Page 100 of The Story Of Us

That thought quickly goes away when Izzy starts singing, badly and loudly, a made-up song detailing how late we are going to be if I don’t hurry up.

“Oh my god, that is not helping,” I yell back at her from mine and Isaac’s room, fighting to clamp the new butterfly clip Isaac bought for me to the back of my hair so I can do a half up half down style that I know he likes. It takes a few attempts, but I finally get it to sit how I want, and then I dab my face with powder because somehow I worked up a sweat just by doing my hair.

I leave the room Isaac and I have decorated together over the years, a double bed in the middle with a desk on either side for both of us. Isaac’s is filled with all types of pens and markers, his sketchbooks piled high on one side of his drawing tablet, while the other side has a few scattered sketches. It’s messy compared to mine, and I don’t know how he manages to find anything, but he tells me he has a system, and to give him credit, he’s never lost anything yet.

My desk, on the other hand, is neat. My laptop and a larger monitor behind it take up most of the space, and I have two journals on it. The one Isaac got me for our fifteenth birthday looks completely tattered compared to the new one that I’ve been using to work on my current project. Isaac built a few shelves above it, too, for all my books, but I’ve also taken up one entire wall with shelves. Isaac has helped me fill them over the years, buying sequels to books he’s seen me reading or just picking up books that he thinks I’ll like. I still haven’t told him that I love every book he picks for me.

“I should have recorded that singing to show your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” She stands up from the sofa with a scowl on her face.

“Okay, sure.” I give her a knowing look.

I’ve overheard some of her conversations on the phone, so I know she’s been talking to a new boy who joined their school a few months ago. It reminds me of all the nights spent on the phone with Isaac. I’m so happy that now I get to fall asleep in the same bed as him every day.

“The movie starts at six, we have plenty of time,” I tell Izzy, and she gets up to stand by the door, taking my jacket off the hook, and holding it out to me.

“Isaac texted me and said there’s a lot of traffic. Come on, let’s go.” She opens the door, and I’ve never seen her in such a rush before. I know she likes horror movies, but this is a lot just for a rerun of Scream, which she’s already forced us to watch with her countless times.

I glare at her when I take my jacket, and then we’re both out of the door and on our way to the cinema.

The traffic is non-existent. We get there twenty minutes early, but I refrain from saying I told you so. The lobby is busy, and I start to move towards the line for snacks when Izzy stops me.

“Let’s just eat after, instead.”

“You sure?” I ask her because she never turns down popcorn.

“Yeah, let’s just go find our seats.”

I shrug my shoulders and follow after her as she shows her phone to the attendant. He gives her a nod before gesturing and directing us towards screen eleven.

Izzy opens the door for me, and the tunnel to get to the seats is pitch black. I stumble my way through it with her close behind me.

“Are you sure this is the right screen? They haven’t even got the low lights on?”

“I’m sure,” Izzy says. When we turn the corner, every seat in the small theatre is completely empty.

“I thought you said this movie was a classic,” I say sarcastically as I follow her to take our seats, which appear to be in the middle of the very first row in front of the screen.

“It is! We just got here a little early.”

I sigh, pulling out my phone to text Isaac and see where he is. He told me it was going to be a busy day at work when he left this morning so we haven’t talked much, and I’m excited to see him.

Violet

Where are you?

I’m already here with Izzy

I stare at the screen, waiting for a reply, but a few minutes pass, and nothing comes. It’s still just the two of us in the theatre and when I check the time there’s only five minutes until the movie is supposed to start.

“I changed my mind. I want popcorn. Be right back.” Izzy says as she stands up and shuffles past me. She hurries out, and I let out another sigh, tapping my foot against the floor as I lean back in the chair and wait for either sibling to join me.

I check the time again and the movie screen lights up at six on the dot. Izzy is going to hate that she missed the start.

But then, a familiar movie starts to play, one I first saw years ago.

It starts with Isaac and me standing next to each other in our Year 7 classroom, and the movie plays out exactly how I remembered it. Short clips detail our relationship up until that imagined future that we’re now living.

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