Double Life: Friends and Foes

All of them stayed at the cafeteria in a large rectangular table. Nichole sat at the chair at the end of the table; Josh sat next to her and Michelle next to him.

“Are you all in the same class?” the twin´s mother asked. Nichole noticed her eyes had that spark of curiosity that Josh´s had when he asked a question.

“No –said Josh, across from her- Aaron is in another class, I met Nichole first and I met Michelle because of him despite being in the same class”

“And I met Nichole because of Josh” Aaron added smiling to his mother, next to him.

“You met her before –Michelle interjected- don´t you remember she broke your nose?” she smirked. All the parents looked at Nichole, Aaron´s mother with wide eyes, the twins glared at Michelle.

“That was an accident –Aaron said to his mom- I was walking distractedly and didn´t see Nichole” he sounded a little bashful

“You were chasing Michelle” Josh added still looking at Michelle and that was her mother´s turn to widen her eyes. Nichole fought a grin while Aaron glared at his twin.

Lunch was spent like that, Michelle using every opportunity she had to tell Nichole’s flaws or what she thought were her faults. Nichole and the twin´s father were mostly silent through the whole lunch.

“Are you going to the art exhibition?” Michelle´s mom, Miranda, asked. It had been a long while since they had ended their lunch “Last time I came it was really good”

Michelle seemed uncomfortable about her mother´s comment. “Is your work going to be presented?” She asked Josh, next to her.

“Are you into drawing and painting now?” Josh mom asked. He only smiled.

“Dad and I will go to the pool, there´s the competition and you and Josh can go to the exhibition” Aaron proposed.

“That´d be nice” said Josh´s mother. Aaron and his father got up.

“I´ll call you when we get out” the twins father said.

“Ok” she said and got up to hug her son and husband, and then they left saying goodbye to the rest.

“We´ll go to the art exhibition” Michelle said “we´ll meet you there”

“Oh, thank you… I´ll look around the campus for a bit” Josh´s mom said.

“Michi, let´s go” prompted Miranda and waved goodbye to Nichole, Josh and his mother.

“Are you ok?” Josh asked softly to Nichole as he quickly brushed his fingers over Nic´s left hand that rested on the table. She half smiled.

“Son, I didn´t know you were into painting” Maggie, Josh’s mother asked smiling.

“I’m not. Nichole´s the one that paints”

“Is that so?” She looked at Nic who nodded.

“I just joined the art club because they get music too”

“Are you a musician too?” Maggie asked Nichole

“No, Mrs. Arlington. I just pain and draw but our art teacher does play many instruments so we have music while we paint, it´s a really good combination”

“I agree” said Maggie. Josh brow had a wrinkle, his head tilted to a side.

“Do you paint mom?”

“I used to, before you boys were born”

“I thought you´d always been a doctor. Why don´t we have your work around the house, why didn´t I know?”

“Helping children makes me as happy as painting” She smiled to her son. “Maybe we can go and see your work” Maggie addressed Nichole

“Ah, well, … I never go” Nic said with a half-smile “you can go and take a look though, there´s a lot of good paintings and drawings there”

“Wanna go Josh?” Maggi asked

“No, mom, I´ve already seen all the paintings”

“Ok, care to go to the tea party, then?” Maggi smiled and that spark in her eyes lit.

“Ok, mom but I think that´s for mothers and daughters besides you said you wanted to look around campus”

“Well, I have no daughters, so you´re stuck with me” she winked and grinned. “And we´d be taking a walk around first”

“Nic, please, come and spare me the teasing” Josh pleaded. Nichole smiled showing her white teeth at the mother and son antics.

“Yeah, come with us” Maggi said. Nichole nodded.

“Sure, let´s go”

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A/N: this one turned out to be a shorter but that´s it with it...