Taming Lo: A You and I Novel by Melissa Toppen

only
sister's wedding. Your twin sister's
wedding.” She puts an emphasis on the word.
    “ I
know Lilly. And trust me, I want nothing more than to stand next to
you on your big day. But you know I can't.” I say, crossing
through the kitchen and into the living room, flopping down on my
comfy brown couch the moment I reach it.
    “ Come
on Lauren. When are you going to just let the past be the past?”
She follows me into the living room and takes a seat just a couple of
feet from me.
    “ It's
not that simple.” I rub my eyes with the back of my hands.
    “ Sure
it is.” She interjects. “It's time for you to come home.
I miss you. Mom and Dad miss you. You can only avoid us for so long.”
    “ Is
that what you think I'm doing?” I bite, not able to swallow
down my temper as it flares at her words. “I'm not avoiding any
of you Lilly. But as far as I'm concerned, you're the only family I
have.”
    “ How
long are you going to punish Mom and Dad?” She snips.
    “ I
am not punishing them. They had a choice. To stand by their daughter
or not. They made their choice.” I push into a stand,
immediately beginning to pace the small space. “I was their
child. They were supposed to protect me. They were supposed to
believe me. But did they? Well, we all know the answer to that now
don't we?”
    “ You're
being unreasonable.” She pushes to a stand and crosses her arms
in front of her chest.
    “ Unreasonable?”
I gape at her. “You are the only person that stood by me. You
saw how they treated me. How everyone treated
me. I was sixteen years old Lilly. Sixteen. I lost everything that
night. Everything. And then the two people who were supposed to be my
support, who were supposed to keep me safe, turned their backs on me.
They were no better than the rest of them.” I can feel the
emotion welling in my throat and I do my best to swallow it down.
    “ So
that's it.” Her voice goes up an octave. “You are going
to let an incident that happened seven years ago, keep you from
coming to your own sister's wedding?”
    “ I'm
sorry Lilly. I can't. I can't go back there.”
    “ I
thought if I came here, if you saw how badly I wanted you to be a
part of this, that you would put aside the pity party you have been
throwing yourself for the past seven years and do something for
someone else for a change.” She yells across the room at me,
her words sharp as knives.
    “ Lilly.....”
I pause, my eyes filling with the emotion that is starting to boil
over. I blink away my tears, refusing to cry. “I would do
anything for you. Anything, except go back there. I'm sorry. That is
not my home and they are not my family.”
    “ But
I am.” She wipes at the few tears that manage to escape her
eyes.
    “ Lilly.”
I cut in, but it's clear to see that I have hurt her deeply and I
don't know how I can fix it without giving her what she wants, which
simply is not an option.
    “ Don't.”
She holds her hands up, taking a deep breath. “I should have
known better than to come here.” She says, grabbing her coat
and purse off the back of the coach. Spinning around, she heads
straight for the door, stopping just as she pulls it open.
    “ You
know what.” She says, turning to meet my gaze. “You
weren't the only one who suffered. I stood by your side. I would
argue with people when they would say awful things about you. I lost
most of my friends. Instead of seeing Lauren and Lilly as two
individual people, they saw the Hannock girls. The slutty Hannock
twins. That's right.” She adds when she sees my surprised
expression.
    “ Me.
Virgin until I was nineteen. They referred to me as a slut because I
defended you.” She continues. “You were so blinded by
your own pain, you didn't even bother to open your eyes and see that
your twin sister was falling apart right beside you. You know what,
I'm glad you left. Being tied to you never did anything but cause me
trouble anyways. Have a good life Lauren.” She says, slamming
the door