Somewhere in the Middle

Laying my head on Axel’s chest, I let out a sigh. “What’s wrong?” Axel mumbled, running his hand through my almost shoulder length brown hair absentmindedly. I sighed again into his chest. I had told Axel some things about mine and Hayley’s pasts, but I didn't tell him about who our family was. All he knew was that they were famous and living in California.

“Nothing,” I muttered into his clothed chest.

“You're a terrible liar.” I dug the heel of my hand into his side in retaliation. As he let out a small yelp of pain, a smug smile crossed my face. “Jesus, sorry, I love you.”

“I love you, too, asshole.” We bickered for a couple minutes until there was a knock on our bedroom door.

“Can we come in?” Hayley asked from the other side of the door.

“Sure,” Axel answered, pulling me closer to him. The door opened and Hayley and JJ stepped through the door.

“What's up?” I asked my twin, sitting up.

“Let's go get some Starbucks,” Hayley announced.

“That sounds good,” I agreed, getting up out of the bed, straightening out my shirt and slipping on my white Docs. JJ jumped on the bed, leaning against Axel.

“Have fun at Starbucks,” they both stated in unison with grins on their faces.

“Thanks, baby,” Hayley grinned, leaning down to press her mouth against JJ’s. He ran his fingers through her pixie-cut hair and she pushed against his chest with a pissed off look on her face.

“Do you have any idea how long it took me to style my hair this morning?” She questioned, sounding mad but I could read the amusement in her eyes. We both walked out of the bedroom and down the steps.

“How long did it take you, by the way?” I asked, opening the door. She tossed me a smirk, slipping her sunglasses over her eyes.

“Riles, I woke up like this.”



“Wanna go walk around Walmart?” Hayley asked, sipping at her Blackberry Mojito Tea Lemonade. I nodded, taking a sip of my Double Chocolate Chip frappé.

“You just wanna take pictures of people, don't you?” I questioned.

“You act as if there's something wrong with me,” she stated with a raised eyebrow.

“There is something wrong with you.”

“Shut up.” We bickered back and forth as we walked into Walmart, both of us nodding to the greater at the front as we walked pass. “Sorry,” I heard Hayley apologize. I glanced over to see that she ran into someone.

“It's fine,” the man said, running a hand through his short, dark hair. When he looked up at us, he was short, his brown gaze met our matching blue ones. I gasped.

“Uncle Johnny?” Hayley questioned, and then slapped her hand over her mouth. He hadn't changed much; the only thing that did was the height difference. Hayley and I were standing at a comfortable five foot eight inches, four inches taller than Johnny. His eyes widened and he looked harder at us.

“Pinky? Smurfette?” We both nodded slowly. “What the fuck?” Here it comes. He's gonna yell. I braced myself for a Johnny-sized tantrum, but instead this came out of his mouth. “Your eyes are blue!”

We both had an eye disease that we got from our mother. It affected the iris’ color. Our mother had beautiful blue eyes, but when we saw pictures of her when she was younger, they were a dark green. My eye doctor told me that when we get older, our irises will lighten so much, that the color will be a pale, almost white, blue.

“Are they contacts?” Johnny continued.

“No,” Hayley answered slowly, seemingly just as confused by Johnny’s train of thought as I was. “We have an eye disease that affects the color.”

“Oh, cool. Wait, when did you two get back?”

“Yesterday,” I answered.

“Cool. Hey, I'm having a BBQ at my place tonight. You two should totally come and see everyone,” he suggested excitedly. Hayley and I glanced at each other nervously. “You remember where I live, don't you?”

“Uh, yeah. We remember where you live,” I answered, and the cleared my throat.

“We’ll try to be there,” Hayley added.

“Awesome,” he cheered. “Ya know, Lacey really misses you two. Not as much as Leana, of course, but still. Actually we all miss you two like crazy,” he rambled, not even taking a breath.

“We have to go,” Hayley interrupted, the two of us taking a couple steps back.

“Oh, well, see you tonight!”

“Yeah, see ya,” I tossed over my shoulder as we quickly made our exit.

“That was unexpected,” Hayley commented when we got to the car. I nodded in agreement.

“That it was.” My phone started going off as soon as I buckled seatbelt and I pulled it out of my pocket to answer it. “Hello?”

“Is this Riley Sullivan?” The female voice on the other end questioned.

“Yes it is, how may I help you?”

“This is Doctor Davis at Orange Coast Memorial Hospital. I just took a look at the schedule, and I have you both down for next week, starting at six in the morning, to six at night.. I would like to have you both start training tonight, if that’s possible,” she rushed out.

“Of course. What time is convenient?”

“How’s eight?”

“Alright, see you there,” I smiled. We said our goodbyes and I slipped my phone into the cup holder and grinned over at Hayley.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, leaning away from me.

“That was Doctor Davis at Orange Coast Memorial. We start training tonight at eight,” I supplied.

“The Nurse Gods are smiling down at us, Riles,” she laughed, pumping a fist in the air. Honestly, the two of us could get a job at any hospital in the country. We graduated top of our class and interned with two of the best doctors in Maryland, but Orange Coast Memorial was where we wanted to be. “We need to go shopping,” she continued. “New scrubs.”

“You had me at shopping.”

“Guess this means that we aren't going over to Johnny’s,” I called out as I was throwing on my scrub top a few hours later.

“Did you honestly want to go?” Hayley yelled back from across the hall.

“I'm conflicted!” I confessed.

“Yeah, same.” She sounded much closer so I assumed she was right outside the door. I slipped on my shoes and opened the bedroom to see Hayley leaning against her door frame. “Ready?” She asked, looking at her neon blue wrist-watch. I had the same one adorning my own wrist, but mine was purple. We wear the normal blue scrubs we were told to get for training. Once we were there for a while, we would be able to get scrub tops with the cute designs and things on them.

“Yeah, I'm ready.”



“Johnny, why do you keep staring at the door?” Brian Haner asked, watching as one of his friends kept his gaze on the front door.

“I’m waiting for someone,” Johnny answered. “Well, two someones, technically.”

“Who?” Matt Sanders asked, his now shoulder length hair out of his face with a bandana tied around his head.

“It’s a surprise,” the shortest one of the group answered in a sing-song voice. Zacky Baker frowned.

“Do we know them?” He questioned. Johnny nodded.

“Who do we know?” Jimmy Sullivan inquired, walking into the dinning room from the kitchen, carrying a plate that Lacey had him take out. All the women were in the kitchen since none of the guys could cook real meals from scratch. “I have some food from our lovely ladies, and they said they want your asses in there to help take everything out.” Everyone stood up and went to grab a plate.

Dinner went as it usually did when the group was together; all laughs and insults. Johnny engaged in most of it until the dinner was halfway over and he realized that Riley and Hayley weren’t showing up. By the end of dinner, everyone noticed his silence. “Seriously, Johnny, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Matt asked.

“They didn’t show!” Johnny exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Who, sweetheart?” Lacey asked, placing a hand on her husband’s shoulder. Johnny looked at everyone and sighed.

“Riley and Hayley.” Everyone’s eyes widened.

“You saw my daughters today, and didn’t think to tell me?!”



Hayley and I got trained for five hours. “You two did good,” the head nurse, Charlotte Greene, supplied when we were getting ready to leave. “I’ll call you tomorrow so you know when to start next week. “

“Thanks,” Hayley and I had replied in unison before walking out of the hospital. “Well, that was tiring,” Hayley added as she stretched her arms over her head. We climbed into her car, and she turned over the ignition. Heaven Knows by The Pretty Reckless began blaring from the speakers.

Jimmy's in the back with a pocket of high
If you listen close
You can hear him cry

Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Sing it
Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below

Judy's in the front seat picking up trash
Living on the dole
Gotta make that cash
Won't be pretty
Won't be sweet
She's just sittin' here on her feet

Sing it
Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Go
Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Sing
Oh, Lord, tell us so
We belong way down below
Oh, Lord, tell us so
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

I've had better days, man
I've seen better days
I've had better ways, man
I know better ways

One, two, three and four
The devil's knocking at your door
Caught in the eye of a dead man's lie
Start your life with your head held high
Now you're on your knees
With your head hung low
Big man tells you where to go
Tell 'em it's good
Tell 'em okay
Don't do a goddamn thing they say

Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh, Lord, tell us so
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

I've seen better ways, man
I know better ways
I've seen better days, man
I've had better days

Gina's in the back with a pocket of high
If you listen close
You can hear the crying

Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh, Lord, tell us so
We belong way down below
Oh, Lord, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh, Lord, tell us so
We belong way down below

Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

We sang along loudly with the windows down, enjoying the looks people were giving us. Hayley and I actually had really good singing voices. Hers was slightly higher than mine, and mine had more of a rough tone to it since I had bronchitis frequently as a kid, so my vocal chords were slightly damaged from all the coughing. Our voices were one of the only ways you could tell us apart when our hair was styled the same.

A few more songs played before we pulled up to our house. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, Hayley right behind me. Axel and JJ were sprawled out on the floor under a pillow and blanket fort. An amused grin crawled across my face. “Are you two having fun?” Hayley questioned, a smile on her face, too.

“Uh, yeah,” JJ answered.

“No girls allowed,” Axel added. I shook my head at my boyfriend’s antics with a laugh.

“Alright, you two have fun. Hayley and I are just going to change and then sit on the couch and watch scary movies,” I said, Thankfully, their fort was just tall enough for them to slide under, so we could see over it while watching TV.

“Okay,” JJ agreed, snuggling back into the fort. Hayley looked at me and rolled her eyes, before going up the steps to her room. I followed at a slower pace to my and Axel’s room. I went into the bathroom connected to our room and took a quick shower before getting changed into some more comfortable clothes.

I walked down the steps, and Hayley was already sitting there. “’Bout time.” She grabbed the remote and turned the TV. She clicked on Netflix and surfed the horror movies.

“Scream?” Hayley questioned. I shrugged.

“Sure.”

By the end of the movie, the two of us had crawled into the fort to snuggle up to our boyfriends to watch the second and third Scream movies, falling asleep during the fourth one cuddled in our boyfriend’s arms.