Telenovela Chapter 1: The Evil Twin Sister

Chapter 1: The Evil Twin Sister

She grimaced at the article, embarrassed at the byline. 

Greatest Vacations of Modern Day Superstars by Lucia Castilla.

This was what she had been reduced to. Stories of rich people on vacation, living their adventurous lives - while she sat behind her computer desk. Wasn’t even news.

And it wasn’t even a computer desk. She was writing her damn article at a coffee shop. She could see her studio apartment through the unclean window; much like the coffee cup in front of her, it was cold, empty, and had a few cat hairs. 

She pushed away the coffee cup. In the glow of the laptop screen, one name shone outward at her on the list, like a miniature Broadway sign.

Maria Castilla lives it up in Cozumel with her new boyfriend.

The left side of Lucia’s lip curled upward. The Evil Twin Sister got her way again. 

Ever since they were little, her evil twin got everything she ever wanted: the extra slice of cake, the nicer clothes, the hotter boys — all because she could be melodramatic. 

And then she got paid for it. 

Meadow of a Thousand Loves wasn’t even good. It was daytime TV telenovela trash. Overly dramatic actresses, shitty writing, and the worst part was the female lead. The one who was living it up in Cozumel right now with her new boy toy — and the lead actor for the show — Julian Sanchez. More like a Sancho — that guy was rumored to have seen more lady bits than the gynecologist he played on the show.

She hoped they both fell off their high horses.

***

The Cozumel weather was beautiful. The right amount of sun, the right subtle breeze to keep it cool, and the most beautiful woman on daytime television to enjoy the time with.

The scenery — green hills, the horses, the Spanish ranch — looked like something out of a telenovela. In fact, Julian knew it was because they were filming there.

Too bad it was all for publicity. Julian sighed, looking around at the hills. He held the reins on his horse slightly tighter than he should have. 

Just get through the day. That was all he needed to do. He scratched at his pecs. The billowing white shirt had just the right cut — and he admitted it looked sexy. But damn if it wasn’t itchy. 

“Julian, I want you to know how sexy it is to be seen on the back of a horse,” Maria said.

“Thank you,” Julian said, accepting the compliment.

“Thank you? I meant me,” she said, posing with her camera for Instagram. The horse’s tail swished.

“Ah, of course. Yes, so sexy you’ve crashed the Instagram server.”

“Sadly that only happened once,” she gave a melodramatic sigh. Her horse’s ears pinned down, believing it as much as Julian.

“I thought that was a PR rumor,” Julian said.

“It will happen someday,” she said. “No one has to know I am talking in the future tense.”

Her horse’s head moved sideways and neighed slightly. 

“Seems you believe that as much as I do,” Julian said to the horse.

The horse remained silent.

Julian went further, himself an experienced rider. 

Maria’s horse went no further.

“Juju, I think he’s broken.”

“There are no cameras. You don’t have to use that ridiculous nickname,” he said.

“Maybe I was starting to like it, Juju,” she said.

He looked at her. She certainly was a convincing actor, but he knew her tells. 

“How about you just stick with Julian?”

“No fun, Juju.”

Julian turned his horse back towards Maria.

“Maria, we have to keep moving. We’re already behind the rest of the group.”

He noticed Maria doing one more set of selfies. She leaned down onto the horse’s neck, holding the phone out in front.

“I want to get one with me and Princess here.”

“That is a male horse,” he said. “And you should at least hold onto the reins.”

“Juju, stop being a killjoy and come get in the photo. Drape your arms around me and look like you love me,” she said, chuckling. “So, basically like you always do.”

Julian noticed the horse’s hooves starting to stomp slightly.

“Seriously, that’s not safe,” he said. “He’s not liking that. You should —”

Maria’s camera flashed. 

“Wrong setting —”

The horse bucked hard. Maria smacked her nose on the horse’s head. It threw its hind legs up, and she reached for the reins, but they slipped. She pitched back, then flew sideways with a rear kick.

She landed on her side, her elbow taking most of the impact.

“Ow, my arm,” she cried out, still woozy from the head butt.

“Maria!”

Maria tried to stand, hoping to get out of the horse’s way. She moved, dizzy, into the horse’s blindspot, and he kicked backwards, his hoof ramming into the side of her head. 

She crumpled.

Julian leapt off of his horse and settled hers. 

He moved to look at her.

She was breathing, but she wasn’t responsive.

***

Lucia did not want to respond. It was that ringtone again. She knew the Phantom of the Opera theme music.

It was her sister.

Lucia rolled over in her sheets. She had been having such a nice dream. She had finally won an award for being a journalist. She was about to accept on stage when the Evil Twin came out and took it from her. From the crowd, her love monkey Sancho was laughing at her. 

Her sister stole the spotlight even in her dreams. 

Then she stole her actual dream by waking her up at three in the morning. Her arm lazily reached for her phone.

Seventeen missed calls certainly was a lot. 

She picked up the phone.

“Sister, you better be in a damn coma if you’re calling me at three in the damned morning.”

“Well, actually,” the voice came from the other end of the line. She knew that voice from television. It was Sancho. “That’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Sancho — Sanchez?”

“See about that thing you mentioned,” he said. “Turns out your twin sister is in a coma.”

“The fu—”