Chapter content warnings: swearing; allusions to underage drinking

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

"Are Trixie and Spud here?" Lily asked, her tone a little too hopeful that they weren't.

Jake gestured with his chin. "Already out there. You know how competitive they are with each other."

Rose sat down on the bleachers, putting Jake in the middle. She answered her phone and put it on speaker with no regard to anyone else in the vicinity.

"Ugh, I just woke up," Marcia said. "What are we doing tonight? Wanna go clubbing?"

"I will hang myself I have to put on heels tonight," Rose said. "Plus, new parents aren't like Dad at all. I don't know if I'll get out."

"Please. I've seen you break into places before. You can definitely break out."

"We can't make plans for tonight when we haven't even debriefed on last night," Rose said. "I'm with Jake and Lily now so perhaps they'll have some other insights to lend on what they saw."

Marcia howled. "Did she see anything aside from the kitchen floor?"

Lily crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "I'm going to get a soda."

Jake knew that he should have offered to go with her but if he was being honest, he was much more interested in the gossip that was about to be discussed, even though he knew that made him a bad person.

"Okay, so I definitely saw Courtney and Danika make out so I think that Courtney's at least bisexual at this point and that I have a chance."

"They're old besties, though and they do this all the time," Rose said. "Lots of straight girls get drunk at parties and make out with other girls and won't date them. As you keep finding out. And then getting your heart broken over."

"I cannot be the only seventeen-year-old lesbian in this stupid city! I will find someone!"

Rose laughed. "Okay, and then there was Spud and Stacey."

"Ooh, I heard that, but I don't believe it. Look at her. There's a reason we never saw him before his pity invite."

"I saw it." Rose grinned smugly as Marcia gasped. Rose glanced over at Jake. "And, besides, Trixie was a lot of fun. Maybe we'll invite them again but it won't be a pity invite."

"She was fun! That girl knows how to dance."

"Mhm."

"So, did you stay with Brad last night or …?"

"I'm not currently speaking to Brad."

"Not again! I want to go out tonight! I want to do something!"

"Marcia, you're hot, you have a fake I.D., and you have a ton of friends who are hot with fake I.D.s. You'll be fine whether or not I'm talking to Brad."

"Yeah but the private school bitch parties aren't nearly as fun as the public school parties."

"You'll be fine," Rose assured her. "Anything else?"

Marcia batted around a few names that Jake didn't know but Rose laughed a little too hard when she was informed that Landon had broken up with his girlfriend. Marcia hung up with one more stern instruction that Rose should try to come out tonight or Marcia would find a reason for her to come out anyway. Rose gave a dry 'we'll see' and then hung up the phone. She stretched out next to Jake.

"You're not going to chase after Lily?" Rose asked.

Jake shook his head. "I don't want to make her feel more embarrassed by making a big deal out of anything."

"Why would she feel embarrassed?" Rose asked. "It's not like it hasn't happened to everyone."

"She doesn't go out much. It's all new to her," Jake reminded Rose.

"But you seem to know how to have a good time," Rose said.

Jake just shook his head, feeling like dignifying that with a response would get him into trouble, though he hadn't quite figured out how.

"Well, if Lily's not going to come skateboard with you, are you going to teach me now?"

"If you still want to learn."

Rose nodded and Jake was surprised by how excited he felt to lead Rose down to where the beginners practiced. Jake couldn't even start to count the times that he'd asked Lily to at least try standing on the board, only for her anxieties to get the most of her and leaving her stubbornly refusing to get up from her seat. It was one of the many things that Trixie and Spud disliked about Lily. Rose, in comparison, seemed honesty eager, jumping on Jake's board the second the wheels were on the ground. She started sliding forward, grabbing his shoulder to stop herself.

"First things first," Jake said, brandishing a helmet.

That only made Rose laugh harder. Jake found himself smiling along; her laugh was infectious.

Jake pushed Rose's cat-eared hood back, gently placing the helmet on her head. He held Rose steady as she adjusted the steps while he explained where to put her feet.

"So," Jake said, trying to think of something to say. He was just helping Rose roll around so she could get used to the feel of the skateboard and the silence made it too awkward. "Does Marcia have a crush on Danika or Courtney?"

"Either. Both. Probably both. Marcia's never met a girl she hasn't had a thing for. For five minutes, anyway. Don't buy her forever alone act, either."

"Oh." Jake had been going to say that he and Danika were friendly and he could ask around. "Is that why she wants to go out?"

"Yeah. She likes when I go with her because I'm not ashamed to flirt for free drinks."

Jake decided just to laugh.

"I probably won't go out tonight," Rose continued. "I don't want to push my luck with Carl and Melinda. They seem cool, though."

"They are. They're weird but they're awesome, really chill about a lot of things. You know, like Lily."

Rose's gaze moved from Jake's face to the bleachers where they'd been sitting.

"She doesn't look that chill."

Jake looked over his shoulder. Even from this distance, it was impossible to misinterpret the look on Lily's face. Jake instinctively let go of Rose. They hadn't been doing anything wrong and they'd been doing it within plain view of everyone but it suddenly felt wrong.

"Go see her," Rose said. "I think I get the basics of staying on the skateboard."

Jake nodded and ascended back up the stairs. Lily wasn't looking at him anymore, instead staring down at the sketchpad that she took everywhere with her, like it was a security blanket. She was slowly sketching out a pair of hands. Jake sat down next to her, waiting for her to pause.

"I don't understand why you're upset," Jake said. "She asked to learn to skateboard. I would love to teach you instead."

"It's not that you're teaching her how to skateboard," Lily said scornfully. "I don't care about skateboarding."

Ouch. Jake wished she'd try to at least pretend to care, at least for him. The way that he went to art galleries and read all about the exhibits before they actually visited so that he would have something to say about it or how he went to pottery classes with her for a full three months because she wanted to try it even though his hands could never master it. Jake didn't say that, though, because he knew how that conversation would end.

"So, why the face?" Jake asked.

"Everyone already likes her better," Lily sniffed. "I can't have you like her better too."

"What? Where is that coming from?"

"It's true. Look, your friends are already talking to her and then you spend time with her instead of talking to me –"

"You walked off," Jake interrupted. "I was just trying to be respectful and give you some space. I'm sorry but you need to know that no one likes her better. Everyone just met her. I'm trying to get to know her for your sake."

"She was so awful yesterday," Lily reminded him.

"And you've been trying to find her for two years. Your parents have been missing her for eighteen. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt because I care about you, not because I care about who she is, okay?"

Lily sniffled again but she seemed closer to smiling so Jake pressed on, taking her hand in his.

"Maybe her agreeing to be here with us is her trying. So, we'll all go get hot dogs and if she's still being rude today, we'll just leave her and Trixie to snipe at each other. Deal?"

"They don't look like they're sniping," Lily said, on the verge of returning to sulky. "Trixie doesn't like anybody but look at them!"

"Trixie doesn't like anybody," Jake affirmed.

Except for he and Spud. Even then, they pushed the limits of Trixie's patience and at least once a week she threatened to give up on the two of them completely. As friendly as Trixie could make herself seem, she only had two people she called 'friend' and made no secret that it was the way she was preferred it. Trixie hid behind it, even, using it as the reason she couldn't possibly even pretend to like Lily. Yet, when Jake looked over his shoulder, he didn't see that version of Trixie. He saw the version of Trixie he loved: snorting with laughter, see-sawing on her skateboard with a natural ease, eagerly correcting Spud when she thought he'd explained something wrong.

"Let's go," Lily said with a heartbroken sigh.

Jake followed her from the bleachers, wishing that he had something to comfort her with but anything he came up with either sounded like a vague platitude at best and, at worst, a straight up lie.

"Lily," Spud said, almost flying off his skateboard in surprise. "What are you doing down here?"

"Oh, Jake and I were thinking –"

"That you want to leave?" Trixie interrupted.

"Leave?" Rose gasped. "You can't leave! Carl and Melinda insisted we stay together after last night and I'm having too much fun to leave!"

"Just say 'Mom' and 'Dad'. They're your parents too!"

"Besides," Rose continued, like Lily hadn't spoken. "You're the one who's been babbling about being sisters. The best way to get to know me is through my friends. I'm just trying to return the favour."

Jake didn't think a single word out of Rose's mouth was genuine but that wasn't his concern. He swung his gaze to Trixie, internally begging her not to say what she was already thinking, the words formed on her pursed lips: We are not Lily's friends.

Don't say it, Jake thought, catching her eye. For me, don't say it.

Spud spoke before Trixie could make up her mind.

"Yeah, Lily, come on. We're having fun."

"Oh." Just like last night, Jake could see the opinions of others starting to get to her. "I was just going to say that we thought we'd get hot dogs sooner rather than later."

"I could eat," Trixie said.

"We can always come back," Rose added.

Trixie hooted, clapping Rose on the shoulder, knocking her off balance enough that Jake's skateboard came rolling back to him. Jake flipped it up, catching the end in his hand.

"That depends on how much Spud eats," Trixie said. "Sometimes, he eats so much he can't move for days."

"It's only kind of an exaggeration," Jake said. "Trixie does it all the time too."

"Oh, like you're so innocent," Trixie scoffed as they left the skate park. "I've seen you out eat all of us!"

"Stomach like a wild animal," Jake bragged.

When they ordered from their favourite greasy hot dog vendor, it didn't escape Jake's notice that Rose and Lily ordered the same thing unprompted. Lily looked delighted to have something in common with her twin but Rose looked annoyed at the very idea of it.

As if they were going to form that twin bond Lily so desperately craved, all because they both liked mustard. Jake didn't let any of that doubt show as he took his place on a bench that was less snow covered than any of the others, his arm around Lily's waist but his eyes on Rose.

(-.-)

Lily was relieved when Jake caught her hand outside her house, leaving Rose to go inside alone and Lily with what felt like her first real moment with Jake today. Jake kissed her in that soft familiar way that made her heart do that little twist at the bottom.

"What are you thinking?" Jake asked.

Lily went to play with her hair and discovered only her toque. She flicked the little wool ball out of frustration. Partially at herself, partially at what she knew Jake was going to say.

"If Mom and Dad let us out after last night, I'm going with her." Lily tried to sound more determined than she felt. Deep down, she didn't think she ever wanted to see any of Rose's crowd again. But, she wasn't convinced that if she said 'no' tonight that Rose would ever invite her somewhere again.

"We can hang out one on one," Jake offered, "the way that you wanted to this morning."

"Trixie and Spud will blame me for them not going."

It didn't seem to be what Jake had been expecting, as he paused for a moment, mouth open until he recovered his thoughts. "Since when have you given a single shit what Spud or Trixie thinks about you?"

Lily sat down on her front steps, trying to put her thoughts together before explaining it to Jake. She knew how it was going to sound. She'd been troubled by how it sounded all morning but that didn't make it any less true.

"It's not like it's peer pressure," Lily said, wondering when she'd stop feeling like she was five. "But, meeting Rose has made me wonder a lot."

Jake sat down next to her, taking her mittened hands into his own bare ones. Lily stared at Jake's short nails, finding it easier than looking him in the eye.

"I'm sure you've got a lot to think about," Jake said delicately, "but she is a stranger you only met yesterday. One you've barely said a nice thing about."

"I know," Lily admitted, "but I guess I've had this fantasy of us being twin sisters. Immediately feeling and acting like twin sisters! I didn't even think about her not being like me that I've been mean to her about it."

"You've been mean?" Jake asked, disbelieving.

Lily tried not to sigh. If it was hard for her to grasp, it would be even harder for Jake to grasp. But, couldn't he see that this was what she meant? She wasn't just quiet, docile little Lily all the time and she needed to find out if she wanted to be this version of herself or if she had just ended up being this version of herself because it was easier. If she and Rose had grown up together, maybe Lily would be a popular party girl with a ton of friends too. Maybe she wouldn't even be an artists or date Jake, even though those two things seemed like an immovable part of her. She felt the most alive when she was in her art and Jake was the only man who'd ever caught her attention. That all got caught in Lily's throat and, for the first time since she'd met him, there were things that she felt that she couldn't say to Jake.

"Just promise me you'll come tonight," Lily said, trying not to beg. "I need you."

Jake considered for a moment and then he leant forward to kiss her forehead and Lily knew his answer before he even said a word.

"If you go I'll go," he promised.

"Thank you."

Jake kissed her again, this time fully on the mouth. Lily leant into his warmth for a few moments until that little voice in the back of her head, telling her that enough was enough. Neither of them needed any ideas. Jake pecked her on the cheek.

"I'll talk to you later, no matter what, okay?"

"Okay."

"And tell me if she gets any meaner," Jake added. "I'll come protect you."

That, at least, made Lily giggle. "I will. Thanks."

Lily pecked Jake's lips one more time and then tottered inside, breathing a sigh of relief as the warmth sunk into her frozen legs. She slipped her coat onto its assigned peg and turned into her kitchen where Rose was laughing in the kitchen with their parents. Lily felt that bubble of hope again – they could be a family, just like they were supposed to be.

"My mother was born and raised in England," Rose said, "if I ever forgot how to make a proper cuppa, she'd come back to haunt me."

Your mother is right here, Lily wanted to say, just like she had at the police station, but she forced herself to hold her tongue.

"How's Jake?" Dad asked, finally noticing Lily standing in the door.

"Same old, same old," Lily said, taking her usual seat at the kitchen table.

"I was just telling Carl and Melinda how Marcia invited us for a sleepover tonight, as she feels so terrible about how last night went for you but –"

"Honey," Mom said, "you don't know this girl and with how last night went, we worry about you. And, you've never gone out on a Friday and Saturday night."

Lily didn't have to look to know that Rose was laughing at her.

"Mom, Dad, I'm not a child. I didn't get peer pressured or anything, I just made the wrong decision. I didn't get to know Rose's friends the way that I wanted to. And," here Lily glanced at Rose. This was their first twin conspiracy and also the first time Lily had lied to her parents about anything. "It's just a sleepover, right, Rose?"

"Of course," Rose said smoothly, looking completely unphased. "We'll be doing face masks and eating popcorn and watching romantic movies. I think Marcia is also inviting Courtney. She goes to your school, I think."

Lily nodded, wondering how Rose had developed such a good poker face.

"Well, it's up to you," Dad said again. "Just be safe and know you can call us at any time, no matter what."

"Thanks!" Lily said, and pulled out her phone.

Lily: I'll see you tonight. I'll get Rose to text you the address.

(-.-)

"Hell yeah," Spud said, texting rapidly. "Guess we're going out again tonight!"

Trixie licked Cheeto dust from her fingers, finally feeling she'd conquered last night's tequila shots.

"And to think," she said, trying not to sound bitter, "it's all because of Lily."

"I think it's all because of Rose," Spud corrected.

Trixie scoffed, stretching out on Spud's couch.

"For someone who hooked up with Stacey Wintergrin last night, that's a hell of a simp tone over Rose."

"Simp," Spud repeated and then he laughed. "She's hot."

"She looks exactly like Lily."

"But in a hot way," Spud said. "Even you have to admit that"

Trixie crossed her arms over her chest. It was true and Rose was also the more personable version. Trixie had actually been able to have fun with Rose, both drunk and sober. She'd never been able to have fun with Lily. Not that she was going to admit that aloud.

"And, I wasn't the only one who was looking at her," Spud added. "Did you see Jake's face?"

Trixie, who had been about to dive back into the Cheeto bag because no one had looked at her at all last night, froze. "What?"

"Yeah 'cause Brad didn't seem very interested in talking to Rose so I was watching Rose so I could maybe talk to Rose. Of course, this was before Stacey and I hooked up. I mentioned that, right? The head cheerleader wanted a piece of all this –"

Trixie whacked Spud with a throw pillow. "Focus!"

"Jake was just staring at her too!" Spud exclaimed, snatching the pillow from Trixie's violent hands. "Then when he went out to talk to her 'for Lily' they were getting kind of snuggly."

"Snuggly?" Trixie repeated flatly. Not exactly scandalous words.

"And when we were doing shots he was looking down her shirt the whole time. Even though Lily was right there," Spud added salaciously.

"Hmm … Well, I already like Rose better than Lily," Trixie mused, trying to piece together how she felt about it all.

"Oh no. Trixie, you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking."

"Of course I am," Trixie scoffed. "And, deep down, you are too."

Spud went quiet for a minute, picking at loose strings on his shirt before sighing heavily. "Jake and Lily should break up and I hate having her around as much as you do. You know I do."

"But?"

"Her identical twin? We still won't be free of Lily."

Trixie shrugged. "The heart wants what it wants."

And she'd already decided that Jake's heart wanted Rose.

"If that's true, why do we need to have anything to do with it?"

"It's not like we're going to be doing anymore sabotaging than we already do by reminding Jake how much Lily sucks as often as we do."

"We're not?"

"No, we're just going to keep Jake and Rose in the same space. If he breaks up with Lily because of it, that's not our fault, is it?"

"Well, no," Spud agreed. "We wouldn't have done anything."

"Exactly. We're just giving them an opportunity."

"They don't have to take it."

"We're almost adults. They know what they're doing."

"Right. They'd be making their own decisions."

"And if Jake does decide to break up with Lily, all the better for us!"

"I'll drink to that."

Trixie patted his knee and then tossed the nearly empty Cheeto bag into his lap. "That's gonna have to wait for tonight. I'm running late."

"Late?" Spud squawked. "Where is more important than here with me? You don't have any other friends."

Trixie didn't take offense, mostly because it was true.

"Rose invited me to some get ready thing at Marcia's before the party. It's a bunch of girls, I guess. I figured I should go and sus out if she really is the right new girlfriend for Jake."

Spud perked up. "A bunch? Hey, if Stacey's there –"

"Spud, shut up." It came out meaner than Trixie intended but she didn't let that stop her. Completely. "Stacey made out with you because she was drunk, not because she's been crushing on you too. If she's at the party tonight, she's not going to kiss you again."

"You don't know that," Spud said, a wounded look in his puppy eyes.

Trixie wanted to sigh and leave. Spud may not want to believe it but Trixie did know. People like Spud and people like Stacey just didn't end up together. Trixie opened her mouth to tell him exactly that but something about his face stopped her. Spud would find out soon enough. She didn't have to be the one to burst his bubble; not like Jake would have.

"Whatever," Trixie said, jumping to her feet. "I'll see you tonight."

"Hey, Trix," Spud called when she almost at the door, "does this mean you're going to look like a girl tonight?"

"Shut up!" Trixie shouted and she slammed the door shut behind her.