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  I flipped my hair a few times and smiled, but Mason seemed wrapped up in his own thoughts. He had a pile of four binders and kept staring at them. Guess he had a big exam or something. That was weird if true, because exams were still several weeks away for most people. Maybe football was different.

  Logan seemed more than eager to pay attention to me, but I kept putting him off. It was kind of fun to watch him get frustrated. I got the impression he wasn’t used to a woman rejecting him, not that I was doing it outright. I just wasn’t giving him a chance to segway into asking me out.

  “Well, I should get going,” I finally said getting up from my chair. “I’ve got class. But it was great to see you guys and meet you guys. Good luck on getting into medical school, Killian!”

  “Hey, he doesn’t need luck,” assured Amy, stroking Killian’s large bicep.

  “And I hope to see you two around campus,” I said to Mason and Logan, taking one last chance to observe how hot they were. “I’m around all the time. Feel free to say hi.”

  Jeez, why did I say that? I must sound like the most desperate woman in the world!

  Chapter 4

  Logan

  “And I hope to see you two around campus,” Faith said to Mason and I. “I’m around all the time. Feel free to say hi.”

  “Uh, yeah, sure! Absolutely!” I replied, kinda dumbly, practically jumping out of my chair. I sank back down, hoping no one noticed.

  Faith headed out of the coffee shop. She had straight chestnut brown hair and light brown eyes. Her body was definitely a ten, but she dressed it down to a seven. I was guessing she was either self-conscious or religious. But, the eyes were what did it for me. She was smart, you could see it in those light brown eyes, but in a way, she was also an innocent. I watched her fantastic ass shake as she walked away.

  “Amy, tell me the deal with your friend,” I begged. “What’s she into?”

  “Oh, my God” Amy blurted out laughing. “You like Faith?! Ha! Wait until I tell her!”

  Killian leaned over to Amy, smiling, and took her hand. I could hear a tiny whip being whipped in the distance. But, seriously, can’t say I blame him for doting on Amy. She’s pretty hot. Not as hot as Faith, but hot. Faith was the perfect girl next door.

  “But she’s probably not your type, Logan.” Amy continued, wiping away tears from her laughing spurt.

  “Yeah, Logan,” said Mason. “Besides, she was talking to me.”

  “Whoa-whoa-whoa, everyone relax,” I said. “What do you mean, not my type? What’s my type?”

  “She’s a pretty traditional Catholic girl,” answered Amy. She took a sip of her latte, and then continued, “Her mom practically runs her life. I don’t think her mother would like you. Mason on the other hand…”

  “What? I’m charming,” I insisted, placing a hand over my chest in an offended manner. “Just because Mason’s shy, he gets the girl? That’s ridiculous.”

  “She did seem to like Mason,” said Killian with a shrug. “Just sayin’, bro.”

  “Well, maybe she could date both of us,” I suggested. “Like you guys do.”

  Amy was actually dating not just Killian, but also his brothers, Teagan and James, in kind of a group thing. What was up with that? Not my business, but I was curious how something like that worked or didn’t work. Seemed like it would be tough to schedule time with your girl alone, but Killian seemed happy.

  “Uh, no,” said Amy, shaking her head. “Traditional Catholic girl? Hello? Did you not hear a word I just said? Probably thinks me and the boys are all going straight to Hell.”

  “That’s your best friend you’re talking about, Amy,” I pointed out.

  “I don’t take it personal,” assured Amy with a shrug.

  ***

  Back at Mason and I’s dorm room, I rested on my bed just staring at the ceiling. I just kept replaying my meeting Faith in the coffee shop over and over in my head. Everything had changed when she entered the building--my life, the world. It was like time had stopped. And now, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I had to get with her. She was so hot.

  She didn’t seem overly impressed with football players, but she did seem to feel sorry for Mason. My old sad sack of a brother had the sympathy vote locked up. Faith had seemed genuinely interested in him, which was good for me being an identical twin. It meant I at least had a shot.

  This morning, as usual, Mason was down in the dumps about something that should’ve made him happy. I mean, jeez, he made backup quarterback freshman year in college. That’s like the best you could ever do as a freshman. Mason, of course, not only wasn’t celebrating, he was actually still a little annoyed by the entire situation.

  It wasn’t easy cheering him up sometimes. Mason was the sort of guy that could take the best day of his life and find faults with it. He could find problems with rainbows or bum out even the happiest person on their happiest day. It was exhausting being his brother sometimes.

  Faith had tried drawing Mason out of his shell, at the coffee shop and into a conversation, but my brother was a reluctant quarry. Mason hated talking about himself and would do anything to stop the conversation. I chimed in as best I could. I mean, I didn’t want to overwhelm her, but clearly Mason couldn’t handle a relationship right now. The pressure alone would spiral him into despair.

  But Mason had suddenly started talking to her! It was shocking! All these years, he was absolutely petrified of talking to women. Suddenly, he was having a conversation with this knockout. I tried to get a word in edgewise, but she kept focusing on Mason for some reason.

  I rolled off my bed, stood up and wandered around my dorm room. I had to have this girl. She was special. The way she looked, the way she talked. I couldn’t get her out of my head. Yeah, she might be interested in Mason now, but I could change that. I turned and looked at myself in the mirror. We were identical twins, if she liked the way he looked, she liked the way I looked. All I had to do was charm her.

  In the mirror, I psyched myself up. This is a twist, huh? Mason talking to the girl and you trying to get up your courage. Normally, it would be the other way around. You know, except Mason would probably be in here beating himself up about it. The kid had zero self-confidence.

  I needed to talk to Faith. God, I hate small talk. What do you say? What do people talk about? When you’re a kid, it’s easy. You talk about what’s happening in school or on TV. College was close to the real world. Sure, you could talk about class if you were in the same major. Maybe you could talk about campus life, but all that stuff was pretty boring.

  Maybe I ask her about computers? Could I pretend I had a computer problem? It had to be a big enough problem that I would need help, but not so obvious a problem that I was faking it. Maybe I could ask if she knows how to set up school email? No, what am I? A 70-year-old grandfather? Besides, you can always call the campus helpline. I frowned at my reflection.

  Maybe a virus! What’s the first thing she’ll ask if I say that? Do I have virus protection? Hmm, do I? I don’t even know. I could guess. I’m sure I do. Wait, then that looks like a lie, too. Can’t have a girl show up to your place after you tell her you have McAfee and then you have Windows Firewall or something. Man, this is hard.

  I stalked away from the mirror and flopped back down on my bed. I covered my eyes with my arm. I kept thinking of Faith’s sweet ass shake as she walked out of the coffee shop. My dick hurt. I had to tap that. I rolled onto my stomach, resisting the urge to touch myself. Fuck! I’m just going to ask her out. If I waited in the quad she would pass by at some point. Girls liked it when guys were bold. Right? I would ask her out to dinner just as soon as I could.

  Chapter 5

  Faith

  A few days later, I ran into Logan and Mason on the quad. So far, I had put my mother off. We’d cut back on everything in order to save money. Fortunately, I had paid for my meal plan in advance. I was actually stealing food in Ziploc bags to bring home for my brothers and sisters. Fortunately, the college co
uld afford it, even if I did look a little sketchy doing it. I currently had four sandwiches in my knapsack and smelled like turkey and cheese when the twins came up to me.

  “Hey, Faith!” greeted Logan a little anxiously. “Great to see you. You look good. Really good.”

  “Hey, Logan. Mason,” I greeted.

  “Hey,” mumbled Mason looking at the ground.

  “How’s computer class going?” he asked quietly.

  “Good-good,” I said. “Just a lot of one’s and zero’s,” I quipped.

  Logan gave me a confused look.

  “Because that’s binary code. In computers,” I explained.

  “Oh, yeah! Right! Ha! Duh!” he laughed, slapping his broad hand to his forehead. “Listen, if you’re not doing anything for dinner…”

  This was it! He was going to ask me out! I would’ve rather have it from Mason, but I could totally go out with Logan. God! I needed just a nice date. But about halfway through him asking me, Logan got this horrified look on his face. He was looking over my shoulder and seemed to see something that scared him.

  “Quick! Run! Come over here!” he urged, pulling us into an alleyway between buildings.

  We rushed in between the buildings and into some bushes. I glanced back to the quad, nervously. Kyle, my ex-boyfriend was walking down one of the paths with a group of frat guys. It was his usual gang of guys and he was their leader. He seemed to be looking around. For us? Why would he be looking for Mason and Logan? Kyle came closer to the buildings we were hiding between.

  “What is this all about?” I whispered, trying to keep the mood light.

  “Just hide” whispered Logan adamantly, pushing us further down the alley. “Just get back!”

  Mason pressed himself up against me, shielding me between his body and the wall. He hadn’t seen Kyle and seemed to be unsure what was going on.

  “I’ll hide you. It’s going to be OK,” Mason whispered to me with determination. He seemed to think he was saving me from something big.

  Mason had a great body. I could feel his rippling muscles against my heaving breasts. I’m not sure what he thought was going on, but I enjoyed his body pressed against mine. We made eye contact. He blushed and I probably did too.

  I supposed if we were attacked in some way his big body would protect me. His body warmth was making me hot. I could feel my nipples getting hard. I thought about kissing him, but considering that his brother had just asked me out, I felt that was a bad idea.

  “Okay, I think he’s gone,” said Logan, turning around, and looking at us. “Hey, what the hell, Mason?”

  “What? You said to hide. I was hiding her,” explained Mason.

  “Hide, not rub up against her, you weirdo!” snapped Logan.

  “I thought there was a shooter or something. I was shielding her with my body!” Mason reluctantly moved away from me and walked over to his twin.

  “What the fuck was that, Logan?” Mason crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared.

  Logan met his gaze, with an equally icy glare.

  “It was Kyle, Mas,” he said poking his brother in the chest. “I owe that guy money and I haven’t bothered to get the funds yet. Dill hole!”

  “I’m a dill hole? You just asked us to hide for something that you did. Something stupid, I might add,” grunted Mason. “My brother gambles.”

  “She didn’t need to know that, Mason!” snapped Logan.

  “Well, if you’re embarrassed about it, maybe you shouldn’t do it,” advised his brother.

  “Don’t tell me what to do!” countered Logan, placing both hands on his brothers chest. “Do I tell you what to do?!”

  “Yeah! You do it all the time! And you just told me to hide! Remember?!”

  “Guys-guys,” I said, trying to cool the situation. I worked my way out of the bushes and walked towards them. “Let’s not fight okay. You’re brothers. You’re family.”

  “Yeah, man!” said Logan. “I supported you during your quarterback try out! How quick you forget!”

  “I didn’t forget! Don’t put that on me! How did I forget anything just now?” demanded Mason.

  “You’re always dropping this guilt trip on me about dad,” said Logan. “I don’t control our parents, okay? They do what they want. How am I to blame for them not showing up to your games? They don’t come to my games either!”

  There were definitely a lot of issues bubbling to the surface with these too. In a strange way, it made me more attracted to them both. They weren’t these two-dimension jocks I imagined. They were both complex and nuanced. They had family problems like me, albeit totally different kinds of family problems.

  Issues like this can bubble over after a time. My mother was classic for putting things aside and ignoring it until the problem built and built and just exploded at some inopportune moment. On top of the fact that she was a hot headed Catholic woman with strong opinions about everything and everyone.

  Logan and Mason were close to coming to blows. You can just sense it with guys. They run out of things to say and they just start wrestling and punching. I didn’t want to see that. For some reason, the very thought of it hurt my heart. I couldn’t just stand there any longer.

  “Guys, please, you’re upsetting me. I don’t want to see you fight!” I implored.

  “Faith, I’m sorry my brother is upsetting you,” said Mason, kindly, turning to face me. “He’ll calm down in a minute.”

  “Don’t you patronize me!” snapped Logan. “I’m the one that patronizes you all the time! Mainly because you don’t know how to have a normal conversation!”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” demanded Mason, the anger back in his voice. He snapped back to face his brother.

  “You’re a freak, bro! That’s what!” said Logan, his eyes wild and hurt. “Every time I take you out, it’s like an ordeal trying to get you to socialize normally. I think you might be autistic or something!”

  “Stop that,” said Mason, advancing threateningly. “There’s nothing wrong with me. We’re twins, you idiot, if I was autistic, you’d be too!”

  “Not necessarily! I don’t know the science behind it, but I’m sure it’s possible,” insisted Logan.

  “Well, maybe if you didn’t gamble so much, we wouldn’t be in this situation! Maybe you've got a problem, Logan! Ever think of that?!” snapped Mason, putting his hand on Logan’s broad shoulders.

  “I don’t have to stand here and listen to this!” Logan said, suddenly outraged. “I’m out of here.”

  He pushed Mason’s hands off his shoulders and stormed off.

  Mason and I stood there shocked. I never answered about the date or did I? Were we going out to dinner? I didn’t even have Logan’s number. I could also go out with Mason. What am I saying? It’s like I’m attracted to both of them. Oh! Oh, no! Oh, no, no, my mother would never accept that! Doing what Amy did? Oh, no. No-no-no-no. I could feel my cheeks coloring. I had to leave. I dashed out of the alley way and down the quad.

  “Wait, Faith!” Mason called after me.

  Logan took off one way and I went the other. We had both had enough. Poor Mason was left perplexed standing in the alleyway in the bushes.

  Chapter 6

  Mason

  I was sitting on a park bench in the quad hoping that Faith would walk by. It had been days since our last very awkward encounter and I had been trying to catch her in the quad every day since. Gregory, one of the grounds keeper guys, spotted me. He came over and stood by the bench next to me. We had talked on occasion. Gregory was a gray-haired guy that had been working at Highwater College for as long as I knew. Guess he thought I looked a little stressed.

  “Hey, Mason! What’s up my boy?” he greeted, shaking my hand. “Heard you made backup quarterback. Nice!”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty good. Thanks,” I said.

  “What’s wrong? You look like you lost your best friend,” he noted, his brown eyes crinkled in worry.

  “Ah, it’s this girl,” I
stammered. I shrugged and absentmindedly rubbed the back of my neck.

  “It always is,” smiled Gregory.

  Gregory sat down and put his rake aside.

  “Tell me your troubles, son,” he said, getting his lunch out of a brown paper bag.

  “There’s this girl I met, named Faith,” I explained. “She’s kind of religious.”

  “Makes sense. Guess she has the right name! Heh-heh, go on.”

  “My brother and I got introduced to her through another player’s girlfriend. I think she likes me, but Logan was going to ask her out. I didn’t know what to do,” I said shyly.

  “You should ask her out,” suggested Gregory. “Early bird gets the worm, my man.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t. So we were in the quad walking and we spotted Faith a few days ago. Then Logan yells and suddenly tells us to hide and I thought it was a campus shooter or something, so I moved her into the alley and shielded her with my body,” I explained.

  Gregory laughed. He laughed so hard he almost dropped his tuna sandwich.

  “I’m sorry, Mason. If anyone else was telling that story, I wouldn’t believe them,” he explained. “But you, you’re a good kid. Trying to save her and all. She probably sees that.”

  “Still, I want to apologize to her,” I said. “Logan and I ended up fighting and then she ran off upset.”

  “Well, your brother’s a bit of a hothead, but he loves you. I talked to him the other day. He was going on and on about you being the backup quarterback. Don’t let a woman come between you two, okay?” he advised.

  “I guess not,” I said looking down at the ground.

  “You guess not?” said Gregory shocked. “Listen, women come and go, but family is forever. You work that shit out with your brother. It’s important, ya hear?”

  “Okay-okay,” I relented, putting my hands up in surrender. “How do I work it out with him?”