Being taken once again felt so weird even though I've been in multiple relationships. The time between my breakup with Eric was one of the longest periods I've ever had without being genuinely interested in someone, but then Andy came along in her gorgeous charm and glory. It started off with nothing but pure lust but as soon as she opened her mouth, I was trapped in her character. She wasn't like anyone else I've ever met. It was f-cked up but I loved the fact that she did bad sh-t. She did all that f-cked up stuff but still looked at me as if she was the most innocent and loving person on the earth. For her profession, she had such a big heart. She wasn't all bad and I knew that. I could tell by the way she looked at me. Anybody else would run away once they even found out what she did, but maybe I was just a crazy fool. Crazy yet happy.
"Cheers to Delaney and her newfound relationship with Andy. May the two last and not have incredibly loud sex while I'm still in the apartment," Mia screamed to the top of her lungs.
She had already had a few and out of all of my friends, I think I was the only one still in a normal mindset. Andy and I had been dating for a couple of days and the girls thought it was about time they celebrated my walk out of singledom. I thought having a drink or two at home was good enough for a celebration, but of course my friends had to go out. We ended up at a house party full of losers. The stench of weed made me want to puke as soon as I walked into the place. We had been here for thirty minutes and I was already ready to go.
I put on a fake smile and downed the shot with my friends. They cheered and pulled me into an unwanted group hug. They were really enjoying themselves. There were plenty of hot guys for Mia and Tyra to both obsess over and enough cocaine getting snorted for Lisa to enjoy herself, but really there wasn't sh-t for me to do but stand there. I wasn't trying to hook up with anyone. I barely drank. I didn't smoke or do any drugs. So why was I here? I really wished I was with Andy right now, but she had work stuff to do. So, here I was.
In a matter of moments, Tyra and Mia got enough courage to finally talk to two boys who had been staring them down since they walked into the building. I knew neither of them would end of doing anything with them. Tyra loved playing hard to get and so did Mia. They'd probably give them their numbers and never call them. "Well, that leaves me and you, Lisa," I said as I turned to Lisa who was standing on my left. I found myself talking to the air. Literally, where the f-ck did that crackhead run off to!?
I stood there and crossed my arms as I looked around the house. Everyone was doing something, socializing, playing beer pong, keg stands, smoking and there I was, standing there in the kitchen like an idiot. I groaned and leaned against the refrigerator. Should I be clingy and ask Andy to pick me up? Or should I just take an Uber back to my place or should I stay and watch over my drunk friends? The latter seemed to be the most loyal and even thought I hate to admit it, if any of the girls ever died, I'd be broken, even Lisa. That's why I tried my best to keep her off drugs but that obviously wasn't working since she had just run off to most likely do them.
"Having fun?" A guy had walked into the kitchen with a red cup in his hand. He looked familiar. I scrunched up my eyebrows at him.
"Do I know you?"
He chuckled for way too long at that. I stared at him harder and then I shook my head. I couldn't know him. I thought he may had been in my friend group back in college, but he couldn't have been. He had tattoos up and down his arms. All my friends from college were preppy and clean-cut. This guy had a beard, long dark locks and his dialect portrayed he was from a bad neighborhood. His accent was thick and Spanish and his voice was deep and somehow familiar. Could he had lived in Mia's neighborhood or something? Did Rafael have like a fraternal twin or younger brother because he kind of looked like him too? I grabbed my head. Okay, I needed to stop thinking so hard. The liquor was getting back to me.
"No, you don't. You looked really f-cking bored over here so I thought I would come and entertain you." His smile seemed genuine and nice, but I knew not to trust men, especially not ones at crappy house parties. Instead of having a polite conversation with him, I rolled my eyes and looked over to a drunk couple that were dancing. The girl fell to the ground and guy laughed and offered to help her up. He ended up falling too. I laughed. I heard the guy laugh too and he was a few steps closer now. "What's your name?"
I sighed and turned towards him. "Look, I'm not trying to be rude. You're a good-looking guy but I'm not interested. I have a girlfriend, actually." He looked surprised but for some reason he found humor in my statement. "What's so f-cking funny," I asked defensively.
He quickly put his hands up as in to wane off my hastiness. "Look, I don't want to do anything like that with you. I'm actually married." He showed me his wedding band and I shrugged my shoulders. That meant nothing. So many people cheated on their spouse, half of f-cking America did. How was I to know he wasn't as slimy? "If that's not enough, I'm," he trailed off.
"You're what," I asked him. He seemed hesitant and nervous.
Whatever was in his cup, he drunk it before putting it down the kitchen counter. "I'm your brother. I'm Camilo, but you can call me Cam."
Now I was the one that was laughing. This is the hardest a guy has ever tried to get with me. Was this like some weird ass pick-up line or something? "Yeah, right. I think I would know if I had a brother."
"Damn, you're stubborn just like dad," he said with a soft chuckle.
"I'm not your f-cking sister! I'm adopted and I have no siblings. None whatsoever. I don't know who my real parents are. They didn't give a sh-t about me. Why don't you stop playing games with me and try this weird pick-up line with some b-tch who will actually fall for it." I pushed past Cam and went straight out of the door. When I got outside, I immediately regretted my dramatic ass exit. Cam followed behind me and this time he had a paper in his hand. "Stay away from me!"
"Look, Delaney, I'm your brother."
"How do you know my f-cking name?"
"I told you. I'm your brother." He passed me a paper and a picture was attached with it. I reluctantly snatched it from him and peered down at the document. It had my birthdate on it and it basically resembled my birth certificate except the name was different: Camila Fierro.
I smacked my lips and examined the picture. There was a tattered polaroid photo of a young man and woman holding two babies. One looked a lot like my old baby pictures. I shook my head and threw the paper and picture at the guy. "You have the wrong girl."
I heard him scrambling for the paper and then heard him jogging behind me. He suddenly jumped in front of me and I stopped and folded my arms. "Look at me. Tell me who do I look like," he urged.
Even though I didn't want to waste any more time, I couldn't help but to look at his facial structure. It was all so familiar. The eyes. The nose. The lips. His cheekbones. Everything was so similar to what I always saw in the mirror but just masculine. "I'm your twin brother. You were born Camila Fierro. I'm Camilo."
"That literally makes no sense."
"But it does. Your foster parents are Michael and Natalie Hershey. They're doctors. Good people. They took you in for our parents. You see, our parents were dirt poor. They couldn't handle two babies at the same time. They picked the one who was born last, you, to live a happier life. They kept me as their son but they gave you away in hopes that you could achieve more." I looked into Camilo's eyes as I tried to wrap my head around all the things that he was saying. "Camila, you grew up the top of your class, in the best schools in San Francisco, you went off to college and you're on your way to becoming a doctor. I grew up in the hood with nothing, dropped out as soon as I could and really, the streets are what raised me. A rich white family raised you and the f-cking streets raised me. I'm not upset about it. I just want to be reunited with you. Our birthday just passed and we've basically gone twenty-two years without each other. I just want to get to know my sister."
"How do you know so much about me?" He basically knew my life story yet I knew nothing about him except that he was possibly my twin brother.
"Don't get mad at your parents, but they've been giving updates to our parents this whole time. Every few months they give an update. The last thing they told mom and dad was that you moved to Santa Monica and I decided to try to reconnect with you."
"Oh my god. What the f-ck!?" I began pacing in the streets as I tried to piece everything together. This had to be some cruel f-cking joke. My parents knew who my real parents were this whole damn time and they had been communicating with them. They never answered my questions when it pertained to my real parents but they've kept in contact this whole f-cking time. Why was I the only one out of the loop?!
"I know it's a lot to take in right now, Camila."
"Delaney! I'm f-cking Delaney!"
Camilo sighed as he watched me flip out. He played with his wedding band as I cursed everything and everyone I could think of. I was so f-cking angry that hot tears began falling down my cheeks. It took a lot to make me cry but for some reason the tears were falling. I felt strong arms around me and they held me tightly. At first, I began fighting them but slowly I gave into the embrace of my brother. I wanted to deny it, but there was at least an 80% chance that he was telling the truth. I needed to talk to my parents.
"I'm sorry for flipping out," I said after several minutes. Camilo let go of me and wiped away my tears from my cheeks.
"It's fine. I would react the same. I know you're going to talk to your parents about this now, but please don't flip out on them. It was a part of the agreement when my parents handed you over. They wanted to keep tabs on you and make sure you were okay."
"Why didn't they just keep me? You seemed to have turned out fine." Camilo looked good. He was dressed nice, had an expensive chain around his neck and a nice watch on his wrist.
"Trust me, you got lucky. You think I got all this sh-t on me legally? I sold drugs for this. I sell drugs to keep my wife and daughter healthy."
"I'm a tía," I asked, ready to cry again. No way was I an aunt. My whole life I wanted siblings. I envied people who had them. Mia's family being my second family always made me happy because she had more brothers and sisters than I could count on my f-cking fingers, but now I had a connection with my actual blood family. It was surreal.
Camilo laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Her name is Camila as well. I thought we'd never link up but here I am with the balls to face you." It was a sweet gesture for him to name his daughter after me. "She's a sweet and shy girl."
"Where's our parents?"
"Somewhere mad as hell that I came to find you. They love you but they feel like they're not good enough to be in your life. They let you go and you did so much better in life and they're afraid you'll reject them."
"They're my parents. I wouldn't do that to them."
Camilo smiled softly. "That's good to know. Listen, it was really good meeting up but I really have to jet. My wife doesn't like me being out too late. I came to this lame ass party just to find you. Do you need a ride home?"
"No, my friends are here. I have to wait for them."
"Well, here. Here's my number. Think over everything and give me a text when you're ready to talk or hang out or something."
Getting three drunk girls back to my apartment was a bigger hassle than I thought it would be. I had so much sh-t on my mind and had to deal with them. Mia was kissing all over me like she had lost her damn mind, Tyra was talking my head off and Lisa was puking out of the Uber driver's window. "Kiss me one more f-cking time and I'm going to get Andy to kick your ass," I warned Mia. I knew she meant nothing by it. She was drunk as f-ck and just being frisky. Besides, if I told Andy, her nasty ass would want a threesome or something.
When we got back to my apartment, Tyra got the couch, Lisa got the floor and Mia begged to sleep in the same bed with me. I allowed it and I ended up on the floor within the first thirty minutes of her slumber. She was a wild sleeper and she basically kicked me out of my own bed. I didn't mind the floor anyways. It wasn't like I was getting any sleep. All I could think about was the family that I never met. What did they like? Did I have a huge family? Were my real parents strict or lenient? What was their everyday life like? Question after question popped up and it was killing me because I didn't know the answers.
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How do you feel about Delaney's family possibly coming into her life?