Opposite But Identical

Chapter 2: Water Guns

       Mike was sitting on his bed, reading a comic book. He was wearing a gray science Olympiad t-shirt and gym shorts, eating a granola bar. Right as he was getting to the good part of the comic, a stream of water hit him in the face. He gasped and sputtered, sitting up to see Richie standing in the doorway with a super soaker. "HA! I got you, Mikey!" He did an impression of Mike getting hit with the water and cracked up.
         Mike threw his comic book down and chased his twin out of the room, down the stairs, and then outside. Richie was laughing harder than ever as Mike flailed his arms around, swearing as he chased him. "YOU ASSHOLE! WHY CAN'T I JUST READ MY COMICS IN PIECE, YOU LITTLE SHIT?"
           Unsurprisingly, the pure "nerdiness" (as Richie liked to call it) of Mike's question just made Richie laugh harder. "Hahahahahaha-aughhhh!" Richie tripped over the lawn sprinkler and landed on the ground with a thud.
           Mike picked up the hose and sprayed him. Richie wasn't laughing anymore. He was holding onto his ankle, wincing. As Mike continued to spray him, he yelled, "Stop. Stop, Mike! FUCKING STOP!" He was still clutching his ankle. Mike stopped.
"What's wrong?"

"I- I think I fucked up my ankle..."

        His brother rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure you did." He lifted the hose up again.

"My ankle is turning colors, dumbass, look," Richie growled. Mike looked at his ankle to see it swelling up and turning a light shade of purple.
       Mike gasped. "Holy shit, Richie. We have to go to the hospital. I think it's broken." Richie gave him a yeah-no-kidding look. Mike helped Richie into Mrs. Wheeler's car, and then got their mother and told her what happened.

      In the hospital room, Mrs. Wheeler insisted that Richie put his foot on her lap to keep it elevated. An attractive young doctor walked in. He was maybe 20, 21 years old? Richie thought.
       Richie immediately blushed and took his foot off of his mother's lap, causing it to hit the floor. He winced. Great, he'd barely been here ten minutes and he was already making a fool of himself.
         The doctor said, "Richie, right?"
         "Yup," Richie squeaked our, his voice three octaves higher than normal. Mike almost busted a rib trying not to laugh at him.
          "Sit on the table please, Rich." Richie did as he was told, and the handsome doctor asked, "So, what happened?"
         Richie could feel his face growing hot. "I-uh, tripped," he showed him his ankle, which was now a deep purple with blue spots. The doctor frowned. "Yikes. What did you trip over?"
          Richie pushed his glasses up on his nose and mumbled out the words, "Lawn Sprinkler." The doctor was obviously trying not to laugh as he said, "It's okay. Lots of people are victimized by lawn sprinklers." Mike laughed out loud and Mrs. Wheeler slapped him in the arm lightly.
           "Don't patronize me," Richie responded dryly. The doctor chuckled and said, "Twins, right?"
            The two boys nodded and the doctor said, "I'm a twin, too. My sister and I are both in college together currently. I'm in medical school, and she's studying musical theater.
            Richie nodded, still red in the face, and now the ears. Not that you could tell, due to the bush of hair that covered them.
           The doctor, who's name turned out to be Andy, brought Richie into the x-ray room. Sure enough, Richie had fractured his ankle and was going to have to wear a cast for the next five weeks.
          As Andy was wrapping his cast, he said, "So, you're 14?"
"Yeah. Starting high school in September."
"Wow. What do you think you want to do, career-wise? High school is a good time to figure that all out."
"Well, I do impressions," he blushed. Usually people gave Richie funny looks when he told them that. He looked down at his shoes.

"Let's hear one," Andy smiled.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Uh, okay. I call this one 'Baby Arnold Schwarzenegger'," he took a breath in and put on his best Schwarzenegger voice. "I want to watch Sesame Street! I threw up, I need Pedialyte! Mommy. Mommy. MOMMY! I want a cookie! Father, get out of there! There's a bomb in there!"
            Andy had to stop wrapping Richie's cast, he was laughing so hard. Richie blushed. It felt good to make a cute guy besides Eddie laugh. "You're really good, dude!" Andy grinned. "It's probably getting easier to do Schwarzenegger now that your voice is dropping, right?"
             Richie felt himself gain some confidence. "Yeah, but I can't do Minnie Mouse anymore." Andy laughed again. Richie felt pretty darn accomplished by the time Andy finished wrapping his cast. Unfortunately, this feeling went away quickly when Andy told him that he was going to wear crutches and stay inside for the most part. No quarry for him.
         On the car ride back home, Mike whispered to Richie, "You had a little crush on him, didn't you?"
"Shut up, no I didn't."
"Okay, Mr. Schwarzenegger."

A little note: for those of you who didn't catch the baby Arnold Schwarzenegger reference, make sure you watch the video at the top!