Page 91 of A Stealthy Situation

“Good.” Harrison gazes at me with a type of look I don’t deserve.

I ignore it. “Can you please feed me now?”

27

HARRISON

“So, you really never go out together? Ever?” I ask.

Benny and Em exchange glances, and I cannot stress enough how weird it is. I’m in tune with Benny—he feels like a different person to Em—but there’s no denying they’re completely identical, and seeing my boyfriend’s face on another guy is a bit of a head fuck.

“Sometimes,” Benny says, tossing a chip up and catching it in his mouth.

“Careful, you’ll choke.”

He’s lying on my living room floor while Em occupies the armchair. They do that exchange look thing again, only this time, they’re definitely mocking me.

“Sorry I care.”

Em laughs. “It’s cute. But no, we don’t really get to hang out socially together anymore. The most we do is go to a club a few towns away.”

“But I assume everyone knew about you both in high school, so why all the secrecy?”

“Two reasons,” Em says.

“We wanted to avoid the usual questions from people about whether we swap identities and classes and share partners—” Benny starts.

“And we didn’t want anyone to put together that we’re the Dalton duo. The chaos twins.”

That was creepy. “You regularly finish each other’s sentences?”

“Yep,” Em confirms. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you and Benny will learn that skill soon enough.”

“Right. So, who or what is the Dalton duo?”

Benny throws Em a glare. “Don’t.”

Thankfully, Em doesn’t listen. “Us. It was our nickname in hockey circles.”

“That’s cute. I got myself a chaos twin.”

Benny smothers himself with a cushion.

“What’s up with him?” I ask Em.

“He hates being reminded of those days.” Em raises his voice. “Back when we were a sure thing for the NHL and everyone loved us.”

“Loved us?” Benny throws off the cushion to glare at his brother. “They constantly said we’d be nothing without each other and that we wouldn’t be half as good if we were on separate teams.”

“We both know they were wrong.”

Benny doesn’t look like he knows that at all, and as much as I might like finding out more about him and his brother, I also don’t want to be talking about subjects he clearly doesn’t like.

I’m not sure where else to take the conversation though. I can’t ask Em what he’s studying because that’ll only bring up the expulsion and how worried Benny is about it. I can’t ask about his future plans because as far as I know, he hasn’t even talked to his brother about them. Who would have thought it would be so hard to talk to someone who looks exactly the same as the person I like most?

“Awkward …” Benny sings, and Em kicks him.

“Sorry,” I laugh. “It’s just bizarre trying to wrap my head around being friends with Em but dating you. I’ll get there, but give me a minute.”

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