The Twins' Plan

"You're not a loser, Aiden."

She was right. The past few weeks with Hannah had really done a lot for his self-esteem, and he was finally starting to break out of his repetitive cycle of self-doubt, but seeing Ashley again brought all those feelings rushing back.

"You're not a loser," Madison repeated. "Today was just... bad luck. We would have never gone to their house if we'd known Ashley was going to be there. And then you stuck your tongue half-way up Hannah's pussy, which probably made things worse for Ashley. Why'd you do that anyway?"

It seemed like she was changing the topic, but it was a fair question.

"I don't know, Mads. Because I'm a horny teenager. Because Hannah was teasing me by pulling off her bikini bottoms and exposing her most private parts only inches from my face. She was practically daring me to do it, and I only have so much willpower."

Madison nodded as if she accepted that reason.

"I'm not angry about it," she said, unconvincingly. "But Ashley obviously was. Let's let Hannah deal with it. For now, just avoid Ashley, if you can."

"You mean like I've been doing for the past three years?" He said. "Sure, no problem." His words were more bitter than he'd intended, but Madison didn't respond.

When they got home, Madison's phone rang.

"Hey," she said, answering the call. There was a moment of silence, then a look of concern spread across her face.

"Right now?" Madison said. There was another moment of silence. "Okay, okay," she said, quickly acquiescing to whatever Hannah was asking her to do. "I'll go back over right away."

"What is it?" Aiden said.

"I have to go back over to Hannah's."

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm not completely sure," she said, but it was obvious that she was keeping something to herself. "Hannah needs my help to smooth things over with Ashley. That's all I know."

He nodded, handed her the keys and she rushed out the door.

Aiden Miller had never been on a date, but only a few weeks into his freshman year he'd somehow managed to ask out the prettiest girl in school, another freshman named Ashley Baker. Technically, Ashley was tied for prettiest girl since she had an identical twin sister named Hannah, but Ashley seemed to be more his type; she was quieter, into obscure rock bands, and she smiled at his nerdy jokes.

He thought he'd won the lottery when she was assigned as his Chemistry lab partner, and things got even better when he unintentionally asked her to go on a date. It was one of those weird verbal misunderstandings, but before he could clear things up, she had said yes to meeting up Friday night. The only problem was that he didn't know what to do on a date. He considered asking his sister Madison for ideas, but she didn't have any experience either. The only person he knew with a girlfriend was Jimmy Bozzeli, so he went to him for advice.

"Dude, you seriously landed a date with a Baker twin?" Jimmy said, in disbelief. "Holy shit, how the hell did you do that?"

Aiden shrugged. "Just asked her, I guess."

"Huh," Jimmy said, as if it was some strange new courting technique. "You got lucky, bro."

"So, um, what should I do?" Aiden said.

Jimmy looked at him in disbelief. "You don't know what to do on a date? Seriously, HOW did you manage to land Ashley Baker?" He shook his head again. "Look, it doesn't matter. Dates are easy, you just need to break through all her defensive barriers. See, girls put up these barriers, but they really just want you to get past them, so just ignore everything she says and be an Alpha. Also, don't take her to dinner, at least not a full meal. Chicks don't like it when you watch them eat. Just go see a movie and get some snacks at the movie theater. Since it's your first date, make sure to take her to a really scary one. And wear shorts and a t-shirt, so when she reaches out during the scary parts, she'll catch some of that bare skin. That shit works every time. Finally, and this is my trade secret so don't tell anyone, take a couple of viagra before you go. It'll give you confidence and guarantee performance when you get her home later that night, if you know what I mean."

Jimmy talked fast and left almost no room for questions.

"Viagra?" Aiden said. "Isn't that what old men use for--"

"Shhh," Jimmy said, looking around. "Yeah, man, but it's a performance enhancer. Doesn't matter if you're young or old, it works. And if this is your first date, you'll need all the help you can get."

"But I don't have any," Aiden said.

"Don't sweat it, bro, I'll swipe some from my mom's boyfriend's stash. But you'll owe me."

Later that week, just before an ambulance was called to the Cineplex 16, the last thing Aiden remembered before passing out was a concerned look on Ashley's face, and a group of classmates gathered around him with phones held up and recording.

When he woke up in the hospital, his parents and his sister Madison were by his bedside, alongside a doctor explaining that they'd manage to stabilize his blood pressure and he would be okay. Physically, he would make a full recovery, but what would not make a full recovery was his nascent high school image. Viral videos of a passed-out boner boy had already made the rounds, destroying any chance of a normal high school life. For all intents and purposes, his world was over. From now on, every day of his existence would be a torturous experience, with constant reminders of how much of a deviant weirdo he was.

When Madison returned from Hannah and Ashley's house a few hours later, she went straight to her room and locked her door. Aiden had to knock a few times before she let him in.

"So, what happened?" he asked, wondering what the fallout of Ashley catching him face-deep in her sister's behind had been.

"Not much," she said, evasively.

"You were there for like three hours, Mads." She wore a heavy expression, like she was still processing the aftermath of a serious discussion.

"We talked," she said. "Ashley was upset and Hannah and I tried to calm her down."

"That's all?" Aiden said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Basically," Madison said, looking away.

"Mads..."

"You'll just have to trust me that everything is okay now," his sister said cryptically. "I know you want more details, but that's all I can say."

"Okay," he said, knowing that pushing it any further would be futile.

An awkward silence lingered between them.

"I guess this means we're done with the plan," he said. He was a little disappointed. His self-esteem had noticeably improved since Madison and Hannah had taken it upon themselves to rehabilitate him using this plan of theirs.

"Um, yeah," Madison said, avoiding his gaze. "The plan is still..." she glanced around the room, then down at her phone as if looking for answers. "We'll keep going," she finally said.

"Oh?" He was pleasantly surprised, but wondered if Ashley had complicated things.

"What happened with Ashley was a small setback," Madison said. "It sucks how it went down, and I feel bad for Hannah since it caused a rift between them, but I don't care about Ashley. I care about you." She finally looked him in the eyes and her words were confident and sincere. "Nothing and no one will ever stop me from wanting to help my brother. We'll just have to be more careful in the future. We won't go to Hannah's house anymore. She can come here. We can still make it work and keep your progress moving forward."

"Okay," he nodded, but an unsettling feeling lingered in the pit of his stomach. Ashley now knew that something was going on between him and Hannah. It wasn't like he saw Ashley very often, or even said a word to her since the awkwardly tragic date, but something told him that would all soon change.

Aiden expected his nerves to be on edge that next Monday morning at school, but he strangely felt at ease. Maybe it was because Madison had reassured him that everything would be okay, or maybe the weeks of confidence building with Hannah were starting to pay off. Either way, he wasn't too worried about the possibility of running into Ashley at school.

The real test of his new-found poise would come just before lunch, when he occasionally passed Ashley in the hallway. Their fourth period classes were right across from each other, and odds were that they would at least see each other in passing.

Sure enough, after walking out of Senora Tinsley's Spanish class, Ashley was standing casually in the hallway, making small talk with two of her classmates. She glanced up, met his eyes, which caused a momentary surge of anxiety, but he fought his natural instinct to look away and somehow managed an half-apologetic smile. At least he hoped it would come across that way. She didn't react, so he kept moving forward, still marveling at his mostly composed reaction.

A few moments later, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

When he turned, Ashley was standing there with an indecipherable look on her face.

"Can we talk?" she said in a low but neutral voice.

"Y-yeah, sure," he nodded, glancing around at the crowds of students passing them. This could only be about one thing: him being tongue-deep and her sister Hannah's naked rear end.

She nodded and turned, walking the opposite way, so he followed until they exited the school's south entrance and walked towards the football field bleachers.

"Ashley?" he said, wondering how far she would lead them. She didn't respond and kept walking until they had climbed to a secluded area at the top of the bleachers.

She sat down and he did too, then he waited for her to say something. She narrowed her eyes and studied him for a long while before saying anything.

"The last time we were this close, I had to call 911," she said.

"Yeah," he acknowledged awkwardly. "Not exactly my finest hour. Thanks, by the way. I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

"You didn't," she said, without a hint of emotion in her voice. "You didn't say much of anything after that. You didn't answer my calls or texts, and you did your best to avoid me at school."

Everything she was saying had been true, but how could he explain himself? How could he tell her that he'd had the best of intentions -- that he'd wanted to shield her from the crude nicknames and brutal teasing that had become routine for him because of his stupid actions that day.

"I was an idiot," he said.

Her expression softened a bit.

"And immature," he added. "Probably still am..."

She nodded softly.

He continued. "And I stupidly thought that avoiding you would save you from going through the torture I was experiencing."

"Aiden, I know it was bad, but--"

"It went beyond bad, Ash. It was cruel. Everyday was worse than the previous one. If it hadn't been for Madison, I don't think I would have made it through."

"I'm sorry," she said. "But when you completely ghosted me, it really hurt, and it didn't save me," she said softly. "I was teased and ridiculed too. All you did was make us go through it alone, instead of together."

"I'm sorry," he said again.

She nodded.

"I've been waiting three years for us to have this talk," she said, her expression turning hard again. "If you'd said this to me last week, I would have accepted your apology. I would have understood." Her voice began to waiver, as if she was holding back a deluge of pain and anger.

"But instead, I walk in on you and Hannah--"

Her voice broke and she turned away.

He didn't know what to do, or what to say, so he just sat there. After a few moments, she turned around and looked composed again, but she didn't look him in the eyes.

"Just tell me one thing," she said. "And don't lie to me."

He nodded.

"Do you love her?"

His eyes shot open. "Hannah?" he said, his tone reflecting his surprise at her question.

She nodded. Her eyes observed him carefully.

"No," he said honestly. "With Hannah, it's not love."

Her gaze lingered on him and then she seemed to relax, as if accepting his answer. There was a long awkward moment between them and then she got up ad started walking back down the bleachers.

"Aiden," she said, without turning around. "I know about the plan."

"Oh," he said, wondering how she'd found out. Hannah and Madison must have told her that evening, that's probably why Hannah called Madison back over. Explaining the plan to Ashley was probably the only way to give any kind of a rational explanation for what she had caught them doing.

"I'm not happy about it," Ashley said. "But I can tell it's working. You've changed."

Her words contained a strange mix of disappointment and hopefulness. He wanted to respond but she had already reached the bottom bleachers.

"Ashley," he called out before she'd gone too far. She stopped and turned.

"We have a game on Friday. Will you come?"

She nodded.

Friday's game had become a grueling back-and-forth battle with one of the district's top-seeded teams. They were about evenly matched in skills, but there was an obvious gap in physical conditioning, causing their starting five to get exhausted. At half-time, their coach reluctantly substituted Aiden and a few usual bench warmers to give their starting lineup a break. Their opponents saw this as a sign of weakness and made a push to widen their lead, but Aiden kept them in the game with a mix of long range jump shots and threes.

He barely had time to register the growing cheers every time he scored, but he did manage a few passing glances towards Hannah, Madison, and even Ashley, who was sitting high in the bleachers.

With a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, Aiden sank another three pointer from deep in the corner, putting them up by five points. Coach then took Aiden back out, replacing him with one of their starters that had struggled in the first half. Madison and a few others cursed loudly for pulling Aiden while he had such a hot hand.

"Coach, I can keep going," Aiden said, as he reached the bench.

Coach ignored him, so he sat down. But they were up by five with just over two minutes left in the game, so all they had to do was focus on defense and burn down the clock.

Then a couple of costly turnovers and a few missed shots put them down by two with twenty seconds left. In the background, chants of "put Miller in" started to grow. Coach ignored them and drew up a play that would give their shooting guards some options to tie the game and force overtime.

"Coach, Aiden has the hot hand," one of the starters said. Before Coach could reply, a few of his teammates spoke up in agreement.

"Fine," he said grudgingly. "Miller, you're in. Try not to space out and mess it up this time." Aiden nodded and looked up at the shot clock. It was their ball with twenty seconds to go. For a brief instant, he felt the abyss pulling him into an anxiety-filled despair again, but then he heard his sister shouting encouraging cheers. She and Hannah were both jumping wildly, leading the cheerleaders in a chant to motivate the team to get the lead back and win.

He had come a long way in the past few months. The insecure version of himself that feared failure was still there, but this time he wouldn't withdraw. This time, he would meet the challenge head on with a focused and determined mind and accept whatever outcome lay in store.

The opposite team grimaced when they saw him walk out onto the floor, which gave him a small boost of confidence. He was a genuine scoring threat, so at a minimum, he could be a distraction that would allow someone else to score.

He played up top, catching the inbounds pass at the top of the key, but was closely guarded by two opponents. He quickly moved the ball to their center, but he was instantly crowded by two other players, so he passed it back out to another of their shooting guards who was open at the three point line. He let it fly, and it was a good clean shot, but it was a little long and bounced hard off the rim to the opposite wing.

There was a mad scramble for the loose ball. One of their opponents got a hand on it and tapped it to a teammate that was already on a fast break, but Aiden managed to intercept the overconfident pass and drove forward before their defense could reset.

He knew there couldn't be much time left on the clock, but checking the scoreboard would break his momentum. He eyed an open spot just outside the three point line and dribbled towards it.

In the background, a countdown had begun. He had less than three seconds to get the shot off, so he stopped, squared up and let the ball fly. A moment later the buzzer rang and the ball dropped through the net, putting them up by one. His teammates, the cheerleaders, and the crowd was going wild. He had won the game.

Afterwards, everyone wanted to know what his plans were. The usual Friday night parties would be starting soon and everyone wanted to attend whichever one he'd be at.

"Can't tonight," he said, to disappointed faces.

Later that night, when they were back in Madison's room, he decided that it was time to make a bold statement.

"I think I'm cured of my Ashley-triggered anxiety," he said.

Hannah and Madison both looked up but didn't say anything.

"I mean, I talked to her earlier this week and I was fine. And she came to the game tonight and it didn't throw me off. So I'm good, right?"

"You talked to her earlier this week?" Madison asked.

"Yeah. Monday, just before lunch."

"And what happened?" Hannah said. "What did she say?"

"She was upset that I avoided her all these years. I told her I was sorry, and that was pretty much it. We didn't talk again after that, but I saw her at the game tonight."

He decided against mentioning that Ashley had told him that she knew about the plan. Hannah and Madison seemed relieved that this had been the extent of his conversation with Ashley.

Then his sister raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So you think because you were able to talk to Ashley face-to-face for a few minutes, that you're completely cured?"

"I also didn't freeze up during the game," he reminded her.

"Hmmm..." Madison said, then waved him over.

He got up, walked over and sat next to her.

Hannah followed and sat on his other side.

"You've definitely made progress," Madison acknowledged. "And maybe you're right, but we'll have to put it to a test."

"A test?" he repeated.

"Sure," his sister said. "If you think you're completely over what happened with Ashley, then a simple test will prove it."

Something told him that whatever Madison and Hannah had in mind wouldn't be so simple. But after everything that had happened over the last month, he figured he'd be able to handle anything they could throw at him.

Hannah watched him with a subtle and unreadable smile.

"Okay," he said. "What do I do?"

Madison took off her fitness watch and put it on his wrist. "Keep your heartbeat under 140 and you pass."

His heart rate probably only hit one hundred and forty beats per minute once or twice during the final moments of that night's game. There was no way Hannah would trigger him enough to send his heart rate that high.

Madison opened up her fitness app.

"A resting heart rate of eighty two beats per minute," she said. "Not bad. Let's see how long it lasts."

"Aiden," a voice called out from Hannah's direction. He turned, instantly feeling chills throughout his body. "Aiden, you were really amazing tonight."

It was Hannah talking, but her voice sounded exactly like Ashley's.

One thing that really set the Baker twins apart was their voices; Hannah's voice was rhythmical and energetic, while Ashley's was more soft-spoken and even-toned. Maybe that's why it had been so easy to get used to being around Hannah; even though she looked exactly like Ashley, their voices were very different. And to make things worse, Hannah was adding just a pinch of seductiveness to her tone and looking at him with an expression of someone who was vulnerable and in need of comfort.