A Chuisle mo Chroi

“Oh, I understand,” he replied, his voice dropping near a whisper.

“I’m really sorry, Niall,” I apologized, hating myself for lying to him.

“No, it’s okay,” he assured me comfortingly, adding more weight to my guilt.

In the background, I could hear the muffled voice of someone calling him.

“I’ll be right there guys,” he shouted, his voice sounding distant from the speaker of his cell. Then he spoke directly into the phone, “Jax, I’ve got to go. We have to rehearse our choreography for tonight’s show.”

A ghost of a smile formed on my lips at the thought of the boys dancing.

Attempting to stifle my laughter, I answered, “Okay, I’ll let you go. You boys probably do need to rehearse more anyway.”

Chuckling on the other end, he bid me farewell, “Goodbye, Jax. I’ll try to call if I have time before we go on, if not text me, ‘kay?”

“Of course,” I responded, nodding my head. “Bye, Niall.”

Flipping my phone shut, I tossed it onto my bed. Standing up from my chair, I followed my phone and allowed myself to collapse onto my mattress, slowly drowning in its sheets.

I deserved to drown for lying to Niall. If only I could transfigure my queen-sized bed into a bathtub of water at the snap of my fingers.

Foolishly contemplating the thought, I lifted a hand and snapped my fingers together. Lifting my head, I scowled as I continued to stare at the unchanged sea of blankets. A scream of frustration forced its way past my throat; the cry sounded something like a cross between a sob and a wail.

The door to my room burst open with a loud bang as it hit the doorstop. Lazily, I looked up to see my sister standing in some sort of yoga position that resembled a tree while gripping a baseball bat in her hands.

“What is it?” she exclaimed, shifting around the room, stringing together incoherent sentences. “A burglar? Kidnapper? Killer? Thief?”

Rolling my eyes at her, I stated, “There’s no one here, but me and some idiot. And a burglar and thief is the same thing.”

“Oh,” she replied, immediately straightening herself and dropping her bat on my floor. “I thought I heard a scream?”

“That was me,” I admitted, raising my hand.

Striding towards my desk she dropped herself onto my swivel chair; the seat that just a few minutes ago had been preoccupied by me.

“Why did you scream?” she questioned, swiveling from side to side.

“Oh, you know, teen angst,” I mumbled, waving my hands in the air to display the jumbled mess that is my brain.

“Okay then,” she dragged out, looking confused as ever.

Then spontaneously switching moods, she grinned at me, asking “So did you tell Niall we’re going to their show tonight?”

Groaning at the sound of his name, I buried my head underneath the covers once again.

“I told him I wasn’t going to the show,” I grumbled, the sound of my voice hushed.

“Sorry, I can’t hear when you’re talking to your bed instead of me.”

Forcing my body into an upright position, I repeated, “I told him I wasn’t going to the show.”

“What?” my sister shrieked, jumping out of her seat. “What do you mean you’re not going? The concert is tonight! Why are you telling me at last minute? Did you forget that these concert tickets were your very expensive Christmas present?” she demanded, pacing the room and hounding me with questions.

“Nyx, don’t worry about it,” I soothed, trying to calm her. “I am going to the concert.”

Stopping in the middle of the room she turned to face me.

“But you just said you’re not going. You’re not making any sense.”

“We are going. I’m just not going to tell Niall,” I confessed, not at all feeling as if my sins had been lifted.

Scrunching her face up in confusion, she inquired, “So you’re not going to meet him in person?”

I shook my head no.

“Why?”

Sighing in defeat, I answered quietly, “I have my reasons.”

Plopping down beside me, Nyx nodded her head, giving up the interrogation for now.

“Oh!” she suddenly burst out, jumping back up from the bed. “What if I go undercover for you?” she asked.

Perplexed with the random thoughts she acquired, I gazed at her, dumbfounded.

After realizing I was lost, she continued, “You call Niall back and tell him you’ll be at the show and I’ll go meet him as you!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in success. “Brilliant, right?”

Frowning, I shook my head. “Did you forget we’re fraternal twins?”

“We don’t look that different,” she justified, actually right for once.

The only real differences in our appearance were our height, eye, and hair color. I just barely stood over her by an inch and her brown eyes were just a little bit more golden than mine, having more flecks in them. Our hair colors only differed because Nyx preferred to dye hers unnatural colors; aside from that, we seemed to be almost identical.

“What about your peach hair?” I declared, raising an eyebrow.

“Simple,” she shrugged, “just say you dyed your hair.”

She was smirking like she was some sort of operative mastermind, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“That’s great, Nyx. Really, it truly is,” I stated, allowing her the glory, “but I’m going to have to pass.”

“What? Why?” she whined, dragging out each syllable.

Smiling at her, I said, “I know you’re just trying to help and I appreciate it sis, but I don’t want your help on this.”

Pouting like a sad puppy with her lower lip jutted out, she slugged her way towards the door, leaving dejected and admitting defeat. I bet she was slowly making her way to the kitchen to wait for Georgie’s return from the grocery store; probably in hopes that Georgie splurged and bought us all ice cream.

I huffed as I fell back onto my mattress, resubmerging myself in my pretend bathtub. As I pulled the comforter over me, I imagined the water in the bath rising, filling to the brim and pouring over the sides, dripping onto the bathroom floor.

The soft click of a lock could be heard as our front door opened. I could hear Georgie bustling in with bags of groceries and the pounding of Nyx’s feet, running to scour the plastic bags for the ice cream.

I resurfaced from my sheets, which was quickly transforming into a pit of despair, and started walking out to our kitchen. Instead of wallowing alone in my room, I decided I would throw a little pity party with some ice cream before we left to his concert later tonight.