Love Bites

Lily and two of her swim relay teammates were the last to leave after the meet that day. One of the girls was giving both Lily and the other girl a ride home. The parking lot was on the other side of the tennis courts and as they were walking to the car, a tennis ball went flying over the fence, hit a car, and bounced straight to Lily. She caught the ball and turned toward the courts.

Cory walked to the fence and said, “A little help, please.”

Lily looked at him, then the ball in her hand, and then upwards into the sky. It was around four thirty in the afternoon and the sky was a cloudless cerulean blue. Over her shoulder she said to her friends, “You two go on without me. Today is such a nice day, I think I’ll walk,” and started back towards the fence.

When she got to within a few feet of the fence where Cory was still standing, she tossed the ball up and over the fence in such a perfect arc that he didn’t have to move to catch it.

“Thanks,” he said still staring at her.

“You should be more careful,” she said smiling.

“Umm, better tell that to him,” Cory said pointing at the guy on the other side of the court. “He’s the one who hit it over.”

The kid Cory pointed at picked that time to speak up. “Can we get going here? I wanted to finish this.”

Cory rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Sorry, I gave to go finish this guy off. Thanks for the help.”

He turned and resumed the game, saying, “Try to keep the balls inside the fence, eh?” and the guy flipped him the bird.

It took Cory twenty minutes to finish his game and it would have taken less time had he kept his mind from wandering back to the knockout who returned the ball. Winning 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 (his mind wandered more than usual during the last set), he looked around to see if the raven-haired beauty was still around but was disappointed to find her gone.

Cory gathered up his gear and headed for the locker room to change. After changing, he headed out to meet Kayla who would be either in the girls’ locker room changing or still in the gym if she hadn’t finished her badminton match yet.

Only getting a few steps past the locker room door, he heard someone behind him say, “Hey.”

He turned around, startled. Leaning up against the wall next to the door was the girl who returned the ball. He could swear that no one had been there when he went through the door.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” she said.

“You didn’t scare me. I just didn’t notice you there,” he replied.

“I’m pretty good at not being seen if I don’t want to be,” she told him.

“I can’t see how that’s possible with your…” he faded off.

She cocked an eyebrow at him and asked, “With my what?”

He turned red, blushing, and managed to stammer, “W-with your, uh, looks.”

She raised her eyebrow again and asked, “So you’re saying my looks scared you?”

Cory turned an even deeper shade of red. Lily had a little quirk of a smile on her face as if she were enjoying this, which she was.

“Oh, geez. No. You’re beautiful.” He stopped in horror, just realizing what he had said – out loud. “I mean, your looks can’t scare… No, you look… Ugh. I’ll just stop talking now if it’s ok.”

She seemed mollified by all of this. Deciding to put an end to his misery she said, “My name is Lily. Lily Madison,” and held out her hand.

Cory shifted his racket into his left hand and shook her hand. It was cool and soft. “I’m, uh Cory Hudson,” he said.

Lily was almost as tall as he was, maybe an inch shorter, with long jet-black hair that hung loosely around her shoulders. Cory hadn’t really been paying attention before at the court, but now he said she was wearing pink sweats and a windbreaker that was partially unzipped, revealing what looked like to be either a royal blue leotard or a one-piece swimsuit. The school had both a gymnastics team and a swim team.

“Swim or gym?” he asked. “I’d say swim team.”

“Oh? And why is that?” she asked, amused.

“A few reasons. The first is your size.”

“Oh my God,” she blurted, “did you just call me fat?”

Cory had regained his normal color, but now turned red again. “No!” he quickly said. “You’re a little on the tall side. And a little, uh, too well proportioned.” His eyes flicked downwards slightly and then back up to meet her eyes. “Not to mention your hair a still a little damp.”

He fell silent while she thought this over for a minute, glad for the short respite so he didn’t say anything else stupid.

She had looked down while contemplating his words. When she looked back up again, Cory looked straight into her liquid slate gray eyes. There seemed to be a flash of gold in them right before she spoke again. “You’re cute when you’re flustered. But you’re right. About the swim team that is,” she added quickly.

She unzipped her windbreaker the rest of the way, opening it up and then said, “I think you’ll agree that I’m not fat.”

He glanced down at her upper body in the tight spandex swimsuit and simply nodded, not chancing to say anything stupid again.

Lily returned her jacket to its former zipped state and said, “So now that we’ve established that I’m definitely not fat… You’re pretty good.”

He stared into her gray eyes, confused. She realized his confusion and added, “At tennis.”

“Oh, that. Thanks,” he replied, embarrassed. “I’m okay, I guess.”

“And humble to boot.”

Cory was nervous around Lily. Actually, he was nervous around girls in general, except for his sister. He hadn’t had much lick in the dating department. It wasn’t a matter of looks, as Cory was a good-looking boy, but he just found that he didn’t click with any of the girls he had dated. He and his past girlfriends had all split amiably and he still remained friends with all of them. Considering the size of their small town, rough ten thousand, it was a standard unspoken rule that unless someone did something really hurtful, violent, or illegal, breakups ended friendly. With a student count of around three hundred, you only had so many choices of friends or relationships.

Lily picked up on his nervousness and continued. “So now that your game is over, where are you off to?”

“To the girl’s locker room,” he replied. He again was on the receiving end of her arching eyebrow and questioning look. “To meet up with my sister,” Cory added quickly.

“Ah, a sister,” Lily said, stepping forward, linking her arm in his. “You probably shouldn’t keep her waiting then. There’s nothing like the wraith of a woman’s scorn.”

They walked around the boy’s locker room, past the silent gym to the girl’s locker room on the other side, making idle chit-chat arm-in-arm.

The door was still open, and no one was waiting out front. “Looks like she isn’t here yet,” Lily said to him. “Want me to check inside for her?”

“You don’t have to; I can wait for her.”

“It’s no problem. I’d like to meet this sister of yours. What’s her name and what does she look like?”

“Her name is Kayla and I’m betting you can’t miss her is he’s in there.”

Lily looked at him, one side of her mouth quirked upward. “Now you’ve got me intrigued.” She untwined her arm from his and said, “I’ll be right back.”

The room wasn’t large, with rows of lockers along the outside edges of both sides and a row down the middle section facing both ways. The coach’s office ran along one end and showers ran the length of the other, blocked by a shoulder-high wall. The smell of dampness and body odor lingered in the air.

Lily thought the room was deserted until she heard the screech of a locker door and the back of a head appeared above a locker about halfway down the middle section. She walked quietly down the side row, trying to figure out if this was Kayla and if so, why would she know without asking the girl her name.

The lockers stood about four feet tall, and this other girl was about her own height, but what she could see didn’t look out of the ordinary: a t-shirt and medium brown hair that fell just below the girl’s shoulders.

Lily got to within about five feet of the other girl when she turned around. It wasn’t easy to surprise Lily, but she let out a gasp. “Cory, how did you get in here ahead of me?”

The person in front of her slid on a small pair of glasses, then pulled her hair back into a ponytail, using an elastic band to hold it, and said, “Actually, I’m Kayla, his sister. I’m not sure you could get Cory in the girl’s locker room on a dare, even if you proved to him it was empty first,” Kayla said in a soft voice.

With glasses and her hair pulled back, Lily could now see the differences between the two.

“Well,” Lily said, “at least he wasn’t mistaken. I couldn’t miss you. You’re twins.”

“You can tell?” Kayla said with a smile.

“Duh, sorry,” Lily replied. “He’s waiting for you outside.”

Still smiling, Kayla said, “So how’d you get talked into coming in here after me?”

“I actually volunteered. We were outside talking, and you weren’t there, so I said I’d come see if you were in here.”

“I am and I’m finished, so let’s get out of this dark, depressing place,” Kayla said picking up her stuff and walking up the middle aisle.

Lily stayed on the outside aisle and walked along beside Kayla. “I don’t think we’ve met,” Lily said. “I’m Lily Madison.”

“I know,” Kayla replied. “We have fifth period English together.”

This surprised Lily. “Oh? Now I feel bad. Please don’t take offense. I’m not much into English and don’t pay much attention in class.”

Kayla said, “Don’t worry about it. I sit behind you so you probably wouldn’t notice me. Plus, I’m not really the noticeable sort.”

“Oh please, you’re a very pretty girl. As pretty as your brother is handsome,” Lily said with her own smile.

“I’m plain next to you.”

“You underestimate yourself,” Lily stated. “Boys are afraid to approach me usually, at last decent ones. I bet you on the other hand have no problem getting the sweet ones.”

Evading the question, Kayla changed the subject. “So how exactly did my brother work up the courage to even talk to you?”

“To be honest, he didn’t. Well, not exactly. A ball was hit over the fence while I was out in the parking lot and he asked me for some help. After he was done, I approached him.”

Kayla smiled again. They were nearing the end of the lockers and Kayla cut over to the outside row with Lily. After a few feet Lily put her arm out to stop Kayla.

Kayla stopped and looked at Lily who was quiet for a few seconds before asking, “Do you think he’s willing to go out on a date with me if I asked? I mean if he’s not seeing anyone at the moment. I guess I should have thought about that first.”

“No,” Kayla said with an extended pause. She continued, “He’s not seeing anyone at the moment that I know of, and I usually know. And he’d be stupid to say no to you. Which, knowing him like I do, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to say something stupid.”

Lily put her arm through Kayla’s and pulled her forward as she said, “I like you. Come on. Let’s go get your brother.”

They emerged a few seconds later into the now fading daylight. The sky had turned a reddish-orange hue as the sun began to set.

“Found her,” Lily told Cory, “Now, where to?”

“It’s getting late, we should be headed home,” Cory told her.

“Why, are you trying to get rid of me?” Lily asked him.

“N-no,” he stammered. “I just figured you would have other plans.”

“Nope. I missed my ride already, so I’m walking. Are you guys walking or do you have a car?”

“We’re still on foot,” Kayla answered for them.

“Okay, so which way? Lead on!”

“But what if you live the other way?” Kayla asked.

“So, then I walk a little farther today than I would normally. It’s no big deal. I’ve got nowhere to be and nothing to do. Besides, the exercise will do me some good Someone told me I’m fat today.”

“Really?” asked a surprised Kayla.

Cory said nothing but turned red.

“Well, I don’t think the person who said it, meant it,” she told Kayla, “but just in case, it wouldn’t hurt me to get a little more exercise.”

Kayla led the trio on the walk to their house, while they discussed school mostly. Lily had arrived a month earlier, so the twins answered her questions and provided her with the usual gossip.

Kayla expressed her surprise at Lily making the swim team after just arriving, since the season was about half over.

“I impressed the swim coach,” she explained. “I’m pretty strong even though I’m overweight.”

Cory gave himself away after turning read again and said, “I already apologized for that. That wasn’t what I meant.”

Kayla looked at him, shocked. “You said that?”

Cory just looked down at the ground and Kayla shifted her gaze to Lily and asked, “And you still…” as Lily nodded yes at her unasked question.

“Dumbass,” she said, not sure who it was intended for.

Cory sighed.

“I know you didn’t mean it,” Lily teased Cory, “but you’re cute when you’re red.”

They arrived at the twin’s house just as the sun started to set into twilight. Their house was a modest white two- story, with a veranda and a small front lawn with hedges along the outside. A small two-story detached garage was set a little farther back to one side.

“Home-sweet-home. I’ll see you tomorrow in English,” she said, waiving to Lily as she went up the walk towards the front door.”

Cory said, “See you later,” and took a step to follow his sister when Lily said, “Wait.” He stopped and turned back.

“So, um,” she started. “Do you want to go do something sometime?”

“Uh, sure, he replied.

“Good,” Lily said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow at school then. Tell your sister I said goodnight.”

“I will. You do the same. Have a good night I mean.”

Cory turned back towards the house, walked halfway to the door, and then turned back, wanting one more look at Lily, but she was gone. He looked down the street in both directions and on either side of the street in case she crossed the street right away, but he couldn’t see any trace of her.

Walking into the house, he set his things down on the stairs, and went to the kitchen, following the aroma of dinner.

“Wash up and help set the table,” his mom said as he entered. “Kay is helping me finish up, then we can eat.”

Cory washed his hands and set the table for the three of them. The trio sat down to dinner and their mom asked them how their matches went. Both had won today.

“And Cory even got a groupie today,” Kayla teased.

“Oh?” said their mom.

Cory blushed and said, “I don’t know about groupie, but she seemed nice enough.”

“She, huh?” his mom said with a grin.

Cory just groaned.

“Oh, come on bro, who knows, maybe this one will work out,” Kayla said. “You called her fat and she’s still talking to you.”

Ignoring the last part, he said, “My last girlfriend wasn’t that bad. Vicky was…”

“Nice!” both women said in unison.

Abashed, Cory echoed, “Nice.” When the twins started dating, their mom sat them down to have a talk. It wasn’t the usual Birds and Bees talk, but rather about life and the way to treat people.

Living in such a small-town means having to deal with the same people as you grow up and it’s better to remain friends than make enemies, so instead of talking bad about someone, you would say they were nice. That way, even if someone overheard you, you wouldn’t be saying anything, negative about the person being talked about. Anyone in the loop would know what you meant without you being mean.

“Anyway,” Kayla said, “Lily seems to be interested in you and she doesn’t seem to have many friends being new and all, so she might be good for you.”

“Maybe,” Cory said nonchalantly. He wasn’t really comfortable talking about dating and girls with the two of them.

Actually, it was just his mom. Cory felt at ease talking to his twin about anything. Their mom would probably have a heart attach if she knew some of the things the two of them discussed.

Because of their closeness, no subject was off limits. They would discuss anything from school to the people they dated, including sex even though they were both virgins. Neither held anything back from the other.

But here, over dinner wasn’t the time to let the two of them troll through his feelings about Lily.

Time to change the subject, Cory thought. “I imagine I’ll find out. Too bad Max is turning out to be so nice,” he said, putting emphasis on nice to put his sister on the defensive for a change.

“Hey, that’s not fair! We’re not talking about Max, he’s…”

“Nice!” came from both mother and son, both with big grins on their faces.

“Fine,” Kayla groused, “less talking, more eating.”

They finished dinner with the normal family chit-chat. All three of them cleaned up afterwards.

“I’m going to go watch some TV. You two finish your homework and I’ll see you in the morning,” their mom said.

The twins grabbed their stuff from the stairs as they headed up and then deposited it into their respective rooms before meeting up in their shared study. Each twin had a large bedroom and shared both the bathroom and a large study upstairs.

The house had been remodeled when the twins were young to provide them with the closeness that they showed they needed. Walls had been removed so the upstairs only contained four rooms. The twin’s rooms faced each other, both abutted the enlarged bathroom on one end and the large room on the other that started out as a playroom and slowly progressed into the combination library and study area it was today.

They sat at desks that faced each other and opened their textbooks.

“Sorry about embarrassing you at dinner,” Kayla said after a few minutes. “But I did mean it when I said Lily might be good for you. You need a breath of fresh air and she might be it.”

“And I’m sorry about my dig on Max,” he replied.

“No, you’re not.”

“No, I’m not,” he agreed. They both laughed.

“He’s nice. I just don’t want to hurt him,” Kayla said.

“He’s nice but not your type, you mean.”

“There’s that too,” she agreed. They talked about various things while they did their homework, most of it gossip and rumors from school.

At 10 PM Cory finished and said, “Done. Time for a shower and beauty rest.”

“Well, at least you got the part about needing a shower right,” Kayla said wrinkling her nose.

“Ha! We’re twins, I smell just like you,” he shot back.

She raised an eyebrow and asked, “Really? Wy would you put on my perfume?”

“Bite me,” he grunted, and she just laughed. Cory picked up his books, came around the desk and kissed his sister on the cheek. “Good night,” he told her and added as an afterthought, “Lily said to tell you good night as well.”

“Wasn’t that sweet of her?”

Cory left the study and took his shower. He dried off, put on his shorts, and was brushing his hair when Kayla knocked on the door. Cory knew it was his sister. He knew her knock, but it was more than that.

It must be that psychic twin feeling, he thought. He opened the door and stepped aside, telling her, “Almost done,” and returning to the mirror.

Because of the remodel, the bathroom was large enough to accommodate both of them. It was almost furnished like a his-and-her master bathroom with two sinks, double mirrors and drawers, a toilet, and a walk-in shower.

The twins had shared the bathroom growing up and only after puberty had it been found lacking in enough privacy. It was redesigned smartly enough that the sinks and toilet was separated from the tub and shower by a dividing wall so the two could still share the bathroom with some privacy if the need arose, which the twins usually did rather than go downstairs.

It was simply more convenient to both of them. Not to mention that while both were modest, neither was shy around the other. They had done just about everything together since birth, so the only difference was body size and shape.

Kayla walked in and stood at the sink beside him. Looking into the mirror, she took the band out of her hair, letting it fall loose around her face and shoulders. Teasing her brother, she said, “Wow, finally getting some muscle in those arms,” and reached over to poke his triceps.

“Jealous of your big brother?” he asked, flexing.

“Get real. You’re my older brother by a minute and I would look freakish with muscles like that. You still need to work on other areas,” she said and pulled her t-shirt over her head. “Like me.”

“You think you’d look freakish with my arms – I’d look freakish with those,” he said pointing to her sports bra clad breasts.

“That’s not what I’m referring to you boob. Quit staring and direct your leering lower,” she said, pointing to her abs.

“I don’t know. You look hot. Me? I think I’d look sucked up.”

“Well, we are twins, but we’re still different. You’d look better with tone abs. Do more sit-ups. It would make up for all that ice cream you eat.”

“Ugh,” he replied turning to the door. “I think it’s past my bedtime.” He got a few steps out of the bathroom when his sister’s quiet voice said, “You really think I’m hot?”

Cory turned to find her standing at the door watching him. “Huh? I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, you did. You said, and I quote, ‘You look hot.’”

“You’re my sister for goodness sakes. You know what I meant.”

“Yes, I think I do,” she said and winked at him. “And thank you. Sweet dreams,” she added closing the bathroom door. Just before it shut, he heard her say, “About Lily.”