“I get it,” Vannah finally jumped in to let him off the hook. “The text you sent yesterday.” She swallowed hard willing away the emotion she felt every time she remembered. “About your overnight date this week stung a little.”—Laughable understatement if one had ever been uttered— “Especially after hearing you say you missed me too.”
He wrapped his arms around her embracing her firmly. “I’m sorry about that. But it was only because of what I thought I’d seen.”
After explaining further that since hearing about her other friends then thinking it was her he’d seen, he just assumed she’d easily found a replacement for lunch. They started into the shop and up to his apartment. But the subject wasn’t dropped. Despite his making it clear that he wasn’t okay with others in the mix and that he’d return the favor, Vannah would be mindful of the fact that he’d once again reiterated that he didn’t have time for more than having fun. But she was too far gone now to have the power to pull back. As long as she didn’t have to hear about or see him with anyone else while they were having fun, she could live with this arrangement.
As soon as they were in the kitchen, Byron pulled her to him again and shook his head, his expression softening to a smirk. “Seriously, isn’t telling someone your sister is your identical twin one of the first things you do when you get to know them?” Vannah winced in remorse hoping he’d understand and not think her petty. “I mean you spoke of your sister enough this past week, isn’t revealing she’s your twin seem like something pertinent you would’ve mentioned.”
Taking a deep breath, Vannah decided it was time to explain. “I always have. It was only when Nena announced that she was skipping out on her first semester of college that I decided maybe it wouldn’t be the first thing I’d reveal about myself to everyone I met here. My whole life I’ve been one half of The Twins. Anytime someone asks about us or refers to us it’s always, how are The Twins? Will The Twins be there? Not Nena or Vannah or even Sienna or Savannah. Nena loves blowing people’s minds by telling them she has a sister who looks exactly like her, but then she’s always been the outgoing more interesting one.”
“Who said that?” he asked with a frown.
“Well, not in all those words. But I know what the quieter, more timid, brainier one translates into.”
“You know what’s crazy?” He peered down at her. “Even before I knew you had a twin and I saw your sister at the gym, I thought my mind was playing games on me because I knew something was off. You have the same laugh but it’s still different somehow.”
“Let me guess,” Vannah said refraining from rolling her eyes. “Hers is sexy while mine is sweet. It wouldn’t be the first time I heard that. Which of those two words is the more alluring?”
“Hands down sweet,” he said immediately. “Your sweet laugh is the first thing I noticed about you at my brothers signing. It’s what first caught my attention before you completely sucked me in that first week when I couldn’t get enough of talking to you—couldn’t stop thinking of what kissing you did to me—and I’ll tell you what else. Don’t tell your sister this but, it’s the only times I was almost turned off even when I thought it was you doing the laughing. Not that there’s anything wrong with her laugh.” He smiled that beautiful smile she’d been struck by from that first day, then leaned in and kissed her softly before adding. “It just didn’t even come close to doing to me what yours did from the moment I first heard it.”
Vannah wondered if she’d ever get used to how easily he could make her heart wallop. But she was beginning to not even care about breathing in so whimsically whenever he did. That only made him smile bigger.
“No one’s ever been rude about it or anything whenever the subject of our differences comes up. And trust me Nena would be the first to start swinging if she thought someone might be saying something to hurt my feelings.”
He laughed at that. “I guess it runs in the family.”
“Oh, don’t get me started.” She shook her head as he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I guess after eighteen years of hearing the comparison’s and her getting all the exciting references it not only got old, I began hiding behind her personality. She is by far the most outspoken, I felt like I was literally in her shadow all the time. It also felt good to be able to mention having a sister without all the usual inquiries I get when I mention we’re twins. It’s like whatever topic I might’ve been talking about goes right out the window because that part of my identity is clearly far more intriguing than anything else about me.”
“That’s bullshit. People are just nosey.” He kissed her sweetly and Vannah smiled loving that it seemed he couldn’t go very long without doing so. “I’m proof, you’re absolutely captivating. This whole week I hung on your every word and had no clue you had a twin.”
Smiling big because it just couldn’t be helped, Vannah shrugged. “Well, it’s just how it’s always felt. So, I thought it’d be an interesting experiment to not have that part of my life be the first thing I told people about myself for once.” She had to laugh now. “Guess it sort of backfired on me, didn’t it?”
His eyes went wide but he smirked holding her a little tighter. “You think?”
“Oopsie?”
“Given the alternate and infuriating impression I was under most the day yesterday and again this morning.” He groaned burying his face in her neck. “You’re so fucking forgiven. But hey.” He glanced up at her. “Being that I know a whole lot about everything else about you now, do I get to ask all the curious questions about being a twin?”
Vannah smiled tilting her head. “I’ll tell you without you having to ask because I pretty much have them memorized. No, we don’t have telepathy. We know each other so well we can easily tell when the other is upset or something. But we can’t read each other’s thoughts. No, we don’t feel when the other one gets hurt physically. Yes, we’ve switched places to trick people when we were younger but only people who didn’t know us very well fell for it because I’d always blow it since I’m nowhere near as outgoing as her.”
He held up a hand his smile flattening now. “You keep saying she’s the more outgoing. What’s your definition of outgoing? Because my first impression of you was hardly that of someone who wasn’t outgoing. Quite the opposite actually. Each time I saw you, you were surrounded by friends laughing and chatting and very obviously enjoying your time with them.”
Vannah stopped to ponder that. “Maybe outgoing is the wrong word. Maybe far more brazen or blunt are more appropriate words. It’s just if either of us were in a situation where say someone is obviously stretching the truth or embellishing for the sake of bragging or even being rude to someone else in front of us, I’d likely bite my tongue and just let it go if it didn’t concern me.” She shook her head and chuckled. “Not Nena. She’ll straight out call you out on it.”
“Hold up,” Byron chuckled shaking his head. “I’m calling bullshit on that too. Frat Row Friday? I seem to recall a certain tiny little thing, in three-inch heels no less, bulldozing her way toward me like she was ready to go to blows. And bite your tongue, my ass. You let me have it.”