Page 91 of Sweet Twins For My Brother's Best Friend

I take a chance on joking with him and reach down to clasp our hands together. I swear I can see a small smile flash across his face before he shakes his head at me and pushes me away from him.

As I stumble backward and Hannah catches me, Tyler turns and walks back down the hall toward the elevator. He hits the button and I call out to him, “Come on, man, don’t leave. It’s not what you’re thinking. We love you, dude, and we want to talk.”

Just as he enters the elevator, Hannah yelps in a shrill, panicked voice, “Tyler, I’m pregnant!”

I try to interpret Tyler’s emotions from his expression, but his face is devoid of discernible emotion.

Chapter Forty One

Hannah

I watch the scene like a horror movie as the doors close on Tyler then reopen instantly.

He steps out of the elevator and walks down the hall back into Chris’ apartment. He closes the door behind him and stares at the both of us for a moment, leaning against it.

Finally, he breaks the silence with one word: “What?”

I stifle a giggle, and Tyler shoots me a look that could kill.

I know it isn’t actually funny in a “ha-ha” kind of way, but I want to laugh in that nervous way you find yourself in when you start laughing at a funeral or during an exam, the laughter coming without your permission.

“I’m pregnant,” I repeat, relieved to have the words out there.

They’re easier to say the second time. I want to say it a third time and again and again just to feel the slow leaking of anxiety.

“I’m pregnant,” I say again, and Chris strokes my arm from behind me, sensing the manic energy emanating from me.

Tyler notices the motion, his eyes zipping to Chris’ hand on my arm. He spreads his hands out like someone stopping a fight.

“I’m sorry, what thefuckam I seeing?” He cranes his neck slightly to look in my eyes.

“Hannah, what is going on?”

When I avoid his eyes, he puts his hands on his knees like the catcher in a baseball game, lowering himself to look at me.

“We never expected this to happen. But it has and we want you to be happy for us, too.”

He stands up and puts his hands on top of his head and turns away from the two of us so that he faces the door.

I wonder if he’s considering making a run for it. I wonder if he’s thinking about leaving and coming back, that maybe he’ll come back to a different universe or wake up from a nightmare.

He turns back to us and says simply, “This is crazy. I can’t even wrap my head around this.”

“I know, I know. We would have told you eventually. We just…have gotten closer. When we were working together, we realized we were starting to have feelings for one another.”

I chew on my bottom lip, watching the myriad of emotions cycle on his face.

“This doesn’t make sense,” he says, his mouth stuck open.

“I don’t know what else to say.”

“Say this is a joke! Please.” Tyler picks up one of the unbroken cans of beer and opens it, spraying droplets about a half of a foot before sitting down on Chris’ couch. He drinks while staring off into the distance.

“Wait.” He turns to look at Chris. “Was Samantha real? Or was that about Hannah?”

“That was about Hannah,” Chris admits, walking over and sitting next to Tyler.

“Dude, I gave you advice about my sister! That’s messed up.”

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