Out of My Sister's Shadow, I Lived for Myself
938 Views · Ongoing · Fuzzy Melissa
My sister Vivian dated men the way other people taste champagne — a bright sip, then set the glass down before anyone could ask her to finish it.
Never enough to satisfy anyone. Never long enough to be held responsible for the empty glass.
When those men discovered one another, they did not punish her.
They chose me.
Attention I had never received became flowers, invitations, and late-night calls. For a while, I let myself believe it.
Vivian only smiled. "They must have finally noticed how much kinder you are than me." She said it like a compliment. It wasn't.
Then the floating words appeared in front of my eyes.
[Poor thing. She actually thinks this is about her.]
[They're not courting her. They're using her.]
[Break her, and Vivian will feel it. That's the plan.]
And from the other side of a half-open door, I heard a man say, with perfect calm, "If Vivian hadn't been so cruel to me, I wouldn't have to use her sister."
That was the night I stopped mistaking attention for love.
Never enough to satisfy anyone. Never long enough to be held responsible for the empty glass.
When those men discovered one another, they did not punish her.
They chose me.
Attention I had never received became flowers, invitations, and late-night calls. For a while, I let myself believe it.
Vivian only smiled. "They must have finally noticed how much kinder you are than me." She said it like a compliment. It wasn't.
Then the floating words appeared in front of my eyes.
[Poor thing. She actually thinks this is about her.]
[They're not courting her. They're using her.]
[Break her, and Vivian will feel it. That's the plan.]
And from the other side of a half-open door, I heard a man say, with perfect calm, "If Vivian hadn't been so cruel to me, I wouldn't have to use her sister."
That was the night I stopped mistaking attention for love.

















































