Swapped For Love

Chapter 2.2

Joy's POV

Parking the car, I glanced through the windows of the shop as I approached Starbucks. Inside the store, I saw myself; the same face I'd been seeing all my life in the mirror, tapping my fingers on a table. I felt like I was walking towards my clone, my cathartic twin, with anxiety I never knew before.

With a shiver, I climbed out of the car. This was almost too creepy for me to handle. Given the choice, I would run away from this place faster than lightning, but seeing Vincent in my body sitting there reminded me of the times I had spent waiting for him. With a small smile, I entered the shop and waved at Vincent.

He looked up and glared at me, making me recoil.

Did I look so revolting when I was angry? He looked like he was ready to fight twenty men at once and I hesitated to approach the table.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I took a seat.

"You're asking me what's wrong?" Vincent hissed. This was weird in every way possible. Me, talking to myself.

Is this how my voice sounds to the outside world?

I stared at him blankly. Vincent sighed and looked away from me.

"I'm sorry. I know it wasn't your fault, but this has been rough on me. You can't just expect me to accept this," he murmured.

Was this how I looked when I was apologizing?

I could not help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Vincent asked.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. Seeing myself in front of me is kind of...funny."

"Okay, you're right. I can see how I look from a girl's perspective. Hot, am I right?" he joked, making me blush, and avert my eyes. I had no intention to show it to him.

Cocky arrogance about egotistical handsomeness.

I forgot that's how Vincent acted.

I rolled my eyes.

"Here, I ordered two espressos," he said, handing me one of the cups. I took the cup and began sipping from the caramel elixir with some delight. In the warmth of the Starbucks, we talked about the day's events. Our fears, our hopes. After some time, I realized he looked pale and was clutching his stomach tightly, and with a frown, I cocked an eyebrow.

"Vincent, are you okay?" I asked.

Vincent coughed to cover it up.

"Well, it's just that...I feel like puking. Excuse me," he stuttered, then dashed towards the restroom.

Groaning, he opened the door to the men's room, cursing when they cursed him. With an angry sigh, he dashed into the women's restroom. I followed him into the girl's bathroom, laughing, waiting outside patiently before the fear hit, crippling in its memory.

I didn't tell Vincent about it.

Was is it really because I forgot? Or was I simply too afraid to tell him?

I didn't know.

I couldn't know. My life was ahead of me, I had aspirations, I had dreams! There was no instruction manual on handling this anxiety, this woe, this torment.

There was no way I could tell him about it and so, my mind was in complete turmoil.

Frozen by the past, by the future, and the "what if's" in between.

"Joyceleen, are you alright?"

Vincent's voice — my voice — brought me back to reality.

"Are you?" I countered.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I guess the food I ate this afternoon didn't sit well with me."

"If you say so," I shrugged hesitantly, desperately trying to change the subject.

We headed outside, my phone in his pocket and my head in the clouds.

"By the way, your brother has been giving me weird looks because I was unable to get into your phone," I told him. Simple, smooth. Keep going Joy...

"Oh, yeah. The password is 9371. Unlike someone I know, I take precautions to prevent people from stealing data from my phone."

"Whatever."

Internally, I squealed at the thought of finally managing to get my hands on his phone. On the other hand I feared if he'd moved on.

"I didn't know you were the type of girl to sneakily take pictures," he said, showing me one of the pictures I took of him the first time we met. It was an entertaining shot, one I had wanted to capture a moment where we were together, and he was off guard at a townie's carnival.

"Why are you blushing?" Vincent groaned. "Guys don't blush—"

"Will you stop nagging? Can't I at least drop my act in front of you? I'm tired of pretending to be you, Vincent," I ground out.

"Fine. But Joyceleen...what are we going to do now? We can't keep pretending to be each other for the rest of our lives! School is going to start soon, and we can't do everything together."

As much as I wanted us to talk casually like this and enjoy each other's company, he was right. We had to find a solution, and fast.

"I can't think of anything! All that comes to mind are those dorky fairytales, where the curses were broken with a kiss from the prince. Maybe a kiss will break the spell?" I teased him, cheeky.

He gave me a bewildered look in return.

"No," he told me, scoffing. He sighed with exasperation.

"Look, we can't go down this road anymore; I don't want to make the same mistake again. I don't want to end up hurting you again. You're like the little sister that I never had. I can't, I just...can't we just stay like this?" he pleaded.

I wasn't expecting much when I asked him to kiss me, but I never expected to hear that from him.

Little sister?

Little sister?

"Um, I think I need to go back home—I mean your home," I lied. "I remember your mom saying something about having dinner together as a family." I said, pretending not to be hurt by his words. Well, what was new about that?

I cursed him when I walked away. The pain was palpable, the heartache real, and I cursed him for making me feel this way. Cursed myself for being so damn impressionable.

I was still falling for him, and it was still ruining me. 

Thank you for reading! I'm super happy today because this book won second place in the DreamCatcher Awards in the humour category! I thought my eyes were deceiving me! Thank you to all my new readers! Don't forget to vote if you liked it ;)