Fuck.15StormNo way, no family is that shit. Not possible. But I know he isn’t lying by the grip Echo has on my arm right now like he knows I want to run in the other direction. His brother walks off and his parents smile at me and only me, then they follow their son inside.
“You didn’t tell me,” I manage to say.
He shakes his head and everyone starts going inside. “Let’s get this over with.” He sighs in relief, I’m not going to let his brother win. Mike thought he could, I saw the smugness play on his face when he told me what he did. Like it would make me run for the hills. It still might, but right now I can be the only person in this place that likes Echo because it sure as shit shows that no one in his family does. They all think of him as a dropkick. Which he’s anything but.
“Thank you.”
I shrug. What I want to say isn’t the right time to be spoken. He has enough shit to deal with from his family, today isn’t the day.
He takes a seat at the back. I don’t argue or even bother asking why he doesn’t sit up front with the rest of his family. His foot starts bouncing up and down on the spot, and it’s one of the first times I’ve seen this side of him. Nervous. Anxious. Apprehensive. And maybe even a little distressed. The music starts while I watch him staring straight ahead, but then he reluctantly turns to see where it’s coming from. To see her walk past me. I feel her as she approaches but don’t care to turn to see her. My eyes are solely trained on him and his reaction.
“Is she beautiful?” I ask him, he nods but doesn’t look back at me. “Do you wish it was you?”
This time his eyes find me. Everyone goes silent, and I hear in the background a wedding playing out. Do I care, though? No.
“No. I don’t think so.” His answer’s unsure, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
“How did she break your heart, Echo? How?”
He leans in close, so only I can hear him. No one near us is paying us any attention anyway. “She fucked my brother,” he replies with such venom.
“Did you really love her?”
His eyes leave mine as they flick to the front of the room then back to me. “Maybe. She was all I knew.”
We sit in silence staring at each other, neither of us paying any attention to the wedding. The way his eyes search mine doesn’t bode well for me. He’s trying to look deeper to find what I don’t even know.
“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” I ask him
He doesn’t answer just continues to stare with those beautiful blue eyes.
“I think we should end it after this I will play the perfect dutiful girlfriend until the wedding finishes. Then that’s it. It’s time. We’ve had our fun.”
“Have we, though?” he finally replies.
We both turn to the front when everyone starts cheering, and he pulls me to stand and starts clapping as they walk down the aisle. She glances my way as she passes then her eyes land on Echo, surprise sits there, but she covers it when she hears the click of the cameras.
They look so much alike, yet so different—Echo and his brother. I wonder why they don’t like each other. It can’t be just because one was favored over the other.
“You look so alike,” I state as people start to walk out after the bride and groom.
“That would be because we’re twins.”
My mouth falls open as I turn to look at him. “You both should be close.” Turning to face him full on, he’s already watching me. “Why aren’t you?”
He shrugs then grabs my hand in his. “We still have a reception to attend. This should be fun.”
His mother and father are waiting out by the front of the door for us when we leave. We are the last two out the door. I saw the way people stared at him as they walked past. Or the slight whispers of his name as well. His mother offers me a small smile before she starts walking with the both of us following not far behind her.
“I would like you and Storm to sit at our table,” his mother says. She doesn’t give us room to say no.
We make our way into the reception area—which is a large white marquee out the back of the church—which is filled with beautiful floral decorations. The scent as you walk inside almost knocks you off your feet. There are tables set up with white tablecloths and pink placemats. Massive bouquets of flowers decorate the middle of every table. Small glittery lighting hangs in strands from the ceiling. Behind the bride and groom’s table is a sheer curtain, with fairy lights trailing across and down. Everything is in pink and white, it’s quite beautiful.