The Twins & Me

Wren's Friends

I look between them. This is going to go one of two ways.

A few moments pass with Ollie staring at his brother, who's staring at me. Then his gaze slides to me. "I don't accept. You need a punishment. You wronged both Wren and me."

I open my mouth to object, but Arlo clamps a hand over my lips. "Okay," is all he says.

It's not fair—I know it, and for some reason I can't explain I think Ollie knows it, too. He's just looking for a reason to punish Arlo. But why?

Arlo's submission of defeat makes Ollie stand up straighter. He picks up Arlo's shirt and tosses it to him. The tension between us breaks, and Arlo removes his hand from my mouth.

"Well, it'll have to be some other time," I say warily. "Lila should be—"

From down the hall, past the living room, the unmistakable jangle of keys in a lock and the front door being swung open.

"—Coming home," I finish lamely.

"Wren!" Lila calls out.

The three of us spring up. The boys finish pulling on their clothes and I yank on my leggings. "Yeah?" I call back as casually as I can.

"I got tacos!" She replies, and this time I can hear other voices with her. Luckily, her friends seem to be distracting her as they all bust into the apartment.

The twins hastily slide on their shoes and I shrug on my hoodie without bothering to put my bra back on. I point to a scrunchie on my desk. "Ollie, throw me that!"

Ollie leaps across the room to grab the scrunchie and tosses it to me, and I fling my hair up in the messiest bun imaginable.

"Fuck!" he hisses, bringing his hand up to his face. "My fingers smell like your pussy!"

"Keep them in your pocket, then!" Arlo hisses back, running his hands through his hair to manage what he can.

"Wren?" Lila says curiously.

"C-coming!" I yell, and the connotation doesn't escape us because the boys have to bite their arms to keep from laughing.

I hit them both. "Shut it! You have to meet her—I can't sneak you out."

They share a look of pure excitement.

I make sure Ollie's hand is securely in his pocket before leading them out into the hall.

Lila's in the kitchen, pulling wrapped tacos and burritos out of take-out bags, the Brian guy with her. I'm a little surprised to see Roark sitting on the couch.

Lila hasn't looked up from her food-sorting. "We cut out a little early on the seminar, thought it'd be nice if—"

As she catches sight of the twins behind me she stops short. A glint appears in her eyes. "Oh, hello, Wren's friends."

I clear my throat. It's got to be obvious. Everyone in this whole damn room must know what just happened. It has to be written all over my face. Oh, God.

"Hey," Ollie says brightly, sidestepping me to get to the kitchen. "I'm Oliver, and this is Arlo."

To my utter horror, he reaches to shake Lila's hand.

She beams at him and shakes his hand without skipping a beat. "Nice to finally meet you!"

My breath gets caught in my throat as Roark stands from the couch. "Hey, Lila's sister," he says.

"This is Brian and Roark," Lila says, gesturing to each of them with a taco.

"Nice to meet you," Arlo says, accepting Roark's handshake. His comment is directed at him, but it's not as warm-sounding as it should.

"I was wondering when Wren was going to bring around her friends," Lila says, and as Ollie turns to throw me a look, she gives me a wink.

I nod. "Yeah, well, here we are." Does my voice sound small? Am I talking too loud?

"You two go to Laurent, right?" Lila asks Ollie.

"Yeah, Arlo's in Wren's class. It's how they met. And we met through him, obviously."

They all share a laugh at that. I'm not sure what the joke is; there doesn't seem to be enough air in here. For some reason, it never occurred to me that my sister and the boys I'm fucking would ever be in the same room together.

As Ollie charms Lila, Roark tilts his head at Arlo, almost as if he's sizing him up. "You a freshman, too?"

"Junior," he says immediately. He doesn't blink.

Roark's eyes flash to me and he smiles, but then they wander a little lower. "What's that?"

My hand immediately goes to my neck—

I forgot to take the collar off. I nearly choke myself as I bring the neck of my hoodie up to hide it. "A necklace," I say a little too quickly. "It was a going-away thing from my friend Cece."

He looks like he's about to ask another question, but Arlo speaks up. "Hey, Ollie, don't we have a dinner with Mom?"

It must be code because Ollie immediately goes with it. He checks his phone for the time and agrees they have to be going.

It takes all my strength not to rush to the door as the twins say their goodbyes and Lila makes them promise to come back another time. With a glance behind me to find Roark watching us, I usher the twins out of the door and shut it behind us.

"I like your sister," Ollie says decidedly.

I whip around for Arlo to unbuckle my collar. "Jesus, why didn't you guys tell me I still had this on?"

"I forgot it was there!" Arlo defends, unclasping it.

I stuff it into my hoodie pocket. "You are never coming here, ever, ever again."

Ollie gives me a look. "Lila wants us to."

"I don't care if she wants you to move in—never again!"

He shrugs and throws an arm around Arlo, who runs a hand through his hair. "I don't like that Roark guy."

Ollie instantly sobers. "Is he the one who gave you a ride?"

"We're done talking about that," I say, turning. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ollie grabs onto my hand. "This week. Our place. For Arlo's punishment."

"You're going to get to see what's behind that door," Arlo adds.