Twin Entanglement [C]

Chapter 34 - Tears for the Unloved

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I slammed the locker shut and glared at my phone for the hundredth time. I wasn’t even sure who to be angry with any more, Duke or Michael. Though after the lecture I received this morning from my mother about the dangers of drinking and alcohol poisoning that was no doubt meant more for my wayward twin than me, I was leaning more towards Michael right about now.

My head throbbed as the sound echoed through me. It felt as though everywhere still hurt. Taking a deep breath in, I shut my eyes and rubbed my temples. Everything seemed to be spinning around me. Fighting down the nausea I leaned against my locker.

“Hey… you okay?”

I heard the familiar voice ask hesitantly. Opening my eyes slowly I glared at the approaching figure I had been searching the whole morning for.

“Just peachy,” I said icily and watched as Duke looked away sheepishly.

Softening my glare I sighed pushing away from the locker.

“So, you going to explain why you’ve been ignoring my calls?”

Looking back to me, a brief look of surprise crossed his face caught my attention. Duke began to play with the strap of the camera that hung around his neck. A telltale sign that he was uncomfortable and hiding something.

“I was… busy, you know- guy stuff…” he said stuttering slightly.

Duke never really was a good liar. Cocking an eyebrow in disbelief I forced his eyes to keep in contact with mine.

“Really now… ‘Guy stuff’?” I repeated, my tone echoing my disbelief. Duke may not have appeared gay on sight, but his relationship with guys was pretty obvious. There wasn’t a guy friend who hadn’t tried to sleep with him or run because they found themselves thinking about it. To be fair it wasn’t really all his fault. Duke was unfortunately just that attractive to guys for some reason, granted not the guys he seemed to want a real relationship with, but because of it he didn’t have that many guy friends left to do ‘guy stuff’ with.

Nodding his head he broke the eye contact, “Yeah… so, have you spoken with your brother yet?” he hedged, causing my eyes to round.

 I stared at him in confusion. Duke never really mentioned my brother.  As far as I knew he found him slightly appealing but too arrogant, which wasn’t too far from the truth.

“Why do you ask?” I asked suspiciously.

He laughed nervously, realizing his mistake as he looked to my face.

“No reason...” he mumbled, twisting the poor camera strap in ways I was sure it wasn’t meant to go.

 I narrowed my eyes at him. There was definitely a reason. Thinking now how I hadn’t been able to reach either of them the whole evening, I knew it for fact. Something was up. Thinking back to yesterday I tried to think on what had happened. The memory of Randy’s confession in the science lab made my blood run cold.

It wasn’t possible. No one was there. Right…?

“Duke what happened between you and my brother yesterday?” I asked slowly, hoping against all odds I was wrong.

Duke was sweating now as he avoided all eye contact with me. My hope slipping quickly as I watched him.

“Wh-why do you think… nothing happened. I have to-” Duke moved to walk away. Unfortunately for him one of the basketball players decided to walk past and knocked him back right then. I knew then how dazed Duke was. He wasn’t pushed back so easily. Moving quickly I caught him by the arm as the basketball player swore back at him.