Hearts of Gold

4

As we pull up to the skating rink I smile as all of the memories come back. Freshman year of high school we all ditched and came here. We were having the time of our lives on the skating rink until Blue fell and chipped his tooth. He'd ended up telling his aunt that he got hit with a locker and she actually bought it.

I look over to Blue to ask if he remembers and he's licking the now fixed tooth.

I giggle to myself as we all make our way inside and pay for our skates.

"Oh! well if it isn't my favorite troublemakers," Antonio the owner says walking up to us with a big smile.

I rush forward and trap him in a tight hug. This man has watched all of us grow while also watching over us.

"You don't hug me like that," Blue says with a pout.

"You've got to be at least forty years older and two marriages in to get one of these," Antonio laughs moving to give the twins hugs too.

"It was nice seeing you guys, but I've got some business to tend to," he mutters looking at his phone and exits.

I've always wondered what type of 'business' it was, but, I know it'd be better not to ask.

"I'll be back," Luce says and walks away. Before I can ask where, he's already out of sight.

"Uhm, Zelda could I talk to you for a sec," Blue says hesitantly.

"Sure," I say, but it comes out more like a question.

"About Lola," he starts.

God, I'd tried to push that from my mind but now its fresh again. Lola, of every person on this planet. Its not like I'm angry or anything, well maybe a little. But, it was Lola. Lola my tormenter all of elementary, Lola the cheerleader who tried to make me hate my name. I'm not the type of person to make my friends hate someone just because I did, but I thought we were all on the same page about her.

"Zelda, your doing that thing where you start thinking all hard and zone out on everything," Blue says with a knowing smile.

"It's okay if you like her," I respond surprising myself and Blue.

Is it okay? Could I deal with them as a couple. Blue's my best friend, so I'd do it for him. What would their ship name be? Bola. Okay no, that's gross.

"No Zelda I don't," he says sincerely.

I look at him in his eyes to see if there's any doubt. When I see none I let out a sigh of relief. Thank god, I couldn't take him seriously if everyone started calling him Bola.

"Why'd you do it," I ask finally.

He breathes out quickly and tugs at his hair. "Some guys just sex the pain away," he mutters.

I don't know what pain he's referring to but I reach out on instinct to console him. To take some of it away.

"Am I interrupting something," Luce says from behind me.

I nearly jump out of my skin and both boys begin to laugh.

"You scared me" I say glaring at Luce.

He holds both hands in front of him. "Blue saw me coming," he defends.

"Why are you so jumpy anyway," Blue asks raising an eyebrow. All traces of earlier are gone and he's back to his usual self.

"I came here for answers, not questions," I say to both twins successfully dodging the question.

They both look at each other again and do that weird communicating thing. I tap my foot as I wait. Again.

"Follow me, Antonio's letting us use a private room," he says leading the way.

We get into the room and its small and dimly lit. There's a table in the middle with four chairs and we all take a seat.

There's an awkward silence that passes over the room and I begin to pick at my nail polish.

" Blue and I, we were adopted," Luce says after a while.

I expect to be surprised but, I'm not.

"And our aunt isn't our aunt," Blue says adding on. " We got put into the system during the end of our second year and got moved around a lot. Finally we found Susan, our 'aunt'. She wanted us permanently because she's been unlucky having any kids of her own with her husband. They treated us as if we were their own. Susan the professional clairvoyant and Will the professor for anthropology".

Okay that one got me. My mind is doing its best to keep up but I still don't understand. "Why'd you get put into the system," I ask out loud. I knew this question was pushing it, but I had to ask.

Luce looks at Blue questioningly and he tenses slightly.

"Our mom was pregnant again after us. She lost the baby and, something in her snapped, she couldn't take it. She started staying out late and drinking more. She and our dad were always arguing and, one day he left for work and never came back. She tried everything she could to find him but he was gone. We were about seven and all we knew was that our dad left us," Blue pauses looking as if he's struggling.

I feel my heart breaking for the two. They've been through all of this and all they had was eachother.

"She then started abusing drugs and we got taken away," Luce finishes before Blue can say anything else.

I look confusedly at Luce and then to Blue who looks away.

This isn't the whole story, but I don't even bother asking the rest because I know what they did tell me was true.

" Your dad?" I ask

"Dead," Luce says with finality.

I pause at this but remember what Luce had said earlier. "You said your mom was trying to get you back," I question looking to Luce.

Blue stands up abruptly catching Luce and I's attention. "She won't," he seethes.

"She claims that she's better now and wants to make up for- for everything," Luce says softly.

I pause trying to think of what to say to them. Sorry, won't mean anything.

"Thank you," I say finally, looking at both brothers.

They look surprised and I continue on. "Thank you for trusting me. I know it wasn't easy but, it means a lot to me that you could tell me this," I say sincerely.

Who knew I could be such a hypocrite.

***

Authors note:

Well, that was intense. I mean whew, who knew am I right? Yea I'm gonna stop now. Anywho, I'm still trying to figure out how often I should update and what's seen as too late. Idk man.

I kinda struggled with this chapter, I wanted to make it perfect for you guys and ya know, finally let you in on something while still maintaining an air of mystery. Did I spell that right?

Lemme Know how you liked it????? Also press that vote button. plzz.

Kbyeeee