Imitation Copy

Remember when you were a kid and another kid would do something exactly the same as you? Wear her hair the same way, wear the same clothes, say the same things? And because you were a kid, you could yell Stop copying me! and get away with sounding petty because you were just a kid? Remember that? It's a lot harder to get away with as an adult.

I have this cousin; she's from the 'other' side of the family (I think every family has an 'other' side, don't they?). From about the age of thirteen, right through until I was twenty, we were best friends. When I was eighteen, I noticed things started to get weird. I would mention in passing that I wanted to buy a particular piece of furniture and a couple of weeks later, she would say Hey, guess what I bought? I said I wanted to buy a black Daewoo Lanos (hey, this was in 1998. Those cars were cool back then.), she pulled up in the driveway in a black Daewoo Lanos. There were other little things, but these two particularly stand out in my memory.

When I was twenty,  I met the daughter of one of my mum's friends and we hit it off, so I introduced her to my cousin. We would hang out as a group and for about a year, we had so much fun together.

But then it  all turned a bit Single White Female. Slowly, my cousin would start organising a night out and say to me, Oh, you have to work, don't you? Too bad. Oh well, there's no reason why we can't still go out. And off they would go, out together, until she finally dropped the pretence and just organised stuff for the two of them to do. I stopped calling either of them and funnily enough, I never heard from them either. Seven years later, my cousin was bridesmaid for the friend when she got married. Needless to say, I wasn't invited to the wedding.

We haven't been friends for ten years. I've only seen her a handful of times over the years, at birthdays and weddings. I miss the friendship, but I don't miss her, in a nonsensical kind of way.

Dad came home the other night from visiting his brother (Mum and Dad came home from their eight-week holiday two weeks early, by the way. Grr.) and told me my cousin has a new dog. So? I asked, wondering what his point was - I've told him in the past that I only want to hear about her if she's stacked on the weight. He tried to make me play Guess What the Puppy's Name Is, but I cracked the shits and demanded that he just tell me.

Archie, he said.

That's my cat's name. She named her dog the same name as my cat. The cat that I've had for over six years. My cat. The name I thought up and loved because I didn't know anyone else who had a pet named Archie. The name that is both cute and cool. My cat's name. (And before you ask: no, there is no way that she didn't know Archie's name beforehand. She's met Archie. Archie didn't like her.)

STOP COPYING ME!

Isn't it bizarre? I'm kind of astounded as to why she would want to name her pet the same as mine. I would imagine that even if you really liked the name, you just wouldn't because... well, it's rude and frankly, it's creepy.

I'm really disappointed at the moment. And a bit out of joint. It's weird! I keep yelling in disbelief to Mum and Dad (I'm sure they're ecstatic to be home early. Serves them right.). I feel a bit like Charlotte from Sex and the City when she founds out that an old friend has named her baby Shayla, when everybody knows that Charlotte has baggsed that name.

The injustice of it all!

Has it ever happened to you before? Was it friend, family or foe?