Emma rolled over on her hip, his arm slid across her bare skin, he barely budged. She tucked her arm under her head and glanced at the clock: 2:18am. She had been laying in Thayers bed for the past two hours. Despite the slight sound of snores from behind her, she was restless. Images running through her mind. Thoughts, ideas, fears, anxiety. She had her chance to talk to Rebecca tonight and she blew it. No, Mads blew it. She couldn't stop replaying that moment. Part of her was pissed at Mads for blowing her only chance to talk to her birth mother. The other felt bad for hiding it from her friend. She flopped back down on her back, the darkness eluded her, the only sounds that filled room were Thayers soft snores and whir of the overhead fan. Why did Sutton not tell me in the first place? She kept wondering. All this time she thought her sister was on her side. Find our birth mother, she had told her that day at the bus station. It was something Emma had wanted since for as long she could remember. But having found Sutton. That was everything to her. Why was she all of a sudden on Rebecca's side. Emma sighed and laid her arm over her eyes trying to black out the already dark room. She needed some kind of sleep. She couldn't handle Sutton on no sleep.
When the sun rose over the bed, she felt Thayers fingers brush against her skin. Part of her wanted to push him away and the other was fighting the goosebumps that had seemed to form down her arm. So much for sleep, she thought as his eyes flitted open, "Good morning, beautiful." He said kissing her cheek. "I thought we could look at..." His voice trailed off.
She turned her face to look at him and for the first time he could tell something was on her mind, "I need to talk to Sutton." Partly cutting him off. Partly wanting to forget what she had done last night. It wasn't like the sex was bad, but the boy staring back her gave her an almost uneasy feeling, "I need to figure out what she knows about Rebecca. I know she's our birth mother, but why haven't they told me yet?"
"I honestly don't know, Em." Thayer kissed her again. "My dad said not to trust her. What he means by that is beyond me." Emma heaved a heavy sigh and pushed the covers off of her naked body. She looked back at Thayer, despite the fact that he had seen her in the nude last night, that was during a moment of passion. Her eyes met his and he understood her silent gaze. Standing up himself and making his way to the bathroom.
Sutton paced the living room of the cabin nervously biting her nail, a habit she thought she had broken years ago. When the sound of tires pushing gravel away stopped, Sutton made her way to the window. Peering out, she could see Rebecca getting out of the car and she flew out of the door, "What the hell happened last night?" She said making her way down the gravel driveway.
"Good morning to you too Sweetheart." Rebecca reached out for her daughter but Sutton pulled away.
"Don't even." She spat.
"Sutton, what's gotten into you?" Rebecca looked disgusted.
"Emma almost cornered you last night. You know, after they dragged me off to do God knows what with me and then hide the body." Then she headed back up the walkway to the front door. She stopped short and turned to her mom, "Why can't we just tell her?" She asked with honesty. It wasn't that Sutton was exactly ready to make nice with Emma, but all these secrets were beginning to take it's toll on her. She hadn't slept since she came back to Phoenix. Maybe it was because she was slowly realizing her mother had more up her sleeve than just getting her family together and maybe it was because she hadn't slept in her own bed since before regionals.
Rebecca looked at her daughter, "Because I'm your mother." She said almost coldly, "I know what's best for you and your sister. Emma can't handle all of this right now," She waved her arms between herself and Sutton, "She's been lobbying for Ted and Kristen since the beginning. Do you really think, she would be down for knowing her mother and twin sister have been plotting against that since the fight? Besides baby, Emma's too soft. Let's face it, you are me. evil and selfish."
Sutton waivered in nervousness, hearing her own mom calling her evil and selfish, despite the fact that it was true, sat uneasy in her mind. Sutton made her way to the couch and sat down, immediately began chewing on her fingernail. She wasn't sure exactly what she had gotten herself into and quite frankly, all she wanted was her life back but right now, she wasn't sure what the hell that was. All her life the people she had trusted in, who raised her, who cared for her and loved her had lied to her. Not just keeping the secret about Rebecca being her mom, but that they didn't even want Emma.
As a child, she used to have these dreams so vivid she swore it was reality. She used to describe them to Kristin in clear detail in the car on the way to school. Telling her stories of how her reflection in the mirror would talk to her, tell her what life was like on her side. Everything was the same, but backwards. While Sutton had the ideal family life, a little sister who looked up to her, sometimes to her own annoyance, her reflection was alone. While Sutton had two parents who loved her unconditionally and was surrounded by a close knit group of friends, her reflection was abandoned. She would ask dream Sutton what it was like to have a mom, even as a kid, she had something to complain about, but somehow her reflection was captivated. Now that she thought of it, her reflection had a name, that at the time confused her but today was very clear, Emma. In her dream she was close to Emma, they played in an open field nearby. Building forts out of scrap wood where they sat for hours talking, giggling, making daisy chains and when Sutton got older, in her dreams she would tell Emma about her crushes, and they would pick petals off flowers, playing the he loves me he loves me not game and giggled when it ended on he loves me. Even though Sutton was close with her real life friends, Mads and Char, she didn't have the relationship she had with Emma. At the time, Kristen encouraged Sutton to write about her dream dates with Emma. But today, she knew Emma was more than her reflection in the mirror, she was her twin sister. The twin sister her family lied to her about. She clenched her fists at the memory, "How could you do this to us?" She spat angrily at Rebecca who looked taken aback and surprised.
"What are you talking about Sutton?" She asked sitting next to her daughter, pushing a lock of hair off her face, but Sutton recoiled not wanting Rebecca anywhere near her.
"Why did you take her away from me? She's my fucking sister, mom! You know if you wanted nothing to do with us, that's your business but to take my own sister from me, how could even think about that?"
Rebecca tried to comfort her daughter, but she just sat there rigid, "It wasn't like that sweetheart. There is so much I wish I could tell you about you and your sister, but I just can't. Please know that it wasn't my idea to separate you two. In time, you will know everything. But right now, please know that this was in the best interest of you and Emma."
"No, keeping us together should have been in our best interest. Ted is my father, so he's Emma's dad, too. Why didn't he want her too?" She kept thinking back to her dream Emma. Her real life sisters life sounded exactly as dream Emma described. Back then, Sutton loved Emma. She still did, even though she realized Emma was real.
"There is so much you deserve to know, but right now, it's not safe. Right now, I need to protect my child." Rebecca tried to comfort her baby but Sutton just stood and spun around to look down at her mother.
"Well news flash Rebecca, I'm not a child anymore. I can't protect myself." With that, she grabbed her keys and made her way out the door slamming it shut behind her.
As she drove, the road became a blur, she thought back to her twin sister, even though she wasn't exactly thrilled with Emma's being right now, she was still her sister and right now, that was all she needed. When she came back to civilization she reached for her cell phone and dialed her sisters number.
"Hey, it's Emma. Leave it at the beep." Voicemail. Sutton threw her phone into the passenger's seat. It wasn't long before the faint sound of a Black Keys song sounded next to her and she looked at the caller ID: Emma. She reached out for it and threw it against her ear, "Hold on, I'm driving let me put it on speaker." She said and then sat the phone on her lap, "Okay. There you're on speaker."
"Sorry, I missed your call, I was in the shower." Emma said as the sound of a door opening sounded in the background and a man's voice saying something Sutton couldn't make out.
"Where are you?" Sutton questioned.
Suddenly fear swept over Emma, "N-Nowhere at home."
"Really?" Sutton questioned, "Thayer just happened to be there at 9 in the morning.
Busted, "Look Sutton, what I did last night is none of your business. What do you want?"
Sutton sighed, she wanted to bust her sister for having spent the night with Thayer, but right now, she just needed her sister, "Can you meet for breakfast?"
Emma laughed, "where exactly are we going to have breakfast in a town where everyone knows Sutton Mercer?"
"Meet me at the Starbucks off of St. George street. No one will know us there. It's not too far away from the tennis court we went to. Just please, Emma?"
Emma could hear a sense of desperation in Sutton's plea and sighed, "Yeah, just give me a few minutes. I need to get dressed."
"Thank you. Come alone." And with that she clicked off her cell and threw it back in the seat looking ahead at the blur of asphalt and upscale shops that lined the side of the road.
When Emma pulled up the Starbucks in Sutton's BMW, she switched off the ignition and looked around. Sutton wasn't there yet but she got out of the car and headed inside. At the counter, she ordered her new usual, soy vanilla latte no foam. It was "Sutton's signature drink" so said Char when she first became her sisters temporary-cum-semi permanent stand in. At first she despised it as she had never been into coffee when she actually was Emma, but she grew to appreciate the taste. She had found a seat by a large window and set her beverage down on the small table beside her. She pulled out her phone just as it rang, Sutton.
"I'm on my way, sorry. Are you there alone?"
"As alone as I was before I found out about you. What's this about?" She wanted to know but her sister who was a pro at segways just dodged her question.
"I will be there in five minutes, just don't go anywhere." Where would she go? Emma thought.
When Sutton arrived she looked frazzled. Her usually well managed hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Curls sprawling out every side. She place her aviator sunglasses on top of her head and found her sister. She looked at her twin for the first time since maybe they met with love. She reached out for Emma, taking her in hug that caught her off guard. "Okay, what has gotten into you?" Emma said when they pulled apart.
Sutton returned with the same coffee Emma ordered and sat in the chair across from her sister, "Can I tell you something? Promise me you won't laugh?" Confused, Emma nodded, "Okay. When I was little, I used to have these recurring dreams. I mean, they were always different, but the stories were always the same. They seemed to continue each night. They were about a girl. A girl who was alone in this world. She lived in my mirror and when we'd meet, she come to my side of the mirror and we'd play. She would ask me about her-"
"Her family?" Emma finished her sisters sentenced.
"Yeah, how did you know that?"
"I had them too. My friend looked just like me, we'd play in a field and make forts and talk." Emma smiled at the memory. She used to love those dreams. sometimes she wished she didn't have to wake up. Then a sudden realization popped in her head, "Was your friends name Emma?"
Sutton nodded, "Sutton?"
Emma nodded. Suddenly it hit them almost simultaneously, that maybe it wasn't just a dream, it was a place for them to meet. A place to know each other without being near each other on Earth. They spent an hour reminiscing. Talking about memories that they only experienced in their dreams. It was amazing how identical the dreams were, like one movie playing in two girls' minds. Then Emma looked at her sister, a tear-filled look in her eye, "why did mom do this to us?" She pushed back the sound of heartbreak in her voice.
Sutton took her sisters hand,"I don't know, I tried to ask her this morning but she gave me some BS excuse that it's not safe or some shit like that. But I'm going to find out." Suddenly Sutton's phone rang, Ted. "Shit it's my dad, just don't say anything." she put the phone to her ear, "Hi daddy." she said in a fake sweet voice.
"Where the hell are you? You didn't come home after the dance last night. Your sister said you were at Mads' but I was just there talking to Alec and Mads said she hasn't seen you since last night." Ted sounded a cross between worried and angry. Maybe it was because she hadn't heard her fathers voice in a while, but she almost felt bad. But then she looked at her sister. Emma had spent the night at Thayers. Anger raged through her, but she played it cool.
"I just went to see a friend, daddy. I am fine. I will be home soon." Then she made a kissy noise and hung up the phone and looked back at her sister, "So that was dad. He's worried because I didn't come home last night. So where did I go after the dance last night?"
Emma shifted in her chair, "Nowhere."
"Bullshit, you were with Thayer, Emma. Don't fucking lie to me! I'm sick of all this secrecy shit."
"Ok yes. Yes! I was with Thayer last night."
"Did you sleep with him?"
"What do you mean did I sleep with him? I didn't sleep on the floor!"
"Sleep, sleep with him as in sex, Emma. God you're not that stupid."
"It's none of your business, Sutton."
Sutton shook her head, then took in a deep breath, "Whatever, you can have Thayer. I've already had my rounds with him. Have my sloppy seconds." And with that, sweet sisterly Sutton was gone and in her place the old competitive Sutton was back.
"Whatever, Sutton. Are we done here, because I have stuff to do today. So if you're going to sit here and criticize me and my choices, then I'm done talking to you." She stood up and grabbed her Dolce & Gabana bag. But as she started to walk away, Sutton grabbed her pulling her back again.
She wrapped her arms around her, one last time at least for the little girl she used to spend so many nights with as a child, "Emma." She said almost an inaudible whisper, "I love you. I always have. For whatever reason life dealt these cards, you didn't deserve the life you were given. If I had known sooner that that little girl in my dreams was real and my sister at that, I would have come to you sooner. I know we don't always see eye to eye, but you will always be my sister. Somehow we are going to get through this together." She stifled back a sniffle, "We at least deserve to know why all of this happened."
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the coffee shop a man stood, pulling his sunglasses off his face, a devious smile across his face. Alec Rybak. When he saw the twins he headed over to them, "Well isn't this a beautiful moment, Emma. Sutton. Fancy meeting you here." And just like that, the beautiful moment between the girls was gone and in it's place fear stricken faces looked at his who just smiled back at them.