Our Hearts Entwined

by Lilliana Anderson

  This was how she fell for Eric. The first weekend that she saw them together, Natalie was physically taken aback by how attractive Eric was.

  Mia and Eric were both leaving her flat on a Saturday afternoon. Eric was dressed in his football uniform, his lean arms and legs showing as he walked beside Mia laughing about something and hugging her to his side as she elbowed him playfully.

  They seemed to be so close. Natalie felt herself wishing that she had been the twin who was sent down to Melbourne to live. In her life, she didn’t have the adoring boyfriend, she didn’t have her own flat – she didn’t have anything like what Mia had.

  Everything about Mia’s life seemed so wonderful and all Natalie could do was watch and wish that it was her Eric was smiling and laughing with.

  As time went by, Natalie found herself watching Eric more than Mia. She became infatuated with him and kept putting herself in situations where he could possibly see her.

  She knew it was risky, but she couldn’t help it. She felt that if fate somehow intervened and made him notice her, then maybe she was the one who was meant to be with him and not Mia.

  That’s what she told herself the day she got up early and went to the 7Eleven, where she stood at the coffee machine near the donut case and the pie warmer. This was the closest she had ever situated herself to where she knew he was going to be. She assured herself that she wasn’t going to turn around, she wasn’t going to look at him, but if he saw her then, in her mind - that was fate talking.

  She had planned to immediately say that she wasn’t Mia, wanting to introduce herself and try to tempt him away. But something about the familiar way he greeted her had her wanting to experience what it was like to be her sister – just for a little while.

  However, it seemed that the longer she pretended, the deeper she sank, until she was at the point where she felt that to keep Eric, she would have to pretend to be Mia forever and that would mean moving away. She couldn’t stay in Melbourne, surrounded by people who knew them. Eventually she’d be caught out.

  The only surprise Natalie had found in Mia’s life was the fact that her best friend was deaf. With Louise being in Sydney when she had arrived, she hadn’t had a chance to see her before it was too late. She really had to work to not be around Louise too much so she wouldn’t get found out.

  She could see the way that Louise looked at her when they were over at Eric’s place, and she felt that it wouldn’t be long before some sort of confrontation would come about – then she’d truly be screwed. Because despite trying to learn a couple of basic signs, she seemed to draw a blank any time Louise was near and instead dragged Eric either into his room or out somewhere so they could be alone.

  Natalie didn’t bother to be quiet as she moved towards the passed out Mia, she knew from experience that she could move Mia about and she wouldn’t stir at all.

  Which was what she planned to do. Despite the fact that she had insinuated herself into Mia’s relationship, she didn’t hate Mia at all and couldn’t bring herself to leave her sister slumped in a chair for hours on end. Each time, Natalie would move Mia so she was laying comfortably on the couch, her head on a pillow and a blanket covering her for warmth.

  Sighing, Natalie took in Mia’s new hair colour, muttering to herself about not wanting to have red hair as she reached out to perform her ritual of repositioning her sister.

  “Don’t worry, you won’t need to dye your hair red,” Mia said suddenly as she lifted her head, causing Natalie to shriek as she leapt back from the couch.

  With wide eyes, Natalie stared at her twin, properly face to face for the first time in their lives.

  “Natalie, I presume?” said Mia, standing and moving towards her sister who was nodding her head, too dumbfounded to actually form any words.

  When the door opened, both Mia and Natalie turned their attention toward it, each girl having a very different reaction as they recognised each of the four people who entered.

  “Oh my god,” Natalie whimpered, a feeling of utter hopelessness flooded through her, making her limbs go weak as her blood pulsed loudly through her ears.

  “Sit down,” Mia instructed Natalie who did what she was told without falter. Her mind was reeling as she saw her plans come crashing down around her. They knew, they all knew…Eric knew.

  “Natalie is it?” Cayd asked calmly as he approached, she looked up at him and nodded her head slightly, her eyes flitting over each person in the room and lingering on Eric, who was refusing to make eye contact. “I’m Cayd Donnelly,” he told her, holding out his hand to introduce himself properly. “I’m a friend of Mia’s. Is it ok if we all ask you some questions?” he said calmly, pulling a chair away from the dining table and bringing it closer to the couch were Natalie was seated.

  Sighing, Natalie closed her eyes. “Fine,” she whispered.

  Mia indicated that everyone else should sit as well, which they did – all except Eric, who appeared to be the most affected out of everyone in the room.

  “Oh my god,” he choked out, looking between them. “Mia! Oh my god!” He raked his fingers through his hair as he started to pace from side to side near the dining table, glancing briefly at the twins who, before Mia had dyed her hair, would have been absolutely identical.

  Pausing, he held out his hands, pointing at both women. “This is bullshit,” he said, barely containing the anger he felt boiling just below the surface of his skin.

  Tears sprung from Natalie’s eyes as he glared at her. “I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you,” she started in an attempt to get him to understand.

  “Don’t speak to me,” he demanded, silencing her pleas. “You fucking tricked me!”

  She pressed her lips together tightly, looking around at everyone in the room but not knowing what to say to any of them.

  “I just want to know one thing,” Mia said. “Why? Why would you do this? I don’t understand…”

  “I… I came here, looking for you. My um,” Natalie gulped, her throat suddenly too dry to properly speak. With a shaky hand, she accepted the glass of water that Cayd went and got for her, nodding her thanks and sipping slowly, allowing the moisture to fill her mouth before she spoke again. “I wanted to go overseas and part of the paperwork asked me what my blood type was – I didn’t know. So I went to the doctor who mentioned in passing that it would be the same as one of my parents. Long story short – it wasn’t, which prompted them to tell me I was adopted. After a bit of searching, I found out I had a twin and came here to meet her.” She looked at Mia, giving her a small smile that was filled with regret over her recent actions.

  “But you didn’t meet me. You stole my boyfriend instead. What kind of a person does that?” Mia hissed out, her face set in a scowl as she tried to wrap her head around her twin’s actions.

  “I…” is all Natalie said, shaking her head in an attempt to still her reeling mind. She had been caught, and she knew that everything was ruined.

  “What made you decide to actually be Mia, Natalie?” Cayd asked.

  Natalie’s eyes immediately shifted to look at Eric, who was still standing, his hands on his hips and his eyebrows arched as he stared at her, waiting for an answer.

  “Because of Eric,” she whispered, dropping her head so she was closely examining the palms of her hands in her lap.

  “What did she say?” Louise asked, looking at Mia to interpret.

  “It was because of Eric,” she repeated, both out loud and by sign. She felt fairly sure that no one in the room besides her had actually heard Natalie’s response.

  Eric’s face creased further into his frown as he continued to glare at Natalie, he was waiting along with everyone else in the room for her to continue.

  “Go on,” Cayd prompted gently.

  Natalie nodded again, taking another sip of her water before continuing, “I um, started watching Mia… from a distance,” she admitted, “I guess I just wanted to see what your world was like before I approached you and then, well, he mistook
me for you and he uh,” she swallowed hard, her face burning as her hands shook, the water in her glass quivering as she held it. “He kissed me.” She looked up then and met his eyes. “Do you remember? It was at the 7Eleven and when we kissed… it was electric. I was sure you felt it too,” she almost whispered, holding Eric’s eyes in hers, pleading silently with him to understand.

  Eric cleared his throat as his gaze dropped to the floor, his brow furrowing as he thought, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he did.

  Eric again raked his hands through his hair, shook his head and blew out the breath he didn’t realise he was holding. “I can’t believe this is happening. Who the fuck does something like that? I was about to give everything up for you – I don’t even fucking know who you are!” he said, his voice raised in agitation.

  “You do know me! It was just my name you didn’t know,” Natalie cried out.

  “No! It’s all been a lie. I can’t be here right now. I can’t even look at you,” he stated with hoarse emotion as he turned on his heels and made his way to door.

  “Eric!” both Mia and Natalie called to no avail as the front door slammed shut behind him.

  “Were you ever going to tell him who you were, or were you just hoping to run off to Queensland and pretend to be Mia forever?” Josh asked, surprising everyone with this information.

  “Queensland?!” Mia called out. “What the hell? What is wrong with you?!”

  “I don’t know, I was scared of losing him if I told him the truth – it just got harder and harder to admit it and I…I love him. I’m sorry Mia. I love him and I tried to steal him away. I got so caught up in the lie and now everything is ruined.”

  “It’s beyond ruined Natalie,” Mia practically spat out, as Natalie closed her eyes tightly, tears of self-pity cascading down her cheeks.

  When the door to the flat burst open again, it startled almost everyone in the room as Eric rushed back in, a look of fury on his face as he stormed across the room.

  “Don’t speak to me,” he said through gritted teeth as Natalie opened her mouth.

  “Eric, calm down,” Mia said forcefully. “We’re trying to work this out.”

  “Mia, as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing to work out.”

  “Well, why are you back here then?”

  “Because I want to know who the fuck that is,” he growled, pointing at Cayd but only speaking to Mia.

  “He’s my friend Eric,” Mia told him quietly, suddenly feeling guilty as the memory of the night before flashed across her mind.

  “No Mia. I know all of your friends. This guy is new. What’s going on?”

  “Eric, back off mate. He’s a good guy. He’s been helping Mia through all this,” Josh interrupted.

  “All I can see is some guy sniffing around my girlfriend,” Eric stated, glaring at Cayd who huffed out a breath, already tired of sitting silently while Eric ranted.

  Cayd stood from his chair so that Eric was no longer towering over him in dominance. Eric was a good five centimetres taller than Cayd and had a slightly larger build, but Cayd knew he could handle himself and he’d promised Mia that he would take care of her through this. He wasn’t about to have Eric imply things about her when he had been happily sleeping with her twin for over a month.

  “Mia’s your girlfriend is she?” he asked in a calm voice, glaringly holding Eric’s eyes steady with his own.

  “You know she is,” Eric replied, leaning in threateningly.

  Nodding thoughtfully, Cayd continued with his line of questioning. “And when was the last time that you saw her? Mia that is – not her twin.”

  “I don’t know, alright,” Eric answered, an aggravation grating the edges of his voice.

  “Yes you do Eric, you know that exact last time you saw her,” Cayd insisted.

  “Just what are you getting at?”

  “That you knew Eric. I’m suggesting that you’ve known this whole time and that you chose to ignore it.”

  “That’s bullshit!”

  “Is it? I could see the difference straight away. Louise figured it out. Josh figured it out. Why didn’t you?”

  “Shut your mouth.”

  “It’s because you like Natalie better isn’t it? You didn’t want to ask questions because you didn’t want to face the answers.”

  “Eric, no!” Mia called as she saw him pull his arm back, his hand balled into a fist. Leaping out of her seat she tried to stop him but she was too late, his fist connected with Cayd’s jaw, causing him to stumble back slightly on his feet.

  Josh jumped up immediately and grabbed hold of Eric, not wanting it to turn into a bloodied fist fight. “What are you doing Eric?! Cayd’s a shrink! He’s trying to help,” he blurted out, feeling incredibly impressed that Cayd took the punch without falling. Eric’s right hook was powerful and Josh had seen it fall larger guys than Cayd in the past.

  Cayd closed his eyes in a wince and circled his jaw, testing the extent of the pain Eric’s fist had inflicted upon his face. Forcing himself to stand steady and not retaliate, despite how much he wanted to break Eric’s pretty face in that moment – it wasn’t going to help anyone. Instead, he stood firm and let Josh and Mia take over.

  “He’s your doctor?!” Eric directed at Mia.

  “No, he’s not my doctor Eric – you don’t need a psychiatrist for a twin sister. He’s my friend and he’s helping me. He actually listened to me when I said I couldn’t remember things.”

  “That’s not fair Mia. I wanted you to see a doctor. I offered to drive you there myself. You told me you’d go on your own and as far as I knew you did. I thought everything was fine!”

  “No Eric, I wasn’t fine. You can’t tell me the thought didn’t cross your mind when you were with her. You must have known something.”

  Eric’s eyes appeared to glaze over slightly as he reached his hand up to cup Mia’s face, smoothing his thumb over her cheek before running his hand through the length of her hair, concentrating on its new colour.

  “I’m sorry Mi,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead and turning to leave once more. He needed to think and he couldn’t do that with so many other people around him.

  As he left the flat, quietly this time, all eyes once again returned to Natalie. “I’m sorry too,” she said, rising from her seat. “I’m sorry for all of the trouble I’ve caused.”

  “Wait, where do you think you’re going?” Mia asked.

  “I need to leave. I need to talk to him. Please let me go,” she pleaded.

  “We will when you tell us what you were drugging Mia with.” Cayd stated.

  “I crushed up the sleeping pills my doctor prescribed me when I was upset over the adoption. I mixed them into her sweetener,” she whispered, looking down at her hands.

  “Jesus Christ, do you understand how dangerous that was?” Cayd berated, “You’re lucky she didn’t overdose on them.”

  “I’m sorry, I know it was stupid.”

  “You’re damn right it was stupid!” Louise yelled, “You have done irreparable damage to Mia’s life and you could have killed her! What is wrong with you! Mia, you need to call the police and have her arrested for this!”

  Mia closed her eyes and pressed her fingers firmly against her lids, shaking her head slightly as she listened to everyone argue.

  “There’s nothing wro–” Natalie retaliated before she was interrupted by Mia.

  “Just go Natalie. I don’t want to do this anymore and I don’t want to see you again. Please leave,” she told her calmly.

  “Alright,” Natalie replied, picking up her handbag and moving past the angry group of people toward the door. “I really am sorry Mia,” she said before she opened it. “This was never my intention. I just…I just got so caught up in your life that I started to forget who I was.” Mia held up her hand as if to keep the words from reaching her before turning away as Natalie opened the door and left quietly.

  Taking a deep breath, Natalie rushed down the stairs
, doing her best to keep a fresh torrent of tears at bay until after she could get to the privacy of her car.

  As she crossed the courtyard that led to the front gate, she spotted Eric sitting on the top of a picnic table that had been placed there for the residents use. His hands where pressed firmly against his forehead while his elbows rested on his knees, holding everything up.

  “Eric?” she spoke quietly, stepping carefully towards him.

  “Please go away,” he said unmoving, his voice low, gruff and filled with emotion.

  “I’m so sorry Eric,” she continued in a whisper. “I never wanted this.”

  “Well - it’s Natalie right?” she nodded. “Then what did you want Natalie? Because I can’t believe that this is seriously all about me. It’s way too Fatal Attraction to just be about me.”

  “No, it’s not like that at all. I don’t want to take over her life – I never wanted to do that, I just…I wanted you.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell me who you were then? Because Natalie, I felt it – that thing that passed between us that day in the 7Eleven; I felt it.”

  “What are you saying? That you would have left Mia for me?”

  “I don’t know Natalie – god it feels strange calling you that.”

  Natalie closed her eyes tightly as tears fell from her eyes. “I am so, so sorry Eric,” she cried.

  “So am I Natalie. This is so far beyond fucked up, that I don’t know what to call it.”

  Rising off the table, Eric walked away from her, knowing that he needed to talk to Mia. Everything was so messed up and he hoped to god that she would forgive him for not admitting what he most definitely knew. Cayd was right, he had suspected something was going on – but he chose not to believe it. When he was with Natalie, he felt things he’d never felt before. He didn’t want to look too closely at Mia’s change. He didn’t want to know that it was Natalie. He was happy in the lie.