Backyard Serenade

four - lived a lie by you me at six

I decided not to tell Brandon about Colton, and it was gnawing at me.

Now, it's about a week after the incident and the guilt is eating me alive. I tell Brandon almost everything, and he does the same to me. Now, I have a problem talking naturally like I always do around him.

Mom is the first to notice something's weird between Brandon and I, which is a shocker because she's normally the blind one. She nudged me on the couch while we were watching the Cowboys game, "Why are you acting so hyperactive around your twin? I thought twins never acted weird around each other, and this only seems to be one sided."

"I'm going to pretend what you said just made sense. Nothing is going on, I'm just on my period and he ate the last of the cookies," I lie breezily.

Mom nods in understanding. "Oh, I get it. No worries." Holding back an eye roll, I turn back to the game.

We all stand and cheer as Dez Bryant scores a touchdown. "Take that you idiot Giants!" Dad shouts. All of us except Dad stop cheering.

"That was a stupid insult," Brandon and I say in unison.

Now it's Dad's turn to roll his eyes. "Now you see where you get it from."

"Hey!"

"Hon, that's wrong, you just insulted yourself," Mom scolds.

Dad just shrugs. "Whoops."

All of us take our rightful place on the couch, we continue watching the football game. After much yelling at the refs and at the players themselves, we all finally call it in for a night.

I'm up in my room finishing some homework when Brandon comes in. "Autumn, are you alright? You've been acting a little weird."

I fight not to bite my lip. Whenever I bite my lip, it's a dead giveaway that I've been lying. "Oh, I've just been having a personal problem."

He comes a few steps more in the room, "Autumn you can tell me anything. I've noticed you've been acting strange. Call it twin telepathy, but I know stuff."

His gesture touches me, he must think I'm dying.

On the edge of telling the truth, I blurt out, "I'm a menstruating monkey!"

"Menstruating monkey? What in fuck's name is a menstr- oh. Um– glad you can share. I'm going to go to bed now," he slowly backs out of the room. Rolling my eyes, I turn to complete my homework.

Thirty minutes later, I'm still working on my homework. Snores come from every bedroom except for mine. "It's always algebra never any other homework it's always freakin' algebra," I mutter to myself.

Guitar playing comes from below my window. "This guy, I swear," I say to no one in particular.

"Well somebody told me,
that I would be a dreamer for life.
Somebody told me I would never reach the other side.
Well you say I'm old news, but cross your fingers,
I'm yours to lose.
What if I told you, that things will never improve."

I snap my fingers instead of clapping, so that I wouldn't wake anyone up. It still surprises me that no one is awake. Although, that the only things my family wakes up to are the smell of food, the alarm clock, and the fire alarm (which accidentally went off when I burned food once). That's all, which is odd.

"And if I lived a lie,
would someone meet me on the other side?
So I can burn up bright."

I sneak out of my room and down the stairs so I can go talk to Colton once he's finished. As I step outside, I notice that the moon has taken the attention from the stars. Now it's the moon that shines bright.