Not the Same

At the Movies

Joey's POV

"Hey," Cat says to me. "You ready to go to the movies?"

"I'll be ready in a minute," I tell her. I quickly go into the bathroom brush my teeth and do my hair. I walk back out and see Cat is ready to go. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Great," Cat says with a big smile. "Ricky. Kian. We're leaving for the movies now."

"Okay, see you later," I hear Kian say from my room.

We leave our apartment and get in Cat's vehicle. "So, what movie are we seeing?"

"Some horror movie I saw being advertised on YouTube," she says. "And since you agreed on letting me choose the movie, we're going to it."

"Fine," I say. "But if I end running and screaming out of the theater, I'm blaming you fully."

"Fair enough," she states. "But let's talk about something not serious. I mean, we've had a lot happen to us in past few months."

"Okay," I state.

"So, how's Luke and Ingrid doing," Cat asks. "He won't tell me anything."

"They're doing well, as far as I know," I tell her. "There's no complaints from him."

"What about this Mark guy," she asks with an innocently sweet smile.

"I don't know yet," I tell her. "I mean, all I know is that we meet up and play chess."

"Have you ever beat him," she asks.

"No, he's like one of the best chess players I've ever met," I answer. "He's been the best one I've seen ever since..." Memories of Shane came back to mind. I still can't believe what he tried to do, but I can't fully blame him. He was sick. He was depressed. He was fragile. He was Shane.

"We don't need to go on with this if you don't want to," she says instantly. I could feel a tear slide down my cheek that faced the window.

"N-No, it's fine," I tell her. "Anyway, he and I agreed that if I beat him in a game of chess, he'd show me his face."

"So, you've never seen his face," she states.

"Yeah, because of the car wreck he was in, he's afraid I'll freak out and leave him with how his face looks," I respond.

"But you would never do that," Cat utters.

"I know that, but he's skeptical," I say quietly.

"I think everything will go great," she says. "Anyway, we're here. Ready to be terrified."

"Beyond ready," I say sarcastically.

We get out of her vehicle and buy our tickets. We go into the theater and see that we're the only ones in the room. "I guess we get our choice of seats," Cat declares.

"Top row," I ask.

"Okay," she states and we climb the stairs up to the top row. We then sit down and talk for awhile while we wait for the movie to start. We then hear people walking in, so we lower our voices. I could make out that the voices were Earl and someone else. Cat and I slide down in our seats and watch as they walk in and sit in the middle rows. The person, he looked like Cam, but sounded nothing like him.

"So, what do you think your idiot siblings are up to," Earl asks, nonchalantly.

"Probably just talking about stupid crap like school and relationships," the other person states flatly. "They're just pawns for us. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"My thoughts exactly," Earl declares. "You know Dallas, you've always been my favorite. You're the perfect son that a father could ask for."

I look over to Cat and mouth, "Who is Dallas?"

"Cam, maybe," Cat mouths back.

"Dallas I'm glad you got rid of my fag of a son," Earl responds.

"What," Cat and I both mouth.

"He's still in here, but he's weak. He'll never win," Dallas retorts.

"I know," Earl responds. "He's always been weak. Always will be."

The movie started and Earl and Dallas? went quiet. I tried to enjoy the movie, but my mind was now racing with what Cat and I had just learned. I look over at Cat and saw she was just like me. After the movie ended, Cat and I waited a bit so Earl and Dallas could leave without seeing us. Cat and I then got up and left the theatre. We climbed in Cat's vehicle and Cat started up it up. "What was that," I ask Cat. "Who is Dallas? Where's Cam? Is he Cam? Ugh. My head hurts."

"I don't know," Cat declares. "Does Cam have a twin or something because Dallas looks just like him. The only difference was their voice and mannerisms."

"Maybe we should go tell everyone," I respond. "Kian, Ricky, Shelby, and Andrea know him better than us."

"Yeah that's a good idea," I say. "Cat?"

"Yeah," Cat responds.

"When did our lives become so dramatic and confusing," I ask her with a laugh.

"Ever since we met Ricky and Connor," she says, laughing with me.

"Yeah, they're just magnets for danger and drama," I retort.

"We better hurry back home," she says and speeds up a little.

The ride back was in complete silence. Honestly, what else could we say? We had no clue what was going on and was completely clue how to fix it."

Cat pulls in and parks her car. We get out and head up to our apartment. As I'm unlocking the door, I hear murmuring from the other side. Cat and I walk in to see that two people we didn't recognize was talking to Kian and Ricky. "Hey guys," Kian says. "This is Jack and Julia."

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