The City (Joe Sugg/ ThatcherJoe Fanfiction)

Chapter 53

No. This must be some kind of sick dream.

The plate that I am holding slips from my hands. Crashing onto the hardwood floor 

"Riley?" I hear Joe call from down the hallway.

H-he's gone. He could not possibly be standing this apartment in the middle of London. This is so messed up.

"Riley? You look as though you've seen a ghost." Joe says.

I snap my head to Joe who is standing in the doorway staring at me, confused. His eyes moving to the shattered plate on the ground and finally to him.

I must be dreaming. He looks the same, but different. Older. He looks older than the last time we spoke.

"Fuck." I mutter as I feel myself falling to the kitchen floor

This can't be real. I have to be dreaming.

"Are you okay?" Jack asks as he kneels down at my side, reaching out cautiously towards me. 

Joe joins us just seconds later and I can feel them closing in on me.

This can't be happening. What is this?

"Y-you're dead!!" I cry out as I flinch away from the mans fingers, backing as far as I can into Joe. "Don't touch me! You aren't real!"

He stares at me, confused. 

Joe gasps. The realisation must have hit him.

The memories shoot through me. The hours, days, months spent grieving over him. The attempts to join him and here he was next to me in the middle of London.

"Is she okay?" he asks Joe, his accent is British. That's strange.

"Y-you just look a lot like someone." Joe tells him as he holds me close.

"I-it is him." I sob into Joe's shirt. My eyes squeezed shut.

"Rye that isn't possible love. This guy is British. Not a kiwi." Joe says quietly to me.

This is horrible. He has to leave. It's complete torture for Jack to be sitting before me. It isn't possible.

"Stop!" I cry out as I pull out of Joe's arms and stand to my feet, stepping in the shards of the broken plate with no regards to my bare feet. "This isn't happening." I mutter as I back away from the two guys.

"Rye, please." Joe says quietly, standing and reaching out to me. "Calm down love."

"He's supposed to be fucking dead!" I scream, stabbing my finger in Jack's direction.

Joe swipes out, attempting to grab my arm but I dodge his hand.

"Don't touch me! I-I need to get away from here." I run off down the hallway as fast as I can with my injured feet and find myself in the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

I sink down to the ground, my head falling into my open hands as I blubber. 

This isn't even possible. I saw him. I saw his dead, lifeless body.

"Riley. Please, open the door sweetie." Joe begs as I sit there, not bothering to reply.

I need to think. I'm obviously going insane. I'm seeing things that aren't there. Surely.

It can't actually be him. I have to be hallucinating. He's been dead for almost a year and a half. He couldn't possibly turn up in the middle of London City. 

I'm going insane. Simple solution. It's the only thing that makes sense.

What a relief! I'm only seeing my dead ex-boyfriend because I am officially nuts. Phew! Sarcasm, if you can't tell.

"Riley, please. There is an explanation." Joe. I had forgotten he was outside the door.

I get up from the ground, only now noticing the stabbing pains in my foot, blood is smeared across the polished bathroom floor. Crap.

I quietly open the door and find Joe in the hallway.

He looks me up and down, concern flooding his features.

"Your foot.."

I look down at it even though I know what he is talking about.

"I'm sorry." I mumble. "I'll clean it up."

Joe pulls me in for a hug, lifting me up and relieving the pressure on my feet.

"Don't worry about the mess. I'll deal with it." he murmurs in my ear, squeezing me tight before reaching down and hooking his arm under my legs, cradling me to his chest.

"I was hallucinating, wasn't I?" I ask him quietly.

To my surprise Joe shakes his head. "That guy isn't Jack but he might as well be."

I furrow my brows, how could that be? It makes absolutely no sense to me. 

"He's a bit shaken up but I'll let him explain it to you. I'l get a plaster for your foot first though."

"Twins?" I repeat for the fifth time. The news sinking in. How is that even possible? Jack had no siblings, he was adopted.

"Our mother couldn't afford to keep both of us. She put Jack up for adoption when we were just weeks old but I was always told he died." Jack's twin brother(!!) Ryder explains. "I suppose that much was true. Just not when I thought he did."

I flinch at his words. I know I'm over Jack's death but it still hurts to hear.

It also hurts to look at the young man who looks so eerily similar to the guy I spent all that time grieving for.

If Jack wasn't gone this is what he would look like right now. I think that's what hurts the most. They were identical twins so if Jack were here today he would look just like Ryder.

"I'm sorry for the way I reacted." I mumble. Now that I know it wasn't actually Jack the embarrassment has begun to seep in.

Ryder shakes his head, "It's understandable. You thought you saw a dead guy in your kitchen. I'm surprised you didn't throw the plate at me."

I chuckle nervously, unsure of how to respond.

What are the odds that of the 8 million people living in London I would happen to come across the twin brother of my dead ex-boyfriend who I had no idea even existed. Next to none. Surely.

A/N

There you go. Wasn't Jack after all!

What do you think is going to happen with Ryder?

Sorry for this chapter being shorter than usual.. 

Umm.. yeah. Let me know opinions on this latest revelation!

I don't really have anything else to say apart from the usual vote, comment, follow.

Love you all!! xx