Don't Drop Your Mask

“You know, you two are a mess.”

I screamed at the top of my lungs and jumped off my seat. “Charlie? You scared the shit out of me,” I said, finally breaking my staring contest with the wall. “How did you get in here.”

“Landlord gave me a key, remember?”

I nodded and sat back down. I’ve been moping lately. Can you blame me?

“So, first you fall in love with him, I’m going to assume you’re in love with him because you haven’t washed your hair in about a week, then you start seeing me, then you find out he’s my brother, my twin brother, then you won’t admit your undying love for him so he follows you around, then he, I’m guessing, calls you a mean name in that fight you two got into, and now neither of you will talk to each other and are pretty much just to the point where you’re pissing me off.”

“So it’s all about you, huh?”

He laughed. “At least you’re trying to joke around.”

I shrugged a reply and sighed deeply.

“So you got anything good to say?” he asked. I shrugged again. “How about, I love Travis,” he tried.

“I love Travis.” I said, quietly

“How about--- what?”

“I love Travis.”

“I… really?”

“Yup,” I said. I turned to face him. “I love your brother. And he’s done with me.”

“Well, did you tell him this?”

I just looked at him. “Well….”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“Well, no. I kind of came to the realization after we got into our fight.”

“Oh, Layla, why don’t you just go talk to him? He’s upstairs.”

“He doesn’t want to hear from me,” I said.

Charlie sighed and then we heard a muffled banging upstairs. “I’ll be back later, okay? We’ll continue our talk then.”

I laid down on the couch and tightened my blanket around me as the door shut quietly behind me. I closed my eyes and lost myself in thoughts.

I was woken up by voices. I groaned and positioned myself on my stomach. I put the pillow over my head and tried to ignore them.

They got louder and closer, and the steps outside my apartment were rattling.

The voices were easier to understand, but they were echoing down the stairs. And they were so loud!

“Charlie, I think we both know that this is best.”

Please don’t come in here, please don’t come in here, please don’t come in here.

“Travis, you’re being an idiot. At least talk to her first.”

All these problems are my fault, and I can’t face them.

“I’m leaving. Okay? That’s final.”

Just keep moving past my door. Don’t stop… Travis is leaving?

Ignoring their voices, I ran into my room. I pulled on a pair of boy jeans over my pajama bottoms and pulled on a hoodie. I brushed my fingers through my hair and grabbed a jacket before flinging my door open. Their voices had gone and they were no where in sight.

What the hell am I doing?

Without thinking, I quickly ran down the stairs, missing half the steps and only staying up by the railing.

I looked left, the weren’t there. I looked right… they weren’t there.

Travis is… gone.

I sat down on the steps. Defeated.

“Whatever she says, she can’t make me stay,” I heard from behind me. The mailboxes!

I turned around and saw Charlie, Travis, and two medium-sized suitcases.

“Travis,” I started.

He kept his eyes locked with mine for a good three seconds before looking down to the ground.

“Layla.”

Charlie seemed to saunter off into the background.

“We… I have something to tell you.”

“Layla, I’m leaving. I mean, we had some fun, but I think ultimately,” he stated as he walked past me, his suitcases trailing behind him, “we didn’t work out. I mean, we were pretty much a mess. And it’s too late. There is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing that you can say right now that would make me stay,” he finished.

“I love you,” I said quickly. He let go of his bags and turned around. “I love you, and I’m an idiot, and I want you to stay. And I’m so sorry for all of the trouble I caused. I was being stupid and scared, and please say something back. You don’t have to stay, but please just respond to—“

He slid his hand behind my head and I stopped speaking. He gently leaned down and kissed me.

Remember the end of the Princess Bride when that one kiss left the previous five in the dust? This was kind of like that.

“I love you, too,” he said, simply. He smiled at me and let me go.

He grabbed his bags and put his arm around me.

“So you’ll stay?” I asked, not able to wipe the smile off my face.

“Of course.”

And that is where we put an end to this chapter. I fell in love with a man whose face I could never see. He wore a mask and crusaded around Baltimore, he had a twin brother who I had a fling with, and now we’re together to continue our story, happily ever after.

“So when you said there was nothing I could ever say, you were lying, huh?” I joked.

He looked down at me and shook his head. “You’re lucky that I love you, you know,” he said, before we walked back up to my apartment.