Three weeks with my brother - Nicholas Sparks [66]
“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking a seat beside her.
“Everything.”
“No tell me. What happened?”
“I hate my life,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because,” she said, “I’m not like you or Micah.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You guys—both of you—you have everything. You’re good at everything. You have good friends, you’re good in sports, you get good grades. You’re popular and you both have girlfriends. Everyone knows who you guys are, and they wish they could be more like you. I’m not like you two in any way. It’s like I came from different parents.”
“You’ve always been better,” I said. “You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met.”
“So what? No one cares about that.”
I took her hand.
“What’s really bothering you?”
She didn’t want to answer. In the silence I looked around the room; like most teenage girls, she had various magazine pictures lining the walls. On her dresser was a collection of bells and ceramic horses. A Bible sat on her end table next to a rosary, and above her bed was a crucifix. It took a long time for her to get the words out.
“Holly got asked to the junior prom.”
Holly was my sister’s best friend; they’d been inseparable for years.
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
When she didn’t answer, my heart sank as I suddenly realized why she was so upset.
“But you’re upset because no one asked you.”
She began to cry again and I slipped my arm around her. “You’ll get asked,” I said soothingly. “You’re a great girl. You’re beautiful and kind, and anyone who doesn’t ask you is too dumb to realize what they’re missing.”
“You don’t understand,” she said. “You and Micah . . . well, all the girls think you’re both cute. They always tell me how lucky I am that you’re my brothers. But it’s hard . . . I mean, no one ever says that I’m pretty.”
“You are pretty,” I insisted.
“No,” she said, “I’m not. I’m average. And when I look in the mirror, I know that.”
She continued to cry, and refused to say anything more. When I finally left the room, I realized for the first time that my sister struggled with the same insecurities everyone had. She had simply been hiding them all along. But as I walked away, I was certain that she’d get asked; I’d meant what I said to her.
But as the days rolled on, and no boy rode up on a horse to be her knight in shining armor, I could see the pain in her disappointed, wounded expression. It killed me to think that no one seemed to realize how special she was, how much love she could offer to anyone who simply asked. I adored my sister in the same way I’d always adored my brother, and—like my parents, I suppose—I felt the need to protect her.
So one evening, about a week before the prom, I went into my sister’s room. If her friends thought I was handsome, if they thought I was popular, then I wanted nothing more than for them to see how much fun we could have together. To me, it made no difference that we were brother and sister; I would be proud to be seen with her and wanted the entire world to know it.
“Dana,” I said seriously, “would you go to the prom with me?”
“Don’t be silly,” she said.
“We’ll have fun,” I promised. “I’ll take you out to a fancy dinner, I’ll rent a limousine, and we’ll dance the night away. I’ll be the best date you’ve ever had.”
She smiled but shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want to go, anyway. I’m over it now. It doesn’t matter.”
I hesitated, trying to see if she meant it. “Are you sure? It would mean a lot to me.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. But thank you for asking.”
I looked at her. “You’re breaking my heart, you know.”
She gave a sad little laugh. “That’s funny,” she said. “It’s exactly the same thing Micah said.”
“What do you mean?”
“He asked me to the prom, too. Yesterday.”
“And you’re not going with him either?”
“No.”
She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug. Then she kissed me on the cheek. “But I want you to know that you two are the best brothers that a sister could ever have. I get so proud when I think about you two. I’m the luckiest girl in the world, and I love you both so much.”
My throat constricted. “Oh, Dana,” I said, “I love you, too.