A.N. Thought I'd update cos I have nothing else to do on my 20th Birthday (🎉🎉🎉) lmao. God getting old sucks.
Anyway. Things are probably going to be moving quickly after this chapter, so keep a look for updates and shit. I'm all over the place with this book right now, specifically its direction after what I've planned. I've got all my ideas but idk how I'm going to present them yet. I'll work it out though. Hope you guys are enjoying reading the last book in the series! And I hope it's living up to expectation. Vote and comment and all that jazz, xoxo, Clay.
♔ Chapter Eight ♔
The mirror stood in front of me, hanging from the wall in a black wooden frame. I couldn't find it in myself to look away from it. My reflection. I stared, and stared, and stared. I couldn't look away. My hair was slackened but spiky, and upturned everywhere. My eyes had never seemed so haunted in all my life. Through all the tears I'd let run down my face, through the burning ache I felt rushing through me, and through everything that I'd seen.
Some people might have gone insane, after living the life that I had, so why hadn't I?
And then I smiled, and laughed at myself, because I knew. Staring into my own eyes, and seeing something else entirely looking back at me, I knew. I was already insane. In the corner of the room, I thought I might have seen him again, but it was just the shadows, folding in on themselves as the curtains on my window billowed from the draft.
My brother was dead, and he'd been dead so long - why now? I asked myself. I didn't believe it. I knew it wasn't real. He was a figment of my fucked up imagination, a ghost returned to torment me, and well, he was succeeding. Every time I heard a small noise, every time I saw something move in the corner of my eye, I'd flash around erratically, only to find nothing. I was growing more and more paranoid by the minute.
My eyes moved back to the mirror, and for a second, I thought - I'd never looked so disturbed in all of my life. I was letting my brother get me. He'd been dead for over half of my life, and yet he still had some kind of sway over me. Every time I would look in the mirror, I'd see his face. That was the most awful thing about being a twin - even after one is gone, you can't escape them. Your own face was dripping in nostalgia and grief, a constant reminder of what's gone.
Suddenly, without even thinking, I slammed my fist into the mirror, and let the shattered shards smash against the floor. My knuckles gushed blood, but I didn't care. In fact, I was smiling. I could feel the warmth of the blood trickling over my fingers, and I could hear it dripping down onto the floor, splattering over the broken shards of the mirror.
I turned quickly and grabbed my phone, and decided I didn't care anymore. I scrolled down my contact list, and sat down on my bed, staring at his name.
Hedley Haynes.
Why did I like him?
In all my life, I'd never managed to find someone who actually understood, and I don't know, I got a feeling that he did. I'd seen it in his eyes, and in his games. I'd never felt more comfortable with someone before, like there was even the slightest possibility of being happy, and I knew it could be with him. I didn't want to waste the opportunity again. Third time's the charm, right?
So I clicked dial, and waited.
"Speak," Hedley answered. He'd answered the phone pretty fast too - only two rings, I'd counted.
"It's Isaac," I mouthed, dropping back over the crumpled bed-sheets hanging halfway off my mattress. I'd kept the lights off in my bedroom the last couple days, so only the dark surrounded me, trapped between the four walls.
"Yeah, I know, dufus," he laughed. "I have caller ID. What's up?"
"We still on for today?" I asked carefully, running a hand through my hair almost by instinct. I felt a little nervous, and that only made me feel worse. Then I realised he couldn't see me.
"The date?" he asked. "I'm not gonna lie, I thought you'd cancel on me," he admitted. "I thought you'd find some way out of it. I know your type."
I rolled my eyes almost by instinct. "Yep, everybody knows my type, and yet, here I am."
"True," he smiled. "Brownie points for trying. And yeah, I'm still up for it if you are."
"Yeah. I need to get out of this flat. I'm driving myself mad."
"Come pick me up then."
So I did. I got dressed quickly, without even thinking, and sprinkled cold water over my face. My right hand, split open and bloody, I bandaged in a hurry, and left. I hopped into my car, a rusty blue thing from the '70's, and drove to pick him up.
Hedley was waiting outside of his dorm, smiling wickedly when he spotted me.
"Hurt yourself?" he asked, pointing to my hand at the wheel. Blood had managed to seep through the surface of the white cotton, but it had dried pretty quickly.
"Smashed a mirror," I admitted.
"That unhappy with your appearance? Did nobody ever tell you that beauty is skin deep?"
"Yeah, ugly people tell me all the time," I joked.
"That's just mean," he said, stepping into the car beside me. "Anyway, I was thinking about the other day, what you told me... you know, about your family."
"Why were you thinking about that?"
"I dunno. I just got back by myself, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I mean, losing everyone in your family, it must have been hard on you. So I'm sorry if I seemed disingenuous."
"Big word," I commented, bumping him on the shoulder while we sat there.
"My vocabulary and my taste in penis both share that quality," he quipped. "So, yeah, sometimes I can be a little cold without realising. I crack jokes at inappropriate times. I just hope I didn't cross any lines."
I smiled. "No, you didn't. I'm a big boy, Hedley, I can handle your sassy side."
"Bitch I don't have a sassy side!" he argued. "Okay. Well, what else can you expect from a massive homosexual such as myself? Adidas joggers and a gym membership? Jog on."
"You're such a gimp," I laughed.
"And what does that mean?"
"Don't worry, it's cute."
"Oh, hold on up, boy. Don't go trying anything on me, I don't give it up on the first date," he said.
"No, you gave it up seconds after meeting me, in the toilets on campus."
"Oh yeah, good times. Anyway, I'm not a slut. So, what's the plan? Are we going to a restaurant and playing footsie under the table, or are we snogging shamelessly in the back of the cinema?"
"Uh, well, guess I'm predictable," I told him, starting up the engine. "I hate anything remotely cliche, but we're going to a restaurant in town."
Hedley smiled, leaning in close to me as I drove, and whispered, "It's a good thing I'm hungry. In more ways than one."
I coughed. "Good to know." Hedley's hands pressed on my lap, and rose up to the zipper of my jeans, pulling it down quickly. "What are you doing?" I asked, grasping the wheel of the car even tighter.
"Having some fun," he cooed. "Don't you wanna have some fun?"
"I thought you didn't give it up on the first date?"
"I lied. I tend to do that a lot." He didn't wait for me to say much else, and slipped his hand into my boxers, wrapping around my dick. It hardened sharply, and when Hedley noticed, he buried his head into my lap. I struggled to hold in a moan, when my dick throbbed at the back of his throat. I coughed again, trying to focus on the road, but it was getting harder. I saw an exit up ahead and took it, parking the car on the side of the road.
Hedley saw we'd stopped and quickly pulled my shirt over my head, nearly ripping it off of my back. He pulled his jeans down, and I took his lead, letting him swoop over and sit on my lap. Smiling, he lifted himself over my dick and put it in position, slowly settling back down into my lap, inch by inch, until all of me was inside of him. And he wasted no time in grabbing me by the hair to kiss me, slowly starting to ride me where I sat. I lifted my hips up in time with his, quickening the pace.
Then I grabbed his arms and threw him off of me, into the back seat. I slid in between the gap and grabbed his hips, forcing him onto all fours, and slipped myself back into him. He moaned, and I quickened, pounding him fiercely. When I couldn't hold myself back any longer, I grabbed his arms and held them behind his back, forcing his face down into the material of the back car seat, muffling his moans.
I finally came, just as there was a knock on the driver's window. The two of us jumped and pulled our jeans back up quickly, and I rolled down the window. Standing by the car was a police officer.
"Really, boys?" he asked. "In the backseat of a car?"
"We're sorry, officer," I said, as Hedley slipped into the front seat.
"We couldn't help ourselves," he added.
"Well, we've all been there," he laughed. "Listen, there are so many places you guys can have sex without getting caught. A car isn't one of those places."
"We understand," Hedley said. "We won't do it again, officer."
"Hey, wait, do I know you from somewhere?" he asked Hedley.
"I don't think so." I turned to look at Hedley, and for a moment, he looked a little scared.
"You sure? I swear I know your face. What's your name?"
"Uh. Hedley Haynes."
"Havana's eldest!" the officer beamed. "I know your mother."
Hedley suddenly looked queasy. "How?" he dared to ask.
"I'm at the church every week," he shrugged. "She's one of the best preachers I've ever seen."
"Your mum is a preacher?" I asked, trying to hold in a laugh.
"Yeah, the irony is obvious, I know."
"Especially considering her views on homosexuality," the officer stated. "I think I'll keep this little incident to myself, so long as you drive off and don't shag shamelessly in a car unless it's parked in your garage."
"Thanks," I sighed, letting out a breath of relief.
Hedley started laughing as soon as the officer was gone. "I can't believe that just happened!"
"We could've gotten arrested!"
"For what? Your hostile invasion of my arse?" He was laughing harder this time.
"Indecent exposure!"
"As if anybody actually gets arrested for that. Now let's get out of here, I'm starting to get hungry."
I grumbled under my voice and started the car up again, taking off down the road. "That was so shameful, I don't know how you can laugh at that."
"We were caught red-handed, it's hilarious. It's not my fault that you have zero sense of humour, Isaac."
"You think it's funny, that he saw us like that? What if he tells your mum what he saw? Will you be laughing then? Didn't think so."
"Are you actually mad at me over this?" Hedley asked, and I almost turned to face him, but I wanted to keep my eyes firmly on the road in front of me.
I sighed. "Whatever."
"Whatever?" Hedley repeated. "Stop the car."
I turned and looked right at him, and he'd firmly crossed his arms. "What?" I asked.
"Stop the fucking car. I'm getting out."
"Really? Fine. Walk home." The car stopped, and the door slammed shut behind him. I watched him in my side-view mirror, storming off back down the road.
Who the fuck does he think he is? Fuck him, I thought. I grunted, and drove off, leaving him on the side of the road. Fucking fuck him.