1.
Growing up in a large family, I was accustomed to noise. Hell, I usually welcomed it more than silence. Yet, at this moment, all I wanted to do was go home and study. The red strobes hurt my eyes as they flashed throughout the room and the music was so loud, I felt the pounding of the beat from my feet all the way up to my head.
We were currently nearing the end of the semester and I could already feel my chest tightening as I thought over all the case-law summaries I had to review before my exam in two days. The tightening loosened slightly as I created a check-list of things to review tonight as soon as I got home.
I pushed my way through the thick crowd of people dancing towards the bar, keeping my gaze downwards. Once I reached the bar, I slid around it tossing a small smile to Kyle, my manager.
This definitely was not my dream job. Not by a long shot but the money is good for the mean time until I graduate. Howler’s Bar was not very far from the dorms located at the University which meant we were almost always busy. While that meant more tips for me, it also meant that I always saw people I knew.
After hanging my plaid coat and throwing my bag into a random locker, I headed back out to the front to help Kyle. I never paid attention to men, especially when I really did not have time to focus on any type of relationship, but it was hard not to notice Kyle. Or maybe, it was because he was the only guy I’ve interacted with for who knows how long now.
As I walked closer, I couldn’t help myself from noticing the way his back muscles strained against his white shirt as he leaned over the bar to hear what the girl was saying. As I continued towards him, I saw him nod and wink at the girl with a sexy smirk. He obviously didn’t hear me approach him from behind so when he turned slightly, his gaze still on the woman smiling back at him, his hand shot out and hit my face.
“Ow, what the hell!“, I hissed and immediately went to palm my eye.
“Oh, shit. Charlotte, I am sorry! I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?”
I felt the tears build at the back of my eyes. I knew I was going to be okay but I was never known to have a high pain tolerance.
“I’m okay. Just give me a second.“, I said as I turned my back to him and kept my palm over my eye.
I felt two warm hands turn me around and slide up and down my upper arms for a few seconds before he started pulling the hand cupping my eye down.
“Hey, let me see. Move your hand.”
His hand stayed wrapped around my wrist while the other went to the back of my neck, pulling my face slightly upward to look at him so he get a good glance.
“You okay?", he asked. His light brown eyebrows were pulled together in a frown and worry lined his usually bright happy blue eyes.
We’d never stood this close. Ever. Even when we both worked the bar, we still managed to maintain a good distance, only sometimes having our arms or fingers brushed by accident. I started to feel lightheaded, but realized it was probably because I had been holding my breath from the moment he looked into my eyes.
With a small nod, I pulled back from his touch and walked to the bar. I tried to ignore the way my hands were slightly trembling and my cheeks blushing more and more by the minute as I tried to avoid his gaze. As I approached a client and started working on his rum and coke, I felt Kyle approach me and place his hand on the middle of my back.
What was with all the touching tonight? My hormones clearly could not handle this.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.", he said, bending closer to my ear so I could hear him over the pulsing beat.
Not trusting myself to not sputter like an idiot, I flashed him a small smile and another nod. That seemed to ease his worry and we both got back to working.
“Do you need a ride home, Charlotte?”
I looked up from the wiping down the bar to glance at Kyle. He stood leaning against the doorframe between his office and the bar furiously tapping away on his phone. Since last week, his fresh buzzcut had grown out and his 5 o’clock shadow was slowly turning into more of a beard. I will never not be jealous of how quickly men’s hair grows.
“No, I’m okay. Thank you though.”
At my response, he looked up from his phone with a frown.
“Who’s picking you up?”
At this, I gave him a confused look.
“You don’t have a car. I usually drive you home. Or, someone picks you up.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s okay. I’m gonna walk. It’s not far.“, I said, shrugging my shoulders slightly.
“Um, no that’s dangerous. I’ll just drive you home. You know I don’t mind.“, he said with a roll of his eyes.
“Are you sure? I feel bad. You’re always driving me home and then you probably get home late. Then, your girlfriend is gonna be mad at me from keeping you at work even later. Then, you’ll-”
I was cut off with a loud laugh. I looked up from the rag I was using to clean the bottles to see Kyle nearly hunched over, dying of laughter. I threw the rag softly at his face to which he caught with ease before it could even touch him.
“Damn, Charlotte. You kill me. Go get your stuff. We’re done for the night.”
I walked past him towards the office nearly on the verge of fainting when our arms brushed each other.
The car ride was fairly nice. Whenever Kyle would drive me home, we would usually listen to his playlist in silence since we were exhausted from our shift.
As he put the car in park, I quickly gathered my bag and opened the door, sliding off the comfortable seat of his F-150. Like usual, I tossed a quick thank you over my shoulder with a smile and started making my way to my building entrance.
“Charlotte!”
Kyle’s voice made me stop in my tracks. Did I forget something in the truck?
I turned around to find him staring at me with a wide smirk. I cocked my eyebrow in question as to what he wanted.
“By the way, I don’t have a girlfriend.", and with a wink, he rolled up the passenger window and pulled onto the road, driving away and leaving me speechless.
Hiking my bag higher onto my shoulder, I made my way up the stairs to my apartment. I opened the door and instantly closed my eyes at the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafting through the air and invading my senses. Literally, nothing was better than coming home to that smell.
Wait a damn minute. I can’t cook. Every dish, no matter how closely I follow the recipe, I mess up. So, who the hell was in my apartment?
“Um, hello?“, I voiced out as I cautiously rounded the corner into the kitchen.
A squeal pierced my eardrums as someone threw themselves at me. My mind was running through everything you should do when you get attacked, but my body was frozen in place. Finally, the soft scent of lavender rose to my nose and I felt my body and mind relax.
“You freaking scared me, Ophelia! How the hell did you get in here?", I asked while pushing her shoulders back to get a good look at her.
Ophelia. My identical twin sister. We were so alike it even freaked us out. To this day, our parents sometimes mix us up. She was the best sister I could have asked for. We were a team and each other’s ride or die.
“Duh. Look at me. I told security I, well you, forgot my keys at work.", she said whilst giggling.
I took this moment to look at her. Even in her loungewear, she looked stunning. Her curls were piled perfectly on top of her head and she had a natural glow around her. Ophelia was perfect, through and through. She was the perfect sister, daughter, worker, and so on. She was disciplined and never did anything crazy.
Chaos, unfortunately, seemed to be reserved for me.
Ophelia dragged me towards the couch where she set up light snacks and a movie. My heart instantly warmed at the sight of our ritual movie night set up but the tightening in my chest returned when my eyes caught sight of my scattered law books on the table.
Biting my lip, I turned towards Ophelia with a sad expression.
“Ophi, I am so sorry but I really need to study. I have a test in two days and I’m super behind. I promise I’ll make it up to you another day.”
I felt so bad. I hadn’t been able to do our movie nights for a couple of weeks now and I kept rescheduling on her but this was for my future. I needed to study.
“Charlie”, she sighed as her shoulders deflated and I saw her powerful aura dim a little. “Just one episode, then.”
My number one weakness in the world is puppy dog eyes.
Now, if we do the math correctly, then puppy dog eyes plus twin sister equals me agreeing to watch an episode of The Witcher.
My gaze kept flickering towards the stack of books on the dining room table. I couldn’t even focus on Mr. Henry Cavill, which proved that something was wrong with me. As I was mentally estimating how much was left of the episode and how much time I would get to crunch in before going to bed, I almost missed the small whisper from Ophelia.
“I’m seeing someone.”
My wide eyes turn to her and I, immediately, turn my body as well. “Tell me everything.”
As I listened intently to Ophelia tell me about this new guy she was seeing, I couldn’t help feeling like this was it. I’d never seen my sister’s eyes glow as she spoke about a man and how they met. In the past, she would tell me about past partners as if she couldn’t care less if it ended tomorrow. This guy, whoever he was, was different and I could tell just by the excitement exuding from her.
“And he wants me to go with him to Bali. Bali, Charlie! Isn’t that crazy?”
“Are you gonna go?", I asked.
Lightly twisting her fingers, I saw her huge smile fade into a small smile.
“I want to but I can’t. My boss would never let me. Not on such short notice and not for how long I’ll be gone.“, she said. I saw her shoulders deflate and I started to feel bad, even though there was nothing I could do to help the situation.
“How long would you be gone for?”
“Two months.", I didn’t hide my shock well.
“I know you must think I’m crazy right now, but something tells me I need to do this. It’s just this weird feeling I have, you know?”
“No.", I said and we both burst out laughing. “Well, I wish I could help somehow.”
We sat in silence. Henry Cavill’s voice serenaded our ear drums which was rudely interrupted when Ophelia gasped and stood up.
“Why didn’t I think of this before? I am so stupid. This could work. This could work.“, she started muttering things to herself as she started pulling her curls from her bun.
“Wanna fill me in?“, I asked.
She turned to face and placed her hands on her hips. With a big smile, she said,
“You’re gonna replace me. You’ll be my stand-in. My boss will never even know I left.”
