2- Twins

3rd Person POV

After the basketball game, everyone exited the gymnasium and the school altogether to head home. Harrison and Rhett were still topless, only sporting their flag capes and basketball shorts. Since it was spring and they were recently surrounded by hundreds of bodies, they weren’t cold at all as they stood outside the school.

“Here comes your girl,” Rhett said, nudging his chin in a certain direction.

Harrison followed his eyes and saw his sister trotting up toward them. “Hey, twinny!” he greeted with a smile and his arms open wide.

Holly joined the boys and hugged her brother. She had the same curly blonde hair that reached her waist and brown eyes like Harrison, but her eyes were darker when Harrison's were more golden, and her face was more heart-shaped and feminine while his was more squared and masculine.

“You boys did amazing as usual,” she praised as she parted from her hug with Harrison and went to hug Rhett.

“Thank you, thank you,” he gave a small bow to Holly after they parted, and the three of them laughed.

“Harry, mom’s making dinner for us tonight so we best get going.”

“Right, I forgot. Catch you later, Rhett!”

“Bye!” Rhett hollered as he waved goodbye, watching the backs of the two prettiest blondes in the school walk to their car. He sighed and began walking to his own car, giving random students high fives as he walked.

Holly and Harrison got into the car and Holly let her head fall back on the headrest with a groan.

“How can you JUST be friends with him.” She stared out the window at Rhett. “I mean do you need glasses, Harry? The fuck? Seriously. The fuck is wrong with you?”

Harrison rolled his eyes and turned the keys in the ignition. “If you like him so much then YOU make a move.”

“I don’t understand why you won’t! I know you Harry, and I know that Rhett is your dream guy.”

“We have been best friends for so long that I don’t know if I am willing to risk our friendship, okay? I’m okay with us just being friendly. Do I fantasize about him? Obviously. I mean look at him!” He motioned to Rhett as the latter climbed into his car across the parking lot. “Do you see his chest?”

“Hubba hubba,” Holly mumbled mindlessly as she nodded her head, practically drooling at the sight of Rhett Langley.

Harrison looked over at his twin sister. She caught sight of him and looked back at him. “What?”

“You confuse me sometimes. You want me to go for it with Rhett and yet you fangirl over him like you’re about to pounce on him at any moment. You’re like a shy puma.”

Holly laughed at her brother. “Rhett is like a celebrity crush to me. He’s way out of my league, but he’s perfectly in yours,” she pointed out with a sly look.

“I don’t think he’s gay, Holly.” Harrison shook his head as he drove. “He told me tonight that rumors were going around about me and that he wanted to put a stop to them. He wants to make sure that I don’t miss out on anything.”

“And what did you say?”

Harrison shrugged. “I told him I didn’t care what they say about me and that I wasn’t worried about it.”

“I still can’t believe you haven’t told him that you swing for the same team,” she said with a chuckle.

“I don’t know for sure yet that I do! I have… limited experience with either team to make up my mind just yet.”

“Alright, alright. You guys aren’t going to be so airtight forever, you know. You should figure out which team you prefer, or if you would rather split your time fifty-fifty as soon as possible. Before college, at least.”

“We have one year left of high school, Holly. Please, let me live it the way I want to.” Harrison looked away from the road to his sister in the passenger’s seat with a pleading look in his eyes.

Holly pursed her lips at him. “I just want you to be happy, Harry.”

“I am happy,” he insisted with a smile. “I’m happy in my innocent little bubble where everything is still curious and exciting to me.”

Holly laughed again at her brother, who was currently reminding her of a cartoon rat that discovers he had been living underneath Paris all his life and is excited by anything edible.

She knew Harrison was different from an early age. Being someone’s twin gives you a whole other type of connection to them than just being blood-related; they were once one; “womb-mates” as they called themselves. He denied fiercely the first time she approached him with the possibility of his sexuality being different than his friends’, but she knew he thought about it frequently; especially after puberty when the hormones exploded and they were nothing but questions.

One night as they were watching movies, he agreed with a certain sexually-graphic comment that Holly had made about Ryan Reynolds, and both kids froze. After an extremely long night of discussion and heart-to-heart, Harrison had finally accepted that there was a possibility of him being gay or bi, and the two kept the secret to themselves ever since.

“It’s not living a lie if I don’t know the truth, to begin with.”

“That’s true,” she agreed as she stared out the window at the newly bloomed flower bushes of their neighborhood. “I guess I’m just anxious to know the answer,” she said with a laugh. “You’re my twin! I should know everything about you!”

“And so far, you do.”

They arrived home and parked the car in the driveway before entering the front door.

“Mom, dad, we're home,” hollered Holly.

“In here,” came the distant voice of their mother.

They followed her voice and found both their parents in the dining room, setting the table for dinner.

His father looked displeased and motioned to him as he said, “Jesus, Harrison, don’t you own any shirts?”

Harrison looked down at his naked torso and awkwardly adjusted the flag cape around his neck with a smile. “Woopsie.”

After putting on a shirt and coming back downstairs, the Monroe family sat down for dinner.

“I noticed some suitcases in your guys’ room when I walked by. Are you guys going on a trip?” Harrison asked, and his parents looked at each other with sad eyes. A minute of silence passed, and Harrison’s shoulders slowly drooped as he softly said, “Oh,” realizing why they wanted to have a family dinner tonight.

Holly dropped her silverware loudly on her plate and slouched back in her chair with a pissed-off expression. “Well, that’s just fucking great.”

“Language, young lady!” their father scolded.

Their mother fidgeted with her napkin as she explained with a sad voice, “We are going to wait to file until after your birthday so that we don’t drag you two through the whole process.”

“How thoughtful,” Holly mumbled sarcastically.

Ignoring Holly’s comment, their father added, “Until then, I will be living elsewhere.”

The twins looked at each other. They shared a similar look in their eye, one that told the other “You are all I have anymore. You are my rock. The only other person in the world I know I can trust and count on.” They reached for each other’s hands and gripped firmly to reassure each other that they have their back no matter what happens.

That night, Harrison went to bed feeling both curious and determined. Curious - now knowing that their parents’ marriage was an unhappy one - what true love actually looked like, and determined to never let himself get hurt the way that his father had hurt his mother. The tears in her eyes tore Harrison apart, as he and Holly were always closer to their mother than their father.

From that day on, Harrison was determined to never let anything, or anyone, break his heart.