Page 2 of A Stealthy Situation

I have to squint one eye and concentrate as I try to bring my thumb and forefinger a small distance apart. “I am this drunks.”

“Phew. Here I was worried you’d overdone it.” My perfect twin pushes me out of his way as he climbs into my bedroom.

And I don’t mean perfect as in “wah wah he’s so good, and everyone loves him, and I have a complex” perfect. I mean identical perfect.

So identical we switch places all the time and no one knows perfect. Our own family sometimes makes Em show them the scar on his hand just so they can be sure who is who.

All it takes is one of us to open our mouths though.

Emmett is sweet. Almost naïve.

I’m much more like our brother Asher eat-shit-and-die Dalton.

“You know I hate when you drink.” He reaches under my bed to slide out the single mattress we have stashed there. “I always end up with a headache the next morning.”

“Sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

He strips off his hoodie and throws it at my face. “You need water.”

“Too drunks.”

He puts on a baby voice and pinches his thumb and forefinger together. “But I thought you were only this manys.”

“You’re killing my buzz. This room is for fun times only.”

He laughs and pulls my arm over his shoulders to help me to my bed. I fall down face-first, and ohhh, this is much more comfortable than the floor. “Are all your frat brothers drunk?”

“Yuuup.”

“Good. Stay here, and I’ll be back in a second.”

The music gets louder for a beat before he closes the door behind him. He could be gone for a second or five years, but next thing I know, a cold glass of water is bumping my cheek.

“Drink it.”

“Yes, Captain Serious.” I snicker as I take the glass and open my mouth greedily, only I misjudge the distance, and water gushes over my face.

“Fuck.” I shoot upright, coughing up the drops I inhaled and shaking the rest from my frizzly hair. I’m suddenly a whole lot more sober than I want to be. “You did that on purpose.”

“I let go of the cup about five minutes ago.”

Urg. I drain what’s left and use the glass to push aside the red Solo cups cluttering my nightstand. Apparently, someone other than me has been in my room tonight. Maybe the floor was the safer option.

“Did you lock the door?” I ask.

“Of course.”

Slowly, my brain cells blink back online. “As much as I love our sleepovers, it’s been a week since term started. You can’t be missing me already.”

Em doesn’t meet my eyes as he pulls his pajamas out of the backpack he’s brought with him. He forces a laugh, and it still weirds me out that I look that sweet when I laugh as well. I certainly don’t ever fucking feel it. “I, umm, might have missed you so much that I started a fire on campus, got expelled, and am now your permanent roommate.”

My vision goes wonky again.

“Huh?”

“It was a dare. A dumb dare. And apparently, I’m good at starting fires because next thing I know, the dorm is going up, and I panicked. Starting it was easy. Putting it out was not.”

I’m not sure when my mouth fell open or when Emmett’s body started to warp in and out, but I can only assume there was way, way more than beer in those beer bongs, and I’m hallucinating that my sweet, good brother got expelled. “Huuuuh?”

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