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"Morning," Noah said, shaking her awake. She jolted out of her dream, Jeff's face disappearing like an apparition as she opened her eyes.
"What do you want?" Stella groaned, turning on her other side, wishing she could go back to the dream. It felt real. She could see him. She could feel the touch of his skin. She could smell his cologne. And then it was over.
"You really think I'm gonna let you miss our birthday?" Noah scoffed, hopping into her bed.
"Noah-- I was having a good dream," Stella grumbled.
"Too fucking bad-- wait, are we talking about a Jeff dream?" Noah said quickly.
"Yeah-- god, every time it just feels real and it just makes waking up and realizing he's not here even harder," Stella sighed, sniffling quietly.
"I know-- I, uh, I accidentally called him last night," Noah said softly, his voice almost inaudible. Stella sat up in the bed, looking at her brother with sad eyes.
"I wanted to talk about the game-- so I called and it didn't hit me until I heard his voicemail message," Noah said, sniffling harshly, not wanting to cry.
"To think, all this time I've been saying that we're the only twins who aren't alike. I've done the same thing-- more times than I'd like to admit," Stella sighed, leaning her head on her twin's shoulder.
"Come on, mom's got our birthday breakfast downstairs. Let's go pretend to be surprised," Noah said gently.
"Just one more minute," Stella said quickly, still clutching onto her brother. The twins just held each other, each crying silently, not wanting the other to know that they were hurting on what was supposed to be a happy day.
Birthday messages blew up her phone, making it buzz uncontrollably, but she didn't care. She only wanted one message to come up on the screen and it was the one message that never would.
"Come on," Noah said, holding his arm out for his sister, forcing her to get out of bed.
▽
"Come on, Stella-- just come over," Jeff begged. She laughed softly, her ponytail swaying behind her as she scrambled around the house. Her parents were out of town and had left a long list of chores to have done by the time they got back.
"I can't-- I promised my mom I would have this done and I procrastinated all weekend by hanging out with you so now I actually have to do all this shit," Stella scoffed, chuckling to herself.
