"Alex?"
"Hi."
"You love me, right?"
"...I am very concerned where this is going."
"And remember how you said you'd do anything for me after I got you that job?"
Alex closed his book and rubbed his eyes. "I have no recollection of saying any such thing."
Lily frowned at him from her position in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe in a loose Saturday blouse and a pair of tracksuit pants. "Well you should have. I did you a big favour convincing them you weren't a lazy slob so they'd accept your application."
Her twin brother sighed. "You've broken something of mine haven't you?"
"--And then you tried to hand in a resumé without any references! I had to fix it up for you, and you
know
how much I hate talking to people on the phone.
"What did you break?"
"Your drawing tablet, but that's not what I need you for." She padded in and perched on the end of the bed, wringing her hands. "I've been talking to Dia again. You know, the girl I'll be sharing a dorm with next year. Well, she kept telling me about how great her life is, and how she has this awesome boyfriend and how he takes her to all these fancy places and when he finishes his apprenticeship and she finishes university they'll move in together and have a million babies and live happily ever after, and so I--"
"You broke my drawcom?"
Lily turned to face her twin with an expression sullen enough to pacify him. He let out another sigh and asked, "What have you gotten yourself into?"
"Well I... I felt like I needed to brag a bit. She'd just spent an hour telling me how she won this special citizen's award and how she spoke to this famous celebrity who offered to donate money to some charity and then just on and on about her dreamy guy and how awesome he is. So when she finally asked me what I'd been up to, I blanked."
"You didn't tell her about your scholarship?"
Lily blinked. "Uh... no."
"Not the DUX award?"
"I forgot about that."
He threw his hands in the air. "What else do you need?"
"I told her I had a boyfriend."
Alex was quiet for a moment. His sister was a peculiar girl, the smartest person he knew but completely lacking any kind of social aptitude. She had two good friends but only because they'd opted to show her around the school when their family first moved into the neighbourhood, and the few times she'd seen a boy she liked she'd chosen the peculiar route of avoiding them like the plague. She lived in her own world and always seemed surprised when reality came crashing in, and the fact that she looked as lovely as she did just exacerbated the problem.
Lily had a sweet round face, lightly freckled with bright eyes and a strong yet pretty nose. Her lips were always a sweet red, and had that kind of shape that was always curved up in a daydream-like smile. She had notable--yet proportional--curves that had grown in later than other girls, and she'd never seemed to quite figure out what to do with them. She usually wore baggy clothes to go out, but the school uniforms they were given meant that, for someone as short as Lily, the shirts were always just a little too tight and the skirts just a little too short around her hips.
Of course, Alex had only observed as much in a brotherly fashion. To him, she was like a breath of fresh air, shy and unobservant, yet her naïve personality contrasted with the iron-like focus she had when it came to her schooling. And when she wasn't studying or hanging out with Chelsea and Lyla, she was with her twin brother, at his desk as he sat in bed or lounging on the sofa while he worked at the dining table. Alex would've been flattered if it hadn't meant his own relationships suffered: girls didn't seem to bother approaching him when Lily was around, perhaps mistaking her for his girlfriend. After all, despite being twins she took after her mother and he after his father, so it was hard to know they were related.
Or, perhaps, it was just because he was as socially inept as his sister.
He looked at her, sitting beside him still wringing her hands nervously together. "Lily, you don't
have
a boyfriend."
"That is part of the problem, yes."
"And you've just told your future roommate you do."
"It's quite the conundrum."
"Do you want a boyfriend?"
"No. I mean--yes, but not, like, just for this." She gave him a weak smile. "I don't need you to help me find a boyfriend, if that's what you were wondering."
"Then what do you need me to--" An idea dawned on him and he peered at his sister. Surely she didn't mean... no, there was no way. That would be ridiculous.
"I think you're getting the idea," she said.
"I really don't think I am."
"Yes you are," she nodded.
"I really, really don't think I am. Has it occurred to you that you could just pretend to break up with this imaginary boyfriend or something?"
"No way, not after how she acted all surprised when I said I had one." She sighed. "I know I'm not the most outgoing person...it's just, pretending I was, that I had this super awesome boyfriend who was handsome and creative and surfs on the weekends--"
"What?"
"--I went a bit over the top--it was just so nice thinking about that, I... I really wanted it to be real." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "
Please
Alex? Just for today. All I want to do is take some photos to send to her. She won't know we're related. Come on, in return for all the nice things I do for you."
"You broke my tablet."
"In return for
most
of the nice things I do for you." She reached out to hold his hand in both of hers, the very essence of innocent twinly hope. "I really need this room if I want to stay on campus, so I need Dia to like me. And if she finds out that I've been lying she might not fill out the paperwork before summer ends. But..." She looked down, her grip on his hands loosening. "I get if you think it's weird. I mean, it
is
pretty weird. So if you don't want to I won't ask again."
"I really don't think this is a good idea," he grumbled, head filling with the plots of all the questionable erotica he'd indulged in when the mood hit him. But the tone of his voice made his resignation clear and her face lit up with an adorable smile.
"Thank you so much! I'll repay you, I promise." She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He could feel her warm body pressed against his and struggled out of her grip.
"Alright, alright, save it for the pictures."
"You used to love hugging me. I miss it." She kissed his cheek and jumped up, pulling him by his arm into her room. She sat him down on the bed and took her phone from her desk, opening up the camera. "Alright, now pretend you're my boyfriend and we're madly in love and you've just come over to hang out with me. What would you be doing?"
"Turning myself in to the police because we're related."
"Alright, but then they let you go because it's not technically illegal anymore. So you come back and
then
what do you do?"
