“I know none of us are twins, but we seem to share many of the same traits as twins,” Sam mused.

I patted Feline absently on the head as he settled onto my lap. He was mad at me for abandoning him the night before, but couldn’t turn down the attention. I stroked his fur as I continued to read more on twins.

“We share many similarities with the twins on this site, but their connection comes from genetics,” Sam said as she read over my shoulder. “Well, except these ones.” I said, clicking onto another site that had a more paranormal spin on it.

My first instinct was to laugh. “Give me a break. Some of these twins act like they’re some kind of superhero,” I said as I read how one twin was convinced that he and his brother were put on earth to save the world and that they could read each other’s minds. “This is like reading the National Enquirer. I’m surprised he didn’t add that his mother was an alien from another planet.”

“Well, we mock it, but really Krista, is it any different than what all of us are going through? We dream about the same guy every night, we feel a surge of electricity when any of us touch, and not to mention; we all realized that we somehow freakishly neutralize each other.”

She of course had a point.

We decided to call Mark to see if he and Shawn wanted to meet us at the park by my house.

Mark answered the phone on the first ring. “Sam and I stumbled onto something while we were searching the web,” I said as a greeting.

“What kind of thing?” Mark asked, sounding intrigued.

“It’s too much to explain over the phone. We were hoping you could meet us at the park.”

“Sure we can. We’re not doing anything except playing Xbox.”

“Fifteen minutes too soon?” I asked.

“No, that’s fine.”

I hung up. “We better get ready; they’re going to meet us there in fifteen minutes.”

Five minutes later, we were heading down the stairs. “Mom, we’re going for a walk,” I yelled toward the back of the house. I heard a muffled reply and took it for an okay.

The day was pleasantly cool. I zipped my hoodie as we headed down the walkway. The small heat wave from the day before had lifted and there was a nice cool breeze rustling through our hair as we walked. We discussed the possibilities as to why we seemed to share so many similarities with sets of twins. Sam seemed to think that our moms might have been in some kind of test study. I was still pessimistic about the entire thing and didn’t know which way to cast my vote. Both were crazy. I mean really, paranormal vs. sci-fi? I probably would have believed that I was a werewolf or a vampire easier than I seemed to be grasping this. At least that would be a lot cooler.

The guys were waiting at our usual picnic table at the park when we got there. We had only been apart for a few hours, but an ache I wasn’t even aware of slowly began to dissipate. Every time I was away from him, I felt broken and incomplete, until we were reunited, then I felt whole again.

Chapter 10

I gave Mark a quick kiss, joining him on the top of the picnic table. I smiled as the familiar warm feeling began to spread through me. His kisses were becoming like a drug to me. They had a way of reminding me of all of my favorite things.

I pulled back to see him studying me intently. I felt a little self conscious as he continued to look at me.

I looked down to make sure I had nothing on my shirt.

I didn’t see anything.

I rubbed my hand down my face, pausing at the corner of my lips to make sure I didn’t have leftover food in the corners.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Nothing, I’m just amazed at how right life feels when you are with me. When we’re apart, I try to fill the hole your absence leaves, but when I see you again, I feel complete.”

I smiled at his words. They mimicked my exact thoughts. We were a cliché. We completed each other.

Mark smiled as if he had reached the same conclusion as me.

“So what did you two find out?” Mark asked, changing the subject.

I looked at him in confusion and then realized that he meant on the internet. His switching of gears threw me off track.

“Um, let’s walk and we will fill you in.”

Sam and I took turns filling them in on the things we learned about twins. We sparked their interest when we mentioned the many links that twins shared. I told them how I read one web site that suggested that some twins reported feeling the pain of their twin. Some even claim that they could read each other’s thoughts.

“One woman even wrote that she had felt her sister’s labor pains,” Sam said.

“There was also one guy who said he knew when his twin brother died, even though he was nowhere near him,” I added. “We know we’re not twins, but we can’t deny, we share similarities with them. There’s other kooky stuff out there, but you guys would have to read it to believe it. I know it sounds farfetched, but it seems like the kind of stuff we’ve been searching for.”

“You have a point; maybe we should start narrowing our search to scientific studies and anything paranormal we can find,” Shawn said as we all digested the new information.

Sick of all the heavy talk, I headed toward the swings up ahead. I loved to swing. Not swinging up high of course; I just liked the feeling of swaying back and forth. I sat on one of the swings as Mark sat in the one beside me.

We linked hands while we watched Sam and Shawn’s antics on the slide. Sam’s laugh was contagious as she slid down the slide the first time. I couldn’t help smiling just watching her.

Sam and Shawn looked carefree as they went from one piece of playground equipment to the next. They had a knack of being able to put the serious stuff aside and enjoying the moment. I envied their ease, I wished I could put the troubling thoughts on the backburner, but they were always there, butting in.

I watched as Sam and Shawn slid down the slide together, landing in a heap at the bottom, laughing as they landed in a tangle. Shawn pulled Sam close and kissed her.

I looked away feeling like an intruder. I turned to Mark and saw that he was watching me.

“Does it bother you that I’m not as carefree as they are?” I asked, indicating Sam and Shawn as they headed back down the slide.

Mark pulled the chains of my swing, twisting me around toward him. I looked intently into his eyes, waiting for his answer.

“I want you to listen to me. You seem to be under the misconception that there is something wrong with you, that there is nothing special about you. There is nobody else in the whole world that I would rather be with. I could look at you for hours and never get sick of it. I could spend every second of everyday in your presence and I would die a happy man. You belong with me,” he finished as he gave the chains of my swing another tug, dragging me even closer as he kissed me.

I wound my hands around the chains of his swing and sighed as he deepened the kiss. I felt the warmth spread though me and wound my arms around his neck to pull him even closer.

I finally broke the kiss to find that I was sitting on his lap.

“How did I get here?” I asked as he laughed.

Mark changed the subject and brought up a point I had not thought of.

“So, I’ve been thinking, since the Dean knows about us, I don’t see any reason why we need to keep our relationship a secret from your mom anymore,” he said as we gently swung back in forth.

He was right; there really was no reason why we couldn’t tell my mom about us. The fact that he was an intern at my school seemed trivial after all the things we had learned. He was so close to my own age, I didn’t see my mom having a problem with us dating. I suspected it would be the exact opposite. She would probably be thrilled that I was seeing someone and not obsessing about my “dream” guy.

It would be nice to go out on an actual date with Mark. Plus, we could double with Sam and Shawn.

I smiled, things suddenly seemed so much better. The dark cloud that had been hovering over our heads moved away. We may not have found the answer to the turn our dreams have taken, but it no longer mattered, we had each other in reality and that was all that was important.

Sam and Shawn joined us and I glanced at my watch.

“We have enough time to walk around the park once.” I said.

Our conversation was much more light- hearted, and Sam soon had us in stitches, making fun of the rich kids at our school. She gave the best imitation of the stuck up drama queens. “Oh my gosh! My nail polish doesn’t match my shoes or watch. How will I ever face anyone again?” She said in a perfect imitation of one of the Lush Trio.

I had to hold my sides, I was laughing so hard.

It was nice to be around people who were on the same wave length as me. The more time I spent with Shawn, the more I liked him. I had put everyone’s assumptions on the hold after my emotional melt down, but I couldn’t help noticing small habits that we both shared. He rubbed his forehead a lot and I knew I did too. My dad used to tease me that I would rub a hole in my forehead if I didn’t stop rubbing it. I also noticed that he laughed the same way that I did.

When I was in middle school, I tried to change my laugh to be more ladylike, but it didn’t work. When I thought something was funny, it just seemed to burst out of me.

It was an unreal experience to see someone that shared many of my traits. Just watching him filled me with a sense of rightness.

“I hate to break up the mood, but we seem to have forgotten something important. What about the other four?” Shawn asked.

He was right; we had put the others out of our minds, but they could be ignored no longer.

“Hopefully, they’re drawn to Santa Cruz also. If they are, then maybe we’ll run into them. I know it’s a long shot, but the four of us found each other, so it could happen,” Mark said.

“I know how we can try to find them,” Sam said. “We can search the internet for children that were abandoned around the dates we were abandoned. We now know their ages, so that should narrow the search down. Not to mention, that you need to talk to your dad,” she said to Mark.

“I know,” he said with a sigh. “My dad is so freaking straight laced though, that none of this seems like him at all. I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around the fact that he knows about all this since I saw Shawn’s picture yesterday. I tried calling him on his cell phone, but of course it went right to voicemail. His secretary informed me that he’s out of town for at least another three weeks or so, when I tried to call him this morning. She told me in an offhand way that he is way too busy to talk to me unless it’s an emergency, but she would pass a message along to him,” Mark said with sarcasm lacing his every word.

I reached out and grabbed his hand, hoping that whatever healing power we possessed would calm his anger and hurt.

“Well, until he gets back or calls you, we can do our own digging,” Sam said.

Once we had a game plan, the guys decided they would walk us home. Now that we were going to tell my mom, I was anxious to introduce Mark to her.

It only took us ten minutes to walk back to my house.

I felt a serious case of butterflies in my stomach as we walked up my walkway.

I wasn’t nervous; I just wanted my mom to think Mark was as great as I thought he was.

Mark grabbed my hand as we headed up the stairs of the front porch. Sam and Shawn opted to wait on the porch. They wanted to give us a little privacy as I introduced Mark to my mom.

My mom was on the couch watching a rerun episode of CSI. We were avid watchers of all the CSI shows.

She looked up when we walked in. Her smile of greeting turned to surprise when she saw that I was holding some strange guys hand.

I dragged Mark further into the living room as she stood up.

“Mom, I would like you to meet my friend, Mark. Mark, this is my mom, Cindy Miller.

My mom reached her hand out, Mark clasped it between his hands.

“I didn’t know you made any friends other than Sam this past week?” She said, obviously fishing for more information.

I decided to go for broke. It was like pulling off a band-aid, quick and fast was the only way to go.

I plunged in.

“Mark’s a year older than me,” I started.

“A year older, how did you meet? Are you still in school?” She asked, posing the last question to Mark.

Mark looked over at me. I knew what he was asking with the look. I shook my head yes. We might as well get it over with.

“I go to Krista’s school, but I’m not a student. I’m doing my graduate thesis at her school,” he said.

I took over and filled in the rest of the blanks for her. I told her how he had skipped grades growing up, and was able to graduate from college last year. I told her how our love of history had given us a common bond and that we talked about it after school one day. Then I told her that Sam and I had run into him and his friend yesterday at the Boardwalk.

“Does the Dean know your dating a student?” she asked.

I thought I detected just a touch of accusation in her voice.

“Yes, and he was not happy about it,” Mark said truthfully.

“Mrs. Miller, I know that it is unprofessional that I’m seeing your daughter. I have no excuse, except that I think she is pretty special, and I would like your permission to continue seeing her.”

“I don’t know if it’s best for Krista to date an intern where she goes to school.”

“Mom, we’re going to keep it quiet, nobody will know except Sam,” I said, starting to feel the first stirrings of doubt about telling her. What would I do if my mom wouldn’t let me see him anymore?

“I don’t think it’s a good idea Krista. He’s an adult. He goes to work every day while you’re in school. You still have years of schooling ahead of you,” she said.

“I’m sure you’re a nice young man, but Krista’s never even dated. I would prefer her first boyfriend to actually attend her school,” she said to Mark.

“I was hoping you would feel differently,” Mark said, looking disappointed.

I couldn’t believe it. This was not the way it was supposed to go. My mom was supposed to be okay with it. She was supposed to be glad that I was finally interested in someone.

“Mom, I want to see him, I love him.” The words slipped out. I wished I could take them back. I knew instantly that I had made a mistake, by the look on her face.

“Love him? You’ve only known him for a week, how can you love him?” She said angrily. “I don’t want you to see each other again.”

I was shocked.

Not see him.