The Thing About Flip Flops

Chapter Three: My Brother And I Have A Spontaneous Vocabulary Lesson

"So... did Christopher ever stop texting you?" My twin brother Henry and the last member of my friend group asks me as I try to stuff a couple of textbooks into my locker.

He insists on calling Chris "Christopher" because he says that the full name dehumanizes my ex or something. I don't know how that works, but Henry's really weird so most of the time I just nod and smile and pretend to understand what the hell he's talking about.

"Well-no-he said-we had to-talk-agh," I groan out, trying to respond, shoving my locker closed as it attempts to bounce back open between my words.

These giant textbooks are so unnecessary! We could literally get them online. And then we could have so much extra space, and so much more money since we don't have to spend it on back surgery.

Henry snickers at my struggle, not bothering to help me. Thanks a lot, brother dearest. "Really? How did that go?"

"It hasn't gone," I say, "Not yet, at least. I said we'd talk today just so he'd stop texting me."

"Well! Good luck with that, he's the most clingy, annoying douchebag I've ever...crap," Henry trails off, looking past me at something. Or rather, someone.

A male voice clears his throat behind us. Please don't be Chris. Please don't be Chris. Please don't be Chris.

"Why hello there, Christopher!" Henry says loudly and obviously. "Good to see you, good to see you. Actually it isn't. I don't like you, Christopher and I'm here to tell you why. First of all-"

I cut him off by saying loudly, "Hey Henry why don't you go do that thing that we talked about?"

Henry smiles innocently, batting his eyelashes. He gives me a thumbs up. I do the same thing, just with a different finger.

Once he's gone (or simply out of sight - I have no doubt he's hiding somewhere so he can eavesdrop) I turn around to face my ex boyfriend.

"So," I say.

There's an awkward silence and then the words tumble out of his mouth as if he's been holding them back for years.

"Audrey, I'm really sorry and I know I'm completely in the wrong, I fucked up, and you have absolutely no reason to take me back. But I genuinely didn't know that was vodka, and to be fair, you didn't seem that upset about it at the time, and I was just... I don't even know. I didn't know you fought with your dad about it, I'm so fucking sorry. I just really like you and I think I deserve another ch-"

I cut him off, saying quietly, "Just understand where I'm coming from here. I walked into my house that night, drunk out of my mind, wearing your clothes, and my dad found me. I didn't remember much, what was I supposed to think? What was Dad supposed to think?"

"I know, but I-"

I take a deep breath in irritation and anger. "I don't even know if we... I showed up in your clothes, Chris. And I don't remember anything about that night."

He sucks in a ragged breath, running a hand through his brown hair. "Oh my god. No. Nothing like that happened, Aud, I swear. You were drunk. I would never go that far unless you wanted to. We were just making out."

I sigh in relief. That was the real reason I needed to talk to him; just to make sure nothing too bad had happened that night. I hadn't thought we'd done anything past making out, but it was hard to be sure when you were waking up in someone else's clothes with a throbbing headache and an angry father.

"Audrey..." Chris says quietly when he realizes I'm not going to speak. "I understand why you were nervous and why you're mad. You have every right to be. I just... really really like you and I think I deserve another chance to show you that."