MILLIE
Nearly nine hours in the air, yet I wasn’t smart to spring for anything other than the cheapest economy flight. Standing at the baggage claim, tired and stiff, I stretched like a runner gearing up for their next race. I told myself it was worth it. The experience of haunting Irish pubs made of ancient stones were worth one uncomfortable flight. I was going to miss sipping Guinness with Breanna, but the university needed me back in Chicago.
That meant it was goodbye Dublin and hello Illinois.
I was a research assistant, helping professors with their publications, lectures, and whatever other projects they had. Plenty of eyes glazed over when I talked about my work, but there was something about university life that excited me. I liked delving into the yellowed pages of aging texts and uncovering almost-lost information. It was the closest I’d ever get to traveling through time, and Dublin had that ancient beauty throughout the city.
In Dublin, there were dark, gothic libraries built like temples to literature, and somehow, ordinary people like me could make a daily pilgrimage through their shelves and archives. I worked with sociology professors, physicists, and mathematicians in the past, but in Ireland, I was gifted the chance to review literature for a medieval studies project.
The researching professor was friendly. The work was beyond satisfying, but the real treat was the country and the friends I made during my stay. I was going to miss them.
While thinking of friends like Breanna, I saw their smiling faces just as I spotted my two hardside suitcases creeping along the carousel. The time had come for me to grab bags and move on. I attached my duffle to the top of the bigger bag before weaving through the crowd. Loved ones all lingered in the airport lobby waiting, but where was mine?
My twin sister, Meara, came up behind me and put her hands over my eyes, as if I wouldn’t know her anywhere.
“Hello, Meara” I said, completely relaxed.
“How do you know it’s me?” she asked with feigned disappointment.
“Because you’re my sister, and you’ve been wearing the same perfume for the last ten years.”
“Damn my Clinique habit!” she laughed lightly, dropping her hands and spinning me around.
I turned to see a face mirroring mine. We were identical at birth, but we grew differently. We became distinct people, even if we had the same almond-shaped eyes and button nose. I got a few tattoos in college, and Meara pierced her ears a few times. My hair fell down over my shoulders, while she cut hers short. She wore rings and bracelets. My taste in jewelry had always been minimal, before that look was ever trendy.
“Your hair is pink,” I observed, scrutinizing her face.
“It’s rose gold, technically,” she replied. “Look at you, though! Your hair is so curly!”
“Yours would be too if you let it grow out.”
Meara shrugged. “I like to try different colors. Nothing lasts very long.”
“It’s so good to see you, Meara,” I told her, squeezing her tightly one final time.
“Come on, let’s go find my car,” she replied. “I want to hear all about Dublin.”
My sister took my smaller suitcase, and I struggled under the larger one’s weight. My stuff had magically doubled in size over the year I had been gone. As we walked through O’Hare Airport, I started with work, but she cut me off.
“I love you, Mills, but I don’t want to hear about dusty books. I want to hear about the men. I want to hear about drinking and debauchery!”
I laughed. “How do you know that story isn’t boring too?”
“Because I’ve been stalking you on social media. I’ve seen the pics.”
“All fake,” I joked. “Never trust the internet.”
“Oh, as if!”
Meara laughed, giving me a playful shove in the arm. As we walked, I told her about a few of the guys I had seen. There wasn’t anyone special, and I never went on more than one date with any of them.
“I don’t know what it was about Dublin,” I said. “I think all the good ones were taken.”
Breanna certainly had her pick of the pack with three handsome, rich men. I was happy for her. She was living the life I always wanted, and there was even a word for it now.
Consensual Non-Monogamy.
Polyamory.