"Back home already?" Thea called out as I hung my coat and slipped out of my shoes.
She was sitting on the couch, her phone against one ear and she looked at me expectantly for an answer.
"Turns out working late hours isn't my cup of tea. You were right- it's ruining my life."
Thea furrowed her brows. "Hey, Ralph- twin crisis. Talk to you later? Yeah," she blushed the slightest bit, then said,"Love you too. Good night."
She slid her phone into her pocket, folded her legs so that she was sitting crisscrossed on the couch, then patted the place next to her. "Hello? Do you need my expert advice or not?"
I grinned. "Are we going to look past the fact that you just said 'I love you' to a guy on the phone and I haven't even been formally introduced to give my 'big brother' speech yet?" I asked her, taking my place on the couch beside her.
She rolled her eyes, pretending it was no big deal, but the blush creeping onto her face suggested otherwise. "Ralph's been my best friend for three years now. Nothing more, and you know that."
I winked. "Or so you claim...."
She threw a throw pillow at me.
Maybe that's why it's called a throw pillow.....
"You don't want me to get started on Ava.... And besides, I hang out with a lot of other guys. Why Ralph?"
I raised my eyebrows. "First of all, you hang out with, like, three other guys. Ace is with Stacy, Max is with Aria and Kevin's too good for you."
She pouted, then started laughing. "Fair enough. But seriously, though, what's with you and Ava?"
"Actually.. that's what I wanted to talk to you about."
She beamed. "Finally! You're telling me something about your life!"
I couldn't help but smile back. "How could I keep anything from my beloved twin?"
She scoffed. "Please. I have no clue about what's been going on with you in months!"
"There really isn't anything going on, to be honest. I would've told you if there was something interesting..."
She stared at me for a minute. "You like Ava, don't you?"
My mouth dropped open in shock. "Did I make it that obvious?"
"You couldn't make it more. You talk about her every day, you talk to her everyday, everything you do revolves around Ava."
I wanted to knock the stupid grin off her face, but I felt one spreading on my face as well.
"Do you think the others can tell too?" I asked, hoping they couldn't. The last thing I wanted was for the whole world to know I liked her and have everyone secretly ship us behind my back. Thea shrugged. "I don't think so. I mean, you act like a best friend to her more often than not. You guys have the weirdest conversations. Plus, you seem like you're the type of friends who are too close to want anything more."
"So you're saying she's totally going to friendzone me if I make a move?" I sounded more upset than I'd intended. She slung her arm around my shoulder. "Ava's a hard person to read. I don't know her well enough to find out if she has feelings for you too, but I'm sure there has to be some clues you can look for...."
"See, that's the thing. I have a feeling I completely blew her off yesterday. She called me while I was at work, and you know I'm a bad liar- hell, even she knows I'm a bad liar- and I ended up sounding as if I had something way more important than her to tend to." Thea slammed her palms face-down on the couch. "You're screwed."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, standing up. I started to pace around the room nervously as Thea ranted to me about how stupid I was. This was pretty normal for us."First of all, you don't lie to the girl you like. If she finds out you were lying to her, you pretty much lose all her trust. Second, you don't blow her off when she calls you. It probably took her a lot of courage considering how much shipping has been going on with you guys at school. I bet you haven't hung out, just the two of you, in a good while just because of that. Third of all, you can't keep your feelings hidden forever. Be straightforward! I hate it when people keep hiding away their feelings because they're scared they're going to mess things up. I mean, why think negative all the time? What if admitting your feelings could bring you happiness instead?"
I stopped to face her. "If it's that easy to be straightforward, why aren't you making a move on Ralph?"
Shots fired.
She took a deep breath. "Because he likes Stacy."
I didn't know what to say.
I instantly felt like the worst brother on the planet. I gave Thea a hug, but she shrugged the whole thing off and said it was no big deal. Thea didn't like drama one bit. If she could stay out, she would. Gladly. But I knew there was a small part of her that always envied couples who loved each other. I knew she hoped for her own happily ever after one day.
In a lot of ways, my sister was like Ava. They both detested feelings and hated admitting when something upset them. They didn't seek comfort- they longed for isolation. They were only themselves when they were alone. The only difference was that Thea acknowledged her feelings. She talked about them sometimes. But when the moment was over, she moved on. She didn't bottle her emotions up like Ava. She let them go so fast that sometimes you didn't even know they were there.
"I'm just worried that either Ralph or Elody are going to notice something's up and ask me about it. Then I'll be forced to tell them." I chuckled. "Right, your 'jigglypuff' thing! That's actually genius." She smiled.
"Now, back to you. What are you going to do about work?" Thea asked, as usual trying to change topic so she wouldn't be forced to feel things. "I'll figure that out. My first priority at the moment is apologizing to Ava. Or at least getting her to hang out with me to make up for yesterday."
She nodded, and we both sank into a comfortable silence. The cuckoo clock above the fireplace alerted us that it was an hour to midnight. Mom wouldn't be home for another hour or so. She'd started out a part-time job at the grocery store. Her shift started right after school so she was never home.
"Hey, Ted? Thanks for telling me about Ava. I was starting to think we were drifting apart, but knowing this definitely made things better." I got where she was coming from. I'd been planning on telling her about Ava for a while, but always backed out last minute because I was afraid it'd get too awkward.
"Thank you for telling me about Ralph. Speaking of which, he's not worth it. He's best friend material, for sure- I love the guy- but I think you need someone who cares about your feelings just as much as you care about theirs."
She sighed. "That's true, but it's not Ralph's fault. I'm not usually open to telling anyone anything. You're the only one I vent out to, and trust me- I don't think I want to date someone like you." I punched her arm. "Billions of girls are lining up to get dates with me."
Thea punched my arm back. "You've just got to hope that Ava's one of those billions."
• • •
A/N I wish Thea and Ralph could be a thing, but I guess not everyone can have a happily ever after that easily.
Hahaha being an evil author is the most pleasing thing ever.
Hope you liked the chapter and don't hate me too much!❤