On a recent Monday evening, college student Tanya Hawkins made a shocking realization that the relationship with twin sister, Shauna, was merely a relationship of convenience.
“I realized that we’re spending all our time together not because we have a lot in common, but because it’s convenient,” Tanya explains, while watching The Bachelor in silence next to her sister. “Since we live in the same house, and have known each other since the womb, we just hang out by default.”
“I’m pretty sure if we weren’t lifelong roommates who share a genome, we wouldn’t even be best friends forever till we die.”
Tanya and Shauna eat lunch together every day at school, and have few friends outside of the family. And yet, Tanya can’t help wondering if there’s “something better out there.”
“I’m not really learning or growing from this relationship, but we share a room, so I don’t have to make any plans.”
Shauna began to wonder if the two did share a deep or meaningful connection. “People always say that they’re jealous of our closeness and assume we have like, twin telepathy or something,” Shauna says, “And we do. We can communicate through a series of clicks. But really, I think we wouldn’t even be talking if we didn’t live close.”
“It was always easy to just eat lunch together. It’s kinda the routine,” Shauna says, “But it would be cool to hang with someone I have things in common with and I can really share stuff with.” She adds, “I almost died in the womb, and she saved me by forcing our mom to go into labor. But like, she likes tennis now and now I’m like, ‘Why are we even friends?’”
Shauna and Tanya have decided to start making other friends and seeing other people, while still being sisters. “I love her, and will always love her,” Tanya says, “But just because she’s around all the time doesn’t mean that it’s working… or that I don’t want to find someone who shares my love for Channing Tatum.”
Shauna is concerned about making friends from scratch, but she’s confident her newest best friends are out there somewhere.
“It’s scary, but I’m optimistic,” she says, while clicking something to Tanya. “I’m sure there’s plenty of girls on campus who also have memories of being in heaven with me.”
