Page 37 of My Twin Sister's Ex

“I’ll take that as a no.” One of her friends scoffed behind her. I hated it that they’d been standing there the entire time, watching this humiliating display. They’d probably be spreading various versions of this exchange throughout the school come Monday morning. “So you were planning to sneak around behind my back?”

Neither of us spoke for a minute.

“That’s just great,” Jackilyn finally said. “I can’t even trust my own sister.”

“This is why we didn’t want to tell you,” Bennett said. “We knew you’d overreact and cause a bunch of drama.”

“Overreact?” Jackilyn’s eyes bulged. “That’s what you think I’m doing? I’m sorry you think it’s okay to betray me and lie to me.”

“Keeping something private isn’t the same as lying,” Bennett said.

“You can twist it to make it sound better if you want, but I’ll still know the truth,” Jackilyn said.

“You’ll know the version of the false reality you choose to believe,” Bennett said.

“Are you going to let him talk to you like that?” Coco said to Jackilyn.

“Jessilyn, you’re not planning to keep dating him now, are you?” Jackilyn zeroed in on me like she expected me to comply.

Did she think she could just snap her fingers and expect me to fall in line? I wanted to respect my sister and her wishes, but she was taking it too far. There had to come a point where my life and my wishes mattered.

And I wanted Bennett. He made me happy. My heart felt giddy when he was around. I had to honor that for myself. I wasn’t willing to give him up. And what would it be for anyway? It wasn’t like Jackilyn wanted to be with him. She already had a boyfriend. Why wasn’t she spending her Friday night with him anyway? She was exerting way too much energy into what I was doing with my life and who I’d chosen to date. Why couldn’t she just be happy with Kellen and let me be happy with Bennett? But that was just Jackilyn. She saw the potential for an ugly dramatic situation, and she couldn’t help herself. She had to stir up the drama.

“I should probably go,” I said to Bennett. The night was over for me. “We’re good, though, right?”

“Excuse me,” Jackilyn said. “I asked you a question.”

“Right. You wanted to know if I plan to keep dating Bennett?” I clarified.

“Yes.”

“I don’t see why I should stop. You’re not with him. You have Kellen. He and I want to be together, so I can’t really understand why it’s being discussed.”

“You are so infuriating!” Jackilyn said.

“I’m not trying to be,” I said. “But I’m not willing to give up Bennett for you. He and I are together. You’re just going to have to deal with that.” I knew I wasn’t being the nice, sweet sister right now. But I was done with Jackilyn’s games. What right did she have to ask me to break up with Bennett? She’d dated whatever guy she wanted. I never complained. Sure, I got it that she didn’t like that I was dating a guy after her, but she had Kellen, and it had been her idea to break up with Bennett. She couldn’t have it all.

And I couldn’t stay away from Bennett. We were working on the scene together, and I felt drawn to him like a magnet. It wasn’t like I could just stop kissing him. I had to kiss him for a school assignment.

“I’ll see you later, Bennett.” I climbed out of his car. “Text me later,” I said through the open door before I shut it.

“I will,” he said.

“Where are you going?” Jackilyn asked. Her girls headed into the building, saying something about getting a table.

“I’m getting in my car.”

She spun around like she was noticing my car sitting there for the first time.

“Why didn’t you drive here with Bennett?”

“I told him I would meet him here,” I said.

“Because you didn’t want him to come to the house?”

“I had my reasons,” I said. No need to give her extra ammo. She already had enough.

“Were you trying to hide him from Mom and Dad or just me?”

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