Replaced

Chapter 12

Virgil's POV

...

The morning after I met Roman, I thought it had never happened.

Really, it seemed too fantasy to be real. I'd had trippy dreams like that before. The morning after I'd tried to overdose on medicine, I woke up thinking I was dead, vividly remembering being murdered in a dark forest creek by a shadowy being.

That hadn't been real, but it sure felt like it was. I had to turn on the lights and walk around my house before I was able to convince myself it had all been a dream.

Last night must have been a dream. Only, it wasn't. It felt too real. Answered too many questions I'd had about things that didn't make sense.

Looking around my room, it all looked the same. The bottle of pills still sitting on my bathroom counter.

The only thing different was the shadow blocking light from my window. What is that?

I stood, squinting against the bright light to see a piece of notebook paper taped to the outside of my window. Meet at the coffee shop across from the school when you get up, it said on it.

Well I guess I know what I'm doing today.

I arrive at the coffee shop late, not that I'd intended to get there any earlier. I'd hoped that maybe, just maybe, if I stalled, Roman would've given up on waiting for me. Who else would have left me that note? It wasn't like I had surplus of friends anymore.

Plus, Roman said he'd get back to me tomorrow.

He wasn't all that hard to spot. His red hat and sunglasses made him more obvious than anyone else in the coffee shop, despite his intention to disguise himself, obviously.

"This seat taken?" I slip in the booth across from him.

He peers over his glasses at me. "Are you wearing makeup?"

"Yeah."

"Foundation?" He removes his sunglasses completely. "And eyeshadow?"

"Yeahh."

We have an unintentional staring contest, which to be honest felt pretty weird since it was like staring in a mirror. A distorted, fun-house mirror, one that shows you something that looks like you but isn't. If we were exactly identical, then why did something feel different about him?

"Coffee?" He reluctantly broke his stare, sliding over a second coffee I hadn't noticed.

I shook my head. "Don't like coffee."

"You don't like coffee?" He snorts out a laugh but then frowns. "But I like coffee."

I shrug. So what?

"Okay, well... I asked you here to talk. I'm just..." he makes a wild gesture with his hands. "Confused."

"Yes," I nod. "I have a lot of memories like that."

He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I'm not always confused."

I shoot him an 'OK' sign with my hand, winking sarcastically. "What do you want to know?"

Roman takes a sip of his coffee, mixing the two of them together into one cup seeing as how I didn't want it. "Tell me about yourself."

"If I'm you," I question. "Then what do you need to know?"

"Well we're obviously not the exact same, considering I would never consider what you tried to do last night."

That shut me up. There's nothing worse than trying to explain the reason for giving up on life. And to someone that just wouldn't understand no less.

"I..." I trail off. He deserved an answer, but what could I say? What answer could explain everything bad I think about myself, when I'm him?

"Can I get you anything?"

Both of our heads shoot up. We were so caught up in our conversation that we didn't notice a waitress approach us. I swallow nervously. "I'm sorry?"

"Would you like to order something?" She must've noticed I hadn't bought anything, but she couldn't seem less interested in asking. If she thought it was weird that Roman and I looked exactly alike, she didn't make it obvious.

I fumble over giving an answer, trying to explain that no, I don't want anything to eat. I don't.

"I'll buy." Roman seemed to think he knew why I hesitated. He was wrong. "What do you want?"

He eyes me as he pulls his wallet out of his pocket. I felt too awkward to refuse. "Uh... blueberry muffin?"

"That all?" She pesters. What does she want from me?! Can't that be enough...?

I breath out a deep breath, trying to calm down my rising heartbeat.

No. She just wants a big tip. I try and tell myself. I nod. "Yes."

She leaves without a second thought after snatching Roman's money. I sigh audibly, wincing as I let my defenses fall. The whole Roman situation still made me uneasy.

"So?" Roman picks the conversation back up. "You were saying?"

I take this chance to try and change the topic off of that stuff. "Things have felt... weird lately, which I've chalked up to you switching to me."

"Weird how?" He really didn't know. Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

"I don't have any friends anymore."

He seemed shocked by that. "What do you mean? Like, none?"

I nod, giving a flat frown. "None."

"Patton?" He seemed panicked.

I shook my head. "Nope."

Roman puts a hand to his forehead. He wouldn't look at me as he mumbles to himself. I just stare; he's gone crazy. He rubs his eyes and then looks up. "Why haven't you been hanging out with Patton? He's been my best friend since pre-school."

"I don't... know. Really." Now that I thought about it, that really didn't make sense. Patton had started acting so differently at the same time that everything went downhill for me. Since that party.

The waitress from before drops off the muffin and change and leaves before she even stopped walking.

"Explain." Roman seemed to have some sort of theory, if I could read anything from his expression. He tapped his fingers anxiously on the table.

"He's more popular than he used to be," I start, letting out my feelings for the first time in months. It's been lonely having no one to talk to. "He has other friends and doesn't really seem to want to hang around me anymore."

He stays silent, waiting for me to continue. I squirm under his intrusive stare. "We don't really have any classes together anymore. He started failing, so he got his schedule changed out of honors classes."

"That's not like Logan," Roman says under his breath, frowning. Whether confused or annoyed.

"Uh... Logan?" I raise an eyebrow. Now I was confused.

He shakes his head. "Patton." He quickly corrects himself and stands. "I gotta go."

"Okay." I didn't get his sudden desire to leave. "Where?"

"I'll drop by my house when I can." He doesn't answer my question, just checks his phone. "After school tomorrow. Act like none of this has happened."

I'd forgotten it was Sunday. I have school tomorrow.

He pauses, staring at nothing to think if there's anything else he wants to tell me. I wait until he just simply nods at me. "Yeah."

The door jingles and slams behind him as he leaves the shop. I watch out the window as he runs across the street before leaving myself, muffin untouched still sitting at the table.