Hallie nodded and grabbed my empty coffee cup. She stood to refill it but waited to hear what I had to say.
"It was my mom asking for me. I had to take the phone from him and tell her she had the wrong number."
"But what if she would've called right back?"
"I quick turned it off and put it in my pocket. Ugh! I can't believe I did this!"
"Personally, I don't think I could've kept up the charade as long as you did." Hallie shook her head and walked off into the kitchen with the empty cup.
I ran my hands through my long brown hair, noticing the sides were damp with tears.
How could I have lied to him for so long? My selfishness caused this mess and now I had to figure out how to get out of it. But could I? I loved him more than ever. In high school, I'd had a crush on him, admiring him from a distance, trying to get a glimpse of him in the halls when I changed classes, sitting as close to him on the bus as possible. His eyes, however, had always been on my identical twin. Though we looked so alike that people confused us at first glance, my twin, Sarah, was the popular one, the outgoing one that got anything she wanted. And Matthew had wanted her, though Sarah paid no attention to him. It just wasn't fair.
"So what now?" Hallie handed me another cup of coffee and went back to her seat.
"I don't know. I guess I gotta talk to him sometime. He'll want an explanation and I know I do owe him one."
"Why don't you just stay here tonight? Get a good night's sleep and then start fresh in the morning?" Hallie looked at me hopefully. "You know he's going to end up at your place."
"I guess you're right. Thanks."
As soon as I was settled under a blanket on the sofa, I turned my cell phone back on. Three new text messages popped up on the screen. Of course, they were all from Matthew. All of them said the same thing. "Why?"
"Why? Because I love you and you don't love me. You love Sarah. That's why." I whispered at the screen, hearing how crazy it sounded as the words came out of my mouth.
I set my phone down on my chest and laid my head black on the pillow. I thought about the day I ran into him at the farmers market. The fateful day the lie called my life had begun.
"Sarah! Sarah, over here," he called from behind the crowd, waving his hand to get my attention.
My mind reeled at the sight of him~~perfection. He looked the same as he did in high school, his brown hair slightly too long and tousled, his tall body lean and muscular. His eyes sparkled with the thought of seeing my sister again. "Uh, hi, Matthew."
He stepped around the crowd and walked to where I stood waiting to order a pound of something I could no longer remember. "Hi, Sarah. How've you been? Man, it's been like, what? Two years?"
"Um, I'm..." I had every intention of telling him I wasn't Sarah. Every intention until his arms wrapped around me and I inhaled his after shave mixed with the smell of a forest after a spring shower. "I've been ok."
When he stepped back I had to lean against the counter so my knees wouldn't give out.
"Wow, I can't believe it. I thought you moved away with your parents," he said with the sparkle still in his eyes.
