Twin Flames

"There's my girl." Allan Powell's smile brightened as he spotted Lily across the crowded hallway. He navigated through the sea of students, reaching her with practiced ease before planting a soft kiss on her cheek and sliding his arm around her waist.

The moment shattered when a familiar voice thundered through the corridor.

"POWELL!" Noah Anderson barreled toward them, his face flushed crimson, eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. Students parted like the Red Sea, sensing the storm about to erupt.

Before either Lily or Allan could react, Noah grabbed Allan by his jacket collar and slammed his fist into his face with a sickening crack.

"What the hell, Noah?" Lily screamed, lunging forward. "Have you completely lost your mind?"

Noah ignored his twin sister, shoving Allan against the lockers with enough force to dent the metal. The sound of fist meeting flesh echoed as Noah landed blow after punishing blow.

"You think you can disrespect my sister?" Noah growled between punches. "You think I wouldn't find out about your little side action?"

Allan's lip split open, blood trickling down his chin as he struggled to speak. His eyes rolled back, dazed from the assault.

"Answer me!" Noah demanded, gripping Allan's shirt tighter.

Lily clawed at her brother's shoulders, trying desperately to pull him away. "Stop it! You're going to kill him!" It took two passing seniors to finally drag Noah off Allan, who slumped to the floor, face barely recognizable beneath the blood and swelling.

Lily shot her twin a venomous glare before kneeling beside her boyfriend. "I need help getting him to the nurse," she called out, her voice trembling with rage and fear.

"You've crossed a line this time." Lily stormed after Noah across the school parking lot, her backpack bouncing against her spine with each furious step.

Noah whirled around, his hands still raw and scraped from the fight. "I crossed a line? What about your precious boyfriend crossing lines with that brunette at Riverside Mall yesterday?"

"Would you just stop?" Lily's voice cracked. "Look at what you've done! Allan needed six stitches, Noah. Six! His parents are talking about pressing charges!"

"Let them." Noah shrugged, but his eyes betrayed a flash of uncertainty. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it means protecting you."

"Protecting me?" Lily laughed bitterly. "Is that what you call this? Allan wasn't cheating on me. That 'brunette' is Valerie Powell—his cousin visiting from Chicago. I've met her before. I've seen family photos with her."

Noah's expression faltered momentarily before hardening again. "Cousin? Please. That's the oldest excuse in the book, Lily. I saw how close they were sitting, how he had his arm around her."

"Because they're family!" Lily threw her hands up in exasperation. "Not everyone has our... complicated family dynamic."

Something in Noah's eyes shifted at her words. Something dark and possessive that made Lily's stomach tighten.

"I never asked you to be my personal bodyguard," she continued, softer now. "These rumors about you... about us... they're getting worse every time you pull stunts like this."

"What rumors?" Noah asked, though his tone suggested he knew exactly what she meant.

"Don't play dumb. The whispers that you're obsessed with me. That your feelings aren't... brotherly." The words hung in the air between them, dangerous and electric.

Noah ran a hand through his dark hair, identical in shade to Lily's. "Maybe you should be more concerned about why you've never let Allan get past second base after eight months of dating."

The accusation hit Lily like a physical blow. "That's none of your business."

"Isn't it?" Noah stepped closer, too close for comfort. "Tell me something, Lily. When he touches you, who are you thinking about?"

Lily's heart hammered against her ribs. "Stop it."

"Because I'm starting to think Allan isn't entirely wrong about you."

The antiseptic smell of the school clinic made Lily's nose wrinkle as she sat beside Allan's bed later that afternoon. His face was a patchwork of bandages and bruises, one eye swollen completely shut.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, reaching for his hand. "Noah had no right—"

"Your brother is psychotic," Allan interrupted, wincing as the movement pulled at his split lip. "This isn't normal, Lily. Brothers don't beat guys to a pulp for talking to their sisters."

Lily stared at her hands. "He thought you were cheating."

"With my cousin." Allan scoffed. "A cousin you've met. He didn't even bother to check before going full Incredible Hulk on my face."

"I know, and I—"

"It's because he wants you for himself." The words fell between them like a grenade.

Lily's head snapped up. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me." Allan's uninjured eye fixed on her with unsettling intensity. "The whole school sees it. The way he looks at you, how he touches you—always a hand on your back or arm around your shoulder. It's not normal, Lily."

"That's disgusting," she protested, but her voice lacked conviction. "He's my twin brother."

"And I think you feel the same way." Allan pressed on, his voice hardening. "Why else would you freeze every time things get heated between us? Why do you always find some excuse to stop?"

"I'm just not ready," Lily insisted, heat rising to her cheeks.

"Not ready for me, you mean." Allan pushed himself up on his elbows despite the pain. "I've seen how you look at him too, Lily. It's sick."

"You're delirious from the pain meds," she said, standing abruptly. "I'm not having this conversation."

"Prove me wrong then." Allan caught her wrist. "Stay with me tonight. Show me I'm the only one you want."

Lily stared at him, stomach churning with a mixture of disgust and guilt. "You want me to sleep with you to prove I don't have feelings for my brother? Do you hear how insane that sounds?"

"What I hear is you avoiding the question." Allan released her wrist. "Just go, Lily. Go run to your brother like you always do."

She backed away, tears threatening to spill. "We're done, Allan. Don't call me."

The Anderson' living room was bathed in the blue glow of the television when Lily returned home. Noah sprawled across the couch, an ice pack wrapped around his bruised knuckles.

"Where have you been?" he asked without looking away from the screen.

"Cleaning up your mess," Lily replied coldly, dropping her bag by the door. "Allan and I broke up, by the way. Congratulations."

That got Noah's attention. He sat up, wincing slightly. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Lily laughed humorlessly. "You beat him half to death over nothing, that's what happened."

"It wasn't nothing to me." Noah's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.

"No, it never is with you." Lily paced the room, unable to stay still with the storm brewing inside her. "This has to stop, Noah. People are talking. They're saying things about us."

"Let them talk." Noah shrugged, his eyes following her movement like a predator tracking prey.

"You don't get it, do you?" Lily stopped in front of him. "These rumors are affecting my life. No guy wants to date the girl whose twin brother might put them in the hospital. And the things they're saying about why you do it..." She trailed off, unable to voice the accusations.

"About why I'm so protective?" Noah stood, towering over her by several inches. "About why I can't stand seeing another guy's hands on you?"

Lily's breath caught in her throat. "Noah, don't."

"What if they're right?" His voice was barely audible. "What if the rumors aren't just rumors?"

The room seemed to shrink around them, the air growing thick and charged. "You can't mean that," Lily whispered, but she didn't back away.

"I've never denied it, have I?" Noah reached out, his fingers hovering just shy of her cheek. "Maybe there's a reason I can't stand seeing you with other guys. Maybe there's a reason you can't give yourself to them."

"This is wrong," Lily said, but the words sounded hollow even to her own ears.

"Is it?" Noah's eyes—mirror images of her own—searched her face. "Or is it just inconvenient? Complicated?"

"You're my twin brother," she insisted weakly.

"And you're the only person who's ever truly understood me." Noah's hand finally made contact, cupping her cheek with surprising gentleness. "The only one who sees me completely."

Lily's heart raced, her mind spinning with conflicting emotions—disgust and desire, fear and fascination. She should pull away. She should run. Instead, she found herself frozen, caught in the gravity of a moment she'd secretly imagined more times than she could count.

"Tell me you've never thought about it," Noah challenged, his thumb tracing her lower lip. "Tell me, and I'll never mention it again."

The lie died on her tongue. Her silence was answer enough.

Noah's eyes darkened with understanding. "That's what I thought."

Lily's sharp intake of breath was the only sound in the room as the line they'd been dancing around for years finally, irrevocably blurred.