hey…” She started as she grabbed her purse then turned around to walk back to the door to leave. “Can we hurry and get my car. I really think I should stay close to home today just in case.”
Holly eyed her closely for any sign of her knowing about the plan that was being conspired against her, but found nothing. “Okay, we can get your car then I can grab us something to eat and we can veg out in front of the TV all day if you want. You know…” Holly started, feeling a little more at ease now. “I haven’t seen you in like forever and I think we need just a girls’ day today, what do you say?” She asked as Viera stopped in front of her.
“Oh, um I think JC is suppose to come back over after he finishes up at the studio and I don’t know when that’ll be…but I guess you could stay until he gets here.” She answered, not knowing that JC was VERY uncomfortable with her…and Brooke.
Holly inhaled through her nose and formed a confident look on her face. “So, what exactly is going on with the two of you? You didn’t call us last night after he left…IF he even left. Are you picking up where you left off before the accident?” She asked, leaning her body against the doorframe and folding her arms across her chest to not allow Viera access by her.
She shifted nervously in her shoes. She knew that she was suppose to be friends with Holly but she really didn’t trust her for some reason and talking about what JC and her did or didn’t do, wasn’t something she wished to discuss with Holly right now. “Hol, I think we need to get going. The guy said that I needed to pick up my car as soon as possible since he’s had it for so long.” She replied, trying to avoid the evil eye her friend was giving her.
“So you two HAVE been naughty. My my, I didn’t think he’d actually go this far with it but this only makes it that much better.” She said, a little too loud, for Viera heard her.
“What do you mean by him going this far? He’s my boyfriend and has been for quite sometime. You and Brooke both said that we were close before the accident so what’s the big deal about us regaining some of what we lost for those months that we were apart?” Viera stated as she crossed her own arms across her chest and duplicated the same stance that Holly had. She didn’t like the way this conversation was going and wanted to know more.
Holly knew that she had to start planting the right information into Viera’s mind so her and Brooke could sit back and watch the fireworks explode later. “Well, I meant that he’s not the type to rush into anything and I’m just surprised that he would actually be with you again…after what you did and all.” She finished and smiled sinisterly inward. She wanted to pat herself on the back when she noticed the worried look spread across Viera’s face.
“What…what did I do?” Viera asked, softening her face and feeling it drop a little.
‘Got her’ Holly said to herself before pushing off the doorframe and walking to Viera, placing her arm around her shoulder. “V, I gotta tell you that before the accident, you and JC were pretty close at one time but he was gone…A LOT, and well, a girl can only take so many nights alone before she’s gotta act on what her body is telling her to do.”
Viera shrugged her arm off her and looked surprised at Holly. “Oh God, does this have to do with me cheating on JC?”
Holly’s eyes raised in shock. Did she know? “Um, you know?”
Viera hung her head and slowly turned to walk down her hallway then entered her room. She returned to Holly a mere minute later carrying the same box she had opened with JC. She lifted the lid and placed the same pictures in Holly’s hand that she had done last night. “JC said that it was harmless, that I was probably playing some game with him or something but I wasn’t, right? I was cheating on JC.” Viera stated as she could feel the tears begin to make their way back to her eyes.
Holly was beyond shocked now. “JC’s seen these?” Viera could only nod her head in shame. She was too upset to speak. “And he wasn’t upset or said anything else to you?”
“Holly, he forgave me and then that’s when we…” She stopped before she said another word. She still wasn’t going to discuss last night with her.
Holly figured it out anyway but kept that to herself. “I see…well, V, I hate to break it to you but JC might have said that he thought you were playing a sweet game of some sort but honey, you were in fact cheating on him with this guy ...and JC knew about it. ”
Viera’s face dropped so low that she had to physically pick her jaws up off the floor. “I…I was?” She asked as the tears were streaming down her face now. “But…but how…how could I…I do that to him? I…I love him.” She asked, directed more towards herself but allowing Holly to hear her.
Holly’s eyes widened with that last part of her statement. ‘She loves him - Brooke’s gonna hate that she missed this.’ “Viera…” She started as she took the box away from her, placed the pictures back inside and set it on the couch before approaching Viera and grabbing a hold of both her hands. “You weren’t the nicest of people before the wreck.”
That caught her attention and she stepped back but Holly wasn’t allowing her to go far. She squeezed her hands tighter. “I hate to be the one to tell you this but seeing as your memory hasn’t come back yet, you really don’t need to think that you were something that you weren’t. Now, I’m sure JC has made you feel that you were this super couple and to tell you the truth, Brooke and myself went along with him so you could recover but sweetie, he has been playing you for a fool.”
Viera gasped and yanked her hands out Holly’s. “You lie. JC wouldn’t do that to me. He forgave me. He said I was good to him…better than he deserved. Why…why would he lie to me?” She pleaded to her friend, not understanding any of this.
Holly merely smiled a brief second before replacing it with a sorry look. “V, JC came to Brooke and myself after your accident, begging us not to tell you that you and he were on the skids. The two of you weren’t even on speaking terms when you had your accident because you had cheated on him with Mark.”
“Mark?” Viera breathed out almost in a whisper, not knowing what to make of this information.
Holly just nodded. “Yeah the guy in the picture. You see, we all went to a party one night and you had way too much to drink, hooked up with Mark and well, JC found out. He threw a fit and you pretty much told him that it was his fault for not being around for you. V, he left you for weeks on end, and you even suspected him of cheating on you with some chick in California.”
Viera didn’t get this. “But…but he wouldn’t…he wouldn’t cheat on me, he …he loves me too.”
Holly shook her head. “Did he tell you that he loves you?”
Viera’s face fell even more at that question. “Well, not exactly but he does. I just know he does. You can’t fake what we shared last night. You just can’t.” She was losing it, breaking down and wished that she was deaf at that moment so she wouldn’t have to hear another word.
“Honey, he might act like it but I can tell you that he doesn’t mean it. He’s just trying to play with your emotions, get to you while you’re still venerable and make you think that the two of you have or had something special, but then when you’re memory comes back, you’ll know the truth and be hurt. See, he’s trying to get you back for hurting him. He’s only playing you, V and the sooner you realize it, the better.”
Viera’s head was spinning and she had to sit down. She fell to the floor and resumed the same position that she had in her sister’s room. “No, he can’t…he wouldn’t…he loves me…I know it…he loves me.” She repeated to herself.
Holly watched as Viera’s body rocked back and forth and the fetal position she was acting out was just too good to be true. Viera had fallen in love with JC and vise-versa. That wasn’t exactly what her and Brooke had intended to happen BUT this was better than they could ever dream of. Holly would continue to feed Viera’s fragile mind with the things SHE wanted Viera to know and then sit back and see her let JC have it. JC would get what was coming to him, then once the truth finally came out, Viera would get hers too.