doppelgänger --> there's never just one {sequel}

sadie & ethan

*a/n ~ i know i use some direct quotes in here from the dolan twins taser taste test challenge video, but i'm sure the boys wouldn't mind so don't attack me for it : )

It was Tuesday again, which of course always meant it was time for another Dolan Twins video. 

The girls would be in it again this time, and that week's video be the Taser Taste Test Challenge video with different types of sodas. The objective was to taste the sodas, guess what flavors which ones were, and if whoever guessed got the flavor wrong, they would be tased.

The guys said they wouldn't tase the girls because they felt bad about it, but if the girls wanted to tase each other, they could.

Something told Ethan Dani was much more likely to tase Sadie than the other way around.

Introduction done, Grayson went for his first drink, which was orange and he said looked easy to guess.

As he lifted the glass to his lips, he explained, "I don't have any sense of smell right now because I'm at Sadie's house and they have three dogs and I'm allergic to dogs, so....." He took a sip, then frowned. "I can't even taste; my nose!" Ethan cackled. "There's literally one thing this soda can be," Grayson insisted. "Carrot."

Sadie smirked suddenly at the way he pronounced the word with the flat a. "Carrot," she imitated him.

Grayson shot her a side-eye look, then grinned a little. He leaned forward to grab the little piece of paper turned upside down with the answer on it.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes! It is!"

"Dang it!" Ethan exclaimed. "Well, now it's my turn."

Ethan chose the next soda and sipped it, and to Dani, the noise it made was obviously obnoxious to her. "Oh my gosh, stop," she told him, rolling her eyes and resting her head in her hand.

Ethan laughed, "What?"

She lifted her head again, meeting eyes with him. "I said, stop. It's annoying, okay?" she told him. "And stop doing that forced cackly laugh you always do. It's stupid. Just laugh for real."

Ethan raised his eyebrows, turning back. "Okay, whatever." He side-eyes her, and with a grin on his face and smirking, he took another dramatic slurp to purposely annoy Dani. As he started to giggle, she got up, aggravated. 

"What did I ask you? Please stop!" she yelled at him. She groaned, frustrated, and started out the bedroom door. 

"Wait, Danielle!" Ethan called after her, "I'm sorry, I was just messing with you!" When she didn't answer, he added, "Wait a second, where are you going?"

"I don't want to do this video," she answered without even bothering to turn around to face him as she said it. "I wasn't interested in the first place, but now you're just annoying me," she told him blatantly as she walked out. 

Ethan looked between Grayson and Sadie with worried eyes. "Stop the video camera. I'm going to talk to her." 

Dani was in a funk again, and it was never fun for her or anyone for that matter. Sadie couldn't wait until it was over and everything would be back to normal again. 

*

Ethan knocked on Dani's bedroom door, calling her name. "Dani, can I please come in? I want to talk to you."

"What's the password?" she yelled back.

"Please?" he guessed.

"No. You already said that."

"Well, I thought maybe you didn't hear me."

Ethan could just envision her major eye roll at him through the door.

"I love you?"

"No!" 

"..... I'm sorry," he told her earnestly, and in two seconds he heard the door unlock.

She opened the door slowly, and he walked in, sitting on the bed, and she followed him over, sitting across from him. Ethan cupped her cheek in his hand, looking at her. "Babe, what's wrong? Tell me, honestly."

She stayed quiet for a moment, then started to tear up.

Breathe, Ethan.

Breathe. She's just about to cry. That's all.

Just comfort her, hug her, and hold her tight.

Be there for her.

Yeah, that'll do the trick.

"I'm a failure," she told him, bursting into tear. "As a girlfriend, as a mom, as a daughter, as a person....."

Ethan opened his mouth to say something to comfort her, but she kept going on. 

"Interview after interview, I can't get any of the jobs. I just yelled at you because I was mad a myself, I've been so exhausted I put Grant to bed last night and then went right to sleep, my parents ask me to do one chore but I can't because I'm too busy with other stuff..... ugh, I can't do anything right!" she ranted, another couple of sobs escaping her throat.

And Ethan's eyes welled up too as he put his head in his hands, taking a deep breath. 

How could Dani not see how amazing she was and how much she mean to everyone?

Anyone who felt like they couldn't see how amazing she was had something wrong with them.

The fact that the girl he loved couldn't see how loved she was hurt his heart more than anything and was the most frustrating part about his life at the moment.

Ethan collapsed into Dani's lap, hugging her waist, his cheek against her stomach, his breath hitching, rattling as he let out a shaky breath, a lonely tear running down his cheek and streaking his skin.

Damn, life was hard and left him so confused at times. 

What was he supposed to do now?"

*

"And like I said, I feel bad, but she really does bring the rest of us down. I don't know, that feels wrong to say, though," Sadie told Grayson through the phone on the speaker setting as she hopped in the shower.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, though," Grayson responded, "It's tough." 

"Yeah. Thanks. Anyway, though..... tell me the exact dates of Coachella again?"

As Dani stood outside the bathroom door listening, another tear escaped her eye. 

So it was true.

She did in fact ruin things, including her family's whole moods and attitudes. 

Dani wondered a lot if anyone would miss her if she passed.

What was the point of life, even, anyway?