doppelgänger

dennis

It was a warm, humid night the date Dennis got back from Warped Tour, and the time was late, eleven o'clock to be exact.

Trying as quietly as possible, he unlocked the front door and let himself in, just to be met with the kind face of his girlfriend.

"Hey," he whispered softly, wrapping his one arm around her waist and lifting her chin with the other as he kissed her. She held on for a few moments straight, savoring the taste of his lips on hers after missing it for so long.

Bex pulled an inch back or so to look at his face, dim in the late night lighting. He felt her fingers graze his ears, still sore from a couple days prior. He flinched.

"Sorry," he whispered, and Bex furrowed her eyebrows. "For what?" she whispered.

"Well.... nothing, it's just that --"

She pushed the hair back by his ears and gasped and, seeing the tiny glints on the black chrome on his earlobes. "You got your ears pierced?"

A sinking feeling took place in Dennis's chest. "Yeah. You don't like it?" I'm not allowed to have my ears pierced but you can have gauges? he thought, upset that Bex wouldn't have an open mind to something he wanted to do. But he let out a sigh of relief when she smiled and told him how much she loved it.

"I was just surprised, Dennis. In a good way. I would never turn down something of yours like that," she assured him, kissing the side of his head. "I love you."

"I love you too, Bex." Dennis smiled a little, pulling her close to hold her tight against him in his arms. "I missed you so much."

"I think I missed you more, though, because.... well, let's just say, I know now and have known all along that it wasn't your fault for leaving, and that it was for the better and all... but I was mad at first. And I just want to say in advance that I'm sorry."

In advance? Dennis didn't think much about it after another thought crossed his mind: Maybe she just simply used the wrong term for the wrong thing.

He shrugged it off, smiling. "It's fine, I get it."

"Thanks, sweetheart," she said, and just as fast as Dennis turned his back to her to walk up the stairs, he turned right back around again, a confused look on his face. She never called him that nickname. Then that's when finally began to catch on and realize that she was up to something.

"Are you okay?" He asked, a knowing smirk on his lips.

"Yeah! Why do you ask, babe?"

He turned back around to face the stairs again, shaking his head. "Oh, I don't know. Just wondering. You know, being considerate since we haven't seen each other in a while."

Bex let out a nervous laugh, a particularly prolonged one. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine!"

"Okay...." He looked in her direction out of the corner of his eye suspiciously as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom, Bex not far behind, following him the whole way there.

Dennis flicked the light switch on, observing the magically clean and tidy floor. My parents must've come in here and cleaned, he thought.

"Damn, it's hot in here, don't you think, Bex?" he commented, speaking his thoughts.

"Whew, yeah."

"Can you turn on the fan? I'm sweating."

"Yeah, of course," Bex blurted as she skittishly flipped the switch on the wall. "You know it's not too late to turn the AC up a little higher."

"Nah. The fan works faster; blows more air." He paused, glancing back at her. "Hey, why are you acting so.... different tonight?"

"I.... I don't know," she replied, staring at up at the fan with worried eyes.

Dennis joined her gaze directed towards the ceiling too, scoffing. "Bex --"

No sooner had he been cut off by distraction did silver glitter rain down on him from the top of the ceiling fan's blades, covering his face and coating the mattress below in tiny, metallic sparkles.

Bex couldn't hold her laughter in any longer when Dennis spit glitter out of his mouth onto the floor. "Oh," he said, leaving Bex giggling hysterically.

"So this is what you do to me for revenge for being gone. Thanks," he added, squinting to brush some of the glitter away from his eyes.

"Yup. Just wait until you see what comes next."