You and Me ||M.Duchene||

Chapter 1

I have never been to Colorado before, not once in my life ever since I decided to take on a college education in the States, moving away from home in Sweden. My journey across the globe ended up in North Dakota, attending the University of North Dakota. My sister went to college with me in the US to North Dakota as well, but she ended up receiving a full ride hockey scholarship to the school.

Klara, my sister, and I are twins. But we don't look anything alike, nor are we related to each other. The whole story behind the "twin" thing is that Klara is the one related to that family while they brought me in at the age of one and adopted me. We both have the same birthday in common and the blonde hair and the blue eyes, looking like I was actually a Landeskog.

Since that day my "parents" found out about our birthday, we're referred as the "Landeskog twins" even thought everyone knows we're not blood related, but our birthdays were matter-in-fact.

The two of us just finished college a semester early. We were set on track to graduate early anyways as well though we didn't have to choose that route. After a lengthy discussion with Klara, we went along with the plan and finish off our last semester.

Since the both of us finished college, we thought it would be great to reconnect with our older brother, Gabriel, in Colorado and have family close by since Sweden was so far compared to Colorado. He left home years ago to continue playing hockey and eventually made it into the Colorado Avalanche organization as their captain. His family members were so proud of his accomplishment, but it was hard to visit Gabe so often.

The last time I saw Gabe was a couple of summers ago before I went off to college. He came back to Sweden for the off season, but since then he hasn't been back there when Klara and I go home for the summer after each school year.

The little apartment my sister and I shared together in Grand Forks was already packed up in boxes, ready to be shipped off to who knows where in Colorado. Klara was the last one to talk to Gabe about a couple of weeks ago. All she relayed to me from him is that it's all going to be a surprise upon our arrival.

All of the boxes inside the apartment were all moved out into the moving truck. The car that we share, an old Toyota 4Runner, was hitched up to the back of the truck as another one of our things being sent to Colorado. The guys who are operating and doing the long drive there were having small talk with Klara, probably just making sure we got everything.

Klara finished up the conversation with them as she made her way over to where I was standing; just on the edge of the curb. Carefully, I watched the two moving guys get into the gigantic U-Haul truck. The engine roared loudly, the emergency brake clicked and the truck drove off. Klara and I watched the truck as if we were watching it drive off into the sunset.

"The taxi should be here in about ten minutes to pick us up and take us to the airport," Klara said to me.

I nodded my head in response, acknowledging that I heard my sister. I picked up my black backpack that was leaning up against the edge of the curb and threw one of the straps on over my shoulder. Inside of it was only things I thought I would be needing for the plane ride since it's fairly light.

Already, ten minutes have past pretty quickly when I noticed the taxi pull up. While waiting, my sister ended up sitting down on the edge of the curb, but she stood up when she saw what I saw.

I guess this is it. No more Grand Forks. It's hello to Denver.

*********

The flight down to Colorado was a couple of hours. I ended up falling asleep for most of the ride and just gazed out of the window since I ended up taking a window seat on the plane.

The reigning sky of orange, yellow and blue fading was the sight to behold when the plane started to land down. I silently said "wow" to myself while I kept admiring the view, wishing I could take my phone out of my carry on bag and snap a picture. But I already have a feeling that wasn't going to be the last time that I would see the sky being this pretty.

Klara walked off the plane first while I followed her from behind right into our respective gate and terminal. DIA wasn't crawling with as much people as I anticipate, but there was a lot going on since a lot of people are flying here for the holidays. I mostly noticed college students walking as they were back home for their breaks until having to return back to school in a couple of weeks.

"Come on, we're heading over to baggage claim," Klara said, grabbing a hold of my arm and pulled me along the airport and through the crowds of people.

The underground train leading from our terminals to baggage claim was almost completely empty. There were only at least six people on board up until we reached another stop a terminal, where a ton of people piled on. Luckily for me and my sister, we sat on one of the ledges built into the train.

After three stops, we finally made it to the stop leading to baggage claim. Klara continued to hold onto my arm as we maneuvered through people. A lot of them gave us dirty looks as on occasion when we accidentally bumped into them. I knew my arm was going to have some kind of mark where my sister held onto me so tightly; to not lose me in the crowds of people.

"Do you see Gabe anywhere?" Klara asked as we stood, looking lost at baggage claim.

"No," I only said back. My mind was too focused on the moving carousel at least twenty yards from where we stood. I'm pretty sure that's where our flight's luggage will be at. But then I realized that we didn't have any luggage since we only took carry on instead.

I noticed a tall man standing next to the carousel, looking for his luggage apparently. He wore a grey beanie that hid his hair and his back was towards us as well. I don't even recognize him from the plane either. After at least ten suitcases passed by him, he turned around facing the direction where my sister and I stood.

"Gabriel!"

Klara let go of my arm finally and ran over to our older brother. A smile crept across his face when he noticed the both of us. My sister was engulfed into a big hug by him, his arms wrapped around her tightly.

"Don't forget about me," I called out and somewhat jogged over to Gabe and Klara. He gave me a reassuring smile and took one arm away from my sister, offering me to join the family group hug.

I guess a couple of years was a long time. Gabe almost looks entirely different since the last time I've ever seem him. He has a lot more facial hair than I've ever seen on his face before. That black eye he had as well was the first thing I even took notice on his face, making me frown.

"Hi, Freya," Gabe greeted me. He gave me a puzzled look, but then finally realized why I was frowning in the first place. "Oh, it's just a typical black eye from hockey."

I finished looking Gabe over just seeing what else has changed physically since that last time I saw him. He still had that his lone arm that wasn't wrapped around Klara no more, waiting on me. I just only chuckled a bit at his response of his black eye and finally joined my sister to give our brother a hug as well.