My Lover's Doppleganger

Chapter 8

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, everyone's shocked eyes were staring at me as if I was crazy. And I was, completely and utterly out of my mind, I don't know why I even agreed to help him, let alone bring him to my house. But there's just something about him that makes it so damn hard to walk away, so I just had to carry on with my stupid plan.

"Tyler has a twin?" Megan suddenly asked, wearing the same confused expression as everyone else, even Aaron who shifted awkwardly besides me clearly not expecting the words that I just said and I had to nudge him to shut him up, he grunted silently but thankfully he didn't say a word.

"I didn't know he even had a brother." Sky said, as she stared suspiciously at Aaron while travelling her eyes down the length of his body and then back to his eyes causing him to look away abruptly. I felt bad for the poor guy, all these eyes that are glued on him probably made him feel very uneasy and uncomfortable.

"That's because he didn't live here in the past years." I said.

"What do you mean? Where was he?" Sky asked as she turned her attention to me.

"He...um...." I stuttered, as I tried to think of any reason to convince them but nothing seemed convincing enough. I felt Aaron shift besides me, clearly feeling my nervousness, I looked back at him, at his deep dark grey eyes, that gave me a strange kind of comfort. 

Suddenly an idea came through my mind .

I gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to my friends.

"Aaron's parents have sent him to study abroad, but due to his limited abilities, he couldn't continue his studies there, so he came back without his parents knowing." I replied.

"But he can just tell them the truth as to why he can't continue studying abroad." Megan asked, furrowing her eyebrows, a preplexed expression placed on her face.

"I can't." Aaron suddenly said. He glanced at me for a brief moment as if he's seeking the same kind of comfort that I've been seeking from him earlier, before he took a hesitant step forward.

"My...my parents made it very clear when they sent me there that I wasn't allowed to come back under any circumstances." He said before taking a deep breath, I smiled to myself at his efforts to seem serious. "And telling them that I was failling classes will only make things worse, they could send me to the military or something." He said, and I thought I saw a glimpse of hopelessness in his eyes.

"But why? Tyler stayed here, why can't you?" Megan asked.

"I'm not Tyler, I'm not the golden boy. He's smart, He plays football, he brings pride to his family and to his hometown unlike me, keeping me here would only bring shame to them since I wasn't good at anything. Sending me away was their only solution but I couldn't...I couldn't live like that." He said with a fake sad tone, I had to fight the urge to laugh at how dramatic he sounds, but it was strangely convincing, I almost believed it myself.

"I can't imagine what kind of parent would do that to their child." My mom suddenly said, and I thought I saw tears in her eyes. It seems like everyone believed our story as I could see the sadness and pity they held for Aaron.

Ah I'm such a good actor, and Aaron isn't that bad either, I guess we make a good team.

There was a long silence, everyone just sat there contemplating what to say next, while Aaron and I just stood there awkwardly waiting for any other questions.

When it seemed like no one was gonna say anything any time soon I decided to make an end to our awkward misery.

"Hey mom?" I called out.