Jai Brooks never felt like anything was missing from his life. On his own and enjoying life as a young tattoo artist in Los Angeles, nothing could set his life off course.
That is, until the day he runs into the twin brother he never knew he had.
Jai's phone was ringing, vibrating, self-destructing—anything and everything a piece of technology could do. Dylan had been ringing him nonstop in the past hour. He truly felt guilty leaving his friend behind so quickly, but there were other things taking up all of Jai's ability to think. He was sitting on a bus stop bench, catching his breath. Up until that point he'd been running, as fast and far as he could from the house he'd just ditched.
Jai had just met—well, seen, his two long-lost brothers.
While he couldn't help but feel a little bit excited about his discovery of Luke and Beau, the emotion he felt the most was fear. His insides churned as he tried not to think about what this discovery meant—what it meant for his future. He had only just established his highly independent life in Los Angeles. Even before that, he'd accepted that the only family he ever had or would know was his father.
He now had two brothers—how come everything was flooding into place so suddenly?
He could only hold his head in his hands and squeeze his eyes shut tight.
"Easy there, tiger."
Jai's head shot up in response to Dylan's voice as he quickly unraveled.
"You good, man? You left without—"
"I'm so sorry," Jai felt terribly guilty, looking up at Dylan. "It was nothing against you, mate, I swear," he explained.
"Hey," Dylan sat down next to Jai on the bench. "As long as Will and I didn't scare you off, you don't have to explain."
Jai nodded, thankful. Truth was, he couldn't explain everything he'd just been through even if he wanted to. If he said everything aloud, his encounters at the house would become that much more real. His life would officially be thrown off balance.
A few minutes passed before Dylan asked, "Wanna head back home?"
"Yeah," Jai nodded.
"Thanks mate."
Saturday, June 4th, 10:00am
Jai woke abruptly to the sound of the garbage man rolling his garbage can down the side of his house.
He groaned as he realized he'd fallen asleep horizontally on the bed, above the covers and still in the jeans he wore out the night before. He sat up for the sake of a phone charger—his phone had been dead since before he got home. He didn't feel the need to check it, though. Dylan's texts and calls would be the only notifications it had.
It's not like either of my brothers texted me, he thought to himself, almost snorting out loud at the joke he'd just let himself make.
He made his way into the shower, only to think even more about the previous night's events. Luke and Beau had gotten to grow up under the same roof; it'd be impossible for him to catch up on the lives that they were able to experience together. From the moment he laid eyes on them, Jai didn't even stand a chance.
He supposed he had acted a bit like a coward upon seeing them; unable to maturely confront the situation as it unfolded. But then again, who would have been able to face two long lost siblings only a second after realizing their existence? Before he stepped out of the bathtub, he made a vow to himself to stop dwelling on the situation entirely.
So it happened, life goes on. He was going to have to find a way to deal.
After making himself breakfast and coffee, Jai grabbed his phone and laptop and brought it all out to his back porch table. As he stepped into the fresh, morning air, he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit hopeful—like everything was going to balance itself out again. He took a quick moment to finally address the texts and calls he'd missed in the past 10 hours or so, and texted Dylan with an apology.
He was pleasantly surprised when Dylan responded immediately, but not entirely with what Jai had expected.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"The fuck?" he wondered aloud. As he opened up Instagram, he was sure his phone was going to crash. He had gained a few followers and likes, but he had mostly been mentioned in hundreds of comments on one particular post. The back of his neck started to burn; he knew exactly whose picture he was clicking on.
@lukebrooksofficial posted a selfie at eight o'clock this morning, captioned, "new video up, help me out guys! #SOS"
A bunch of people had tagged Jai in the comments—he traced the first comment he'd been mentioned in back to a client that he'd recognized from the tattoo shop. A couple of months ago she came in to get a small rabbit tattooed on her ankle.
@bridgey_bridge: I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner omfg!@jaibtats
Jai stared at the picture for a moment. His twin brother's face stared back at him with a lazy smirk. It was crazy how identical they truly were. He felt odd about it.
He wasn't sure if he even wanted to watch this video that Luke had put up that morning, but Jai found himself running back outside to his laptop anyways. He opened up YouTube and started typing Luke's name in the search bar. He didn't even have to type 'Brooks' in, Luke's channel simply came up as a suggestion. He clicked on it and fidgeted impatiently as the latest video loaded.
"Hey guys, it's me Luke," a familiar face waved at the camera.
Jai clapped a hand over his mouth in shock as he heard his twin brother's voice for the very first time.
"I know it's not the normal upload day, I don't have any new footage of me fucking around with the boys or anything for you..."
Jai felt his heart pounding against his chest ever so violently.
"But I do have something serious to ask you guys, especially those of you here in California."
Why did this have to happen? Life was going so smoothly... Jai was panicking.
"Last night James had a party at his sister's house," he paused. "Sorry Andrea, your house is fucked. But I saw someone there, and I know he saw me too. You're all going to say I'm a crazy fuck, just like the rest of the boys did, but I'm absolutely sure I'm not making what I'm about to say up."
Jai was not ready.
"Last night I saw my twin brother for the first time. A long lost one, I'm certain of it. Didn't even know he existed, but I just know he's my brother. He was literally a cloned version of me. Thing is, I have no idea what his name is and have no way of finding him."
No, Jai was most definitely not ready.
"So I guess what I'm saying is...please, help me find him. Just a name would help me out. Anything at all. And if you're watching this, twin brother..."
Jai couldn't help but feel like Luke was standing only two feet away from him, talking directly to him and only him. Through the camera's eyes Jai could see his twin was being incredibly sincere.
"I'd love to meet you. I want to know you and... I hope you want to know me."
The video cut off then, leaving Jai in shock and the computer screen blank. All he could hear in his head were the last few words Luke said:
"...and I hope you want to know me."
A/N: Hey guys! So I know there's some un-factual things in here... I changed Jai's Instagram username for the purpose of the story. Other than that, I hope you liked it lots! :) xx Sarah
