Emily dried her hands off on the towel and then stepped out of the bathroom. As she began to walk to her bedroom, she heard music playing quietly in AJ’s room. She listened more closely; this did not sound like his usual choice of music. In fact, it sounded almost like…

Emily rapped at AJ’s bedroom door. Immediately, the music stopped.

“What?” AJ called.

Emily struggled not to laugh as she said, “Were you listening to HIM just now?”

“Uh… no,” AJ lied, opening the door and peeking out.

“Are you sure?” Emily asked, smiling knowingly. “I could have sworn I just heard One Last Time playing.”

“No way! I was listening to my Breaking Benjamin CD.”


“Really?” Emily asked, raising an eyebrow. She pushed AJ aside and walked over to his CD player, which she opened up. Holding up the pink CD she found inside, she remarked, “You know, this looks an awful lot like the ‘Razorblade Romance’ CD by HIM.” AJ shifted uncomfortably in response, caught in his lie. “Now, tell me,” Emily continued, “why you would lie about the music you’re listening to, of all things?” AJ shrugged, his eyes on the floor. “I think you’re listening to this because it reminds you of Ophelia,” Emily commented, placing the disc back into the player. She sighed and turned back to her brother. “Look, it’s cute that you’re interested in Ophelia. But you have a girlfriend, and she’s… well, she’s taken.”

“By who?” AJ asked. “Anyone I know?”

“Yeah, I think.”

“S?”

“No.”

“Lyle?”

“No.”

“Kenny?”

“No.”

AJ raised an eyebrow. “It’s not Mae, is it?”

“No…” Emily said slowly.

“Who, then?” AJ asked. His eyes widened. “You?”

“Dear God, no!”

“Well, who, then?”

Emily shook her head. “When she wants you to know, you’ll find out. Let’s just say it’ll really surprise you.”

“Well, what does this person have that I don’t?”

Emily looked her brother over and snickered. “There’s so many directions I could take this,” she finally said, “but let’s just say that you two differ in many… many areas.”


“I thought I might find you here,” Jade remarked, sitting at the small restaurant table. She smiled warmly at Valo.

“What do you want now?” Valo asked, between bites of salad. “Did you come to insult my life some more?”

“No, no, of course not!” Jade quickly replied. “I want to apologize for how I acted. I mean, it’s just… well, I don’t really like when friends try to take control of my love life. Last time that happened, I ended up with Dunstan, you know. I just want to choose my own boyfriend, rather than having some guy forced on me, you know. There‘s guys interested in me, but I want to make my own choice.”

“At least you have no shortage of guys interested in you,” Valo said bitterly. “You can even have the luxury of having a no-strings relationship with your buddy Mark, if it comes to that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jade asked.

Valo set down her fork and gave Jade a long, steady look. “I’m going to tell you something that no one has probably told you before. Growing up, and even now, to some extent, girls like you have made me sick. You take your appearance for granted. You’re used to having your choice of guys and even have a new one already lined up when you decide to end one relationship and start another. Do you want to know what the dating game was like for me, most of my life?” she spat out. “Always seen as the kid sister or one of the guys. Sure, it means you’re surrounded by guys-- guys who keep you around as a sort of counselor to help them with their relationship problems but wouldn’t dare ask you out. While girls like you are living the good life, girls like me were waiting for calls that would never come.”

Jade stared at Valo for several seconds, then said, “Okay, now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, do you feel better?”


Valo chewed the inside of her cheek for a few seconds, embarrassed at her ranting, and then muttered, “Yeah, I do.”

Jade chuckled and remarked, “That was pretty awesome, what you said. Like something out of a book or something. You really should be a writer.”

Valo shook her head. “Nah,” she replied. “I wanted to be for a long time, but then I realized there’d be too many people misunderstanding my work. I mean, people are arguing about what Shakespeare’s stuff means, hundreds of years after it was written. I can only imagine the confusion that could be caused by people reading the stuff that crosses my mind.”

“Like what?”

Valo thought for a few seconds, and then said, “Okay, here’s something I’ve been thinking about. Identical twins are genetically identical, which means that at a genetic level, any children they have will be half-siblings. So, hypothetically, if one of the kids needed a donor for something, like bone marrow, maybe one of the other twin’s kids could serve as a donor.”

Jade tilted her head and said slowly, “You’re right, Valo. I’m confused just listening to that.”

“Told you. So, have you decided whether or not to give Graham a try?”

Jade groaned, “Do we have to get into this argument again?”