Two Souls Collide

The weekend went by too fast. I frown as I sit on the steps playing with Bella smoking a cherry flavored cigarette. William and Thomas are coming to pick her any minute now. I was rather upset when Thomas called and his number came up blocked, I almost didn't answer. They seem too secretive, but not paranoid like Lacey.
It's a warm day with no breeze. I wear a pair of bright green sweats, black flip-flops and a black tank top with the English word "Kiss", "Hug," and "Love" scattered all over it in rainbow colors. My hair pulled into a lazy ponytail with sparkly clips. I chip off my orange nail polish on my pointer finger with my thumb. Bella comes up and licks my toes making my giggle loudly.
"Bella," I sing her name. "What am I going to do with you, eh?" I lift her up into the air and attempt to give her an Eskimo kiss, but she attacks my nose with her version of kisses, licking. The sound of a car parking up front comes. I set her down and stare at the black Escalade. William opens the door and steps out with a huge silver purse...backpack …body bag? I put out my cigarette.
"Bella!" He calls to her. The small dog leaves my arms and runs to him. Thomas comes around the driver's corner and walk up to me.
"Yo Alice!" He calls.
"Hi." I stand up wiping off any dirt that may be on my back sweats. William holds Bella as he walks up to me. I hand Thomas the bag full of Bella's possessions.
"Teach her any new tricks?" Thomas asks. I peer up at his thick sunglasses.
"No. She's stubborn."
"Wonder where she got that from." Thomas looks at William who was snuggling against Bella's head; he jerks his head up at Thomas.
"Shut up and pay her." Thomas reaches for his wallet.
"Oh, I don't need your money." I frown. "In fact it's rather insulting."
"Why? You can buy new clothes!" William offers in his fake smile. I look down at my clothes and back up at him.
"I like my clothes." I reply defensively. "I don't need a grandma purse to pull if off either." Thomas laughs, William frowns.
"Well then, how about we get you and your sister some coffee?" Thomas offers.
"COFFEE?!" Someone yells. We all turn and stare as the front door opens and Lacey runs out dressed and ready to go. Just a few minutes ago she was lying in her bed wearing only underwear and watching cartoons…her usual Sunday mornings. 'Sundays are possessed by an evil zombie god who made his follows eat his dried flesh and drink his hot blood. That being said, I refuse to encourage this day by going outside.' Her thoughts not mine, although apparently some things too important for that.
"What's up?" Thomas greets her. She blows some hair out of her eyes and flashes a sparkly smile.
"Hey…" She greets. "Sooo…coffeeee…" She pats her thighs, nodding and rocking her feet back and forth.
"Yea! Wanna come?" I can tell William didn't like the idea. Why does he hate us? Just to tick him off though, I smile and reply,
"We'd be happy to come! Let me go get a coat."
"Do you want to get a heat stroke?!" Lacey grabs my arm. "Let's just go Liss."
"But Laaace. I get cold so easily! You know I'm anemic!"
"Seriously…?" William asks raising his pierced eyebrow.
"Duh, why do you think she's all pale and has those nasty bags under her eyes? Watch this," Lacey pinches my right arm.
"OW!"
"Now wait a few minutes and you'll see."
"Do I ever thank you for helping my self esteem oh so much?" I ask sarcastically.
"No need to thank me Liss, it's my job." She pats my back and starts walking. "You're serious about the whole gangster thing, huh?" She asks Thomas referring to his Escalade.
"Get in." I open the door and push her, she doesn't budge. "Gooooo!"
"Hey, hey, hey, hey." She speaks loudly turning around raising her hand at me. "Hey…Nnno!" She gently smacks my forehead.
As the car starts Eminem's song Beautiful starts playing.
"Lately I've been hard to reaaach. I've been too long on my owwwwnnn, everybody has a private world where he can be aloooone. Are you callinnng me? Are you trying to get throuuuugh? Are you reaching out for meeee? And I'm reaching ouuuut for youuuuuuui-"
"SHUT UP!" I yell at Lacey who was annoyingly singing the good song.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey." She turns to me. "Hey…Nnno!" She smacks my head a little harder.
"OWW!" I smack her back.
"Don't kill each other." Thomas calls back at us. William mutters something low in German that I can't make out. "Be nice." Thomas mutters back to which William gives him his so-not-sincere smile back. He really has perfected that fake smile.
Thomas speeds past all the cars making me nervous. He drives smoothly, but I still hate when people go over the speed limit. He drove like my grandpa, fast and cocky. He knew if his car could and couldn't do.
"Soooo…" Lacey leans forward. "William." She says his name like she isn't impressed. He looks up from Bella who is sitting on his lap. "Gotta boyfriend?"
"N-wait, I'm not gay." Lacey looks back at me and we share a 'Yea, right' look.
"Dude, it's the twenty-first century. No one cares if you're gay anymore."
"I'm not gay!" He glares. He removed his sunglasses when he sat in the car, and right now we could see the hate in them.
"Whoaa…don't get so offensive." Lacey sits back raising her hands up. "I'm bi, and isn't Jack gay?" She asks referring to an old friend I had.
"Yea, except no on could tell unless he told them."
"You're bi?" Thomas looks at her though the rearview mirror.
"Yup."
"Ever have a threesome?"
"Yu-wait, whyyy?" She plays stupid.
"Just curious…are you bi?" He asks me.
"N-"
"She's not aware of it yet." Lacey interrupts me.
"I'm not bi!" We've been through this before.
"Sweetie, your obsession with feminine men only proves it."
"Well I hate girly girls!" I cross my arms looking out the window.
"You like boyish girls and girly men." She says in an annoying matter-of-fact tone.
"Nu-uh!" I glare at her.
"Yea-huh! Remember Rachael!" I blush.
"ANYWAY! Where are we going?" By then Thomas is grinning like an idiot and William has some blush on his cheeks.
"Uh," Thomas coughs. "Starbucks…"
"We can't go to Starbucks." Lacey gasps.
"Why?" William asks.
"Because it's evillllll, duh."
"Of course it is…what was I thinking?" Thomas wisely chooses not to ask why.
"Let's go to the Liquid Bean." William suggests to him.
"Where?" I ask him.
"You'll like it." He replies looking at me through the rearview mirror. I never noticed how dark and beautiful his eyes are.

The Liquid Bean is a small coffee shop outside downtown. The building is brick, with vanilla cursive letters on the huge window saying "Liquid Bean." Through the window we see a raised platform cut with pretty railings cutting it off from the lower half. On it are stylish three tables each with two matching chairs with candles as centerpieces. Behind it more seating arrangements lay along with the serving counter. The door has a "CLOSED" sign, but William and Thomas seem to hardly notice it as they walk in with Bella on a leash. We follow turning left into the empty shop.
The colors are dark cherry red and dark brown with black seating. The scent of coffee and sweet cakes teases our noses. The lighting is dim with Indie music playing.
"Liss…" Lacey's voice comes faintly to me.
"Huh?" I ask watching William walk to the black marble countertop.
"It's our It place." I look at my sister with shock. Ever since we were little, we had one rule with every new place we moved to. We would find an It place, somewhere in the city where we would visit at least once a week. Whether it was a park, street, damaged car, or tree, whatever we chose became special. Lacey is picky, and usually we chose a very weird or random place that she felt comfortable in.
"This? I thought it would be too cliché for you."
"It is, but it's cliché in that non-cliché way." She looks around. I smile and turn to see William talking to a very pretty Asian girl. Her black hair was in two spiky buns with pink and blue streaks going through it, and she had eyeliner as thick as his on. Piercings were all over her ears, and one on her nose. She looks over at Lacey and I.
"Anything for old friends." The girl says with a faint Japanese accent. I know it's Japanese because I went through a phase. Thomas waves us over.
"Keiko, these are the girls from France." Thomas greets us. William leans over the counter with his left arm on the marble top and right hand on his waist looking like a model ready for a photo shoot.
"Hello, I'm Keiko."
"Cake-oh?" I ask.
"No, like, Kay-koh." She corrects. "Just call me Koko."
"Like cocoa bean." Lacey grins as if she made the world's best pun.
"I'm Alice and this is my insane twin Lacey." I wave my arm from me to my sister.
"Ah, twins just like them."
"KOKO! COME HERE!" A high pitch woman's voice comes from the back.
"Excuse me, my boss has bitch fits every once in awhile." She walks off. "I'll get Rilla to make you guys the usual." The short girl disappears behind clear beads in a doorway.
"Twins?" I turn to William who is inspecting his manicured hand.
"Yes." He says as it's the most obvious thing in the world…much like Lacey's matter-of-factly tone, except this one made me feel as if I just asked the stupidest question in the world. At least Lacey's sounds like she is just reminding you how obvious whatever she said was.
"Identical." Thomas adds.
"Nu-uh." I stare in disbelief. William is so…feminine. His body is thin and curved well for a man's body. He looks delicate and beautiful. Just comparing his slender hands to Thomas's strong ones was proof enough. I use that comparison because William is still checking his nails. Thomas next to him looks so manly. These two are too different to be identical. A slender gorgeous man is identical to a muscular handsome man?
"We are." William says almost defensively. "You think just because Tom-mas is more rip than I am we can't be?" He frowns at me pushing his long frame off the marble top and placing his hands against his hips.
"But you're just so pretty and Thomas-well isn't." I blurt out. William's defensive posture loosens and he smiles a real smile.
"Oh, yea, well I am the pretty one." Thomas rolls his eyes, as if he's use to this.
"Yea, but I'm the sexy one." Thomas smirks.
"Personally I think you're both ugly." Lacey shrugs. I giggle from the looks on the boys' faces. Clearly these two weren't use to someone not attractive to both of them. Lacey doesn't seem to notice, as she asks a question, "Whatever she's making us, can I have triple the caffeine shots?"
"S-sure…" Thomas walks away.
"I need to check my make up. Sit wherever." William motions at random tables and walks away with Bella on his heels.
"Up there?" I point to the platform beside the window.
"Nah, over there." Lacey points to another room separated by a large doorframe with clear beads hanging.
"Are you sure that's a sitting area?" I ask following her.
"Yup." We walk through, both enjoying the sounds of the beads clinking together…we play with them for a minute before sitting at a table with four chairs. Lacey sits across from me the wall on our right. The room has a couch and chairs surrounding a table, we choose to sit at the table behind it.
"You don't seriously think they're ugly…do you?" They were both seriously good looking.
"They're not my type." Her snakebites flash as her tongue plays with them.
"What is your type?"
"Hmmm…remember Dante?" I tilt my head.
"From…Devil May Cry?"
"Yea he's hot."
"He's not even real."
"Roxas?"
"Forget it just…forget it." I smack my forehead. She smiles leaning back on the chair. Beads move and we simultaneously look up to see both guys coming in, no Bella. Thomas is holding two drinks, and William holding two drinks. William sits next to me pushing my drink towards me, not even looking at me. Thomas sets Lacey's drink down before sitting down.
"We got you our favorite drink." William says with a fake smile, one that's there only to be courteous, but not genuine.
"What is it?" I ask lifting my hot drink up.
"It's a surprise." Thomas smirks.
"Date rape!" Lacey cries out in French smacking my drink from my hand, it flips landing onto William's lap.
"SHIT!" He screams jumping up.
"AHHH!" I panic standing up with him. Don't people get serious burns from hot coffee?! William breathes heavily shaking his too-tight black pants. I look over to see Thomas laughing his ass off.
"I'M SO SORRY!" He ignores me and quickly leaves the room cussing to where I assume the bathroom is.
"He's okay," Thomas chokes out with laughter, "if he wasn't I'd know." Thomas wipes his eyes before standing up. "I'll get someone to clean this up…and a new drink." He leaves the room.
"LACEY!" I yell at her.
"No need to thank me, we're sisters." She says seriously still in French, I snort.
"WHAT IF HE HAS SERIOUS BURNS?!"
"Serves him right for trying to date rape us!"
"ARGH!" I know there's no use to trying to get through to her. I walk out of the room and see the men's restroom. Cautiously, I walk up to it and slowly open the door. I peek in and see William with wet paper towels wiping the area where my drink spilled with the water running. His was slightly turned away from me.
"W-William?" I ask. He ignores me getting more paper towels. I walk in a little, wondering if it was okay to go into the men's restroom…they're closed, so no one would really notice. I walk in enough to where the door swings shut. "I'm so sorry." He sighs rudely and turns his head to glare at me. His look instantly changes and he sighs a little softer before turning back.
"It's not your fault…it's Lacey's." He says her name with venom.
"Does it hurt?" I ask walking forward.
"Hot coffee on my dick? Nah, don't feel a thing." Sarcasm drips with every word. I bite my lip folding my arms. William wets some more paper towels, he sees me through the mirror. "Seriously, Rilla doesn't make the coffee as hot as usual for us. She knows I don't like really hot coffee." His voice was kind.
"Take off your pants." I try to help.
"I like to wait for at least 5 dates before I start doing that." He muses. I roll my eyes.
"No, just take off your pants and I'll clean those. You can clean your boxers; you can stand in the stall if you want." I can see him thinking about it. "It will be quicker this way." He gives.
"Okay…just promise me you won't run off with my pants."
"I think you're mistaking me for something Lacey would do for the thrill of it. Besides what the hell would I do with your pants?" I giggle. "They're cute and all, but I don't think my hips would fit in those." William stares at me his dark eyes a little wide, making me feel weird. I look away. "Um…pants?" I ask.
He walks into the stall, closing and locking the door. I hear a zip and pants sliding off, a second later they flip over the side door. I catch them and lay them on the counter. I hand him a few paper towels before working on drying his pants with the paper towels.
I stood there for about ten minutes in the men's restroom drying out some dude's pants who I hardly knew. Once I think they're dry enough I flip them over the stall door. A few seconds later the door opens and William stands there with dry pants.
"Lucky they're black, so no can see the stain." I smile.
"Thanks…" He gives me a small, grateful smile that catches me off guard. "I don't think you're as bad as I once thought."
"Again, you're mistaking me for Lacey." I rub my arm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
"You do bruise easily." He nods towards my arm. I look to the spot he's eyeing at and see a purple bruise a little larger than my finger.
"Ah…yea. It's no biggie though, I'm super tough." I show off bicep muscles-or lack of. He chuckles, seeing his smile makes me smile in return.
"Yo." Thomas walks in. "You girlies all better?"
"Yes." I reply. "Lace still thinks you're trying to rape us?"
"Pshhh we can get any girl we want, no rape needed."
"Girls don't like cockiness." I point out.
"They like cocky rockstars." He grins.
"Only superficial idiotic bimbos go for rockstars." I roll my eyes. "Which you're not. Anyway, I don't believe William would rape us." I smile at him causing him to give me a questioning look. "You know, 'cause you're gay and all."
"I'M NOT GAY!"
"Whatever." I walk towards the door. "I want coffee now." I leave the restroom smiling.