Mainstream

Today has been the official worst day ever, and it’s only 10 a.m. My alarm clock went off at five this morning, but I don’t even have work today. I attempted to get some more sleep, but one of my fire alarms is beeping, meaning it must be low on battery. Only, I’m not too sure which one it is, and even if I did, I don’t exactly know how to replace it. Eventually, I just gave up trying to find the sucker and took a shower just to find that my hot water isn’t working. I had to scrub, wash, rinse, and repeat in water with a seemingly below-zero temperature. After my icy waterfall of doom, I decided just to wear some comfy house clothes. My feet were cold, so naturally, I was going to put on my rainbow sock monkey slippers. It took me five minutes of searching before I found them in my garage – covered in a bucket of black paint that I had been using to put accent on my new walls. Needless to say, I didn’t get to wear my favorite slippers, and because I only ever wear that pair, I don’t have another pair to wear. I don’t even own cozy socks, which is really disappointing.

By that point I was hungry, so I toasted some toast. Now, I like toast, but I hate eating it plain. The only thing I like to put on my toast though is nutella, because I freaking love nutella. But of course, I’m out of nutella, so I said, “Screw it, I’ll starve.” Then, I decided that I wanted to turn on the TV and watch reruns of Kim Possible because that’s my favorite show of all time. Keeping up with the theme of the morning, my TV is broken, and I’m not a tech savvy person so I don’t know how to fix that either. So instead of disappointing myself further, I've just been lying here on my couch and staring at my ceiling, listening to my angry, empty stomach growl at me, and it’s been hours now but I don’t think I care anymore. I might just stay here forever.

“Liiinaaa…” I guess not though, because now here’s Louis breaking into my house – again. Wait, it’s Louis. Now, I’m slightly panicking. Do I look decent? How’s my hair? Did I remember to brush my teeth? I quickly do a breath check. Well, fuck. I can’t even tell. “What are you doing?” he laughs.

I drop my hand from my mouth and jump up. “Um… nothing?” I laugh nervously. Apparently this is funny because he laughs some more. “So what are you doing–”

“Happy Birthday!” Holy crap, it’s my birthday. How the heck did I forget my own birthday? He smiles in the midst of my confusion and scoops me up into his arms, swinging me in a circle. I wrap my arms around his neck and hang on for dear life.

“Thank you,” I giggle as he sets my feet down on the ground, but not removing his arms from around my waist. “Wait, how did you know it was my birthday?”

“Are you not the twin of the kid who has been in the same band as me for six years? You guys have the same… cute nose and big eyes that are just so…” He starts to trail off, forgetting what he’s saying, and his intent stare is causing me to blush.

“You think Liam has a cute nose?”

Louis’ eyes widen. “No!” he shouts. “I mean – it’s not that I don’t think Liam’s nose is cute. I was just saying that I think you have a cute nose and you guys both have, like, the same nose because you’re, like, twins, of course, so it would only make–”

I cut him off by pecking his lips quickly. He shuts up after that. “You’re cute when you ramble.”

I end up lying on my couch again; although, this time, my head is resting comfortably on top of Louis’ lap. We just talk for what seems like hours about everything and nothing at the same time. Even though we're practically always at each other's houses, we never seem to run out of things to say, and I absolutely love that.

I haven’t told him that I love him, because I’m not entirely sure that I do. Sure, I enjoy spending time with Louis, and he’s definitely not a terrible kisser, but I just don’t know that this is love. We’re not even technically dating!

Louis eventually leaves after getting an “urgent text message” from a friend. He didn’t tell me what was so urgent, but I’m not nosy so I just told him I’d probably see him later considering I have no other plans. After Louis leaves I check my phone, but literally no one has even texted me since yesterday – not even Katy, which is seriously surprising. I mean I know she’s probably working her butt off at the café, but she can’t even send a thoughtful birthday to text to her best friend? She’s usually the first one to greet me, too. I’ll just call her myself I guess. Twelve seconds go by before I get sent to her voice box. Not wanting to leave one, I just hang up and try calling Damian. He’s in today as well, but I always catch him on his phone at work so he definitely has it. This time it only rings twice before I get sent to his voice box. Arsehole. That leaves Naomi, but I’d rather not bother her. She’s stingy when it comes to work, especially with Isabella there. It’s no wonder Katy thinks she’s a better employee than me.

I tap my fingers on my phone trying to figure out if there’s anyone else I know I can call. Before I can even scroll once, I hear the familiar sound of gravel and a car pulling up in my driveway. I jump up from my couch and peer out the window in time to see Liam getting out of his car. Squealing, I run out the door to greet him. He is quick to scoop me up in his arms as I tackle him in a hug.

“Hello to you, too,” he chuckles, giving me a quick squeeze before letting me go. “And a Happy Birthday as well.”

I laugh a little and lead him inside. “This is so strange and thrilling at the same time,” I tell him.

“What is?” he asks as we each take a seat on my couch in the living room.

“Well, I don’t usually care for birthdays, but now, you’re here, and it’s, like, both of our birthdays today. And we’re, like, twins… I really don’t know how to explain this feeling.”

“No, I completely understand what you’re getting at. My twin senses are just finally kicking in. I get you,” Liam says. We both laugh at that. “Hey, what did you mean by you ‘don’t usually care for birthdays?’”

I shrug and look down at my lap. “I never really celebrated them growing up.”

“Why not?” I don’t really want to say. I didn’t exactly get adopted into the best of families, and I’m sure Liam wouldn’t understand anyway. He doesn’t really talk much about my – our – actual parents, but his life has been so much more grand than mine that I’d rather not talk about the petty lifestyle I grew up with.

“Just reasons,” I state bluntly. Then, I quickly change the subject. "Don't you have any birthday plans for the day, mister famous guy?"

Liam straightens up. “Actually, yes. I was thinking that since it is our first shared birthday together that we could just go out on the town – just have some quality twin time together.”

I smile. “Sounds cool! I’ll go change.”

Liam takes me to his favorite place to have lunch in downtown London. I’ve never heard of it before today, but the food is definitely to die for. After that, we take turns picking out our favorite destinations and go there. It’s really fun, and I’m glad that I get to make all new memories in my favorite places with Liam.

By the time it is nearly six, I feel almost completely worn out, what with all the walking to hidden places and running from the paparazzi, but Liam insists on one last place that we absolutely must visit. Liam pulls up in front of a tall building in a part of the city I’ve never explored. When we first enter, all I see is a long, empty hallway with doors lined up on either side. He guides me further into the building, the only sound being the echo of our footsteps. It's rather dark, seeing as though the only lighting comes from the moonlight seeping through the windows at the ends of the corridor.

“What is this place?” I ask. Liam just turns back to me and smiles before opening one of the doors to the left. The room is pitch black. “Why is it so dark in–”

“Surprise!” a chorus of people jumps out and screams as the lights turn on.

“Oh, my gosh! Did you do this?” I ask Liam, a smile growing on my face.

He nods shyly. “Well, Katy told me that birthdays were kind of ruined for you as a kid, so I wanted to make this a good one. She actually helped out with a lot of the decorating, and she even made the cake, which I hear is great. I really hope you don’t mind.”

I turn and hug Liam tightly. “Not at all. This is amazing, Liam. Thank you.”

People start flooding the both of us with birthday greetings and wishes after that. I don’t even know half the people at this party, but everyone I’ve met has been so nice. When I see Katy, I feel relieved to see her familiar face amidst the throng of strangers.

"Happy birthday, best friend!" she shouts into my ear and throws her arms around my shoulders for a hug, nearly spilling her drink.

“I can’t believe you hid this from me!” I tell her. I really can’t. Other than that locket, we’ve never hid anything from each other.

She snorts. “I can’t either. Do you have any idea how hard it was to ignore your calls and texts all this morning? It was eating at me all day. I nearly had to block you so I wouldn't be tempted to answer.”

I talk to Katy for a while longer before Liam beckons me over to where he’s standing. I excuse myself, telling her I’ll be back later, and walk over. As I approach my brother, I notice that he’s standing with two older women.

“Lina, I want you to meet Ruth and Nicola,” he says, gesturing to each woman as he says their name.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Lina,” Nicola says and shakes my hand.

Ruth skips the handshake and goes straight for a hug. I stiffen, and she pulls away, blushing. "I take it that Liam must not have mentioned us yet. We're your sisters."

My eyes widen. “Oh, wow. I vaguely remember a mention of you guys. It’s nice to meet you, too.” That strange and thrilling feeling from early suddenly becomes more of an awkward feeling of being the odd one out. Liam rarely talks about his family so my knowledge of any other existing family members is minimal or not at all. Come to think of it, neither of us really talks much about our so-called families.

I think the four of us just stand there for a few minutes trying to take in each other’s faces. I can’t speak for my siblings, but I just can’t get it through my head that I’m looking at similar but older copies of me. We all share some of the same genetics, and that’s weirdly cool but strange at the same time.

Ruth all of a sudden bursts into tears and starts hugging me again. With my arms trapped at my sides, I stiffen and throw a confused look in Liam’s direction. He starts to say some things and tries to get Ruth off of me, but I can’t hear much over the sound of her sobs. Then, she just tears away from me and starts to pace back and forth, all the while talking in angered words directed to Nicola. I can tell that Nicola wants Ruth to shut up but words are kind of fuzzy right now because of the slight shock I’m in over what’s just happened.

“Wait, you knew about Lina?” Liam’s voice suddenly rings clear. “All this time, you both knew, and you didn’t care to tell me?!”

“We weren’t supposed to find out, but when we did, Mum made us promise not to tell,” Nicola tries to explain. “We wanted to tell you, Li, but she just looked so heartbroken about it. She thought you would leave if you found out, and she didn’t want to lose you, too.”

Liam let’s out an aggravated sound and rubs his hand down the side of his face. I was going to stay and see how this feud turned out, but when I see Louis waving at me from across the room, I take that as my chance to make my hidden escape.

“Hi,” I say when I approach him. He pulls me into a hug, and I nuzzle my face into his chest.

“Hey, twin Payne,” he whispers just loud enough for me to hear over the music. “I see you’ve met your sisters…”

“Yeah. They were… nice,” I say. I lift my head so that my chin rests on his chest and I can see his gorgeous blue eyes staring down at me. He lets out a little chuckle, obviously observant of what went on.

“Care to join me for a walk outside?” he asks. I nod and let him take my hand and lead me back into the big hallway. We swing our intertwined fingers carelessly back and forth between us as we walk down the carpeted hallway. Louis suddenly tugs on my hand and pulls me toward an elevator. “There’s something I want to show you.”

He pushes the button for the roof, and my stomach drops. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right by your side the whole time,” he says, seeming to notice slight distress. I relax a little and lean into him as the elevator continues to make its way up.

When we get to the roof, I opt out of my heels before we leave the confines of the elevator. Louis leads me out slowly, but there’s no need for that anymore. Forget about how high up we are, the night is so awing from up here. “Wow,” I whisper, spinning around on my toes in an attempt to take in the night, dropping my shoes on the rooftop.

“Isn’t the view just amazing?” Louis says.

“Incredible,” I mumble, turning back to face him. Like the dork I’ve come to know, he’s already staring at me with that smile I’ve come to love. He takes a step forward, lessening the gap between us. His adoring stare never leaves my eyes as he rests his forehead on top of mine. He looks so nervous. He’s cute when he looks nervous.

“Lina,” he says on a shaky breath, “I was, uh… I was wondering if you might, if you would – I mean, you don’t have to but I was just–”

I cut him off by pressing my cold lips to his, closing the last of the space. Keeping it short, I pull back to give my answer to his question that’s got him stuttering. “I would love to be your girlfriend, Louis.”

He smiles and presses his lips back onto mine, and suddenly, they’re not so cold anymore. Everything about Louis just warms me up inside. He makes me forget about all my troubles and worries and Zack. Just being with him makes me so happy, and I’m really happy that this is happening, that we’re happening.

Today has been the official best day ever.

Notes

Probably the last update until I can figure out what the heck was going on in Chapter 9 and finish it. I'm just not sure when that will be... For now, thanks for reading xx

posted 02.02.17