Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 16:41:52 +0000 From: Krys T Subject: Dealing With It 3 This story is fiction and the results of my deranged mind. It is not intended to resemble anyone else's work or any person that is real. I apologize if it does. If you are not of legal age or this type of material is banned in your area, leave. Easy as that. All criticism is welcome, but be nice. If you like it please let me know so I can continue. Enjoy. 3 Zane The next week passed quickly for me. Three mornings a week I had early practice, and we were asked to voluntarily come in once in the afternoon. I went to all practices and threw myself into swimming with enthusiasm. Both Coach Henderson and Assistant Coach Medun had been surprised to see my level of expertise. When asked, I admitted that I had been on the swim team at my old school but wanted to see if I was truly capable of making it here. Obviously I was; Henderson slotted me as a starter. Unless anything major happened, I would be swimming freestyle in the next meet, which was only a month away. I was afraid of what the others on the team would think about me starting in our first meet, but Anthony and his group congratulated me with sincerity. They often asked me to hang out with them after school, but I was still a little shy and uncertain about their feelings toward me, so I always politely refused. Swimming had become one of the constants in my life. Ciana was the other. Everyday, at some point, she would approach me just to ask how things were going. I could tell it was genuine interest that brought her back time and again, and I wondered briefly if she had a crush on me. As if my thoughts had summoned her, Ciana appeared at my side, a wide grin stretched across her face. "What are you up to tonight?" she asked, still grinning. "Nothing. My usual Friday night. Might rent a movie." I replied. Her smile grew larger. "Good. I want you to meet me at Lucas' around seven," she said walking away. After just a week, even I knew better than to argue. Ciana always got her way, and if you argued with her she'd only make it worse for you. I just shook my head and finished stowing my stuff in my locker. The day went by pretty quickly, and shortly before seven I found myself standing in front of Lucas' wondering what the fuck I was thinking. It wasn't that I didn't like Lucas'. The little diner was a great place, filled with good food and awesome music. The owner was a little old man who knew how to interact with teenagers, and in response to his openness, the diner quickly became the main spot for students. I had found it when I first moved to town and decided to explore my new home. Gregory, the owner, had come out and introduced himself to me, before getting one of the servers to come take my order. Ever since then, I had frequented Lucas', but only during the slow part of the day, my shy nature taking over. Now, I stood outside the door and wondered what lay in store for me inside. I scanned quickly for Ciana as I entered, but couldn't see her anywhere in the diner. I did see Anthony and some of the guys from the swim team grouped around a large table. Anthony waved me over when he saw me, and manners dictated that I at least stop and say hello. "Hey Z, Ciana's gonna be a little late so you get to hang out with us for a while before suffering her!" He laughed. "We're just talking about the upcoming meet. You ready for it?" I sank down into a free chair beside Anthony. "Not even close," I admitted. "And totally terrified." Everyone laughed. I looked at the guys I was sitting with. To my left was Anthony, dark eyed, dark haired Italian, though he was blessed with little body hair. He wasn't bad to look at, 5'8 and slim. Beside him was Jeff. Jeff was a little bit of a geek; a computer genius when he wasn't swimming. He was thin and lanky, standing 6'2" with hair so light it had been bleached grey by the constant chlorine. Next to him was Richard (Rick), who looked like the boy next door. Plain brown hair hung slightly over his eyes, his face was rounded, and when he smiled you were blasted with the cutest dimples. Chocolate brown eyes seemed to express his every thought. Between Rick and me was the other Richard (Rich). Rich had shaggy blonde hair that constantly fell into his hazel eyes. He was my height and ripped. Not big, just muscled. "Don't worry about it Zane, you're one of the best swimmers we have," Jeff remarked. "You'd probably do good even at your worst." I smiled slightly. I wasn't going to disagree and be falsely modest. I knew I was one of the best the school had, but that didn't make the up coming meet any easier to handle. "Why do you assholes come here when you know I'm working?" asked a deep voice from beside me. We all turned to look at Caelum who stood just behind Rich and me. Since that day in the locker room, I had watched him whenever I could. By eavesdropping on conversations I learned that his name was Caelum and, like me, he was a junior. He was also the star of the basketball team and had once been a member of the swim team. The only thing I could not find out from my snooping was if the guy was single or not. The only name I ever heard his mentioned with was Ciana, but I knew from talking with her that she was single, so she wasn't dating him. If anyone knew of his dating status, they were keeping it to themselves. "Cuz we love ya," Anthony laughed. "Anyways, it was Ci's idea to meet here; she said she had something she wanted to talk about." "Yeah. Right. I believe you," Caelum replied. "What do you want today?" One by one, the others began placing their orders until Caelum's silver gaze rested on me. "Just a Coke," I said. Those silver eyes stared at me, into me, as if waiting for me to continue. "Not really hungry," I finished lamely. He nodded once before taking the orders back to the kitchen. When Caelum left, I noticed Anthony looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face. "What?" I asked, wondering if I had something on my face. "Nothing," he answered, "at least nothing yet." Anything else he might have said was forgotten as Ciana burst through the doors and headed straight for where we were sitting. With her hair streaming behind her, Ciana looked like a child as she raced to our table. "Ordering without me again?" She accused Anthony. He only smiled. "Did you at least tell Cae I was coming?" "Yes I did, baby girl. He probably put an order in for you, too," everyone laughed as Ciana stuck her tongue out and claimed the chair between Anthony and me. While everyone was distracted Caelum had appeared with the drinks the others had ordered with their food and my lone Coke. I watched, behind lowered lids, as he placed each drink before the proper person and set another glass in front of Ciana. "I got you the chicken pita," he told her. She pulled him down to her level and whispered something in his ear. With their faces so close together, I was struck by the similarity in their features. And then it hit me: they were siblings. Those same silver-grey eyes stared out of two faces, and I found myself staring back. Everyone laughed as I stared at the two, my eyes flicking from one to the other, noting what was the same and what was different. First was the hair. Ciana's hair was a curly mess that reached the middle of her back. It was the same black with blue highlights as Caelum's butt-length straight hair. Both had the same silver eyes set in triangular faces, but Ciana's cheekbones were more pronounced, and Caelum's jaw was a bit wider. There was a small scar above Caelum's right eye, and Ciana had a small beauty mark on the edge of her left eye. The differences weren't big, but they were enough to make them not look identical. Finally Rich took pity on me and whispered, "They're twins." I nodded slightly and managed to drag my eyes away. Everyone laughed again, and Caelum straightened up and headed back to the kitchen. I watched as he walked away, staring at the denim covered curve of his ass, remembering what it looked like. I looked away as I felt myself start to rise and press against the confines of my jeans. Anthony was looking at me, that odd expression back on his face. "When Cae gets back, I'll tell you why I asked you all to come here," Ciana told us. So we sat back and waited, talking quietly and drinking our drinks. Caelum I had watched Anthony and the rest of the guys come in with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. There were times I wished I worked somewhere else so that they couldn't visit me whenever the inclination struck them. At least I can say my feelings about them were clear. When Zane walked through the door I was hit with panic, lust and something else that I couldn't name. As he headed toward the table the guys were at, I nearly dropped my tray. I always served the guys when they came in. The other servers always joked, saying it was punishment for being friends with them in the first place. I knew there was no way I could beg off and have someone else serve them without looking suspicious. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to them. I joked around with them before taking their orders. When I got around to Zane, he only ordered a Coke. I stared at him for a minute before he stated he wasn't hungry. I could feel how uneasy he was, discomfort just radiated off of him. I nodded and headed back to the kitchen. My demeanour slipped as I reached that sanctuary, and I leaned heavily against the wall. "Cae?" Anita, Gregory's wife asked, concern mirrored in her eyes. "I'm alright Anita, just a little tired." I told her, moving away from the wall to enter the orders. Working on auto- pilot, I got all the drinks before walking back into the dinning room. Ci was already there when I reached the table. I set all the drinks down, and then turned to my sister. "I got you the chicken pita," I told her. When she pulled me down, I didn`t resist. "I need your help Cae," she whispered. "Preferably all of you guys if I can." "Of course," I whispered back. I looked up to see Zane staring at the two of us. It was something we were used to by now. I couldn't help but laugh with the others as Zane blushed lightly while his eyes slid back and forth between Ciana and me. I heard Rich whisper that we were twins and saw the understanding dawn on Zane's face. I stood back up and went to the kitchen. Gregory was there with Anita and only smiled and shooed me away when I asked if I could leave early. "Go. You're always the first here and the last to leave anyway," he laughed as he pushed me out the door. "Go entertain your friends. Lynn can cover that last little bit of your shift for you." With that accomplished, I headed back to where the others sat, wondering what help my baby sister could need that would require all of us. I grabbed a chair from another table and sat between Anthony and Jeff, right across from Zane so that I had an uninterrupted view. We all sat in silence as we waited for Ciana to tell us her reason for wanting to see us. "Well, okay," she started, "I asked you all to meet me here because I need your help. Most of you know about the project I'm working on. Well, something's come up. . ." That's Chapter 3. Sorry it took so long and sorry it's so short. I hit a wall mentally while writing it and the story went in a different direction than what I had planned. So I have no clue where it's going next. (Okay, a bit of a clue but I ain't gonna tell you ^_^). Chapter 4 is going to be a while and I apologize in advance. Thank you to everyone who wrote to me, sorry if I didn't respond, but I'm a bit of a scatterbrain and can never remember who I've already written to. Thank you again to Mike who's decided to take on the task of being my editor.