STOLE THE
‘MY SISTER
he radio alarm clicked on
and Silverchair’s ‘Straight
Lines’ filled the sun-soaked
room. Si* shifted in the
bed beside me before
gently pulling his leg out
from under mine. ‘Zo?’ he whispered,
then slipped out to make coffee.
Si was my best friend. We were
inseparable, always cooking dinner
together or pitching up as each other’s
plus ones. Our friends often joked that
we should just get together. ‘You act like
a couple,’ many of them observed.
As the long summer stretched on,
I noticed something was different.Suddenly text messages from Si made
my stomach flip, and his voice on the
phone made me ache. I wondered if he
felt the same. Was he flirting? Were there
extra kisses at the end of his texts?
Then one evening, Si had an idea.
‘Fuck it,’ he said, as he squeezed limes
for mojitos, ‘let’s pull a sickie.’ I didn’t
take much persuading. We drank more
cocktails as we planned our day off – a
long breakfast at our favourite café, then
we’d head to the park with the papers to
sprawl on a rug. It was getting late.
‘Why don’t you stay?’ he suggested.
He gave me a T-shirt to sleep in and dug
out a toothbrush. And then we fell intohis bed. Nothing really happened, and
yet it was an intimate night. We held on
to each other and slept with our limbs
entwined. He kissed the top of my head
and stroked my back under my T-shirt. I
lay as still as I could. I knew if I tilted my
head just so, our mouths could meet, but
something was stopping me.
Si appeared in the doorway holding
two steaming mugs. ‘I left a voicemail for
my boss, told her I’m feeling under the
weather,’ he said, putting on a croaky
voice. We drank our coffee in bed,
snuggled up like lovers.
Later, after we’d spent the day together,
I met my girlfriends for dinner. I couldn’tLOVE OF
BY ZOE MALINEMY LIFE’
What happens when you
FALL IN LOVE with your best friend
only to discover your sister has, too?
BY ZOE MALINE44 MARIECLAIRE.CO.ZA JAN/FEB 2018