p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"It wasn't like me to put things off but reactivating my Instagram had been on the bottom of my to-do list for a couple of weeks. The company had made it clear that it was my job to help promote the ballet, and while I was happy to help in any way I could, I did not want to return to social media. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The burning spotlight that blared down on my family was suffocating to say the least and I did everything I could to stay away from it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"After the texts between Kara and I were leaked, my siblings and I went on a social media blackout. I was the only one who hadn't reactivated my account after the hype had passed. The hype might've passed but my growing distrust towards outsiders certainly hadn't. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I asked Audrey for help and she had done an awesome job getting it off the ground. She'd followed everyone from the company and posted a small collection of ballet photos to fill up the account. I was happy to leave it at that, but the company wanted more. emLook at everyone else's accounts/em, my dance master told me. emGet some ideas of what to post/em./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Like ideas were the problem and not the blatant ridiculousness of this entire situation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"So on a Sunday night, I sat on the leather couches, ignoring emThe Bachelor/em playing on the tv, and forced myself to do some 'eminsta stalking'/em. Charlie was on the other end of the couch, enraptured with his show. I could hear soft feminine laughter coming from Eliot's room–he had a girl over–and a guitar from Tom's. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The first photo that popped up on my feed belonged to roxannelikethesong. It was a photo of ballerinas behind the scenes, stretching in their warmers and boots. Roxanne must've taken it during rehearsals today–and this must be the type of content the company wanted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I clicked on her profile, not sure what I would find. I liked Roxanne, and though she was new, she fit well into the company. Her clumsiness was often the critique of our dance masters, but she was the only person who still invited me out to after-work drinks even though I always said no (everyone else had given up). /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Her bio read "the wickedly talented, one and only, Adele Dazeem"–a joke I didn't get–and there was a link to buy tickets to a show in Vegas called Infini. What surprised me was the little note at the bottom that read emalso followed by itsjoanaoliveira/em. How did Jo and Roxanne know each other?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Roxanne's photos consisted of mostly ballet content with a few night outs and selfies filtered through. Nothing too flashy but good enough. She had tagged NYC Elite Ballet in all the ballet photos and the company had commented meaningless things below like "emSo cute!"/emand "emWorking hard!" /emwith an obscene about of emojis. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I stopped when I came to a photo of hand holding. The caption read: emignore leo if he ever says he's not a massive softie ./em Something odd twisted low in my gut and my thumb moved on its own accord, clicking on Leo's handle. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"His profile filled my screen, and I scanned his bio. emI'm a fucking Aquarius /emfollowed by a link to his dancers' page at the NYC Ballet website. I almost dropped my phone when I saw emfollowed by itsjoanaoliveira/em. How the fuck did Jo and Leo know each other? Roxanne, fine. But Leo? /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I had half a mind to go knock on her door and ask./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""You look angry."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I lifted my head, meeting my twin's gaze. His yellow-green eyes peered right through my skin. "I'm not." I cleared my throat. Out of all my siblings, I was the calmest, the most level-headed. I had no problem controlling my temper but something about Jo and Leo knowing each other caused something inside me to erupt./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Charlie tilted his head to the side, scanning me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""I'm doing this Instagram nonsense for the company."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. "Ah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I looked back at the screen, ignoring his gaze. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Leo's photos were pretty much how I expected them to be: all about him. Photos of him dancing, in difficult poses. Topless selfies. Inspiration quotes that really meant nothing. His Instagram was a shrine to his favourite person: himself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"emspan lang="EN-GB"He's such a dick/span/emspan lang="EN-GB", I thought to myself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Who?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I had spoken out loud. "Leo."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Charlie moved over, pressing his shoulder to mine. "It's not like you to let someone get under your skin." This was a sentiment my twin had expressed plenty of times regarding Leo. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""My patience for assholes has never been high."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"He gave me a crooked smile. "I disagree–"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"We both fell silent as I stopped on a photo in his feed. It was of Leo and Roxanne, both smoking, both looking much closer than just colleagues. The photo was too blurry to decipher exact details, but it was clear what we were looking at./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""I didn't know they were friends," Charlie said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Nor I." I glanced briefly at my brother but didn't say anything. One night, randomly, he had asked about Roxanne. So simply, so easily, and I had told him what I knew: new, spoke Russian, clumsy. It hadn't been until I had spotted his soft smile that I had realized Charlie liked her–and though he denied it, I knew my twin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I went through the comments. The drummer from Nothing Personal had commented "emhotties/em"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Small world," Charlie noted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Yeah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I kept scrolling, past more selfies and ballet-related content. There were a few photos of his other friends, but I didn't stop until I reached another photo of Leo and Roxanne. They never acted like friends when they were at work–they were friendly, sure, but Roxanne was friendly with everyone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"It was the two of them at a festival. Roxanne was grinning, squeezing Leo's cheeks, while Leo was scowling into the camera. He'd captioned it: em"come to summer fest, leo! It'll be fun, leo!" all women do is lie roxannelikethesong/em. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Both Charlie and I were silent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"A strange feeling was twisting low in my gut. Maybe it was because I wasn't close with anyone at all in the company and it felt cruel that Leo–of ALL people–had made friends. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Do you think they're dating?" Charlie asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The question felt like a slap. "What? No." I paused. I thought of the photo of them holding hands. "Maybe."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"It wasn't my business who either of them spent their time with, but I couldn't help myself from saying, "It's unprofessional on both their parts to date people they work with. What if they broke up–? emThough/em, I'd expect nothing less from Leo. He didn't have a lick of common sense in that head of his. I have no idea what Roxanne sees in him–if they are dating. He's a dickhead."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Charlie's expression held faint amusement. "You should ask him."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"emspan lang="EN-GB"Followed by itsjoanaoliveira/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" flashed through my mind./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Or better yet..." I got to my feet and strode out into the hallway. Charlie followed, and only watched as I knocked on Jo's door. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"She answered on the third knock and made a noise of disgust when she saw it was me at the door. She was wearing low-rise gym shorts and a crop top, her abs begging to be stared at. My train of thought disappeared until she said, "What do emyou/em want?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Are Leo and Roxanne dating?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Jo stared then began laughing uncontrollably. She fell against the doorframe, clutching her stomach. Charlie came to stand beside me, expression peculiar as he tried to decipher her reaction./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""As if," she laughed once she had calmed down. Her eyes took in both Charlie and I's faces. "Why the fuck do you care? You got a crush on Rox? If so, you have better taste than I've given you credit for."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""No, not Roxanne. She's not the one I have a crush on." Then I quickly added, "Not Leo either. But the company needs to know..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"She snorted. "They're best friends–and roommates."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Roommates?" This came from Charlie./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Yep. They live up in Harlem. Messiest apartment you've ever seen but they're both excellent cooks, so it'd be worth the headache," she said, still laughing between sentences. "Why do you care, Beckett? Are you jealous?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Jealous./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The word hung in the air for a moment. "Sorry to bother you." I stepped away, feeling unsure of myself suddenly. It wasn't like me to go banging on doors and demanding answers. "Have a good night."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Jo's gaze was bemused but she slammed the door without saying goodbye. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""You okay?" Charlie asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Fine," I breathed. "I'm fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"When I got back to our apartment, I deleted Instagram off my phone. I didn't need this shit./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The burning spotlight that blared down on my family was suffocating to say the least and I did everything I could to stay away from it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"After the texts between Kara and I were leaked, my siblings and I went on a social media blackout. I was the only one who hadn't reactivated my account after the hype had passed. The hype might've passed but my growing distrust towards outsiders certainly hadn't. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I asked Audrey for help and she had done an awesome job getting it off the ground. She'd followed everyone from the company and posted a small collection of ballet photos to fill up the account. I was happy to leave it at that, but the company wanted more. emLook at everyone else's accounts/em, my dance master told me. emGet some ideas of what to post/em./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Like ideas were the problem and not the blatant ridiculousness of this entire situation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"So on a Sunday night, I sat on the leather couches, ignoring emThe Bachelor/em playing on the tv, and forced myself to do some 'eminsta stalking'/em. Charlie was on the other end of the couch, enraptured with his show. I could hear soft feminine laughter coming from Eliot's room–he had a girl over–and a guitar from Tom's. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The first photo that popped up on my feed belonged to roxannelikethesong. It was a photo of ballerinas behind the scenes, stretching in their warmers and boots. Roxanne must've taken it during rehearsals today–and this must be the type of content the company wanted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I clicked on her profile, not sure what I would find. I liked Roxanne, and though she was new, she fit well into the company. Her clumsiness was often the critique of our dance masters, but she was the only person who still invited me out to after-work drinks even though I always said no (everyone else had given up). /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Her bio read "the wickedly talented, one and only, Adele Dazeem"–a joke I didn't get–and there was a link to buy tickets to a show in Vegas called Infini. What surprised me was the little note at the bottom that read emalso followed by itsjoanaoliveira/em. How did Jo and Roxanne know each other?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Roxanne's photos consisted of mostly ballet content with a few night outs and selfies filtered through. Nothing too flashy but good enough. She had tagged NYC Elite Ballet in all the ballet photos and the company had commented meaningless things below like "emSo cute!"/emand "emWorking hard!" /emwith an obscene about of emojis. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I stopped when I came to a photo of hand holding. The caption read: emignore leo if he ever says he's not a massive softie ./em Something odd twisted low in my gut and my thumb moved on its own accord, clicking on Leo's handle. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"His profile filled my screen, and I scanned his bio. emI'm a fucking Aquarius /emfollowed by a link to his dancers' page at the NYC Ballet website. I almost dropped my phone when I saw emfollowed by itsjoanaoliveira/em. How the fuck did Jo and Leo know each other? Roxanne, fine. But Leo? /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I had half a mind to go knock on her door and ask./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""You look angry."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I lifted my head, meeting my twin's gaze. His yellow-green eyes peered right through my skin. "I'm not." I cleared my throat. Out of all my siblings, I was the calmest, the most level-headed. I had no problem controlling my temper but something about Jo and Leo knowing each other caused something inside me to erupt./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Charlie tilted his head to the side, scanning me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""I'm doing this Instagram nonsense for the company."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. "Ah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I looked back at the screen, ignoring his gaze. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Leo's photos were pretty much how I expected them to be: all about him. Photos of him dancing, in difficult poses. Topless selfies. Inspiration quotes that really meant nothing. His Instagram was a shrine to his favourite person: himself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"emspan lang="EN-GB"He's such a dick/span/emspan lang="EN-GB", I thought to myself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Who?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I had spoken out loud. "Leo."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Charlie moved over, pressing his shoulder to mine. "It's not like you to let someone get under your skin." This was a sentiment my twin had expressed plenty of times regarding Leo. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""My patience for assholes has never been high."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"He gave me a crooked smile. "I disagree–"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"We both fell silent as I stopped on a photo in his feed. It was of Leo and Roxanne, both smoking, both looking much closer than just colleagues. The photo was too blurry to decipher exact details, but it was clear what we were looking at./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""I didn't know they were friends," Charlie said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Nor I." I glanced briefly at my brother but didn't say anything. One night, randomly, he had asked about Roxanne. So simply, so easily, and I had told him what I knew: new, spoke Russian, clumsy. It hadn't been until I had spotted his soft smile that I had realized Charlie liked her–and though he denied it, I knew my twin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I went through the comments. The drummer from Nothing Personal had commented "emhotties/em"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Small world," Charlie noted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Yeah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"I kept scrolling, past more selfies and ballet-related content. There were a few photos of his other friends, but I didn't stop until I reached another photo of Leo and Roxanne. They never acted like friends when they were at work–they were friendly, sure, but Roxanne was friendly with everyone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"It was the two of them at a festival. Roxanne was grinning, squeezing Leo's cheeks, while Leo was scowling into the camera. He'd captioned it: em"come to summer fest, leo! It'll be fun, leo!" all women do is lie roxannelikethesong/em. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Both Charlie and I were silent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"A strange feeling was twisting low in my gut. Maybe it was because I wasn't close with anyone at all in the company and it felt cruel that Leo–of ALL people–had made friends. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Do you think they're dating?" Charlie asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The question felt like a slap. "What? No." I paused. I thought of the photo of them holding hands. "Maybe."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"It wasn't my business who either of them spent their time with, but I couldn't help myself from saying, "It's unprofessional on both their parts to date people they work with. What if they broke up–? emThough/em, I'd expect nothing less from Leo. He didn't have a lick of common sense in that head of his. I have no idea what Roxanne sees in him–if they are dating. He's a dickhead."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Charlie's expression held faint amusement. "You should ask him."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"emspan lang="EN-GB"Followed by itsjoanaoliveira/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" flashed through my mind./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Or better yet..." I got to my feet and strode out into the hallway. Charlie followed, and only watched as I knocked on Jo's door. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"She answered on the third knock and made a noise of disgust when she saw it was me at the door. She was wearing low-rise gym shorts and a crop top, her abs begging to be stared at. My train of thought disappeared until she said, "What do emyou/em want?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Are Leo and Roxanne dating?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Jo stared then began laughing uncontrollably. She fell against the doorframe, clutching her stomach. Charlie came to stand beside me, expression peculiar as he tried to decipher her reaction./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""As if," she laughed once she had calmed down. Her eyes took in both Charlie and I's faces. "Why the fuck do you care? You got a crush on Rox? If so, you have better taste than I've given you credit for."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""No, not Roxanne. She's not the one I have a crush on." Then I quickly added, "Not Leo either. But the company needs to know..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"She snorted. "They're best friends–and roommates."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Roommates?" This came from Charlie./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Yep. They live up in Harlem. Messiest apartment you've ever seen but they're both excellent cooks, so it'd be worth the headache," she said, still laughing between sentences. "Why do you care, Beckett? Are you jealous?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Jealous./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"The word hung in the air for a moment. "Sorry to bother you." I stepped away, feeling unsure of myself suddenly. It wasn't like me to go banging on doors and demanding answers. "Have a good night."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"Jo's gaze was bemused but she slammed the door without saying goodbye. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""You okay?" Charlie asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB""Fine," I breathed. "I'm fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: 11.35pt; line-height: 28px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span lang="EN-GB"When I got back to our apartment, I deleted Instagram off my phone. I didn't need this shit./span/p
