Too Good To Be True

When Marco stepped into the restaurant, his heart stopped. Sitting before him was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. One of the most beautiful I suppose, as she had an identical twin sister. To Marco though, nobody could compare. Lilah had been his best friend growing up, and he had been crushing on her since her family first moved to town. Marco spent years trying to get closer to her, but always came second to the popular boys at school. By senior year of high school, Marco was sure his chance with Lilah was approaching, until she moved to college in Australia. That was 8 years ago.

But now, here she was. After 8 years of horrible first dates and constant dreams of how his first date with Lilah could have been, it was finally happening. When Marco reached the table, Lilah jumped up to give him a hug, and he was speechless. She was wearing a champagne dress, draped effortlessly over her shoulders, and falling to just above her knees, and she looked beautiful. What Marco failed to notice however, is that while he was admiring Lilah, she was admiring him. He had changed significantly since the last time they saw each other, and he was now handsome, strong, and looking very attractive in grey pants and a purple dress shirt. So when they finally spoke, it seemed as if they had been watching each other for hours.

“I’ve missed you, Lilah.” he said from across the table, where they were now sitting. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Marco. Tell me what you’ve been up to.” she replied with a smile. And so Marco spoke. He told her about school and his program. He told her about his family, his new car and all of the horrible first dates he had been on. “Never had a second date.” he added bittersweetly. “Nobody could ever live up to the expectation I had of you in my head.” Lilah smiled ever so slightly and looked down at the table, her fork in her hand but just touching the plate. “Lilah, what is it?” She shook her head and brought her eyes back up to his.

“It’s nothing. I’m just not as great as you think I am.” she said with a forced smile.

Marco was at a loss for words. He had never heard Lilah talk poorly of herself. Her confidence was one of the things he admired most about her. He told her exactly this, but the reaction he got wasn’t what he was expecting. Lilah slammed her hands down on the table and pushed herself up from her chair. “Excuse me for a minute,” she said. “I need to use the restroom.” As she stormed off, Marco was once again confused. Lilah wasn’t acting like herself. Perhaps being away for so long had changed her? He ran through all his favourite memories of her as he waited for her to return. However, Lilah wasn’t sure if she was going to return. She was in the bathroom, eyeing a small window above the last stall. She told herself she shouldn’t have come, it hurt too much and brought back too many memories she had spent years trying to forget. Eventually though she decided her escape plan would be too difficult to follow through. Feeling calmer, despite still being upset, she returned to the restaurant to apologize to Marco.

“Lilah I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Marco said as soon as she returned to the table. Lilah accepted his apology and was feeling better. They continued to talk as they ordered more food and a second bottle of wine, but Lilah still didn’t seem entirely like herself. She was distant and short when answering questions, and Marco had to repeat her name several times whenever he wanted her attention. He waited to ask her if she was okay, to avoid upsetting her further, but an hour later, when the second bottle of wine was nearly finished, there was no change in Lilah’s mood and so he gave in and asked. “Lilah, is everything okay?”

She looked up at him through her eyelashes and whispered “I just wish I were good enough.”

“What are you talking about?” he exclaimed. “You are the most perfect person I have ever met. You are absolutely good enough!” Lilah smiled at this, starting to believe him, until he added “I love you.” All of a sudden Lilah could feel her anger bubbling up inside her, growing much more intense than before. He didn’t love her, he never had. He had always loved her sister.

“How could you love her?!” Lilah yelled, losing any control she may have had left inside her. Suddenly the evening’s events started to make sense to Marco, and he realized that the woman sitting in front of him was Dani, the twin sister of Lilah.

“Dani, is it really you?” She glared at him in response, which Marco took to mean yes, and I can’t believe you didn’t notice! “What’s wrong? What did I do wrong?” he asked quietly, afraid to upset her more. But she wasn’t sure it was possible to be even more upset than she already was.

“What’s wrong, is I have watched you pine after Lilah since we were young kids, and all the while I was loving you from the sidelines. You always picked her. Everyone does!” Dani had lost it now. She was yelling and pacing, and there was fire in her eyes. “Well no more!” she continued. “I am DONE being everyone’s second choice!” and with that, Dani grabbed the wine bottle off the table and swung it into the side of Marco’s head. As he hit the ground, the last thing he ever saw was his glass of merlot crashing to the floor in front of him.