When We Were Younger | Book 1

What a party...

Sophie (current):
My party is in two hourse and I'm standing in front of my closet.
"Okay, what are we going to wear?" I say out loud.

I grab the dresses I bought recently and put them on my bed.
I put them on, one by one.
I shake my head, looking at myself in the mirror and take the dress off. "Not this one."

I throw it on the ground next to my bed and put on another dress. Again, I shake my head.

I take off the last dress and sigh.
None of them feel right. I walk to my closet again and start looking for more dresses.
A bordeaux dress catches my eye. I have this dress for a few years already, but have maybe worn it two times.

I put it on and walk over to the mirror.
I nod approvingy, with a little smile on my face.
"This is the one!" I whisper to myself.
I put on some jewelry, check my make-up one last time before I grab my bag and leave my room.

I check my phone on my may to the living room and sigh deeply.
Many people have already send me a 'Happy birthday' text. Except for Marco. I haven't heard from him all day.

I look through the window, waiting for Marco to pick me up.

Tom:
Together with Bill I walk towards the entrance of the pub and we walk inside, both a present in our hands.
I get more nervous with every step I take.
We walk upstairs to the little lounge, the music already audible.

I look around, looking for Sophie.
There she is, on the other side of the room, laughing and talking with a group of friends I haven't seen before.
Not that far away from her I see Marco, talking to some girl I haven't seen before either.

We walk towards Sophie.
Thankfully, Bill is his happy enthousiastic self and he screams her name. "SOPHIE!"
He looks at her with the biggest smile on his face and when she sees us she comes our way.

"Bill! Tom!"
"Happy birthday!" Bill says enthusiasticly and gives her three kisses on her cheeks.
"Here, this is for you." He says with a big smile on his face, holding the gift in front of her.

She takes the gift from him. "Thank you, Bill!"
"Happy birthday." I say with a little smile on my face, leaning into her to kiss her happy birthday.
I briefly look at the gift in my hands before I give it to her. "This is for you."

"Thank you!" She takes the gift from my hands and puts both gifts on the table with the rest of her gifts.

I stare at her walking away from us, back to the girls she was talking to earlier.

The room is getting more and more crowded.
The dancefloor full of people dancing to the music.
It didn't took Bill long before he also found some people to dance with.

I watch from the sideline, with a beer in my hand.
Marco is still dancing with this other girl and I shake my head in disapproval.
Why doesn't he dance with his girlfriend? And why is she okay with this?

I order another drink and I feel myself getting a bit tipsy.
Bill, Sophie and some other girls are dancing vigorously with each other. At least she is having fun, it is her birthday after all.

I notice that Marco and that other girl are no longer in the same place. I look around in surprise. Where did they go?
I shrug my shoulders and put the empty glass on a random table before I walk towards the restroom.

I want to enter the men's restroom when I hear noises coming from the women's restroom.
I look inside but don't see anyone.
I hear a girl giggle, followed by what sounds like a belt falling to the floor.

The giggling stops and the restroom fills with manly moans.
I turn around, wanting to walk away and bump into Sophie.
My heart skips a beat and I take a step back.

Before I can say anything she walks past me, towards the booth and roughly opens the door.

When the door opens the girl jumps up and Sophie immediately slams the door shut again, walking past me, not saying a word.
"Sophie, wait!" I yell, running after her.
She walks downstairs and goes outside. I follow her, running a few meters behind her.

The moment I'm actually outside I can't see her anywhere. Where did she go?
We used to spent a lot of time in this pub when we were younger.
We even had our first concert in this pub!

And then I remember, I know where she is!
I walk to the back of the building. We used to hide there sometimes when we wanted to be alone.

I see her sitting on the ground, her back leaning against the wall.
She looks up, her cheeks wet from the tears.

A lump forms in my throat. No girl should be crying on her birthday.
I sit down next to her and wrap my arm around her, pulling her closer to me.

"Tom." She whipers.
"Hm?" I look at her.
Her eyes are red from crying.
But even now, she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.

I feel butterflies in my stomach, something I'm not used to.
I gently caress her cheeks, still looking into each others eyes.

In one smooth movement she puts her arms around me and puts her lips on mine.
Taking me by surprise, I hesitate for a moment before I close my eyes and kiss her back.

She crawls on top of me, her knees pressed on the brick ground. Her hands burried in my hair.
I let one hand slide over her back, the other one still on her cheek.

The kiss becomes more intense, more passionate. My heartbeat accelerating every second.

I stop the kiss and look at her, seeing her looking back at me, confusion noticible on her face.
"Let's go back inside." I whisper.
She looks away, gets up and starts walking away from me.

"Sophie.." I say as I grab her arm, making her stop walking. She looks at me. Her eyes filled with tears ones again. "What's wrong?"
"Just leave it, Tom."
She wants to walk away, but my hand still holding her arm is preventing her from doing that.

"Sophie.." I try again.
"Just leave it!" She says, much more harsh this time.
I look at her, a little shocked.
I pull her closer to me and place my hand on her cheek again.

"I wanna kiss you. There is nothing I want more, but-"
"But what?!" She looks at me, her face covered with sadness and anger.
"Not like this. Not when-"
"SOPHIE!" I hear a manly voice yell and I see Marco, his face filled with anger.

"SOPHIE!" He yells again, walking closer to us. I look at him angrily.
"COME! NOW!" He yells, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him.
"LET HER GO!" I yell back at him, pulling her out of his grip.

More people have come outside, including Bill and the girls he was dancing with before.
Marco keeps yelling, but I'm focussed on Sophie, not paying attention to what he is saying.

"You wanna leave?" I ask her, my hand placed around her waist.
She nods, her face filled with fear.
I give Marco another angry look before I take Sophie to my car.
I give Bill a quick look and he nods.

One of the things about being twins is that we don't need words to understand each other. Sometimes one look is enough.
I look behind me one last time and see Marco run inside.

I open the door for her, close it and get in the car myself.
Tears running down her cheeks, again, and it breaks my heart seeing her like this.

"Where do you wanna go?"
"Your place. Can I please stay with you?"
She looks at me with desperation.
She looks so helpless, I have never seen her like this.
I don't say anything, but start
the car and drive away.