Labyrinth

Chapter 13

"Am I not allowed to visit my twin sister?"

I wince at the question, "I-I just — Jess, this is where I live." I plead.

"So? Does that mean I can't come here? Are you really that ashamed of me?" She gets in my face. Her eyes turned cold. Her face hard. I can see her mouth curling into a thin-pressed snarl.

Bcking up, that familiar feeling nestles itself within me. That feeling I thought I would never feel again. "N-no. I'm sorry. That-that's not what I meant. I just..." I trail off.

"So are you going to show me around or?" She has the audacity to ask.

"Jess," I sigh, "I'm really busy with school at the minute."

"Yeah, because you're always doing work. Trying so hard and getting so little out of it. You are so stupid." She laughs.

"Please stay here." I almost beg, "I've got classes to go to." It's only a half-lie. More like, I've got people to apologise to. I can't put it off any longer. I know that if I turn my phone on again, I'll have hundreds of messages from them.

"I can see why you like those classes so much," she muses, "God, the teachers are a piece of ass and a half. That psych professor couldn't keep his eyes off of me. I bet I could've had him, if you gave me some more time." She scoffed at the end. I feel bile rise in my throat. It shouldn't have effected me that much. But it did. I know my mind will plague me with images of them and her. Not only that... what would Thomas think of me now? He must think that I was sat in his lecture eye-fucking him. "You go to class. That means I can explore for a while." She puts a bag down, that I didn't realise she had before.

"No!" I quickly shout. "I just- when are you leaving?" My heart will continue to beat at 100 miles per hour whilst she's here.

"Soon." Helpful as always.

"Fine. I'm going out for a bit, you know, because I live here." I tell her.

"I guess I'll show myself around." She's set on that' I know that there's no changing her mind. Right now, I need to go right some things that I messed up in the haze of her comeback. My shoulders slump and I can't help but heave a heavy sigh.

"Just message me if anything happens." I relent. I open the door for her and follow her out, making sure to lock it after me. "I'll see you later." I mutter.

I wrap my hands around myself and grip my bag tighter as my feet take heavy steps towards the campus.

How am I meant to explain this? Explain why I ran out of Nathaniel's class. Explain why I ran away from Thomas. Shit. Jess was in his class. Surely, they noticed something was very different. I hope so.

Just as I reach the campus, all of my courage leaves me. I decide to go to the one placeI have been able to relax here, the cafe. Aside from their arms. Fuck. That sinking feeling in my stomach only grows as I think about them. I head to the table they usually occupy and take out my phone.

Taking a deep breath, I turn my phone on and, lo and behold, I've had multiple messages from both of them. I click on Nate's first, seeing as he was the last to text, only ten minutes ago.

'Are you okay?

Was it something said in class?

Princess, please let me know you're okay

Do you want me to bring you anything?"

The last message pulled something in me. Before I lose all courage, like I did with the campus, I click on Thomas's messages.

'Is everything alright, Sweetheart?

Come see me after class.'

I can hear their confusion through the screen. Another wave of guilt comes crashing over me like a cold shower. Would it be alright of I went to one of their offices?