As I hang up the call the door to mine and Luke's room opens. Why Gen thought it was a good idea to have Luke and I sleep in the same room I'll never know.

"So," Luke says "it must be pretty cool having a twin brother?"

"Not really," I reply "it's ok sometimes."

"What's your brother like? Is he anything like you?"

"Oh hell no. Roman is quieter than me. He's a bit like you. Nerdy, intelligent, popular. All the stuff I'm not."

"You seem intelligent to me. You were able to get hold of a gun and hijack a car. You're the same age as me and I don't think I could do that."

"Getting a gun isn't hard. Besides it's not even real. Here." I say and I hand him the gun.

He checks it and tries pulling the trigger. When he realises I'm telling the truth that it's fake he sets it down. 

"Which one of you is older? You or Roman?"

"Me. I'm 7 minutes older."

"Are you protective of Roman then? From what you've said about him in your stories you seem really close?"

"We are. I'd do anything to protect him. I've done hundreds of things to protect him. Both at school and at home."

"With your foster dad?"

"Yeah," I reply "we call him Chris. He doesn't let us call him dad."

"Can you tell me another story? Maybe a time you took the blame for your brother for something?"

"Like what?"

"Like... what's the worst thing he did that you took the blame for?"

"There's too many to list. But alright. Once he got a really bad report for the end of our second semester when we were juniors. He only passed one of his classes. I passed 5 out of 8 so mine was a little better."

"So you switched your reports over?"

"Exactly," I reply "I suggested to Roman that we should switch and when we went inside and gave Chris our reports he wasn't exactly too upset by mine when Roman gave it to him. But when I handed him Roman's I seriously thought he was gonna explode."

"What happened?"

"He started shouting that I was stupid and that I was an idiot. He said schools shouldn't bother teaching kids who can't pass at least 3 classes."

"That's so out of order. He really says those kind of things to the two of you?"

"Every single day. He's never complimented us once."

"So what's the worst thing Roman did that you took the blame for?"

"Are you sure you wanna hear that story?" I ask "it's pretty unpleasant."

"I'm sure" Luke replies. He adjusts himself on his bed to get into a more comfy position. I do the same. Then I begin. It's nice to not have to switch mine and Roman's names. It feels like I'm talking to a friend.

"It happened 2 years ago, just before Christmas." 

2 years ago.

Roman and Kailin had been dating for just over 2 months. As this was their first Christmas together, Roman wanted to get her something special. 

I suggested tons of shit for him to get her. All the kind of stuff girls like: flowers, chocolates.

"That's what you get them for valentine's day Connor. It's different at Christmas." Roman said.

"Well what do you normally get me for Christmas?" I asked

"Whatever you ask me to get you. But I can't ask Kailin what she wants. I need to figure something out for myself."

"A ring or something?"

"We're not getting engaged!"

"Not an engagement ring stupid. Just a regular kind of ring."

"Maybe I could get her a necklace?"

"Nice idea. I saw one in an antiques store. Here follow me."

I led the way to an antiques store about a 10 minute walk outside of town. When we get there I was pleased to see it wasn't sold.  

"It's beautiful," Roman said. "There's no price tag though?"

"Go in and ask how much it is."

"It's gonna be more than $25 Connor."

"Here," I said, handing him a $20 note "just don't expect me to get you much."

"Thanks Connor you're the best."

"I know "I replied and Roman went in. 

He came out a few moments later, not walking but running. He grabs my arm and I start running too. I hear footsteps behind us and looked back to see that the store worker was running after us.

When we get close to home I pulled Roman into a side street. We watched as the store worker gave up and turned to walk back towards the store. I was surprised he followed us all that way. 

"It was $60 dollars."

"What was all the running for then?" I ask.

He pulls a box out of his pocket. He opens it to reveal...the necklace.

"You fucking stole it!" I shouted.

"I'm sorry ok. I really wanted to get it for her."

"Yeah and what would she think if she knew it was stolen?"

"Well unless one of us tells her she'll never know. Now come on it's getting dark."

We slowly walked the rest of the way home. Arguing as we walked. As we approached our house I could see a figure standing on the porch. It looked a lot like Chris. He was looking up and down the road as if he was waiting for something. Or someone.

"Chris is expecting us" I teased, pointing at our house.

Roman laughed "yeah," he said. "HEY CHRIS WHAT'S UP?"

When we get to the porch Chris didn't answer Roman's question. He grabbed both of us and pulled us inside before locking the door. 

"Which one of you was it?" He asked.

"What?" I asked.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU STOLE THE NECKLACE?" He roared.

"Neither of us" I replied, placing a hand on Romans to stop him taking the box out of his pocket.

Chris walked into the living room. 

"Give me the box" I hissed to Roman.

"What?" Roman hissed back "Connor you can't!"

"Just give it to me." 

He did, very reluctantly. I slipped it into my pocket.

"GET IN HERE!" Chris thundered. We both went in. "I SAID. WHICH ONE OF YOU WAS IT? THE STORE OWNER KNOWS ME PERSONALLY. I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. NOW WHO TOOK IT?"

"It was me" I said, stepping forward and holding out the box.

Chris was quiet for a moment. But then out of nowhere he screamed "FUCK. I FUCKING KNEW IT'D BE YOU CONNOR. ROMAN WOULD NEVER BE SO STUPID. YOU COULDN'T AFFORD IT SO YOU FUCKING STOLE IT? YOU SELFISH PIECE OF SHIT!" 

Neither of us had ever seen him that angry before. He didn't seem to know when to stop. 

"YOU ARE BANNED FROM THAT PLACE NOW. AND MY GOD, YOU ARE GOING TO FUCKING PAY HIM AND ME BACK FOR THIS!"

"What effect did it have on you?" I asked.

Chris finally stopped shouting "I was fucking embarrassed when I got that call. To say that one of you had stolen from my friend. I seriously can't believe you Connor."

"Sorry" I replied.

"My friend wants you to clean his store until you make enough money to pay him back. And you're grounded for a month. Now, phone?" He held out his hand expectantly.

"Do you have to take my phone?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Ugh fine" I said, giving it to him.

We both left. When I got to my room Roman hugged me. "Thanks," he said "you can use my phone when you need to. And we'll switch who does the cleaning."

"Thanks" I replied and Roman hugged me. We stayed like that for quite a while. 

"Wow. That was really nice of you. You really care about each other." Luke says.

"Yeah. I do."

"Do you miss him right now? Are you worried about him being alone with Chris?"

"Yeah," I reply "I am worried about him. And I miss him a lot." That's an understatement. This is the longest we've ever been apart. The truth is I want to run home and be with him again. I don't care how Chris would react or what he'd do. I want to do that but if I do the police will come after me. 

I'll be back with Roman one day. I just hope that if the police ever catch up to me, I won't be kept away from Roman for too long. 'Cause right now, he's the only person on this earth I want to be with.