Lil stood in front of the room door, two floors below them; the door that belonged to Phil's apartment. She could hear loud music blasting through the door and she realized her knock was useless. She finally let her hands twist the door knob and wasn't too surprised to find it open, what the heck, it's my brother's apartment.

She nudged it forward and stepped into a typical boys apartment. There were dirty clothes on the couch, a sink full of dirty dishes, and a half eaten and open box of pizza on the counter.

From the corner of her eyes spotted a guy standing in a room to the right with his back turned, occupied with his phone. He was unaware of her presence due to the loud music.

She let a sly smile fall across her face as she tip toed closer to her brother's room, and before he could notice her she jumped onto his back and covered his eyes with her hands, "Gotchu!"

She had definitely missed her brother; the long gaps apart had given her independence, but also took away the comfort blanket of security. She never felt alone when she had her brother, because regardless of if they were fighting or not, they always had each other's back one hundred percent. They understood each other, and could read each other so well that it made them uneasy. But it was definitely something she realized the importance of when it was taken away from her, and she had felt the feeling of being emotionally lonely for the first time.

She felt his body stiffen against her, and that's when she realized that the build of this guy was somewhat off. He was taller and a little more muscled then her twin brother. That's when Lil felt her eyes widen, as she unwrapped her legs from his waist and let herself fall back on her feet sheepishly.

He turned around startled, "What the hell?"

And that was when their eyes met for the first time. Her green eyes met his surprised hazel ones, and she realized that this is the boyfriend that also lived here.

Lil you're such an idiot!

"Oh god, I'm sorry… I thought it was Phil!"

He took in her appearance and his eyes softened, "You must be the twin sister he's talked about!" He said as he lowered the music.

"How'd you notice?" Lil joked dryly.

"I must say, you're definitely better looking than I expected when I'd try to picture a female version of Phil." He teased, and Lil found an involuntary blush to spread to across her cheeks. Definitely a charmer.

She wasn't sure why, but it might've had to do something with how good looking this guy was. In front of her was a six foot tall, lean and muscled guy, with beautiful hazel eyes and slight dimples when he smiled. Now she understood why Kimi seemed to be obsessed with this guy!

Ah whatever, she was here on a 'mission'.

"I'm glad that he actually spoke about me, but I must admit he definitely failed to mention that he had such a good looking roommate," Lil winked playfully, two can play at this game. She smirked when she realized she had caught him off guard with her comment.

She turned to head out of his room and he followed her out with a smile.

"My name is Tommy," He introduced with an extended hand that Lil took.

"Lillian, but everyone calls me Lil."

"Phil and Lil eh," He muttered, amused.

"Lil!" Phil exclaimed surprised as she stepped out of his room across the kitchen.

Lil turned to him with a grin, before rushing forward to throw her arms around her brother. It felt so good to have him near again. "Phil!"

"Hey," he grinned, wrapping his arms protectively around his sister, "Welcome to the city, and most importantly to our campus,"

She laughed, "Thanks for the welcome, but you're going to have to do better than that. I'm expecting like a dinner and tour around this place from you!"

She could feel Tommy's eyes still on her, so she turned to him as well, "You too mister!"

"For sure!"

Phil looked surprised, "Oh, have you two already met?"

She could see a faint blush on Tommy's face, and Lil cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Yeah there was a little misunderstanding there, I accidently intruded into his room and surprised him."

Phil shook his head, "Just like you to make big first impressions eh,"

Lil grinned sheepishly as she sat on the stool beside their counter and Phil pulled out a cold beer for her, "I'll try not to come too into your way with this last minute transfer to your college, twin," She joked , they had started mocking the label of twins that people always placed on them rather than using their names back in middle school, "I know you must be this football player 'Phil DeVille' here, so it'll probably throw a few people for a loop when they realize he has a new twin sister joining the campus."

"People with probably talk about it, but I've made my own name here… so you'll probably be the one who gets screwed with the 'twin' label cause most people will only know you as 'Phil's twin'." He teased, leaning across her on the counter.

Tommy laughed, "It's a small campus, so that stigma won't follow you along too long… you'll make your own friends."

She smiled at him, "Thanks Tommy," before pretending to brush dirt off her shoulder at her twin brother.

….

When Lil had gotten back to her room that day, Kimi was engrossed in a movie on TV but paused it to turn toward Lil, "Hey, how'd it go, their place was probably as gross as always eh,"

Lil nodded crinkling up her nose in exaggeration.

Kimi laughed, "Did you meet Tommy?"

Lil nodded, "Quite the looker you got there," She winked, "Good job girl."

Kimi blushed, "That's why I need to make sure he's being good."

Lil shook her head, "Oh Kimi."

Kimi rolled her eyes, "Okay so today he's seen you, get to know him, be his friend, flirt… I want to see if he knows where the lines are."

And so Lil did… at the beginning she would head to Phil's apartment and just hang out with the both of them, or whoever else they had over. And then there was a day where Phil wasn't home and she found herself with just Tommy, but by this time they were already friendly enough for it not to be awkward.

….

"So what are you watching?"

"Sports channel, just catching the highlights of yesterdays Hockey game."

Lil glared at him, "How boring!" She complained, before reaching for the remote on the coffee table, but he was too fast, he quickly grabbed it before she could reach it.

"Don't even think about twin," he teased.

"You're not allowed to use that term!" She said mock threateningly.

"I'm allowed to use whatever I want!" He grinned.

She leaned over to take the remote again, "Fine, then I'm allowed to watch whatever I want!"

He leaned back quickly to keep it out of her reach, as she continued to reach forward and found herself inches away from him. Her hand was on his forearm and her other hand was reaching across his body toward his hand that held the remote. That brought her upper body almost against his and their faces merely inches apart. This was all very innocent until they both noticed how close their faces were and their eyes connected the way they tended to do often.

Lil pulled herself away, as she cleared her throat awkwardly. It took her a moment to realize she just lost an opportunity to 'test' him for Kimi. But that moment felt way to genuine for her to react appropriately for her goal.

He sat up as well, and offered her the remote awkwardly, "You can change the channel,"

"No its okay Tommy, you watch the highlights I'll just come back later when Phil's back," she said, trying to make the moment lighter.

….

"Hey Lil, open the door and tell him I'll be ready in five minutes!"

Lil got off the couch and lazily walked over to respond to the knocking at the door, "You're her boyfriend, shouldn't you have a key or something," Lil groaned as she threw it open.

"Yeah you're right actually, I should have a key." He agreed as he made his way inside, and plopping down on the couch, "But my girlfriend doesn't think I should have the key yet because she stills feels the need to 'pretty' herself whenever we meet."

Lil looked down at her sweatpants and tank top, no makeup on her face, hair tied in a loose bun and glasses thrown over her face. Before she nudged him off her side and falling back down on the couch, "If he can't handle you at your worst, he doesn't deserve you at your best,"

He smirked, "Just because you look like a hobo 90% of the time doesn't mean everyone should," he teased, causing her to feign insult.

"Just because you look handsome today, doesn't mean you got the right to judge alright."

"Oh, so you think I look handsome today, eh?" he teased.

Lil hid a blush; he definitely looked ridiculously hot today, wearing a fitted dress shirt with light trimmed facial hair. But she wasn't one to boost a guy's appearance, "You usually look like a 'hobo' yourself so today you've cleaned up is all,"

"I remember the term handsome being thrown out there," He reminded playfully before Kimi came out ready to go. She was wearing a black dress that fell to her knees and her hair in perfect waves, she looked beautiful.

Tommy seemed to agree, he looked at her admiringly before standing to give her a welcoming kiss, "Ready, babe?"

Kimi nodded, smiling ear to ear.

They left for their date, and it gave Lil a nice quiet day with takeout dinner and a movie out of her old favorite collection. Today it appeared to be a Gone with the Wind, kind of night. There wasn't really much else she could do, Phil was out at a friend's, and her only other two friends, Kimi and Tommy, were out on a date. And since the official school year was still to start in a few days, she didn't really know any other people in this city yet.

Lil had just woken from a nightmare when she heard ruckus outside her room around 3 am that night. These nightmares had been reoccurring for a while now, this was definitely nothing new for her. But the footsteps outside seem heavier than Kimi's and since there was only one pair, it couldn't even be that Tommy was crashing over with Kimi. She slowly tip toed to her door, "Who is it?" She called out, hoping to sound braver than she felt.

"Lil," She heard a male voice whisper, and her heart finally calmed when she realized she recognized it. she threw her door open to find Tommy carrying in Kimi, "Open her room door,"

"What happened to her?" Lil questioned as she cleared the way for Tommy to place her gently in bed.

"We went to a party after dinner, and she kind of had one too many drinks," He whispered, as he lifted the comforter around her.

Lil's heart melted at how sweet his actions were, there were definitely still good guys like this out there.

When they finally made sure Kimi was asleep and left a glass of water beside her bedside, they stepped out of her room and closed the door behind. She stood in front of Tommy and was confused as to why he couldn't meet her eyes and looked at the ground almost blushing. That's when she realized and her heart froze. She looked down at her outfit, all she had on was short shorts that almost looked like underwear and a mini tank top that didn't cover her whole torso, and had her cleavage out for display. Lil was always one who preferred to sleep with as fewer clothes on as possible. Now she definitely knew why Tommy was having a hard time looking her in the eyes. She thought to grab her robe from her room, but thought it would probably make things even weirder by acknowledging how awkward they were currently.

"Uhm, sorry to wake you Lil," Tommy started hesitantly, "I was hoping to put her to bed and sneak out with disturbing you, but I knocked my foot along the door frame walking in."

Lil shook her head, "I couldn't sleep anyways, so I was glad to have some distraction."

Tommy's face wrinkled in concern –he looked so darn cute, "Why couldn't you sleep,"

"I had a bad dream," Lil said before thinking, "No but it's not a big deal, I have them a lot… -I mean…" She realized she was making it sound worse and not better.

"Is that why you sounded scared when we came in… I'm really sorry Lil." He said.

"No, stop don't apologize, I told you I was happy for the distraction."

"I could keep you company until you fall asleep again?" He offered sincerely, and it caused Lil's heart to melt some more.

"No its okay Tommy, you should go and get some sleep as well."

He shook his head, "I'm not sleepy and since I'm the one who scared you I'll make sure you get back to sleep."

"I don't sleep much." Lil whispered, almost more to herself then him. She had lost the comforts of sleep a while ago.

"Lucky for you, neither do I."

She shook her head, taking him by the forearm and trying to lead him to the door, "Tommy-…"

But he placed his arms sternly on her bare waist, "Lil, I'm serious." The stern tone of voice and his hands on her bare skin sent chills down her spine that she wasn't expecting.

Lil nodded and he led her to her room and let her climb back into bed –finally able to cover her scantily clad self with the comforter, as he took a seat on the bean bag chair by her bed, "I'll sneak out when you're passed out and take a spare key that Kimi keeps under the couch."

So they sat and talked for over an hour, from topics as variable as hobbies, to their respected families, and childhoods. It really felt like they had connected and she could imagine most of his stories as if she was there herself. She hadn't had such a good conversation for so long now; it really made her respect him more. For a good looking popular jock who was highly desired and at every house party, she never would've imagined this side to someone like him. A real genuine side.

And when she finally drifted off that night, the last thought in her mind was;

How could Kimi not even trust someone like Tommy?

Over the next couple of days, Lil was very glad to have found her first real new friend in this new city. Really her first real proper friend she'd found outside of her childhood circle. Every time he would come over to hang out with Kimi, they would usually banter back and forth playfully. And when she would go over to Phil's she would find herself excited to chill with Tommy separate from Kimi. But she knew that wasn't right. It went against the purpose of her role. She was really genuinely starting to like this guy as a real friend. She felt like she could be herself around him, and all of their interactions were very proper and not scripted or manipulative as Kimi was expecting from her.

But she had shied away from her decoy duties long enough, because tonight was the last day of summer house party. The party that Kimi expects Lil to play out the climax of the decoy mission; where Lil is supposed to drunkenly throw herself at Tommy to see how he would react. Kimi thinks that Lil and Tommy's growing friendship is solely based on the intent of testing Tommy and oblivious to genuine friendship that is there. And Lil almost wants to back out of this decoy thing because she doesn't want to ruin what she has with Tommy.

But as Lil is stepping out of Phil's car and looking up at this big house that overlooks the beach, she feels her heart in her throat. She can already see a fire going at the beach where people are already drinking and socializing, and Lil is praying that Tommy and Kimi won't be showing up here. She's not 5 steps in the house when people are already looking at her and Phil with surprised eyes at their resemblance, and whispers of the new girl are already floating around the house. Lil is wearing a red dress that is very flattering to her curves, and her hair straightened and framing her face. She definitely dressed up for this event knowing it was her first impression in the new campus and she wanted to start off with confidence. She also isn't blind to the male attention she's getting, all wondering who the new girl is.

But Lil was used to getting male attention and it didn't bother her much, she could tune it out well now. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find herself eye to eye with the last pair she was hoping to meet today. Tommy had a huge smile on his face, and she could see his eyes falter down toward her body momentarily before reaching her eyes, and even though other male attention didn't affect her… that falter of his eyes made her feel conscious.

"Hey Lil, I'm glad you made it out to this party!" He said over the music, "Here," He thrust a cup of alcohol in her hand and she thanked him. She was definitely going to need a lot more of this to go through with this whole thing. She saw Kimi talking to a few people over his shoulder and nodded toward them. Tommy saw what she was motioning at, and placed his hand at the small of her back leading her toward Kimi and the girls. There was that tingle in her spine again…

"Kim, introduce Lil to the girls," He said into her ear.

Kimi smiled at Lil and threw an arm around her, "Guys, this is my childhood best friend!" She gushed, proudly, and Lil smiled at all of them as she introduced them one at a time.

Lil smiled, but she knew she wouldn't remember any of these names anyways. She was more worried about what was to come. When they were finally alone, Kimi gave her a reassuring squeeze of her hand, "Finally we can be done with this and know once and for all eh!"

Lil brought a fake smile to her lips –she was getting used to those, as she downed her fourth shot and was definitely starting to get woozy. Lil usually watched her drinking, but she needed these for what she was about to do. She was heading to the back for fresh air when she felt Tommy's arm around her back, "Hey, you feeling okay?"

She looked up at him startled, "Yeah, I'm good."

"You don't look too good, perhaps you should cut off now," He said, taking a cup out of her hand. She could smell the alcohol on him as well and looked up at him glaring.

"Maybe you should too, mister,"

He laughed as he followed her toward the fire pit and she took off her heels finally, letting her feet sink into the cool sand of the beach. She let them dangle in her hand by her side, her free hand running through her hair.

"It's ridiculous how so many of these guys can't keep their eyes off you." Tommy mentioned, giving a look around in irritation.

She smirked up at him, "And I only care about the eyes of one of them,"

Tommy looked down at her confused, "What do you mean?"

She leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his waist as her body pressed suggestively against his, "I think you know what I'm talking about," she whispered, her eyes meeting his.

"Lil-…" He began.

"Shhh," She whispered, placing a gentle finger against his lips.

His hand enclosed around her wrist, "Lil, stop." He said, looking away from her pouty lips, "What's going on?"

The final push Lil, one more thing.

She threw her arms around his neck and brought his face closer to hers, she could see his eyes trail down to her lips. She felt shivers run down her whole body with how close they were pressed against each other, how close their lips were. She reached up to close the distance when she felt him push away from her.

"Lil!" He yelled out sternly, "What the fuck?"

Lil knew this was coming, but it didn't stop the feeling of rejection and embarrassment that seeped into her, "Uh…" She started sheepishly, "I'm sorry Tommy." She whispered, biting her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

He stepped forward, his hand reaching out for her, "Lil, what's-…"

But Lil quickly took a step back as if burned, "I'm sorry." She whispered weakly, before turning away from him, and leaving behind a Tommy, with confusion and a tidbit of regret masking his face.

Lil, you moron! Why do you let yourself get in these situations, what the hell just happened back there. Why is it affecting you so much, this was a fucking job! That's it. She knew what she had signed up for, she knew what was coming… so why is she holding back fucking tears now?

She bumped into someone on the way back into the kitchen and realized it was Kimi. She put on her poker face again, "He pushed me away Kimi," She reported without emotion.

She saw the relief and happiness fill Kimi's face, before she wrapped her arms around Lil affectionately, "Thank you, thank you! I'm so happy, you are the bestest friend any one could ever ask for. This helps me in ways you don't even know!"

Lil nodded as she watched Kimi walk past her towards her boyfriend.

Lil found herself the first bottle of alcohol she could find and poured herself a big shot and downed it even faster than she had poured it. There was only one way she knew to deal with the feeling of rejection, she grinned seductively at the first guy she saw eyeing her, and let him follow her to the dance floor set up in the huge family room.

By the time Kimi and Tommy had come back into the house, she was already pressed up against the guy, who's name she didn't even know, their bodies were moving to the rhythm of the music, his lips were against her neck and his hands were roaming her body in places she knew she wouldn't allow had she been sober or not feeling rejected.

She could hear cheers erupt in the room for the guy for getting with the 'hot new girl', and Lil was too drunk to comprehend that this was not the first impression she was looking to give. All she could see was the look on Tommy's face as she watched her with this guy.

It would've given her pleasure to see but the room was spinning and now she wasn't sure if she was dancing or he was just holding her against him, and before she knew it, she heard a familiar,

"What the hell!" from Phil as he pushed past people to see what the crowd was cheering at.

And before she knew it she could feel Tommy pull her away from the guy, as Phil shoved him against the wall. And if the room wasn't spinning enough, she felt Tommy grab her and throw her over his shoulder,

"Show's over!" he yelled, as they stormed out with a drowsy Lil hanging over his shoulder.

Not exactly how she planned for this night to end…