Love Lines

1: Gold Metal

Chapter One

“Kells…I…”

“I know,” he said softly. “It’s going to be ok.”

“How is it going to be ok? I didn’t choose to be assarion…”

“I told you. You wouldn’t know. It would just happen…”

“You said I’d get to choose. That the second twin had the option of choosing…”

“And you chose. Even if it was for a split second. Even if it was the briefest of thought, you chose. I’m sorry. I’ll do everything I can but…”

“Nat! Hey, are you ok?”

“I have to go.” He kissed my forehead roughly. “I’m sorry.”

The second he let go of me I sat down, crying harder than I ever had before. That included when my mother died and when I thought Cecil was dead. This day just felt like it was never going to end.

~ * ~

Just like in the time lines before, Cecil came to the door, hot on Allie’s heels. He tried to convince his way into the locker room but while he bickered with Allie, I got myself to stop crying and unlocked the door, refusing to look him in the eyes. “I’m fine,” I said.

Needless to say he didn’t believe me. Neither did Schylar who was a couple seconds late to the party. He took one look at my tear streaked face and threw the first punch. Again. Now, I’m not a weepier, at least not in public, but this almost brought me to tears yet again. I knew, even with the slight differences, this time line had the possibility of turning out just like the one I’d seen. Only problem was I wasn’t supposed to be around him, or talk to him. The urge to just get away was clawing at me, leaving scratches no one could see or feel but me.

Since Kells wasn’t there to break up the fight, they kept going at it until my father and uncle came. I was heartbroken and unable to respond to anything anyone said. I just sort of sat on one of the benches in the lobby, staring at nothing in particular. I swear I had most of the pattern memorized by the time Allie sat next to me, touching my shoulder gently.

I blinked and two tears made their way out and down my face as I turned to look at her.

“Nat…are you ok?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father trying to wrangle in Schylar while my uncle was speaking softly to Cecil. He was staring at me the whole time and it made me wonder if maybe he saw it now, my double. The horrible end result of the choice I didn’t even realize I’d made.

“No,” I whispered. “No, I’m not.”

“What happened, Nat?” She tucked the same curl Cecil had twirled around his finger behind my ear and I went back to staring at the carpet. “What’s gotten you so upset?”

I just shook my head, not wanting to give voice to what happened. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about it right now. So I got up from the bench, put one foot in front of the other, and headed back into the ballroom without looking at either Schylar or Cecil. I needed space right now. I needed to just deal with what I was facing right now.

I also needed to get myself back together and I wasn’t able to do that without my clutch which just happened to be back at my table. Luckily the lights in the ballroom were really low and no one saw me slip back inside. As it looked, most of the parents had moved off to the restaurant, giving their kids space so it didn’t feel like this party was chaperoned.

Finding the table I’d sat at earlier wasn’t a problem. The boy who was sitting in the exact same seat I had gave me an uneasy feeling. I slowed down my approach, trying to figure out who this guy was. Every guy I’d ever known ran through my head but it was easy to figure out I had no clue who he was.