Where Two Roads Meet

Thirty five.

"Hmmm. What's so funny?" I asked sending them a suspicious look. I stopped filling the car and turned back to face them.

They just stared at each other, laughed some more and walked into the car without even telling me what they were laughing about.

"Great, so I'm a third wheel in my own road trip," I murmured to myself.

"So, I talked to my mom and she's fine, at least I think she is. Anyway, she's expecting us back in Brooklyn," I pointed out right after we got settled in the car.

"Great...... Wait-" Lily began before she halted and stared at us both.

"What?" Ayden asked.

"Does this mean you're going to Jen's place?" she asked, pointing at Ayden.

There's was a moment of silence for some time as realization kicked in.

Ayden was my twin brother and well, it was pretty obvious that I was bound to go home with him.

"You don't have to, if you don't want. I'm totally fine," Ayden said, trying to ease the awkward situation.

"What? No! You're coming with me. My mom would love to meet you. I bet she would. Trust me," I said.

"I'm guessing you've told her about Ayden being you know, your twin brother?" Lily asked.

"Umm...well, no I haven't. But it's not like I'm not going to. I just want to tell her face to face not on the phone. And for her to possibly meet him," I said.

I watched Ayden's expression turned from disappointed to relieved. I could tell that befroe I offered to take him with me, he assumed I didn't want anything to do with him after the trip, regardless of the fact that I just found out about him being my twin brother. He had lived his whole life thinking that he was unloved and that no one wanted anything to do with him anymore.

So when his face brightened when I said I'd be taking him with me, it brought joy to not only him, but also me.

It was a nice feeling; to make someone like him feel like that. And not just anyone, my brother. My twin brother.

"Well...let the journey begin...... once more," Lily said, letting out a small chuckle at the last part.

With that, my stomach growled, letting me know of how I deprived it of food for the past 5 hours.

"Oh, my God if I don't eat now, I'm going to collapse. Pass me the rice cakes," I said.

Lily did so but not after they shared a suspicious look with Ayden.

"What?" I asked.

"Inside joke," Ayden said. He looked at Lily and winked, which made Lily's, cheeks turn a shade of pink that I had never seen it turn to.

"You guys are exhausting," I said grabbing the rice cakes from Lily. They just continued to torture me, by laughing.

************************************

"Favorite actor?" Ayden asked.

"Oh, my Gosh, it has to be Noah Centineo," Lily answered.

"Wait, I thought you said it was that Hero guy?" I asked.

"Hero Fienesse Tiffin? Oh, yeah...... Ugh! Now I can't pick. They're both incredibly awesome," she said. Her gaze clearly set ahead, trying to pick her favorite actor.

We had resorted to playing a game of 'who's your favorite.....' after searching for music in the radio with futile attempts.

"Who?" Ayden asked.

"Lily likes to obsess over those two actors from her favorite movies; After and To All the Boys I've Loved Before. She can't go a day without making a reference of either one of the movies," I explained to Ayden.

"You call it obsessing, I call it having a great liking for it that I can't stop talking about it," she said.

"That is literally the definition of obsession," I remarked.

"Okay, what do you have against After and To All The Boys I've Loved Before. They are the greatest rom-coms ever invented," Lily said.

"Look, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, sure it's great. I actually like it. I mean, I don't constantly obsess over it, but it's sure it's nice. But After, oh come on, I just think Tessa is being manipulated if you ask me. That guy, Hardin, first of all does not deserve her. She could go out with any of the other guys that treated her well and she picks the one that doesn't. Please. And secondly, Hardin is a psychopath. He just keeps wasting the chances he was being given by Tessa. And every time he did do, what did he say, oh right, 'I love you' that guy.....just... no way," I pointed out.

One thing I knew about my dear friend Lily is that when she had a passion for something and you didn't, and you trash-talked about it, she would well, she would lose it. So, why I chose to still talk about one of her favorite rom-coms like that, I don't know.

Oh, who am I kidding? I knew very well that it would be fun to watch her gift for what she loved most in the world.

"You shut your mouth! Just because you choose to see the bad side of Hardin Scott, doesn't mean you get to talk about him like that. Hardin may have his bad side, but Tessa chose to stay, because she loved him. She loved him and it sometimes pained her. He broke her heart multiple times and it was even worse. But just because he didn't love her the she wanted, didn't mean he didn't love her with everything he had........And before you can ask, yes, that is an After reference," she said. She turned back in her seat to stare straight ahead.

"You look even cuter when you defend your love for something," Ayden said from the back seat. From his mortified expression, it was clear that, that was not something he was planning on saying aloud.

Lily jerked slightly in her seat and it became even more awkward.

"Umm.....I think we'll just stop at a hotel for the evening," I said.

"Great idea," they both said at the same time.

Awkward!!