9. Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Scarlett
The afternoon passes in a flurry of catch-up chatter and old story reminiscing.
I suggest we get the karaoke machine plugged in, and I start hooking it up when she locates it and brings it into the room.
The vodka and popcorn got polished off a little faster than I expected, and Sapphire quickly seems to sense there’s something on my mind.
I guess I was never too good at keeping secrets.
It’s next to impossible to keep secrets when you’re twins and Omegas.
I can almost always tell what Sapphire’s thinking and feeling, and vice versa.
“What is it, seriously?” she asks.
I press my lips together, telling myself to keep the part about thinking she could use a good rebound guy to myself. This is probably going to be a hard enough sell on its own.
“You remember the mischief we used to get up to when we were younger?” I ask.
“You mean the mischief you used to get up to?” She raises her eyebrows.
I laugh. She’s not wrong. “Yeah, sure, okay. I was the naughty one I guess.”
She draws me a look, and I add, “But you did enable me, like a lot.”
She gasps. “Only because I was too dumb to realize it when you were up to something!”
“Or I was offering you something you wanted,” I suggest.
Sapphire’s shocked face goes beet-red. “I did not have a crush on your tenth-grade boyfriend.”
Only my introverted twin would still get embarrassed over something that happened so long ago neither of us should really be able to remember it.
“He was hardly my boyfriend. I only asked him out because you were into him, and it would give you a chance to live a little when we switched on him,” I remind her.
Maybe it’s not the best ‘switch’ to remind her about, but so far our old antics haven’t come up in conversation and she remembered it on her own, sort of, so I’m going with it.
It was a simple switch for a couple of hours.
I went to see a movie with her friend, and she went on a date with my so-called boyfriend.
That probably sounds messed up to anyone who isn’t us.
Sapphire never would have put herself in a position where she might be asked out by a guy when we were younger. She was just too shy and self-conscious. The only way she’d get to experience dating was if she pretended to be me.
I figured it would help her be more confident later if she got to go on a few dates back then.
I think it kind of did, though Sapphire’s always been kind of shy.
That’s never really changed.
That’s part of the reason I always try to get her to do stuff like sing karaoke. We might just be in the house tonight, but one of these nights I’ll get her to do it in a bar. She needs the confidence boost. It gives her such a glow when she gets it.
“I’m just glad he didn’t realize we switched,” she admits.
“I’m just glad you didn’t decide you liked him. He was so fucking gross.”
I probably should have told her that before the date, but it was like the only time I knew she was attracted to a guy, and he wasn’t handsy or forceful. He just liked to brag about everything he was good at, and he definitely had a high opinion of himself.
“I get it. I have bad taste in men. So, what else is new?” Sapphire asks, her tone a little sour.
Bad memory poked at, I get it. Also, now that I think about it, that guy might have had the same personality defects as Ben. Probably not the kind of thing to make her think about right now.
I stop untangling the microphone cables to look up at her. “You don’t have bad taste in men. You’ve had bad experiences, that’s all.”
“Yeah, okay,” she mutters, hugging herself.
“It’s not like I haven’t dated some losers,” I admit.
“Um, what?” she asks.
She’s staring at me like I’ve grown horns.
It’s not something I usually talk about, considering I move on quickly and burn my bridges behind me.
“My love life has been … interesting. I’m good with that. It’s how I like life to be. It works for me.”
A couple of hours of intimate connection every now and then when the right kind of guy comes along is all I need to scratch that itch. It’s easy to walk away afterwards.
Finally, the microphone cables are untangled.
Sapphire’s being quiet so it doesn’t feel like the right time to bring up switching lives.
It’s not what I’m here for, besides. I’m here to help make her feel better.
I plug in the microphones and switch on the machine.
“Okay,” I say, as I hold a microphone out to my twin. “Are we starting with Roar, or I’m Just a Girl?”
“Uh, maybe we start with more vodka?” she suggests.
“I’m not here to let you wallow, Saph. Sing. It’ll make you feel better.”
I move a little closer and hold it out until she puts her hand out to take it.
“This isn’t even your kind of music,” she protests.
“Well, they don’t have any Chaos Burning songs on this thing.”
They’re not just my favorite band, they’re the only band that really speaks to me.
I’ve always loved music, but so many artists and songs feel manufactured and hollow.
It’s rare that I connect deeply with work that’s in the mainstream.
She stares at me, and I’m about to ask what’s wrong when her stomach growls fiercely.
Her eyes widen and she tosses the microphone to the floor as she rushes out of her seat and toward the bathroom.
Damn. We definitely overdid it on those ice-cream float cocktails tonight.
I get up and follow Saph to the bathroom to make sure she’s okay.
She’s puking over the toilet bowl when I step into the room.
“Oh, Saph. I’m so sorry.”
Guilt bleeds in as I move closer and crouch beside her to hold her hair back.
I shouldn’t have let her drink so much. She’s hurting inside and now she’s sick.
I rub her back and hold her hair for as long as she needs.
When she’s done, I make sure she’s okay and I put her to bed.
After that, I tidy up in the living room and turn everything off for the night.
I get into bed beside her and lay awake, making sure she’s doing okay.
She sleeps like a log.
Well, a log that snores like a rusty chainsaw, I guess.
I think that’s a drunk thing. She never used to snore when we lived with Mom and Dad.
“I’ve missed you, Saph,” I murmur as I lay back and close my eyes.
It’s funny how much easier it is to get to sleep next to her.
Like I’m home, where I’m meant to be.