“Boondock Saints.” That got me wide eyes and a grin before he moved on to the next question. I figured he liked the movie, too.
“Favorite band?”
“Bad Religion.”
“Ooh, punk. Didn’t see that one coming just like with the canary yellow.” I wondered if he liked them since he knew who they were. I wondered and I hoped. If we were going to be friends we needed something more in common than being next door neighbors who were the same age.
He grilled me the entire way to class. In the end, he had way more information than me and it was me who worried my paper would suck due to lack of information but I was too afraid to ask him any questions. And, seriously, how much crap did he need to know about me?
In the next class, he took the seat to my right. All throughout the next hour whenever he could he’d lean across the aisle and whisper questions at me and I’d whisper the answers back to him. He kept them light, sticking with the favorite theme. At the end of the hour I felt naked and exposed, vulnerable. He knew more about me than anyone else ever had. I didn’t know if I should be frightened by this or elated.
We went our separate ways after that class, likely so he could drop his books off in his locker. It was also after he told me he’d see me at my table so we could have lunch together. I doubted it. No one ate outside and the picnic tables weren’t visible from the cafeteria. I dropped my own books off at my locker and headed to my table outdoors. None of the pod people in the cafeteria looked at me as I breezed through. Today I didn’t need to hit the line to get food because I’d packed myself a lunch that morning. It wasn’t much. A bottle of water, a zip lock bag stuffed full of chips and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off. I didn’t need anything more and I likely didn’t have the time to eat anything more. Well, maybe a candy bar. There’d always be time for chocolate.
I made it outside without incident and came to a halt.
What?
How?
Tyson was sitting at the table I’d used yesterday. How had he known? I almost turned around and headed back in the direction I’d come from. I think I would have if a big, very warm hand hadn’t landed on the small of my back and, very gently, pushed me forward half a step. The hand burned through the thin material of my shirt and heated up my skin. I shivered as I turned my head to the side and up to look over my shoulder to see who that hand belonged to. My breath caught in my throat as my mouth dropped open. One of the salt and pepper twins was touching me! The pepper twin. His green eyes pierced me to my spot as his touch burned through me. He’d robbed me of speech.
He was even prettier up close than he’d been from afar. He had high cheekbones with hollow cheeks that were lovely. A firm, strong jawline. Luscious, kissable lips. I wanted to run my tongue along the bottom one. Tearing my eyes off those lips so I could examine the rest of his face was almost painful, but I managed it. He had black scruff along his jawline and beautiful, thick, dark eyelashes that most girls would be jealous of, myself included. And his hand still rested on my lower back. Shouldn’t he have removed his hand? It wasn’t normal to touch someone you didn’t know in such a way for a prolonged amount of time.
“Are you just going to stand here all day, pretty girl, or are you planning on moving out of the doorway sometime soon?” His voice came out deep and rough, like gravel. I bet if I had my hand on his chest it would have rumbled along with his voice.
“Twin, what’s the hold up?” The exact same deep, rough, gravelly voice came from behind the pepper twin. Goodness, their voices were identical. How weird was that? Was that normal for twins? I didn’t think so, but what did I know? I’d never met twins before.
I looked over pepper’s broad shoulder to see the other twin grinning at me mischievously.
“What’s the hold up, pretty girl?” He asked me as his grin grew even bigger. “I’m hungry. My twin is hungry. If you don’t move out of the way so we can sit down and eat we might be forced to eat you.”
The pepper twin laughed at his brother’s words.
If my face was hot before it was on fire now. I could not believe he’d just said that to me, a complete stranger!
“Ariel,” Tyson shouted at me. He must have just then spotted me standing there like a moron. “What are you doing? Come and sit down over here.”
“Yeah, Ariel,” pepper said from behind me in his deep, rough voice. “What are you doing?”
“Yeah, Ariel,” the exact same voice came from behind the pepper twin, this one mocking. “Go and sit down over there.”
Yeah, Ariel. I mocked inside my head. Why don’t you just stand here like a moron some more with your mouth hanging open! That sounds like an excellent idea.
I was so freaking stupid sometimes. It wasn’t bad enough I’d perved on them for an entire hour, which they probably noticed, but now I had to go and act like this? I wanted to smack myself upside the head but feared they’d think me even more of a weirdo if I did it.
Swallowing thickly, I stepped away from that burning hand and the pepper twin the limb was attached to. Very quickly I made my way to the table. I took a seat directly across from Tyson who did not blind me with his smile. Instead, he looked at me with narrow, concerned eyes.
To my absolute surprise and utter horror, the twins sat down at the same table as us. Pepper beside me and salt directly across from him. They both grinned boyishly at me. I wanted to die right then and there. How had I not connected it that they would probably want to sit with Tyson when they lived together after all? Like me, they were new to town and likely didn’t know anyone outside of Tyson.
I desperately wanted to get up and run back the way I’d come from so I could escape this crazy shit show.
“So,” the salt twin smirked at me with a playful glint in his eyes, “you’re the pretty little neighbor girl Tyson told us about yesterday.” It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact.
I paused while pulling my water bottle out of my bag. His words completely shocked me to my core. Tyson had mentioned me to them? Yesterday? Yesterday had been a bad day and he’d only spoken to me to snarl at me. And I hadn’t even known he knew we were neighbors until this morning. My face burned bright as I fought the urge to ask the twins what all Tyson had said about me. I looked to Tyson to see him glaring darkly at the twin who’d spoken. It was so scary it made me happy that look was not directed at me. It didn’t seem to bother either of the twins. They grinned at each other as they pulled their lunches out of their bags. I decided to avoid eye contact and do the same.
“What was wrong with your car this morning?” the pepper twin asked me.
I opened my bag of chips and looked over at him. His green eyes were so bright they practically glowed. “I’ve no idea,” I told him honestly. “It wouldn’t start and it’s never done that before.”