Playing for Keeps

1 My boyfriend, Julian, kissed his childhood best friend at my birthday party. He turned to me, Chloe’s lipstick smeared at the corner of his mouth, his expression annoyed. "Can you not be like this?" "It's just a game. Why do you always have to be such a buzzkill?" Everyone was staring. I was frozen, the humiliation washing over me. Julian always got weird whenever Chloe was around. But normally, he wouldn't even say a harsh word to me. I tugged on his sleeve, trying to pull him aside. His friend, Chloe, just rolled her eyes. "This is so lame. I shouldn't have even come." She tossed her hair. "If she’s this upset over a little kiss, what would she do if she knew we used to sleep in the same bed?" I went rigid. That familiar, icy feeling of being the outsider crept up my spine. I balled my fists, but instead of running off in tears like I usually did, I looked right at Julian. "Since it’s just a game, that means I can play, too... right?" Julian stared at me, then shrugged dismissively. "Yeah. Go ahead. Play." He was so confident. All the guys here were his friends. He knew none of them would dare make a move on me. And he was right. "C'mon, Ava, don't be mad at Jules. It's just a game," one of his buddies said. "Yeah, we've all known each other forever. It's purely platonic." Just like that, they brushed it off. I could feel my eyes burning with angry tears. Julian grabbed my wrist. "That's enough. Don't be childish and embarrass me. Sit down..." Before he could finish, his twin brother, Liam—who had been silent in the corner all night—stood up. He walked over, sat right next to me, and held up the "Kiss" card that Chloe had drawn. "Are you game, Ava?" 2 The room went dead silent. I’d heard Julian had a twin, but this was the first time I’d ever met him. The face was identical to Julian's. But up close, they were different. Julian’s eyes were cold, always looking down on people. Liam... Liam just looked polite. Almost sweet. When I didn't answer, he leaned in, his polite expression still in place. "My brother was," he added quietly. "He seemed pretty game." The dig was so obvious that I felt Julian tense up beside me. And in that split second, a crazy thing happened. A little text bubble, like a caption, flashed over Liam's head. [LOL, he’s not even pretending. Bro, turn around and look at your brother’s face.] [This is gold. The girl he’s been looking for for seven years becomes his sister-in-law, and his brother treats her like crap. He’s about to lose his mind.] [Ava, if you nod right now, tonight he’s going to be knocking on your door pretending to be his brother.] ...What the hell? I glanced at Julian’s thunderous expression. On pure impulse, fueled by the captions and a sudden rush of spite, I nodded. 3 I admit, I was doing it to get back at Julian. I wanted him to feel that suffocating, helpless anger for a change. But I didn't think Liam would actually do it. Not right in front of his brother. He leaned in. The room gasped. I stopped breathing. He got closer, his eyes locked on mine, and then... he stopped, just an inch away. He held my gaze for two long seconds, then pulled back. The spell was broken. Julian yanked Liam away from me by the collar and then grabbed my wrist, dragging me out of the room. The hallway was quiet, but he was radiating anger. "Are you done?" he hissed. "First you target Chloe, and now you're using Liam just to make me mad?" The cold air from the hall hit my face. I looked up at him. "So you're allowed to be upset, but I'm not? You can, but I can't?" Julian sighed, rubbing his temples. "Chloe was right. I shouldn't have brought you tonight." My stomach dropped. "So this wasn't a party for my birthday. This was just your regular get-together, and I was just... a tag-along." It wasn't a question. "Whatever," Julian said, already pulling me back toward the room. "I'll take you home." "Don't bother," I said, yanking my hand away. "Go take Chloe home." His face darkened. "Are you really going to do this tonight?" 4 I walked back into the room, grabbed my coat, and headed for the door. Julian was right behind me. But as I stepped out, Chloe’s voice, suddenly weak, called out. "Jules... can you take me home? I think..." She hunched over, wrapping her arms around her stomach. I turned and looked at Julian. "She's calling you. Go." "Can you stop talking to me like that?" he snapped. "I said I'd take you." He started to get his phone out to call her an Uber, but she grabbed the hem of his shirt. "Jules... my pants," she whispered, her voice full of shame. "I think I... I really messed up." Julian froze. Three minutes later, Chloe was sitting in his passenger seat, wrapped in his jacket. He looked at me, his jaw tight. "I'll be back. Quick." He chose Chloe. Again. The car's taillights disappeared into the night. I stood there in the cold, the reality of it settling over me. I wasn't surprised. But it still hurt. I stood there for a long time, just breathing in the cold air, finally accepting that he just didn't like me as much as I thought. I was about to leave when I realized I'd left my purse inside. I waited a few more minutes, figuring the party was over. But when I got back, the door was cracked open. I heard voices. "...I don't get it, man, why her?" "She's your brother's girlfriend!" "And you need to stop pulling stunts like that. You know what Jules is like. He's not going to let this go." I froze. Through the crack, I saw Liam leaning back on the sofa, his expression cold. The sweet, polite look was completely gone. "Ava deserves better," he said flatly. "He doesn't deserve her." His friend threw his hands up. "Deserve, don't deserve, that's his business! Besides, if he doesn't, who does?" Liam took a long drink, then set the glass down. "I do." "What?! Bro, you can't..." "Wait... is that Ava?" His friend had spotted me. He instantly shut up and nudged Liam. Liam, holding his glass, went still. Then, slowly, he looked up. Our eyes met in the silence. "..." 5 I had to be drunk. This night was getting too weird. My brain was chaos. Liam looked just as chaotic. He opened his mouth, "I..." I pretended I hadn't heard a thing, grabbed my purse, and bolted. I was home before I could even process what he’d said. My mind just kept replaying that last, lonely look he gave me. He'd actually followed me out of the club. I didn't want to get in the middle of... whatever that was. When he insisted on walking me home, I shut him down. "Thanks, but stay out of things between me and Julian." His face paled. He just stopped walking and said, "Oh. Right. Sorry. It won't happen again." ... The text bubbles in my living room brought me back. [Aaaand he's crushed. Rejected by his dream girl.] [Don’t worry, he’ll be back. He can’t stand anyone else taking care of her.] [Here it comes... the famous 'Open up, it's me, your boyfriend' scene!] I was still reading that last one when my doorbell rang. I paused. No way. I opened the door. And just like the caption said, there was "Julian." 6 If it weren't for the text bubbles, I would have been fooled. He'd even changed into the exact same shirt Julian had been wearing. "You're back already?" I asked. "Yeah, dropped her off. I brought you some soup to sober up." He paused, then added, "Not that I went out of my way or anything." I gave him a weird look. He came in, and while I drank the soup, he silently started cleaning the small cut on my wrist I’d gotten at the party. I hadn’t even noticed it. He was frowning, but his touch was incredibly gentle. When he finished, he cleared his throat. "Not that I came here just to do this." "..." I looked up. The text bubbles were back. [He’s dying. He wants to take care of her so bad, but he’s terrified of his brother getting the credit.] [He probably saw that cut and wanted to murder his brother.] [Now he has to go home and get into a fistfight with Julian.] It was definitely Liam. I almost laughed. Of course Julian was still with Chloe. He probably didn't even see me get hurt. The old Julian might have. But ever since Chloe came back, everything was different. He didn't even get me a birthday present. As if on cue, Liam shoved a small, elegant box into my hand. He was looking at the floor. "Happy birthday. I'm leaving. Get some rest." He was so good at this, acting just like his brother. But I was tired. "You're Liam, aren't you?" He froze, his hand on the doorknob. He turned back, his denial immediate. "I'm not." [He’s panicking! He’s afraid if she knows, he won't even get to be her servant!] [Ava, he’s harmless! He’s just a sad, devoted puppy! Don't expose him!] I sighed. I was actually starting to feel bad for him. But as I opened my mouth to talk, he ripped the door open and left. He only made it one step before he stopped dead. I knew, before I even looked. Standing in the hallway, looking furious, were the real Julian. And Chloe. 7 The air in the hallway crackled. A perfect mirror image. Two Julians staring at each other. "What are you doing here?" "What is she doing here?" They spoke at the same time, then froze. Julian glanced at Chloe. Liam looked back at me, his face instantly pale. Chloe, who seemed terrified of Liam, hid behind Julian. "Jules, maybe we should just go. I'm sure Ava didn't mean it." She held up her arm, showing a tiny, superficial scratch. "See? It doesn't even hurt." I understood. When we'd bumped into each other, I wasn't the only one who got scratched. But Julian had only seen her scratch. And he'd brought her here to demand an apology from me. The bandage on my wrist suddenly felt like it was on fire. Julian lit a cigarette. "Ava, apologize to Chloe. And we can let this go." He really thought I did it on purpose. He always took her side. Every single time. [Ugh, I can't stand these two. Ava, dump him!] [Seriously. They just get off on this drama. You’re just a prop they use to flirt with each other.] I looked at the text bubbles, and my memories clicked into place. They were right. Every time Chloe showed up, I became the unreasonable, jealous girlfriend, and they became the two star-crossed friends fighting a forbidden connection. My pain was just part of their script. "Is it really that hard for you to just say you're sorry?" Julian's impatient voice cut through my thoughts. I took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm not apologizing." "And, Julian? We're done. We're breaking up." I slammed the door in his face. 8 It was easier than I thought. I didn't even feel sad. Just... light. Julian didn't believe me, of course. The text bubbles outside my door told me everything. [Julian to Chloe: "She chased me for a year. She's not dumping me over this. She's just trying to make me jealous."] [Julian: "Watch. She'll be begging me to take her back in a week."] [Chloe: "Ooh, let's make a bet. Let's pretend we're dating. That'll push her over the edge!"] I didn't have time for their games. Because Liam was back. He showed up the next day, using the excuse of apologizing for his brother. Then he just... started cooking. The day after, he "just wanted to make sure I was okay." And he cleaned my entire apartment. He always had an excuse. "My brother really messed up. I just want to make it right." He was lying, of course. But I didn't call him on it. [Servant-mode: ACTIVATED. He’s just happy to be here.] [While Julian waits for her to crawl back, Liam is already moving in.] It was, as the text bubbles said, like he was a servant. But a very sneaky one. He'd be cutting apples for me. "I'm cutting these into slices for you. It's easier to eat. Did... did my brother ever do that?" He'd see me grabbing the vacuum. "No, let me. Isn't this supposed to be the guy's job? I just assumed Julian would have..." He'd be in the kitchen. "I'm sorry, I've never really dated anyone. I just thought, in a relationship, the guy was supposed to do the cooking. He didn't do this either?" [LMAO. The 'I've-never-dated' card. Suuuure, buddy.] [The shade! He's trashing his brother every chance he gets!] [Julian's over there playing games. Liam's playing for keeps.] 9 I saw Julian again at Liam's apartment. It was raining, my power was out, and I was soaked. Liam averted his eyes. "You'll get sick. You can... you can use my shower. If you want." His ears turned bright red. The man was a paradox. But I was freezing, so I agreed. I was in the middle of rinsing my hair when I heard the front door open. [Oh, hell. The ex has arrived. He's here to whine to his brother.] [This is going to be good. Liam is going to give him terrible advice. LMAO.] Julian's voice filled the apartment. "Liam, am I spoiling her? It's been a week, and not one text. Not one call." "And I don't even like Chloe like that. Ava is just being paranoid. I've known Chloe my whole life, if I wanted to be with her, I would have!" I turned off the water, listening. Liam's voice was cold. "Then just break up." Julian sputtered. "I'm not... I'm not breaking up with her. She's just throwing a tantrum. She still likes me." "Besides," Julian said, "didn't you pretend to be me the other night? You were trying to help me, right? I'm just here to ask you... how do I get her to back down?" I heard Liam laugh. It wasn't a nice sound. "Forget it," Julian snapped. "Asking you is useless. You're just going to sit around fantasizing about that 'one that got away' forever, aren't you?" "When are you leaving town this time?" The text bubbles had told me Liam traveled constantly. "I'm not," Liam said. "I'm staying." Then he added, his voice dangerously quiet. "And, bro? Since you're broken up... stay away from her." I tensed. [Ooooh, Julian's face. He's finally getting it.] [He’s on the edge. He's realizing something is very, very wrong.] Julian had a notoriously bad temper. I was suddenly afraid for Liam. After a long, tense silence, Julian just said, "Stay out of my business." I heard the door open. He was leaving. I let out a breath. "But, bro," Liam's voice called out. "It's not your business anymore." Julian stopped. I heard his footsteps turn around.

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