And Then, It Was Broken

I didn’t understand Rowan. We had been best friends once and he’d always been there for me. One day he just wasn’t anymore and I never understood it. I thought that as twins, we were supposed to always be close, or at least friends. I can’t remember the last time I actually had a real talk with him, something aside from screaming matches.

Everything had been fine until high school, when I finally got to know Aurora as more than just the girl Rowan and I thought was trashy. She was nice and ever since I’d determined that, Rowan had judged me for it. He never even gave her a chance, couldn’t see that she was someone I could relate to, that we were like a whole other set of twins. He called me a clone of her and it was infuriating. We were individuals, and we didn’t need Rowan telling us different.

After so much bashing of my best friend from him, he had even tried to seduce her. I knew Aurora liked to sleep around and have fun but she never would have tried that with my brother. Rowan wasn’t her type- well actually he was exactly her type, but she was my best friend. We wouldn’t risk our friendship just so one of us could have sex with someone.

“Erin,” Aurora called, breaking me away from my thoughts momentarily. I looked at my best friend, her hair straightened to perfection with its freshly dyed purple streaks standing out brightly. It matched her dress perfectly, a sleek eggplant colored gown that fit tight to her body until where it flared into a tutu by her upper thighs. The girl was already taller than I was, towering over a lot of girls actually, and her spiky gold heels made her even taller. I knew guys would be all over her tonight. “Are you ready to go in? You’ve been glaring at my dashboard for a while now.”

When I finally brought my eyes to her face she was grinning, eyes twinkling in anticipation of tonight. The Homecoming dance was just a beginning to the after-parties. It was one of the only reasons we bothered to go to Homecoming most years. Aurora popped out of the car as soon as I nodded, moving perfectly fine in five-inch heels. I followed suit, meeting her at the front of the car. She was smirking when she linked her arm through mine and I could already tell she was planning on starting some drama. It was what she did best.

‘What were you thinking about?” my best friend asked as we walked to the doors. We were already an hour late so there was hardly even a line to wait in.

“Rowan. He’s such an ass,” I told her honestly. She couldn’t stand my brother either, especially after he’d made a pass at her.

“Babe, you are at your senior Homecoming, looking gorgeous, and about to dance with any hot guys you can find, and you’re letting your douche brother ruin that?” Aurora demanded, stopping to grip my face in both hands, glaring into my eyes. Her own blue ones were bright against her dark eyeliner, gorgeous. I knew my own green ones looked similar and I couldn’t help but grin at her.

“You’re right. Let’s have a good time,” I agreed, pulling away and grabbing her hand to lead her into the dance, handing over our tickets as we went. People were already inside the dimly lit, decorated ballroom. A few of the losers that ran our dance committee had ended up giving it a renaissance theme. Worn wooden benches took the place of tables and everything was written in a pathetic attempt at calligraphy. The only plus was that, off to the side, there was a small bench with a painted backdrop of a pond for pictures, and even that looked pathetically unreal. Thank God the juniors would be the ones doing our prom and not these idiots.

“Did they seriously do this? It looks like shit,” Aurora said out loud, scoffing, and I caught a pair of brown eyes glaring into mine. The girl looked only vaguely familiar, all dressed up in a deep green dress, but with the make up on her face it took a while for me to realize it was Piper. There had been a time that we’d been best friends, along with Rowan, but that was over now. And she was one of the ones on the dance committee.

“I know,” I agreed, wrinkling my nose at the girl and pulling Aurora to the dance floor. “We can still have fun though. Three hours here and then its time to hit the parties.”

I hated it, when I saw Aurora and Erin. There was something about the pair of them together that made my stomach clench, especially when it was in public. When others were around, the amount of destruction that could happen was exponentially amplified and I always saw my sister ending up in some terrible, irrevocable situation. She never listened.

Seeing her grinding on some guy from across the room was just further reasons for me to be concerned. No one other than Aurora knew about her pregnancy and, since she was still planning on an abortion, she didn’t feel the need to tell anyone. I could hardly tell she’d even gained any weight. Guys were still flocking to her, laughing and smiling and trying to get her to be their next locker room story.

Erin looked stunning tonight though, in her beautiful turquoise dress. I only wished that it came to a bit lower than it did, the top just brushing midthigh, especially with the guy’s hand sliding up her leg. It was only when Piper appeared out of nowhere, grinning and grabbing my hand, that I realized I must have said something. She was so stressed about tonight going well, that all the decorations looked nice, that she would only have bothered to pull me up to dance if I’d looked upset about something. I plastered on a smile, trying to send her along, but she adamantly refused.

“You’re not having fun Rowan. Stop glaring at your sister and dance with me,” Piper demanded, swinging her blond curls over her shoulder. I really couldn’t argue with her as she pulled me into the midst of bodies dancing.

We had hardly made it through a song when I felt a pair of hands close around my hips, startling me. Piper giggled, smirking, as she continued dancing. Whoever was behind me pulled me close, attempting to grind before I could even tell who it was.

“Who-“ I couldn’t turn around all the way but I caught a glimpse of bright orange and started laughing. “Hey Micah,” I greeted. As expected, my friend released my hips, walking around so he could force his way into where Piper and I had been dancing, making it a circle.

“About time you started dancing,” he chided, smirking. “Every time I looked over you were sitting at a table looking rather pathetic.”

“I’m here because you two insisted I come see your decorating, which is amazing by the way. I just don’t really feel like staying.” I didn’t like dances, with blasting music and too many girls in short dresses; even worse was seeing my sister. I’d much prefer to be at home with Piper and Micah, watching movies and just hanging out with each other.

“And we appreciate it,” Micah assured me, grinning as a new song came on. I didn’t really know what it was. It sounded the same as everything else but Micah was singing along, bouncing around. He laughed, the sound free and careless, as he danced with us, completely unconcerned with what people thought. It didn’t take long for Piper to leave us, wandering off to ensure everything was still in order.

Micah and I danced awkward for only a moment before he smirked, grabbing my hips and spinning me around. I found myself stumbling into him, having to reach behind me and grab his shoulder just to keep from stumbling. He was amused, laughing, as he forced me to dance.

“Micah,” I whined, hoping he’d let me go but he only laughed.

“Have fun, loosen up. You worry way too much Row. It’s just dancing. Don’t stress about the little things.”