Witch of Two Hearts

POP! The cork from a bottle of champagne sliced through the air like a speeding bullet. Cheers of “Happy Birthday!” filled the large room of the mansion as a cascade of golden liquid sprayed out all around us. I turned to my sister Fawn, “Happy Birthday, Fawn!” I shouted over the crowd. She laughed, “Happy Birthday, Vivian!” as she wrapped me up in a hug. Having a twin sister hasn’t always been the most wonderful thing in the world, but the older we get the more I am thankful to have gotten to spend my life with her. When we were younger, I used to get jealous that I’d always have to share my birthday, my toys, my clothes, and my make up with her. However, now that we’re 21 today, I can look back on all that past jealousy and laugh. She’s truly my best friend. “Viv!” I heard a familiar voice yell from behind me. As I turned around, I was swept off my feet by the most handsome, smart, and gentle man I’ve ever met. “Alaric! Put me down!” I yelled as I laughed. As he gently set me back down on my feet, he crashed those delicious lips into mine. I could feel his arms wrapping around my body while mine wrapped around his neck. Even with my eyes closed, I could picture everything about his face. Every little feature from his dirty golden hair to his icy blue eyes, to his smooth lips that were pressed against mine. When he pulled away, everything in me wanted to pull him back to me. Unfortunately, the sounds of the loud music, distant chatter, and laughing dragged me back to reality. We’re at Alaric’s family’s mansion. His mother was kind enough to throw our birthday party here. It was her idea, she said that after a year of dating she felt like a big birthday party would be a wonderful place to meet my family. “I had to wish my girl happy birthday, after all.” Alaric said, keeping his hands upon my hips. “Okay you two love birds!” My aunt Lucy said with sarcasm and humor dripping off her voice. She’s quite a jokester. My mother has said that Lucy was the cat that curiosity killed, on several occasions. She usually said it when Lucy was overly sarcastic. Never quite made sense to me why she worded it like that though. After all, she’s clearly not dead. Based on Lucy’s reaction every time she said it; I’ve just chalked it up to some kind of weird inside joke between them that I gave up trying to figure out a long time ago. With hesitation, Alaric removed his hands from my hips. “I’m going to find my mother. It’s about time she met your family.” He said, then turned and walked away. “Thanks Lucy.” I said with sarcasm now dripping from my voice. “Hey now, I don’t think Sera is going to want to see…” She waved her hand in a circle toward where I was just standing when Alaric was kissing me, “All that.” She finished. As if on cue, my mother came up beside us saying, “Whatever ‘all that’ refers to, she’s probably right.” “Oh good, you’re here!” Fawn yelled as she ran up to us. She wrapped mom and Lucy in her arms. With a bit of nerve and a tinge of irritation masked with joy, mother replied, “I wouldn’t have missed this crazy party.” Mother was not pleased with the idea of going to my boyfriend’s house to celebrate her daughters turning 21 as it was, but somehow, I doubt she expected it to be quite this big of an event either. If she had, I’m not too sure she would have shown up. She’s not a big fan of parties. Fawn and I barely had any gatherings growing up. Pretty much all our lives it’s been mom, Lucy and the two of us. That is, until I met Alaric. His family is well known in our small town of Hollow Grove. As I look around this giant room the party is mainly being held in, I would guess the whole town of around a thousand people is probably here. Alaric’s family has lived in Hollow Grove for over 300 years. His great-great-great-grandfather was one of the original founders of the town. In fact, he was the very first mayor of the town. Since then, it’s always been a Vanderhaven as mayor of Hollow Grove. Speaking of Alaric, he finally found his mother and brought her over to us. As always, she greeted me by pulling me in for a kiss on the cheek, “Vivian, darling it’s so good to see you! I hope you’ve been enjoying yourself.” I smiled, “I don’t see how anyone could not be enjoying themselves. You sure know how to throw a great party.” I found that Morgana was a compliment seeker. This made it easy for me to get her to like me. Since she likes me, it makes Alaric happy. I turned to my mother, “Morgana, I’d like you to meet my mother, Sera.” Not wanting my mother to ruin the moment, I continued on quickly, “And this is my aunt Lucy.” When I got to my sister, I wrapped her in one of my arms and pulled her forward a little, “And this, of course, is my twin sister Fawn.” “Oh Fawn! Happy birthday, dear! I hope you are also enjoying yourself tonight!” She reached out and grabbed Fawns hands with hers. I prepped Fawn for this already, so without skipping a beat Fawn started right off with a compliment, “Oh Mrs. Vanderhaven your home is absolutely astonishing! You have incredible taste!” Good girl I thought to myself. As Morgana turned to my mother to say something to her, Alaric interrupted by announcing that he had something he wanted to say. “As you all know, we’re here tonight to celebrate the 21st birthday of my girlfriend Vivian and her sister Fawn.” He began, taking a quick pause to let the crowd cheer like they had cue cards set up somewhere. “What no one knew, is that tonight I have an ulterior motive to having this party.” He hopped up onto a platform, that almost looked like it could double as a small stage, in front of the stairs banister. He continued as he looked down in my direction. “You see, I’ve been dating this incredibly beautiful woman for exactly 1 year now. When I met her on her 20th birthday last year, she was serving me and my friends some drinks while we were celebrating my becoming a doctor. Like any ol’ drunken loser, I tried picking her up with cheesy pickup lines I saw in crappy movies.” He laughed, causing the whole room to laugh. I too started laughing, I remembered all too well how horribly cheesy those pickup lines were. He used the worst of them too, Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again? and I should be following you because my mom always told me to follow my dreams. Yeah, they were horrible. “I’m not sure what made her give me a chance after that, but I am so happy she did. This has been the happiest year of my life, and it’s all thanks to you, Vivian.” He continued. As he did, the reality of what he was doing hit me like a truck.