The Apartment Read Online Free PDF Page B

was an almost microscopic difference in their smiles. Claire had noticed it early on, but Valentina still fooled her a lot of the time, especially when she wanted to, which she did often. She was much more mischievous than her twin, and explained it by saying that Sasha was older, by three minutes, therefore more serious. Valentina considered herself the younger sister, and was lying on the couch drinking wine. “I thought you were Sasha,” Claire explained, but Valentina already knew that and looked amused. She loved fooling them. In some ways, she behaved like a naughty child, in contrast to her more responsible sister.
    “Sasha said she’d be here by now, but she just called to say she got stuck at work. Some woman is delivering. I don’t know why she didn’t pick a better specialty, like plastic surgery.”
    “Face-lifts sound even more disgusting than childbirth,” Claire said honestly, and poured herself a glass of the wine. Valentina had blithely opened one of their best bottles of white wine, although most of the time she preferred champagne. She was spoiled by the men she went out with, all of whom had vast amounts of money, and most of whom were twice her age, and dazzled by her. It was hard not to be, and she had all the habits of a spoiled brat, which Sasha didn’t. All the roommates loved Sasha, and put up with Valentina. Sometimes she was funny, but none of them would have wanted to live with her. Nor did Sasha. Valentina had driven her crazy while they were growing up, although they still had the close relationship typical of twins.
    Valentina then wandered into Sasha’s bedroom and came out a few minutes later, wearing a very pretty skirt Claire hadn’t seen her roommate wear all year. Valentina helped herself to whatever she wanted, always, and never asked her sister’s permission.
    “She’ll never have time to wear this,” Valentina said to Claire as she sat down and poured herself another glass of wine. “It looks better on me anyway. She’s losing weight from working too hard. Everything hangs on her.” Claire could detect no difference in their weight, or anything else about them, except the smile.
    They chatted for a little while, and then Valentina went back to reading
Vogue,
and half an hour later Sasha walked in, and was surprised to see her sister wearing her skirt. “What are you doing wearing that?” She didn’t look happy about it, and Sasha seemed like she was in a hurry.
    “You never wear it, I’ll just borrow it for a few days.”
And then forget to give it back,
Sasha thought to herself. Their father had sent it to her from one of his stores in Atlanta, it was by a well-known designer, and he knew she never had time to shop for clothes. Valentina had no problem buying clothes for herself, or taking what she wanted from her sister. And she got a lot of the clothes she modeled after the shoots.
    “Dad sent it to me,” Sasha told her, as though that made the skirt meaningful to her. Valentina shrugged. She didn’t get along with their father and didn’t like his second wife and made no secret of it. “I’m going out,” Sasha said to her sister, as Valentina settled back onto the couch, wearing the borrowed skirt.
    “Back to work?”
    “I have a date,” Sasha said, embarrassed. “I forgot. He just called to remind me.”
    “With who?” Valentina looked surprised, and so did Claire. Sasha hadn’t had a date in months.
    “Some guy I met last month. I think he thought I was you. He acted like he knew me, and then I realized he had us confused.”
    “And he still thinks so?” Valentina was amused, and Sasha annoyed.
    “Of course not. I told him, but he asked me out anyway. He’s an actor, and he models underwear for Calvin Klein.”
    “He must be cute,” she said, glancing at her sister.
    “Yeah, kind of. I wasn’t going to go out with him, but he made a big fuss that I sounded like I’d forgotten, and I didn’t want to admit I had. He’s taking me to