Map of my Heart

I was sitting down with my twin in the family room. I was sweating because of the start of summer heat- but he had a blanket draped over his lap. Apparently, it was cold. Something was defiantly up... I mean even the winters in Arizona didn’t get that cold. He was rubbing his hands together nervously, (and had been doing it for 5 minutes...) and I was starting to get anxious.

“Chase. Just spit it out.”

He rolled his eyes. “Lee... so you know how I play football right?”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “No,” I monotoned. “I defiantly did NOT know you played football. We are also defiantly not twins, and I have defiantly never met you before.”

He held his hands up in mock surrender. “Ok, ok, ok. I get the point.”

“Ok, then just cut to the Chase already,” I retorted, before realizing what I said. “Pun not-intended.”

He laughed, then abruptly stopped. “I broke my leg when playing football yesterday... doctor says that I shouldn’t walk for a week. You were sleeping over at Amara’s house, so you didn’t see it...” he trailed off hesitantly, waiting for my reaction. My brain took a moment to process it. Then I launched right up and out of my seat.

“YOU WHAT? AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME? Yeesh. What kind of twin are you Chase?”

“Aileen, calm down. You are not my parent.” He smirked a little. “I’m older then you.”

I sat down again, still on edge. “By like what? 2 seconds? Not fair. But anyways, back to the subject. Are you still going on your 2 week Europe trip? It’s tomorrow.”

Chase sighed sadly. “No, I’m going to go do something else with Liam in August instead. However... we can’t cancel the plane tickets. So I want you to go instead. I booked tickets under Price. And since you are my twin... I mean technically you are related to me.”

My mouth dropped open, and I stared at him in disbelief for an entire minute. After that, he started looking at me funny. “What?” I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

Chase started snickering. “What did you think? You were not related to me?”

Embarrassed, I tried again. “So... you want me to go on your graduation trip with your best friend. Seriously Chase?”

He shrugged. “You can’t cancel the plane tickets. Or the hotel. Just... think of this as your next birthday present. Wait no. Scratch that, this IS your birthday present. And you have to face time me... every day.”

“You’re using your broken leg as an excuse not to buy me a birthday present.”

“Welllllll...”

“And you want me to go on a 2 week trip to Europe with Liam. Seriously Chase? I don’t even talk to Liam,” Chase knew it was true. Whenever Liam was here, I either got up and left, or stayed for a minute just to annoy Chase. “Did your brain break?”

“Hey! My brain is still perfectly intact. Please go? You can probably get some great pictures there for your blog.” He started snickering again. “It’ll be fun. Thing one, you and thing two will go on a great adventure together!”

I didn’t care how broken his leg was, or how much pain he was in. I punched him in the shoulder. He gaped at me. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You know what! And you’re lucky I didn’t kick your leg!” I hated being called thing one. When Chase met Liam, he made up the nickname Lee. (He has a weird nickname thing.) Turns out though, he already gave me the nickname Lee. So of course he thought it was hilarious, and turned it into a running joke. Lee one and Lee two. Thing one and thing two. Neither me nor Liam thought that it was funny. It was the one thing we agreed on.

“You know Lee, this trip would be good for you. I know you still care about Will, and don’t argue with me, I can tell, but you need to get out of the house,” Chase said quietly.

“I’m not moping.”

“You hide it.”

“You know what, I’ll go.” Maybe it would be good. A trip to Europe would give me a great portfolio... then- then maybe I could get the photojournalism job I wanted... and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, Chase was right. The breakup was still too fresh in my mind. I needed to get out of the house. It was starting to feel suffocating, like the walls were closing in around me.

“Really? Honestly, I thought you would say no.”

“It would be great for my travel blog. But you still have to get me an actual birthday gift.”

Chase smiled. “Have fun then. You better start packing then, right?”

He had a point. For once.

I dashed upstairs.