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27
EVER
The early morning sun seeps through the bay window as I push the living room door open to find Alex perched on the edge of the couch like he’s been waiting for hours.
“Alex.” I don’t really know what else to say. I’m confused about the way he has been behaving lately.
“Ever, we need to talk.” He’s straight to the point, his voice low and urgent.
My eyebrows hitch up as my brain tries to catch up with this curveball. “About what?”
He stands, and that’s when I notice something’s off. There’s a seriousness in his stance that sets my nerves on edge. “It’s about me, or rather, someone who looks exactly like me.”
“Come again?” My confusion deepens and must be written all over my face because he takes a deep breath, appearing as if he is about to drop a bombshell.
“Ever, it’s a long story and one I’m not prepared togo into today, but you need to know the basics. I have a twin.” His words hang in the air, heavy with implications.
Shock nails me to the spot, my brain scrambling to make sense of Alex’s grenade. A twin? An entire person out there wearing Alex’s face?
“Are you fucking with me?”
“Ever, I’m dead serious.” His tone is flat, the gravity in his eyes anchoring the truth of his words.
“Since when?” My voice pitches high, disbelief sharpening each word. The fact that I’m only finding out now twists my stomach into knots.
“Since always, obviously. But there are complications, and I said I’m not going into it right now.” He runs a hand through his hair, a gesture of frustration that’s all too familiar.
“Then why spill the beans now?” I press, arms still crossed over my chest.
“Because...” He hesitates, and I can almost see him weighing his next words. “The guy who invited you to that party last week, the one who picked you up... It wasn’t me, Ever. It was him.”
I feel the floor tilt beneath me as if the room decides to spin just to mess with my head. I replay that night, the ease between us I took for granted, thinking it was Alex. But it wasn’t.
The silence in the room stretches, thick and uncomfortable, like a rope ready to snap. My mind races back to that night, scouring through every moment for clues I missed.
“His laugh,” I say suddenly, causing him to look at me sharply. “It was different to yours.”
“Oh?” he croaks.
“Yeah, he was slightly colder in a way. It’s hard to describe. God, I’m such an idiot.” I pace the room now, every step unleashing new fragments of memory. The twin had been bolder; ditching me for a hook-up with Verity Bowden is something I should have known Alex wouldn’t do. He has never wanted me as a girlfriend, but he has always been attentive and caring.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know until a couple of days ago. It’s a shitshow.”
“How can I trust anything now? How do I know you are you?” I demand, glaring at him with an accusation that hangs there.
“Ever,” he pleads, and there’s a crack in his usually steady attitude that tells me this is Alex. But the seed of doubt has been planted, and it’s already taken root, growing fast and wild.
“Sorry,” I mutter, though I’m not sure for what. For doubting him? For being so easily tricked? I don’t know anymore.
“I know this is difficult, and I’m so sorry, Ever. You know I would never place you in any danger knowingly. You know that, right?”
It’s like a switch flicks inside me. Despite the chaos, the fear that his twin—this mystery person with Alex’s face—has woven into my life, there’s this undercurrent of trust for the guy before me. Trust that’s been built over late-night study sessions, sharedlaughs, and moments where the world seemed too heavy but lighter somehow when he was around.
“Did he have anything to do with what happened to me that night?” I ask quietly.
His face goes pale. He’s obviously heard; there’s no need to explain. “I don’t know, Ever. If he did, I don’t care who he is, he will pay.”
I nod, accepting that he doesn’t know.
