Page 44 of Sweet Twins For My Brother's Best Friend

“Funny,” she says coldly, and I can practically hear her rolling her eyes. “We need to talk.”

“I can’t imagine why,” I tell her honestly.

“You’re full of jokes today, huh?”

“Who says I’m joking?”

“Listen, can we meet?”

I lean against the mirrored wall, hesitance rendering me silent. I can’t imagine Julie has anything good to say to me. Nothing I want to hear, anyway.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Ju-Julie.” I almost called her ‘Jules’, my old pet name for her. A pang shoots through me.

“It’s about Hannah. Thought you might want to know that she’s been stalking me.”

Sighing deeply, I stand up straight. “Sure. Where?”

My curiosity is piqued enough to see her, despite the knot of tension forming in my stomach.

“71 Above in two hours?” The restaurant I used to take her to all the time, a place with $100 plates and gloomy, romantic lighting.

“How about somewhere else? There’s this new place that I love, somewhere that opened up while you were gone. Philippe the Original. You’ll love it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she purrs.

"See you there." I hang up, an ominous sense of unease settling over me like a blanket.

Julie hasn’t been up to anything good in years, and I can’t imagine she’s changed that much. Or maybe she has. Maybe I shouldn’t judge her by anything but what she is now. I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me. Still, she’s never apologized, and now she’s calling me up for lunch.

Whatever it is, I’m sure Hannah didn’t do anything wrong. It’s probably just a miscommunication, something I’ll be able to explain easily.

Chapter Nineteen

Hannah

I go home after seeing Julie, my nerves unable to settle.

I don’t know what exactly I want to do with the information that I am now certain is true: that Lucy is Noodle. If that’s true, it means I have a slice of Chris’ former life sitting in the backseat with warm brown eyes and a wet nose right now.

The first thing I do is make myself an omelet for lunch on the cook top Chris got me, which is one of my favorite meals now.

I had really underestimated how much better an egg would taste cooked over a burner versus coming out of a microwave.

After eating it feverishly, like someone who had never eaten a meal in her life, I gather up my painting supplies, put Lucy on aleash, and walk to the nearby dog park, my mind wracked with repetitive thoughts about everythingng.

Lately, my mind is a thick fog of questions and curiosities. I don’t know what to do about losing my virginity to my brother’s best friend.

Ireallydon’t know what to do about how good it was and the fact that I am looking forward to a repeat performance.

I don’t know what to do about Chris’ business, the whole reason we’re together in the first place.

As long as he has a thief in his midst, he’s losing money, and that scares me.

I know how much he struggles with betrayal, so the thought of him being betrayed on an ongoing basis by someone else he trusts just breaks my heart.

I don’t know what to do about Lucy.

What if I tell Chris and he’s angry that I met with Julie? What if he doesn’t believe me? What if he doesn’t care? What if knowing about Lucy makes him want to avoid me because it’s too hard for him knowing that she’s actually Noodle?

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