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“Hi,” my voice trembles.
“Ell, where are you?” she screams into the phone. “Kase called me and told me to get to his apartment, but you’re not there.”
“I’m at my apartment. Oh Tori, everything was a lie.” I swallow my cries. I hate myself for letting my guard down with him. There was something different about him from the beginning. The first night we met, he didn’t look at me like he knew me, he did.
“Stay there, I’m on my way.” She hangs up before I can tell her not to come.
Minutes later a knock on the door stops me mid zip from closing my bag. Holding the pepper spray, I grabbed out of my bag earlier, I creep to the front door as if the person on the other side can hear me walk. I hesitate looking through the peephole because if it's not Tori I don't want the person on the other side to see the light from the tiny hole disappear. It has to be Tori. My fingers hover over the metal dead bolt when another knock and Tori’s familiar voice comes telling me to open the door.
It takes seconds to open the door, pull her in and close it again.
I reach into the back pocket of my jeans pulling out the picture and handing it to her. Her eyes widen in surprise looking at the two teens in the picture. She waves the picture in the air and looks at me dumbfounded.
“This looks like you and Kase, but much younger.”
“That’s because it is. I think.” Her eyebrow lifts. “I don’t remember that. At all.” I bury my head in my hands. “I’m so confused. He has to be working for Ray.”
“Woah. Ell, he works for Max. If he worked for a guy like Ray, I’m sure Max would know.” I step over and snatch the picture out of her hand.
“Then how do you explain this? This wasn’t my life. I wasn’t this happy. Ever. I didn’t have a guy like Kase to look at me like this guy is looking at this girl. They’re in love.”
“What did Kase say?”
I sigh, regretting my actions. “Before or after I pulled a knife on him?”
“Oh, shit.” She walks over, clutches my hand and leads me to the couch. “Start from the beginning?”
I replay the whole event and she stays quiet, listening. Saying the words out loud, I feel stupid for overreacting, but my first instinct was to fight. “He said we’ve known each other since we were ten and I was in a car accident and had amnesia. He also said I didn’t have a stepfather.” My hands shake. “But I did, Tori. I’m not making him up.”
She gently presses her hand on top of mine, calming me down. “I believe you Ell. I knew you when you first came here. You were scared out of your mind at the drop of a hat. I don’t doubt you at all. But something isn’t adding up. Maybe that isn’t you. Maybe you resemble her so much, he has the wrong person.” That has to be it. It’s the only thing that makes sense out of all of this. “Let me call Stone. He won’t let anything happen to you, so if Kase isn’t who he says he is, he’ll have a shit storm coming his way.” I close my eyes and fall back against the couch. The shit storm is just beginning. Taking a couple cleansing breaths, I try to calm down. Tori’s right. That girl isn’t me. They say everyone has a doppelganger. This has to be a case of mistaken identity. A flood of new emotions flow through me, reality setting in. He thought he found the love of his life, got me to fall in love with him and now I’m not her. My love for him isn’t fake or based on false pretenses, but his is.
Her phone call to Stone is short. When I feel the couch sink, I roll my head in her direction. “He didn’t tell me anything specific, but he said you and Kase need to talk. He also said not to be afraid of him.”
The different direction my mind is now going, all thoughts of him working for Ray are gone. I nod, salty tears run down my cheeks. Can this day get any worse?
“He loves you, Ell.”
“He loves me because he thinks I’m that girl.” I blow out my cheeks and brush the tears off them. I guess it’s better he finds out now instead of after we got married.
A soft knock comes from the door. “That’s him. Stone said he was on his way,” Tori whispers. The sound of my heart echoes in the silent room. I stare at the door wondering how I'll tell the man I love I’m not the woman he’s been searching for.
“Do you want me to get it?” Tori asks after another knock. Biting the inside my cheek, I shake my head and push off the couch. Every step I take, the tightness in my chest grows. I reach for the doorknob and take a deep breath, exhaling sharply.
“Hi,” I say, choking back my tears as soon as our eyes lock.
“Hi.” His normal cockiness is gone, and he looks smaller standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets.
Silence hangs between us, heavy from the unknown. “Can I come in?” he murmurs.
“I’m out of here,” Tori says from behind me. She squeezes my arm as she passes by and softly smiles at Kase. “Call me if you need me.” I watch her disappear into the elevator and glance back at Kase, still planted in his spot. For a fractured instant, I wonder if he loves me for me. But the pained expression written all over his face, I don’t think he does.
I gesture for him to enter and close the door slowly. Why rush the end? Our beginning was so perfect, I want to savor it for a few more minutes.
“I’m sorry… about earlier.” My voice shakes. He sits down on the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He nods in understanding, lifting the side of his lip in a crooked smile.
“You’ve always been my little hell-cat.” I shift my eyes to the kitchen, my heart twists at his words. “Ellie, I love you. Please don’t forget that.” He darts off the couch, taking a couple of long strides to where I’m standing.
“Kase,” I pause, the words getting stuck in my throat. “I’m not her.”
