Page 7 of The Plan

“Bonus brother! I missed you.” I hug her back and spin her like I always did when we were kids. I put her back down on her feet and close the door after she hands me a cup of coffee.

“What the hell are you wearing, Sage?”

She looks down at her bright green bikini top and matching skirt, then looks back up at August. “A hot outfit?”

I laugh at how casual she puts it when she’s literally in a bathing suit, and I know for a fact she has no plans of swimmingtoday. We walk back to where I was sitting, but she takes my seat before I do.

“Okay, and where’s the rest of it?” August takes off his hoodie and pulls it over her head, and I almost spit my coffee out, laughing at how aggressive he is with her. She goes to pull it off, but I shove it down again, and when her head pops out, August pulls the hood over her head. He and I just laugh at how she sits there in defeat like an angry toddler in time-out.

I take another sip of coffee, but then Sage snatches it out of my hand. “I forgot to take a pic.” She takes a few pictures of our cups of coffee, then makes me hold mine so she can do a boomerang or some shit.

Sage is a model and social media influencer with a bunch of followers who watch her… post her coffee, I guess? I don’t know. I’ve learned to stop asking questions about her social media life.

Once she’s done trying to get the right picture, she lets me have my coffee. After a beat, though, August looks around the counter, confused. “Wait, why didn't you bring me a coffee?” When he looks back at me, I stick my tongue out at him since he didn’t get one, and he flips me off.

Sage pulls the hood off her head before responding. “The uglier twins don’t get coffee.” I throw my head back laughing, then give her a high five, but August clearly doesn’t think it’s funny.

“But the adopted kid can get one? He’s not even really your brother. I'm your whole twin.” I’m still laughing at how butt-hurt he is over a coffee, but Sage stops and turns to August, holding her heart. I swear if she cries over this again, I’m kicking August's ass.

“Don’t say that, August. He’s my brother just as much as you are.” Her voice cracks, and I roll my eyes, pulling her in for a hug.

“He knows that, Sage. He was only joking. Stop getting so upset about it.” I honestly find it funny when August jokes about it, considering he was the one who got Mom to adopt me. She looks up at me, and I give her a smile before kissing the top of her head.

“Dramatic as always,” he mumbles under his breath, but he should not be talking about drama. I turn around and throw my cup at him for making her feel bad.

“There you go, since you wanted some so bad.”

He goes still in shock, then gets up, looking down at his white shirt that’s now covered in coffee. Sage is dying of laughter and quickly captures a few pictures of him, and I feel better now that she does.

She gets up and walks over to my couch, but when she gasps, we both turn our heads to her. “Who broke Mom's lamp?”

I point at August, and when I look over at him, he’s pointing at me. Fucking liar.

Sage shakes her head and then freezes. “Woah. I just got the weirdest feeling of déjà vu.”

I think for a second, then remember when we were younger, Sage was the one who broke the lamp, but August and I pointed at each other, not wanting to snitch on her. I smile at the memory and grab the broom and dustpan to clean August’s mess. He limps to leave, most likely to get a change of clothes from next door. I throw out the lamp and start cleaning the coffee.

When I’m done, I walk over to Sage and take a seat next to her on the couch.

“Sooo”—she looks over at me innocently—“how are you?” She wants to know something more than “how I’m doing.” I just know it.

“I’m doing great, Sage. That’s not what you drove all the way over here to ask me, so just say whatever it is.” I hate when people beat around the bush.

She leans back and throws her legs over my lap. She goes to say something but pauses and looks down at her legs on my lap. “My legs aren’t too heavy, are they?” she asks, shyly almost, but I shake my head and rest my hand over her legs. She always makes comments like that, but I don’t know why she thinks she is so much heavier than she is. She’s way too hard on herself. I can’t help but feel like it’s because of her social media platform.

“Why can’t I be checking on my brothers without you thinking I have an ulterior motive?” She snaps me out of my thoughts and brings us back to my question. The answer is that she’s nosy as fuck.

I give her a knowing look, and when she just smiles back at me innocently, all I can see in her smile is August. I know she just jokes when she calls him the “ugly twin,” but she really does look like a girl version of him. And yes, I know that’s literally what twins are, but still, it’s weird how much they look alike.

Their emerald eyes that I’ll never understand how they’rethatgreen and their practically perfect dark skin, a few shades darker than mine. Then there’s their height, and they're both pretty tall. Sage is just a few inches shorter than August, so I can see why she went into modeling.

While she makes subtle comments about her weight, Sage is a literal model, and when it isn’t just her close family and friends around, she radiates a confidence everyone needs.

Sage has a tighter curl pattern than August, but they could be the same person besides those slight differences. Again, I know that’s how twins work, but genetics are weird to me. I know I’m not the only one who thinks it’s weird that someone can just have a replica of themselves.

“I heard you punched August last week.” Sage pulls me out of my thoughts. “You know you shouldn’t hit someone you love, but I’m not going to tell you that again because there’s something else we should talk about.” That’s her way of saying she knows the little shit is back. I take her legs off of me, but she puts them back before I can stand to leave.

When I look over at her, she gives me a soft look. “Why don’t you ever talk about what happened between you and V?”

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