Vanilla, Cream and Strawberries (Unedited copy)

Before - Unedited

The ache in Arabella's legs was enough to tell her she'd pushed herself to hard in the gym. The common room was packed when she entered, first years dominated the room. The tight lycra running shorts and sports bra were enough to draw some unwanted attention but she ignored it and headed straight towards the vending machine, silently begging it not to jam on her like it had so many times before, but she was in luck today two bottles of water fell into the draw and she sighed in silent relief. Unbeknown to her the comment room had gone completely silent until she turned around, the arrival of two twins was enough to cause a stir, but the sight of Alexander and Christian could have caused a riot. Without thinking she launched herself at the pair, wrapping my arms and legs around both of them.

"Why didn't you tell me you were back?" she demanded

"Surprise" They both answered. They'd been gone over a year and this was the first time she'd seen them, they'd skyped her just yesterday with no mention of returning home. She dropped to her feet, inspecting them both. Identical as always. 6ft4 of pure male, broad shoulders, thick dark unruly hair, midnight blue eyes, solid jaws with defined cheek bones and full lips. Her best friends since before she could even walk.

"I've missed you" She sighed, dropping down into a free chair on the closest circular table.

"It wasn't the same without you" Alexander started

"We had no one to bully" Christian finished.

"Not that I'm not happy but why are you back?" Both boys smirked

"Step mother didn't like it when she found us f*cking her daughters" Alexander answered. Arabella's mouth dropped open in disgust. Their own step sisters.

"We tried everything to get sent home, and then Alexander decided we had to f*ck those ugly little witches and get caught doing it to. Worked like a charm" Christian smirked Arabella laughed, they'd always been cunning and sly. But this one of their best tricks yet.

"How did your father take it?" Arabella could only imagine Richard's proud face

"Father screamed and shouted about how disgraceful we are, while Stacey was around, as soon as she left he paid us the $1000 each he owed us for losing his side of the bet and slapped us on the back" Christian laughed. Arabella burst out laughing, only Richard would have a bet with his sons that they couldn't f*ck their own step sisters.

"Anyway enough about our dirty little moments, we're going to be living with you" Alexander smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Brilliant" Arabella frowned. She loved the twins more than anything but living with them was enough to make her want to kill herself. They'd walk in on her in the shower, bring her underwear to school and her bras. It was going to be secondary school all over again. While she silently sulked, the twins shared a look between them, knowing that they had better treat her better than they did the last time they lived with her.

***

The year settled into a normal routine. Alexander drove himself and Arabella to school while Christian drove himself and Arabella home. Alexander liked to use the gym the in the morning and Christian preferred the evening. The year passed quickly. Although there had been some major arguments, between the twins and Arabella mainly surrounding the twins walking in on Arabella ,while her boyfriend and her were having sex. Craig freaked out when he found out the twins were living with her and broke up with her. The twins were furious with Arabella for even touching someone. She was like their baby sister, even though they were furious for another reason. Arabella was theirs. They did not share apart from with each other.

*

The year ended all too quick. Arabella was off to Greece with her mother for three weeks. She returned the day before results. The twins had acted odd, barely talking to her and only speaking when she directly asked them something. After receiving her results, Arabella had gotten into the university she wanted. The twins had also. Although they weren't going together they had promised each other they would stay in contact and visit each other. Over the last two weeks of summer Arabella hardly saw the twins and then she did they were cold and blunt towards her. She eventually gave up trying and focused on getting ready for university.

**

"Do you think this is easy Alexander?" Christian demanded of his brother

"I didn't say that"

"Well it's not, she's going to be surrounded by guys who will want her.. And there's not a fucking thing we can do about it"

"So treating her like part of the furniture is going to make it easier?" Alexander shouted

"Its better than acting like we're in love with her"

It was the first time Arabella had ever heard the twins fighting, and she was positive this was their first argument ever. She quickly slipped into her room unnoticed. She needed a good nights sleep. Tomorrow she was moving out and taking her first steps as a uni student. Christian and Alexander sandwiched her between themselves. Hugging her tight. No one in the house even bothered to notice it was normal behavior for the three of them to act this way.

"I wish things were different" Christian whispered in her right ear

"You'll always be on our mind" Alexander whispered in her left ear

It felt more than a goodbye. The silent tears rolled down her face.

"I love you guys" she whispered. She stepped out the embraced and got into the car without looking back.

***

Not once did the twins try to reach out to her. She texted them a couple of times in her first week. When they didn't reply she called only to receive a dead tone, they had changed their numbers. She emailed out of concern for their safety. After three months of no contact. She rang their mother to find out, they'd moved back to America to go to university there. She didn't try to contact them again.