Somewhere in the Middle

Hayley and I spent our next shift discussing when we should meet up with our family. “You wanna go right after our shift?” Hayley suggested. “JJ and Axel aren’t going to be home.” I nodded my agreement.

We spent the rest of our shift counting down the hours and getting more nervous with each passing minute. When our shift finally ended, we went to the locker rooms to change into our regular clothes. I straightened the necklace I had just slipped on, and then smoothed out my sweater. Hayley walked out of one of the rooms for nurses to change in, and looked worried and scared. “We’ll be fine,” I soothed, placing my hands on her shoulder. “Everything will be fine.”

“How are you so sure?” She questioned. I shot her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, and pulled her hat down over her eyes playfully.

“I’m the older twin; I’m always right.”



“This feels so weird,” I muttered as Hayley and I walked to the front door of Jimmy and Leana’s house.

“Yeah,” Hayley agreed. “Now or never, right?” She knocked on the door a couple times and took a couple steps back. I could hear yelling from the other side of the door and then it was opening. Jimmy was standing there, towering of us. No one spoke, just stared.

“Hayley?” He questioned, his bright blue eyes locking with Hayley’s before his gaze slid to me. “Riley?”

“Hey, dad,” we whispered in unison. The silence came back with a force and no one spoke again. After a couple more seconds of quietness, Jimmy stepped forward and cupped my right cheek with one hand, and Hayley’s left one with his other hand.

“My babies,” he breathed. “You’re all grown up. I almost didn’t believe when Johnny said he saw you both and invited you to dinner.”

“I’m sorry, we panicked,” I apologized.

“We’ve been gone for so long that we didn’t know how everyone would react and we got scared,” Hayley continued.

“That doesn’t matter,” Jimmy stated thickly, and my stomach dropped when I noticed his eyes were wet. “You’re back; that’s all I care about.” He pulled us both tightly against his body in a hug, wrapping his arms around us like he used to; he held us like he would never let anything in the world hurt us.

I didn’t realize how much I missed that feeling until that moment. I turned my head slightly, and my gaze met Hayley’s. I knew in an instant she was thinking the same thing.

He pulled back after kissing each of us on the forehead and hollered, “Leana! Come here!”

“What are you yelling about?” A voice that I easily recognized floated down the hallway from the kitchen. Her voice was just as I remembered; sweet, full of love and hopefully understanding. “What is-” She cut herself off with a gasp. “Hayley? Riley?” She asked, pushing Jimmy out of her way to get to us. “Where have you two been these past four years? Do you have any idea how much we worried when we didn’t hear from you?” She fired off question after question, but never letting us go.

“I’m so sorry,” we said in unison, and when I saw Jimmy and Leana staring at us, Jimmy’s eyes still wet and Leana’s getting there, tears started trailing down my face. Leana reached forward and wiped a tear away with her thumb.

“I’m furious with you both,” she started in a soft tone. “But, I will always love you. You’re my daughters, my only daughters. Nothing is going to change that, and nothing is going to make me stop loving you.”

“Yeah, what she said,” Jimmy added, clearly trying to break the sad moment. I chuckled, and wiped away the tear tracks on my face. I really hoped my mascara hadn’t run and left embarrassing black trails on my face. “Now, come inside. Your aunts and uncles are here.” I looked at Hayley and we took deep breaths at the same time just like before.



Dealing with our aunts and uncles had gone just as well and emotional as it did with our parents. The shoulders of my sweater were wet with tears and I had given up on trying to keep my make-up in tact. I saw Hayley looking in one of the small hallway mirrors, running her index finger lightly under her eye. “Just give up, Hayls,” I grinned. “We cried way too much to save our make-up. She frowned and let out a huff.

“Fuck it,” she sighed, and walked into the bathroom to wash her face. I walked back into the living room, plopping down in between Brian and Zacky. Brian wrapped an arm around me, pulling me tightly to his side. Brian and I had a close relationship, just like the one Matt and Hayley had. He was my favorite uncle, and always had been since Jimmy and Leana adopted us.

“You and Hayley better never do this do us again, Smurfette,” he warned. I nodded my head against his shoulder.

“We won’t,” I promised.

“So,” Val started, a grin on her face. “Do you two have any boyfriends? Girlfriends?” She added when I gave her a weird look. I laughed.

“Neither of us swing that way, Aunt Val,” I chuckled. “We both have boyfriends.”

“And I’m pretty sure they like each other more than like us,” Hayley continued, walking into the room and plopped down in between Matt and Johnny.

“What do you mean?” Gina questioned, frowning in confusion.

“Our boyfriends have a bromance going on,” I clarified.

“It’s actually quite cute,” Hayley smirked.

“What are their names?” Leana asked.

“JJ and Axel,” Hayley answered.

“I want to meet them,” Jimmy piped in making me groan.

“Don’t scare them,” I pleaded.

“I’m not going to scare them,” Jimmy defended, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just going to make sure they know that if they hurt you, I hurt them.” He glanced around the room. “We hurt them.” Clearly the guys were giving him looks.

“I want to meet them,” Leana declared. “I say we go to the beach tomorrow.”

“Do we work tomorrow?” I asked Hayley. She checked our schedule on her phone and shook her head.

“Nope.” I noticed Matt staring at Hayley intently.

“It was you,” he blurted. “When River broke his arm. You were the nurse. Why didn’t you say anything?” Hayley seemed to be at a loss for words.

“I don’t know,” she finally said in a small voice. The room went in to an awkward silence before Michelle broke it.

“So the beach tomorrow, yeah? I’m game. Honey?” She asked, looking over at Brian. He agreed, as did everyone else.

“I guess you’ll be able to officially meet River,” Val smiled, rubbing her swollen stomach. She was going to pop soon.

After everything was settled and a time was decided, Hayley and I made our leave. I could tell that Jimmy and Leana didn’t want to let us out of there sights, but they understood that we were adults and had been fine on our own for this long, and we would continue being fine.

When we made it home, I immediately flew into Axel’s arms. He wrapped them tightly around me and pulled me into our room. I lied down with my head on his chest, clutching him tightly. “That was so hard,” I admitted. “But I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I feel like I can breathe again.”

“Air is always good,” Axel agreed with a grin. I chuckled and pressed my lips to his, rolling on top of him. My thighs were on either side of his body and I rolled my hips into his, grinning against his mouth when he moaned loudly.

“Shush,” I laughed lowly. He smiled up at me, pulling me back down for a bruising kiss, rolling on top of me.



“Axel, how long does it take to put on a pair of trunks and a shirt?” I asked my boyfriend through the bathroom door.

“It takes time to look this pretty, Riley,” was his retort. I threw my hands up in the air and walked away. “I love you!” I heard faintly.

“I love you, too, ya freak!” I shouted back and barely made out his laughter as I walked down the steps. I went into the kitchen to see Hayley straddling JJ’s lap with her tongue down his throat. I let out a soft sigh and turned on my heel to go into the living room. I the second I sat down, a head was in my lap. Axel was lying there in black and blue swim trunks and a Nirvana t-shirt.

“Have I ever told you that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on?” He questioned.

“You’re just saying that ‘cause I give you sex,” I snarked back with a smile.

“The best,” he agreed, leaning up to give me a kiss.

“Are we all ready?” A voice asked making me break away from Axel. JJ was standing there, smirking. He was wearing trunks that matched Axel’s but in white and blue with a white t-shirt hugging his frame. I nodded, pushing Axel off of my lap and standing up.

I pulled out my phone, sending a quick text to Jimmy to let him know we were leaving for the beach. I plopped it in my beach bag that held two towels, suntan lotion, headphones, my wallet, a monster energy drink, and a pack of skittles. I put it in the trunk next to Hayley’s, and shut the lid. I climbed into the passenger seat while Hayley slid in the driver’s seat. JJ and Axel were in the back; when I was about to join Axel, JJ stopped me saying he wanted to sit with Axel.

I messed with the radio a couple times, having my hand slapped away by Hayley each time. I poked at buttons one last time and grinned when Cherry Bomb by the Runaways started playing.

Can't stay at home, can't stay at school
Old folks say, ya poor little fool
Down the street I'm the girl next door
I'm the fox you've been waiting for

Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb
Hello world I'm your wild girl
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Stone age love and strange sounds too
Come on baby let me get to you
Bad nights cause'n teenage blues
Get down ladies you've got nothing to lose

Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb
Hello world I'm your wild girl
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb
Hello world I'm your wild girl
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Hey street boy, what's your style
Your dead end dreams don't make you smile
I'll give ya something to live for
Have ya, grab ya til you're sore

Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb
Hello world, I'm your wild girl
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Cherry bomb
Cherry bomb
Cherry bomb
Cherry bomb
Cherry bomb

We listened to a couple more songs before pulling into the parking lot for the beach. I saw Matt’s Escalade parked a couple spots away from us, and motioned to Hayley. “Some of them are already here.”

“Good, that way we won’t have to introduce them to all of them at once.” I blanched at the thought.

“Good point, Hayls.”

“Hayley? Riley?” We both turned to see a blonde with dark eyes, a red head with dark eyes, Ace, and Aiden standing there.

“Barbie? Giana?”

______________________

Barbie

Giana