Lyra Looking Back

FIVE YEARS AGO*

To say Vega and I have had an excellent track record with dating would be a serious lie. Well, for me anyway. My horrible dating and relationship experiences all began five years ago when Vega and I went on our first double date with a couple of guys from our school.

Harrison and Landon had to endure the wrath of our father first. He wouldn't let us go anywhere until then, and our mom had patted his shoulder, urging him to take it easy on our dates. Vega and I were thankful she was there. She would be headed to the hospital after we departed because she was on call but wouldn't miss our first date.

"My daughters both have Mace; I must also caution you they have been taking self-defense classes since they were eleven and started developing woman parts," he declared once we were all settled in the living room.

I remember Vega and me freaking out, "DAD!" We both screamed in unison, throwing each other a panicked expression and then glancing at the guys mouthing, sorry. They appeared unfazed by that. It was the shotgun my dad had picked up from beside his armchair.

"Regardless, if anything happens to either of my daughters, you better run; I don't care if you're underage," He had stated with a twisted smirk on his face.

"My girls will be home by ten, not five minutes after ten. Am I making myself clear," he had declared as the guys gulped and nodded?

"Yes, sir," they answered in unison and rose to shake our dad's hand.

Our dad had been a medic in the military for twenty years before retiring and had gone straight into the medical field as a Trauma Surgeon. Vega and I weren't born until our parents were forty-five.

Long story short, they were informed they would most likely never be able to have babies. Our mom had had a tubal pregnancy when she was twenty-eight, so she merely had one working tube. Occasionally she didn't even have a period.

So, our dad had remained in the service while completing medical school. Our mom had likewise finished medical school and specialized in pediatric surgery. Busy Bees, our parents, but they always made time for us. Mom and dad never missed any of our sports adventures; they made certain at least one of them was present at all of our many functions.

"Ok, dad," Vega had interrupted. Our dad had glared at her with displeasure.

"We're going to miss the movie if you don't let us leave, dad, and we were all hoping for a round of bowling afterward, not to mention we have to throw in eating in there somewhere as well," Vega had rattled off while swinging her hands around in the air, agitated.

I struggled not to laugh the whole time. My mirrored image glanced over at me, shooting daggers at me, with her eyebrows furrowed together.

Yes, that's right, identical twins over here. You should see the expressions we see when we go places. Vega and I have had so much fun with it through the years. Vega and I have long curly, auburn red hair that reaches mid-back; we are blessed with our mom's emerald green eyes, as well as freckles sprinkled on our faces and bodies. Vega and I have a muscular physique; because of all the sports activities we have competed in; dad had always wanted us to stay active.

"It keeps you out of trouble," he would repeatedly say.

I should point out Vega and I are both at the perfect height, at five foot seven inches. Our mom is five foot four inches, and our dad is six foot three inches, so I suppose we made it between them. Anyhow, the only means you can tell us apart is by our personalities, which are just different, and birthmarks on our backs.

Our mom had walked in to save us; and had taken pictures, which was annoying. Who does that sort of thing these days? They had offered us hugs and let us all on our way, spouting off for us to put on our seat belts and to be safe.

Vega had sat in the passenger seat with her date Landon, and I had sat in the rear seat with Harrison, my date.

Both Landon and Harrison were High school basketball and track stars, along with Vega and me. So, it seemed fitting for us to go on at least one date. Especially since they had been seeking to pursue us since freshman year, but dad wouldn't let us date until we were sixteen. In all reality, we had far too much going on back then, anyway. I didn't care to date, but Vega did, so we had given in.

We all couldn't decide on pizza or hamburgers, so we had passed through the drive-through and had received both and had retreated to the park to eat.

Vega and I had devoured a whole large pizza between the two of us, as well as our hamburgers and fries. Most of the girls the guys had dated at that time were twigs, so we had thought the guys would appreciate our being unique in that aspect. We chased each other around and acted like goofballs at the park to waste time until our movie commenced.

The film was fantastic, and the boys held our hands. We had scarfed down some candy and popcorn. After the movie, we still had about an hour to kill, so we went bowling for a while. We should have just concluded our date after the film because what transpired next was crazy.

Vega was first up; neither Vega nor I had bowled before, so Landon showed Vega how to line up her bowling ball and roll it down the lane. However, when the game commenced, and Vega had taken her turn, her bowling ball hardly made it halfway before falling into the gutter. Vega whirled around and bowed gracefully, and we all laughed our butts off. In her second round, she knocked down two pins and was so excited.

Landon took his rounds and knocked down all the pins both times. Then my turn came around. "Man, I hope you're better than Vega, or we're screwed. It's not that complicated," Harrison had said and grimaced.

I grasped my ball, placed my fingers into the holes, and stepped up to the line. I had passed over the line a bit because when I went to roll my ball down the way, I slipped and collapsed on my derrière; my ball made it down and knocked down all of the pins except for two.

Vega and Landon had busted out laughing and applauding at the same time. Harrison, however, even though he was chuckling, had an expression on his face that I couldn't decipher. I thought I had done impressively, considering.

I pulled myself up off of the ground, rubbing my behind and chuckling. Of course, I would be the one to do that; it was embarrassing.

My ball returned; I strolled back over to grasp it and was trudging back when that bastard said, "maybe if you dropped a few pounds, you'd be slightly lighter on your feet," Then he snickered again.

I scowled and peered over at Vega to see if she had heard him. Of course, she hadn't; she and Landon were too preoccupied with each other to have been paying attention.

I placed my ball back down, spun, and stalked back over to Harrison. My hands were in a fist, and I was crimson with anger. Harrison had just called me fat; I'm one hundred and thirty-five pounds of muscle mostly; I'm not heavy, darn it.

Harrison noticed I was coming back, so he stood from his seat with a cocky smirk on his face. At six foot three inches, Harrison towered over me pretty much, but I poked him in the chest with one finger while my other hand was in a tight fist. I glared up at him.

"I'm not sure that I heard you right," I growled out. "What did you just say to me?"

He gripped my hand that was jabbing him in the chest and, with a serious expression on his face, stated, "nothing really, just that if you dropped a few pounds, you might be a bit more graceful." Harrison shrugged his shoulders and smirked.

I'm not proud of what took place next, but I was seething and cared less about other kids from school being there.

Harrison was going to pay for that. I nodded, closed my eyes, and twisted like I was going to walk away. He had let go of my other hand. So, when I had turned around, I opened my eyes and drew in a deep breath, and whirled around and punched him in the nose.

I recall hearing a crack. I'm positive I broke his nose, but you know what, that was fine by me. Harrison's hands had flown up to his nose, which bled.

Vega and Landon had turned to see what was going on because Harrison was wigging out. His eyes were watering, but he looked like he was struggling to hold in the waterworks from streaming down his beet-red face.

I can remember every detail five years later; I still don't feel sorry for that idiot, and he made the last two years of high school hell for me. Well, with dating, anyway.

"Landon, Landon, man, come on, you've got to take me to the emergency room. This bitch just broke my fucking nose." Harrison had wailed out.

I glanced over at Vega; her eyes widened. She strode around and kneed Harrison in the balls, and he crumpled to the floor, sobbing.

The supervisor showed up soon after, claiming he wanted to call the cops. I suppose someone had gone over to inform him what was transpiring. Landon had grabbed him and tugged him up, draping Harrison's arm over his neck. He let the manager know we were all taking off and not to worry.

Though there was blood all over the place, I recall how relieved the manager was that we were leaving. He brought a towel over to Harrison to block him from getting more blood on the floor.

Vega and I had to make our best friend, Michael, come pick us up, so Landon could take Harrison to the emergency room. Michael had just gotten his jeep after receiving his first job at the local grocery store.

Michael gave me my first kiss that night to make me feel better. We tried the dating thing for a while, but it just wasn't our style. We have been best friends ever since.

Harrison told everybody in school Vega and I were psycho bitches; and with his limp and bandaged black nose and eyes, it was pretty convincing to everybody.

I didn't date again until I was eighteen and had started college. Vega, however, dated Landon until they graduated High school and went their separate ways.

All was well, though. I had more time for my dual credit courses and sports. However, it would have been nice to have a high school sweetheart like everybody else.