It had been a couple weeks that Mae had been missing for. She still hadn't called anybody. Evie had gone to check in with Mae's work however, and learned that she'd shown up since leaving home but that she'd been fired. Which had been cause for concern, Mae loved her job and it was concerning that she'd gotten herself fired and even more concerning to think about how she was taking it. Though, a couple days later Evie hadn't learned from a friend of Mae's that she'd planned to take what would have been her honeymoon as a vacation. So it helped to know she was probably just relaxing on a beach somewhere, trying to take a break from all the stress. So Evie eased up on the phone calls, only trying to check in every couple days. She still wanted to hear directly from Mae that she was okay but tried to respect her apparent desire for space.
Clearly though, Mae was back from her vacation as she'd shown up on Evie's doorstep. Evie nearly knocked her over in a hug when she opened the door to see her standing there. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Are you? We'll see."
"Okay, I don't know what that's supposed to be about, but whatever. Come in, explain. I think you have a lot of that to do."
"I think you have some to do yourself."
"Whatever. Just sit. I'll make us tea? Hot chocolate? Whatever you want... I have a feeling this will take a while."
Mae shrugged, "hot chocolate I guess."
Mae followed Evie to the kitchen and grabbed a seat at the counter where she started tearing up, "you said you don't talk to Julianne anymore. That it was only because of me you even tried to be civil to each other."
"And where's this coming from? I wasn't lying."
"Well you didn't seem to have any issue rushing over to see her when I was gone."
"What? Oh, I went to see if you'd moved into the house or if she had, since I hadn't talked to either of you had no idea. I was just looking for you. How'd you know about that?"
"I knew it wasn't her behind the phone call. I know she doesn't care about whether or not I get my stuff back, she doesn't care at all. But I went to check in when I got back anyway and she confirmed you'd been there, she didn't know if she had any of my stuff or not it was only and excuse to get me to call..."
"mmhhmm... because I was worried about you. I asked if she'd heard from you, doubted it but it was worth a shot. She offered to help. She does care about you."
"And she let slip that you had a lovely conversation about reconciling your friendship... she hoped I didn't mind."
"Ahh... well... yes, that did happen. But I had, and have, absolutely no intention of following through on that if it bugs you too much. I promise. I won't do that to you. Sisters first, especially twin sisters. I'm not ruining our friendship for anyone. We may have the most dysfunctional sisterly bond ever, especially for twins... but you still are my twin. You're pretty much the other half of me and nobody gets me like you do. You're my very best friend." Evie passed over a mug of hot chocolate.
Mae took her hot chocolate and stared at it in silence for a few minutes, not even taking a sip first. Evie paced around the kitchen waiting for her to say whatever was on her mind.
Mae still didn't take her eyes off her cup as she spoke, "I guess... I don't even have the right to be mad, anyway. I'm the one who betrayed you. She was interested in you first. And I know you turned her down, but... at least a part of you wanted it give it a shot, didn't it?"
"I guess, maybe a bit. But it was just passing curiosity, figuring out my sexuality. It was just kind of a confusing thing for me, you know. I did kind of want to know what it would be like and for a bit I kind of wished that I'd given it a shot with her. I mean, my best friend, it seemed like it would be easy. But I realized it was more the idea of being with a girl than it being that particular one. But then of course I was still confused, because I was like... but it's not girls, is it? I guess it just made me think a lot. But anyway, I was happy for you, even when I was still kind of curious. It wouldn't have been fair to expect you to just wait while I figured things out if you knew what you wanted... you deserved the chance to go for it. Besides, you asked and I gave my permission."
"Yeah, after something happened, which is horrible."
"Well, it's fine anyway. Julianne is the common denominator here, so it's her we should be annoyed with, not each other."
Mae finally looked up at her sister raising an eyebrow at her, "and you still want to be her friend again?"
"I don't really know. I like to believe maybe things can be how they were before, that's she's grown past that nasty phase of hers. But I don't know. I feel like I should try though. But really it's fine if you're not okay with it. I know she hurt you a lot."
"I don't know if I am okay with it, but I can try."
"Why don't we give it time? When everybody has a chance to heal more. We can see then."
Mae nodded, "That sounds good."
They continued to drink their hot chocolates, in silence until they'd finished then moved over to the sofa where it was more comfortable. They sat in silence for a couple more minutes there, too. Eventually Mae broke the silence, "You know how you hated that I never wanted to hang out with you and Julianne?"
Evie nodded.
"I always knew I liked her. I just thought it would super awkward if I confessed that to anyone. I didn't want to feel that way. I totally thought she'd be straight and I'd look like an idiot. But then I realized how much she liked you and then I was so jealous. I kind of hated you for that, because she liked you, which is stupid. And I was stupid to ever get involved with her. I should have known how it would end for me."
"Well, she still sucks for hurting you, she should have known better too. But, you're going to find somebody someday who's worth it, who loves you and only you."
"I hope so."
"You will. I promise."
"Hey, do you mind if I crash here on the sofa for a bit? I'm so tired. And by a bit I mean like a few days... a couple weeks. I really don't want to go home. Mom and dad are just too much to handle right now, they're going to hate that I lost my job and be even worse than before. I'll find a job and a new place as soon as I can."
"You can stay as long as you want, hey if you stay long enough I can get a free babysitter out of it. But you know mom and dad mean well. They just worry about you. You should at least call them."
"I will, later. After I nap. Also I'm taking you up on that offer to go shopping for my nephew later. I'm going to spoil that boy rotten." Mae flashed Evie a smile.
Evie teared up a bit and hugged Mae tightly, she thought Mae would have deleted the message without even listening to it and was touched that she hadn't.