Only Our Secret For Now

My Twin Sister's Best Friend

POV: Booker

"Boys, Wake up," my mom said pounding on me and Levi's door, "y'all already know what time it is." " Ughh," me and Levi groaned, in unison. Yup, we already know what time it is. Saturday at 11:30 am, which means it's time for our weekly eight mile walk/run. Basically, a couple of months ago, my mom and Aunt Chelsea started doing these weekly eight mile walks to "bond" (I guess), and then of course they decided it would be a great idea to make it a family bonding exercise. So now we do it every weekend as a family.                                                  Love that for us. I groaned at least three more times before finally getting up, and heading to the bathroom. My eyes were still half way closed, so I accidentally bumped into the bathroom door. "We're in here!" I heard Tess say. "Oh, hurry up!" I said, rubbing my head. " Boy, don't rush us," Nia said.     I went back to my room and threw on some black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt. Then I put on some socks and my white air forces.      I heard that the girls were finally out of the bathroom, so I went in to freshen up.     When I walked in the kitchen everyone was already sitting at the table getting ready to eat. As I was sitting down between Nia and Levi, my mom whispered "Your Aunt Chels cooked breakfast today, so I suggest y'all grab a granola bar before we leave".We all groaned in unison. At least her food smells edible today. A few minutes later Aunt  Chels walked in the dining room with some pancakes, bacon, and eggs and we all put our best fake smiles on. "Aww, everyone looks so cheery this morning," she said."Yeah. So happy!" I said, trying not to sound too sarcastic. "Uh-huh," Nia and Tess said, still smiling. Aunt Chels passed everyone their plates and honestly, I don't know if it was just my hunger but the food actually looked pretty good today. Levi, Nia, Tess, Mom, and I looked at each other, took a breath, and then took a fork full of eggs. We all looked at each other and all said "mhmmm".  "Umm Aunt Chels, When did you learn to cook like this?' I asked genuinely. " Well I just started taking this cooking class and it's been amazing, even though I already could cook before," she said, smiling. "Well you should keep going?" Nia said. "Definitely," Levi replied. Tess, Mom, and I were too busy scarfing down our food to participate in the conversation. So we all just nodded. After we finished basically inhaling our food, we all started heading outside to the car. Since Tess was now joining us, the car was a little packed. Nia was on the middle left next to Levi, Tess was on the middle right next to me, Mom was driving, and Aunt Chels was in the passenger seat. For our walks, we usually drive to this nature trail that is like 25 minutes away from us. On the way there, we always scream our family playlist at the top of our lungs to get us hype.When we arrived, we all unloaded out of the car and Mom gave all of us our water bottles. Usually it takes like an hour and 40 minutes to get to the end of the path. About 20 minutes in, Tess was already out of breath. " Can we please take a break, I just need to catch my breath real quick" She said, breathlessly. I chuckled and Nia let out a breathy giggle. "But we just started!" Aunt Chels said. "Yeah girl, aren't you supposed to be an athlete," Nia said still giggling, "Yeah, but I'm not used to running so early the morning,""Tess, stop complaining and pick up the pace," my mom said. "But my feet hurt," she said, stopping in the middle of the track in a whiny tone.  "You're such a baby," I said, stopping and walking towards her. She looked really sweaty and her hair was all over the place, but she still looked really cute. I don't know, is that weird? I think that's alright for me to say, I mean we are friends. I would be lying if I said I didn't find her at least a little attractive. Besides, it's not like I have feelings for her. I mean at least I think so. I honestly don't know anymore. Either way we're just friends, so it doesn't even matter. "Shut up," she said, shielding her eyes from the sun as I walked over. "Just get on my back," I said and bent down. "Book, you sure?" she said, smiling. I don't know why but I love the way she says my name. "Yeah, go ahead"     She got on my back and I started running so that I could catch up with my mom and them. Tess was laughing. She has that kind of laugh that makes you laugh even when nothing is funny. It's so cute.     I don't know what's wrong with me, but these past few days, I've noticed myself looking at Tess a lot. I don't know what's happening to me.

Maybe I do like her ...