The Story of You and Me

Chapter 18

I dig around in my gym bag and produce a t-shirt which I slide on over my sports bra. I redo my ponytail and then grab my bag. "Ready?" I ask Lena. She holds up a finger before flipping her head upside down and shaking out her hair, then pulling it into a messy bun. "Okay let's go, we only have an hour before the football game."

We head out of the locker room and out to the parking lot. We get in Lena's car and go to my house. I groan as I step out of the car, "My abs are already sore." I complain as we trudge into the house.

"Same," Lena says, both of us groaning as our legs protest adamantly about the stairs. Once in my room, I immediately head for the shower. I jump in before the water's warm, shivering as the cold water hits my skin. "I swear coach was trying to kill us today." Lena calls from my room.

I finish quickly and we switch places, "I know, I mean 60 tuck jumps is just pure torture." Lena laughs and I look around my closet trying to decide what to wear. I decide on a softball t-shirt and skinny jeans, heading back into the bathroom to dry my hair as Lena steps out of the shower.

"Agreed, I'm raiding your closet BTW." She says, exiting the bathroom. "There are probably more softball t-shirts in the top drawer." I inform her as I start blowdrying my hair.

Once it's mostly dry I pull it into a ponytail and tie a white ribbon around it. Lena comes in wearing another one of my softball shirts and braiding her hair back. "Cute." She mutters, flicking my ponytail. I grin at her and then head back into my room, digging around in my closet until I locate a pair of black Keds.

"Almost ready?" I call out to Lena as I tie the laces on my shoes. She comes out of the bathroom and slips on her Nike's again. "Yeah," She casts a glance at my desk chair and goes over to it, picking up the hoodie draped there. She holds it up, "Have you told Kyle yet?" She asks, turning the hoodie over to examine Cole's name printed on the back.

I go over and take it from her, "No, not yet." She gives me a disapproving look, "Dylan, it's been 2 weeks and you haven't told him yet?" I shrug, she hasn't outright stated her opinion that it's wrong not to have told Kyle yet but, I know she's right. "It just hasn't felt like the right time." I say, knowing that my excuse sucks. "What does Cole have to say about that?" She questions, I don't meet her eye.

"He doesn't like it I guess but he said that I should be the one to tell him since he's my brother." Lena gives me another look, "He's right you know, besides he's not just your brother Dylan. He's your twin, he's going to accept this, he has too, but the longer you wait to tell him the more pissed off he's going to be."

I still can't meet her eye, "I know, I should tell him tonight." She nods, "You should tell him tonight." She repeats. I sigh, "Let's go, if we want good seats we can't wait much longer." She comes over and pulls me into a hug, "I'm not trying to attack you or anything Dylan, I'm just saying you should tell him. It's been two weeks, he deserves to know."

~*~

I knock on Kyle's door and wait nervously for him to open it. It's late and when he opens the door he's already shirtless and wearing pajama bottoms. "Oh, hey Dylan. It's kind of late you know." I bite my lip, "Yeah I know but uh... I want to talk to you."

He shrugs and steps back, making room for me to come in. "What's up?" He asks as I go and sit on his bed, tucking my legs up underneath me. I debate on how to tell him and suddenly find myself just blurting it out, "I'm dating Cole." I say quickly.

He stares at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "You're dating Cole?" He asks after what seems like an eternity. I nod slowly, biting my lip again, this is obviously the last thing he expected me to come in here and say. He continues to stare at me, his silence unnerving me slightly.

"As in Cole Cole... our Cole?" I nod again, starting to panic a little bit however, this is going about as well as I expected it to. "How long?" He asks, turning away from me and starting to pace. "Officially, two weeks but he kissed me for the first time about a month and a half ago."

Kyle continues pacing, "Please, say something Kyle. You're scaring me." I whisper after he doesn't say anything for several minutes. He stops pacing right in front of me and gives me a long, searching look. "What is it Dylan?" He asks finally. I give him a confused look, unsure of what he's asking. He sighs, running a hand over his face, "What is it? Is it just a fling or... something else?"

Oh, that's what he's asking. "I... don't know... It's more than a fling, it's definitely more than that. It's... I don't know Kyle. I think I've loved him for a lot longer than even I knew." His eyes snap up to mine at the word love.

"You love him?" He asks, I bite my lip, wondering if I've said the wrong thing. After a moment's hesitation I nod, wondering where this is going. "Does he love you?"

Again I hesitate before nodding, "Yeah, I mean I'm not speaking for him, but yeah I think he does. This isn't something that we jumped into lightly Kyle if that's what you're worried about. We've both thought about it a lot, it's not just a fling... it's definitely not just a fling."

He resumes his pacing for a moment and then comes over and surprises me by sitting down on the bed. "You love him?" He asks again. I nod, "I love him Kyle."

He sighs and then gives me a sideways look, "Okay." He says simply, letting out a loud breath that sounds almost like relief. "Okay?" I question. He nods, "Okay." He gives me a meaningful look, "I mean, I'm not thrilled that you waited so long to tell me or that you're in love with my best friend but... the truth is you could do a lot worse than Cole."

"He's going to treat you right, I know that for sure. He's a really good guy but you, already know all this... I just don't want to see you get hurt, I don't want a repeat of Sophomore year because as much that sucked for the two of you it was just as bad for me, having to chose between my sister and my bestfriend... I just want to make sure you guys didn't go into this lightly."

I shake my head, "We didn't, really Kyle... we didn't go into this lightly at all." He nods and then slides an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him. "Well, then I guess I'm happy for you guys. I have to say that on some level I saw this coming."

He gives me a smile. I return it with one of my own and rest my head on his shoulder. "Thanks Kyle." I whisper. He gives me another smile and kisses my forehead. "Sure Dyl, I love you ya know." I smile too, "Yeah, I know." Another slight pause and then, "I love you too Kyle."