We went through 3 bottles of wine.
When I say 'we', I mean Josh, Danny, and I. The others were drunk off of liquor and whatever else was in the fridge. But we were all, without a doubt, obliterated. I was sprawled out on the floor, my head in Josh's lap, his fingers aimlessly twirling my hair. My brain was so disconnected from my body that I couldn't even register what the other guys were doing.
It wasn't even because of the alcohol; it was because of the ambiance. The feeling of coziness and warmth encapsulated the entire apartment. John Denver now took over the record player, leaving us to simmer in his voice. I was rolling my head back and forth when I took notice of the acoustic guitar in the corner near the couch. Like a flint had been sparked, I shot up from Josh's lap and crawled over to the instrument. The boys watched in curiosity.
"You play?" I nearly shouted in excitement. It was in my grip before Josh could even answer the question. A Gibson—one of the better ones.
"Sort of. Not really. Jake gave me that one when we were kids." At this clue, my head snapped toward the brooding beast perched on the arm of the loveseat. He glowered down at me with teasing eyes.
Ask me, ask me. He seemed to be saying.
No. I don't give in that easily. So I diverted my attention back to my dancing buddy.
"How long have you guys known each other?"
"Oh my-," Sammy couldn't finish his sentence, for everyone had burst into a fit of laughter. Not me, though. I stared, dumbfounded as to why they seemed to be making fun of me. I didn't like it.
"Andromeda." Jake. My name left his lips with such command that I had no choice but to seek him for answers. From my position on the rug, I gazed up at him. Quite literally craned my neck to meet eyes. He was standing now...directly over me.
This feels weird.
It got even weirder when he knelt down in front of me, lowering his head a little to get eye level with me. I could hear the others still giggling in the background, but it was muffled. My brain couldn't focus on anything else.
"We're twins," Fuck off. "Josh and I. Sammy's our younger brother." Well that makes so much sense. No wonder I thought they looked alike. In fact, now that it was made known to me, it became increasingly fucking obvious that they were twins.
"I knew that," I cleared my throat, not breaking eye contact. "Just checking if you knew."
He exhaled through his nose, "Mhm. I believe you."
"You all lied to me, fucking fake bitches!" With a loud cackle, Sammy slid to the floor and wrapped me in a hug, tackling me on my back.
"We didn't lie," He cocked his head. "You just never asked." I scoffed and shoved him off of me, reaching for the guitar again. A weird, wordless exchange occurred between Mediator Boy and British Bitch, but I pretended I didn't notice. Instead, I let my fingers dance across the frets, let my other hand pluck the strings.
It fell silent.
Like a cliché trance, I played. It was a sweet guitar. I'd be an idiot not to use it. My go-to lick wasn't Wonderwall, or Smoke on the Water, or any of that. I preferred to play a riff I made up when I was a teenager. It was mindless, and arguably annoying, but I did it.
No one uttered a sound until I was done. It took all of 45 seconds, but they sat still—which seems like an impossible task for them.
"What the hell." Jake. "What was that." Our eyes locked. His were sparkling, like Josh's when he gets really excited.
"Uh, I don't know. A lil' ditty, I guess." I didn't like all the attention on me. Everything felt too serious and tense.
"You made that?" Josh looked like he'd just seen magic in front of his eyes. What was their deal? They own guitars, can they not play themselves?
"Uh huh."
"Bullshit." Sammy smacked his hand on the rug, where he was still positioned next to me. "You wrote that?" I shoved his arm.
"Do you not think I have the talent for that, Samuel? I'll have you know; I have many skills. You guys just don't know me." This was true. Really, they knew nothing about me. Not even my age, or my family, or my favorite color.
We were strangers.
"That was incredible, Andro," I smiled. "It sounded like—like--,"
"Like broken bells." The low voice spoke from across from me. He hadn't taken his gaze from me once. Even when I wasn't looking at him, I could feel him looking at me. A tingling trail on my skin followed his eyes like a wildfire.
"Yes! Like broken bells," Josh jumped up, his wine sloshing over the side of his glass. "But in a really transcendental way. Something beautiful but gritty. Andro, you are insane." Hands wrapped around hands and he pulled me to my feet, swaying me back and forth. Still, that buzzing rumbled under the skin of my back.
"Spin for me, Tiny Dancer." So, with all the wine in my body, and the rush of their praise, I did.
Little did I know it was a different twin who gave me the command from the corner of the room.
