Epitome

Chapter 16

I breathe in and out. This can't be all that bad. Perhaps Tyler can help us. I'm watching him with a cold stare. Trying to look a lot more confident than I feel. Delaney speaks first breaking the silence that I almost crave compared to what might happen next. "Do you want to join us, Tyler?" Delaney asks smoothly. Tyler says some stupid remark before he sits down in front of us. I can barely breathe. Delaney asks him if he heard our conversation and I can't help but snort when he starts to touch his nose as he responds. "What is it,Gemma?" Lanes asks me. "Tyler's never been a very good liar. You see how he keeps touching his nose? That means he's lying. Always has." I say confidently. As if just to prove my point I look at Tyler again and he's removing his hands from his nose.

"Don't lie, Tyler. What did you hear?"

I'm bracing myself for impact. For questions and confusion. What I didn't expect was that he would say we were crazy. I can't help it for some reason I feel more passionate than usual about this subject. So I yell at him. "Excuse me? How could you be so arrogant? Here I was thinking that maybe you would understand; maybe you could help me and Delaney. But no-you jump to conclusions, like always!" I can see that Tyler try's to cut in but I hush him. "Have you ever thought maybe there was something bigger than yourself out there? Maybe you can't comprehend this, but there are things out there that you don't know about yet. Things that have happened to me and Lanes is some sort of magic. I don't know. All I know is that now you're in on it, and either you help us or you stay out of our way." I look at him menacingly and hear Lane's phone go off. I wave goodbye to her as she leaves for her interview. I continue to stare down Tyler. He looks at me for some time. "Are you serious? You're not lying?" He asks me. "I have never been more serious in my life." I say to him.

"Tyler!" Yells an employee from behind the counter. "I got to go. We will talk later." Says Tyler as he stands up. Leaving me alone looking at the frost on the window. Maybe old me left some sort of clue from my past. My phone vibrates on the table. Riley. He has called 4 times exactly. Here comes an extra big helping of guilt. I decide to answer it. "Hey." I say into the phone. "Hi. I've been calling a lot, you haven't been answering your phone." He says. I take in a quick breathe of air. "I've been busy. I'm at the diner." I say. "Yeah, I know." He tells me. "Oh." Is all I can say. I hear a knock on the window and Aiden is looking at me from behind the glass. Riley has his phone to his ear and he gives me a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. Aiden grabs the phone from Riley and hangs up. I soon hear the familiar ring of the bell as they both walk to my table and sit down. Riley sits next to me while Aiden subtly glares at me from the other side of the table. "So you've been here?" Asks Aiden. "Yeah, Lanes has an interview and we came and hung out with Tyler." I say smoothly as I stir my tea with my spoon. "You've been acting wierd lately." Says Aiden. Who grabs my mug and starts drinking it. "You left during lunch. Why did you leave?" Riley is looking at me intently. I shift my gaze to Aiden. Who is staring at me in mid-sip. This is the part that always hurts. I'm at crossroads. One has a sign that says "Truth" down a beautiful and elegant path that looks as if it has hardly been walked on. One says "Deny,Deny." Which looks well trodden. I feel tension building inside of me. I look to Riley and see how easy it would be to tell him the truth. Those gentle eyes searching mine. I look away. "Lanes didn't want to be late for her interview." I say dryly.

I can't help but notice the disappointment? In their eyes. Aiden and Riley lock eyes for what seems like forever. Riley grabs my hand. "That's ok, Gabe." He says to me. I freeze. "What did you call me?" I say too fast. "Babe." He says looking amused. But I know for certain he called me Gabe and with that word everything rushed in. I remembered. Everything.

I gulp. I picked this place. I picked these roles. It was a hunch. As I look across the table at my brother I see him smiling. "You did it." He says. I did. "Gina doesn't know. We have to keep it from her a while longer."

I say. Because she can't remember because when she does she will realize something terrible. Riley is grinning at me. "How did you guys remember?" I ask them. "We aren't quite sure. Perhaps some variables in our deaths compared to yours." Says Riley. I no longer find him uncomfortable. Gabe has taken control. I'm no longer Gemma. Whoever she was, she has disappeared from existence. I have blended. This is the first phase of my experiment. "We need to report to Santes." says Aiden quickly. Not that he is Aiden anymore. He's Derek. My brother. This is all so fast. I nod. We are after all ironically the enlightened ones.

Sorry it's been awhile. Some stuff went down. 

LOVE YOU!!! TONS OF NEW STUFF ON THE WAY!