Page 20 of My Twin Sister's Ex

“Um, thank you?” I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I didn’t want to speak badly of my sister behind her back.

“I’m not just saying that because I’m the bitter, jaded ex, either. I really mean that from a neutral standpoint.”

“It’s not always a good thing to be the nice sister.”

“Why do you say that?” Bennett scrunched his brow in confusion.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “There’s such a thing as being too nice.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Bennett really did seem lost.

“Yes. It makes me a pushover. I hate that.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Bennett admitted.

“It’s awful. People start to think they can take advantage of me because I’m so accommodating and agreeable. Before I know it, I’m always getting the short end of the stick.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being agreeable. You just need to learn to put down some firm boundaries,” Bennett said.

“How do you know about this stuff?”

“I’ve spent a lot of years in the school counselor’s office.”

“Because your mom died?” I regretted saying it as soon as the words left my mouth. What if Bennett didn’t want to talk about something so personal with me?

“Yes. Because my mom died.”

“I’m sorry I brought that up.” I couldn’t even look at him. I stared out at the trees instead. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

“It’s okay. Avoiding the subject isn’t going to bring her back.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up. I feel so stupid.” I could feel my face turning bright red.

“It’s fine. I’m not some fragile porcelain statue that could shatter at any moment.”

I didn’t know how to act or what the right words were to say. I felt like I was doing everything wrong. Was I being too uptight? “What would you like me to say?”

“Just act normal. Yeah, my mom died. Yes, it was awful, and I miss her every day. But I’m stronger because of it.” Bennett looked at me as he spoke, and I could see that strength reflected in his eyes.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” I felt like I was having a lot of revelatory moments today. There was something about talking to Bennett that did that to me. He was an interesting guy, and I never knew what to expect from him next.

“I’m used to people tiptoeing around the subject. I don’t like making people feel weird.”

“Thank you for helping me to understand that. I won’t tiptoe.” I wasn’t sure I could avoid tiptoeing, but I would do my best. I could tell it was hard for him to talk about his mom.

“Do you want to run through our lines again?” Bennett asked.

“That is why we’re here,” I said. We weren’t here to dig up old wounds from Bennett’s past. I would do well to remember that. He deserved that much respect from me. I looked down at the script in front of me and worked to focus on the words on the page.

We ran through the script another three times, carefully ignoring the parts where kissing was mentioned. I wasn’t sure when Bennett wanted to start practicing the kiss, but we should at least get comfortable with kissing each other before we were in front of an audience. I was used to the guy taking charge of when the first practice kiss happened. Most of the guys I’d kissed had seemed eager to get to that part.

Was it just my imagination, or did it seem like Bennett was dreading the kissing part? My face flushed at the thought. Did he not want to kiss me? I knew he had to be attracted to me. He had dated my identical twin—we looked exactly the same. Maybe the thought of kissing someone who looked so much like his ex grossed him out. That would make sense. But that wasn’t something I could change or fix. No matter what I did, I would always look like Jackilyn.

My phone buzzed. I fished it out of my pocket to see that I had a text from Jackilyn.

Jackilyn:We need to talk.

Me:What’s going on?

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