I’m Glad My Sister Stole My Boyfriend. He Gave Her An STD. I Found…

Olivia screamed at Luke, “This is your fault! If you hadn’t pushed for this dumb switch and been honest from the start, we wouldn’t be here!”

Luke replied, “Olivia, you wanted excitement. Congratulations. This exciting enough?”

“Don’t you dare blame me for your disease!” Olivia yelled.

“Not an illness, a condition,” Luke shouted.

“I got it from someone else, so legally I’m a victim too!” He added.

“You’re victimized?” I asked.

“Your takeaway? Forget it,” I added.

Luke threw his hands up. “I’m done! Call me when you stop treating me like a criminal!”

Olivia collapsed against her car and cried again as he drove off. “Forty-eight hours,” Will whispered.

“We just have to get through forty-eight hours,” He said.

My sister was crying in the parking lot at Luke’s car’s empty space and at the clinic behind us where our futures were in vials waiting to be evaluated.

Forty-eight hours. Will never left me, even though he had nothing to worry about.

I had two days before the switch and slept with a man who couldn’t tell me what he was carrying. I answered the clinic’s first call.

They had all four results and only one of us would fail.

The Results

Forty-eight hours later, the clinic called while I was pretending to watch TV on Will’s couch. My heart stopped and I answered before the second ring.

“Hi, this is Ella,” I said, sounding calmer than I felt.

“Miss Holmes, this is Clinic Dr. Warren. The findings are in. Are you available to discuss them this afternoon?” The doctor asked.

“Can you tell me over the phone? Please,” I asked.

No more waiting. She paused then continued. “Negative results; clear you are.”

I gasped and collapsed over on the couch, crying before I could stop. Will immediately joined me, hands on my shoulders, panicked.

“Ella, what’s wrong? What? What they said?” He asked.

He pulled me into his chest and held me while I cried. “Thank you,” I said into the phone.

“Thank you so much,” I added.

I ended the call and we sat silently, even though we both knew he had nothing to worry about. He’d gone to get tested for solidarity, not necessity.

Will answered the phone with quivering hands. I observed his expression as he listened.

He nodded once, said okay, thank you, and hung up. “No doubt? Negative?” I asked.

“Negative,” He said.

“I know!” I laughed through my tears.

“I just needed to hear it,” I added.

Olivia texted me after ten minutes of silence: “Results are in. Dad and mom’s residence now.”

She didn’t reveal her results. Will drove.

I stared out the window trying to figure out how to feel after my sister had ruined my life for weeks. She’d sabotaged my dates, turned my family against me, and slept with my ex-boyfriend.

Part of me wanted to feel vindicated, but mostly I felt hollow. We arrived to find Luke’s car in the driveway and Olivia’s parked crookedly on the street like she’d just jumped out.

We heard shouts before we reached the front door. Olivia stood in the middle of the living room with her arms crossed against her chest, her eyes red and swollen like she had been recently.

Luke sat on the far end of the couch looking defensive and small. My parents seemed lost near the kitchen doorway.

Finally, Olivia murmured, seeing me, “Everyone’s here.”

“What’s happening?” I asked.

Olivia shakily said, “I wanted everyone to hear this together.”

She glared at Luke. “Tell them! Tell them what you told me three weeks ago and kept secret!”

Luke’s jaw hardened. “I apologize before. What else do you want from me?”

Olivia insisted, “I want you to say it so they all know exactly what kind of person you are!”

Luke looked around as everyone fell silent, then stated, “I have an STD.”

“Quietly, I discovered it a month ago. Should have told people sooner. I didn’t,” He added.

My mother gasped. My father paled, and Will held my hand.

“Ella,” My worried mother began, looking at me.

“Did you? Are you?” She asked.

“I’m negative,” I said hastily.

Her face lit up with relief; confusion follows. But if Luke has something and you two were together, saying we got lucky or I did, anyway, implied inference.

Olivia was slowly viewed by all; her laughter was sour. It was the laugh before someone breaks down.

“I’m positive,” She said.

Her voice broke on the second word. “I tested positive because this piece of garbage knew he had something and slept with me anyway, and didn’t bother to mention it until after!”

Mom’s hand went to her mouth; my dad appeared to have been punched in the stomach. “Olivia,” Luke began.

“I swear I didn’t know how serious it was. The doctor said it was manageable, and I was still processing, and I didn’t know how to bring it up,” He said.

Olivia said, “Manageable? You think that makes it okay? I have to live with this forever, Luke!”

“Every relationship I ever have for the rest of my life is going to start with me explaining that my disgusting, reckless ex-boyfriend infected me because he was too much of a coward to be honest!” She shouted.

“I’m not disgusting,” Luke replied.

“I made a mistake. People make mistakes,” He added.

“A mistake is forgetting someone’s birthday!” Olivia yelled, shrinking.

“A cherished sweater is wrong! Luke, this isn’t wrong! My life was shattered because you couldn’t manage an awkward conversation,” She yelled.

The worst part was her shaking, sobbing, and loss of fight with every syllable. “I did this to myself,” She said, her voice breaking.

“I had Will. Sweet, kind, loyal Will, who never would have done something like this to me. Who actually cared about me. Who turned out to be a millionaire,” She said.

She laughed again, sounding like glass breaking. “I had a millionaire who wanted to take care of me and I threw him away for this!”

She pointed at Luke in disgust. “I’m sorry, Olivia,” Luke murmured faintly.

“Get out,” She whispered.

“What?” He asked.

“Get out!” She shouted.

“Get out of this house with her last energy! I don’t want to see you! Your voice bothers me! I’ve been damaged for life by you, literally! Get out!” She yelled.

Luke searched the room for a defender, but none came. My father stood back and pointed to the door.

Luke grabbed his jacket and left without saying a word. The door closed behind him and Olivia collapsed onto the couch.

The Confession

The screaming was over, but the sobbing was worse. “I ruined everything,” She muttered between sobs.

“I tossed away the perfect guy because I felt I deserved more. What I got instead,” She said, burying her face in her fists.

My attitude was negative. Will was bad, Olivia wasn’t.

She collapsed in front of everyone yelling, crying, and blaming my ex for ruining her life. During her breakdown she revealed why she wanted the switch.