Chapter 1 : Here comes Trouble, Make it Double

“Hey! Are you listening to me?” I shut my eyes as the loud voice of one of the patrons rang out. “I mean I know you can’t speak but you can at least listen right? Or can’t you do that either?”

Rage flared up in me as I turned towards him with a sharp turn, ready to strike him with a balled fist if I needed to.

Just who the hell did he think he was!

The man scoffed at me as he noticed that gained my attention and he threw the book he was holding onto the floor over my desk.

“You know what, just keep the book. I’ll just go and buy it at a store.” My nostrils flared at the idiocy of the man. This was a library! Who the hell goes to a library to purchase a book!

A beeping came from the side of me, my alarm telling me that it was time to close up the library. Thankfully, that was the last person in the building and I could quickly close the doors before any other lovely patron decided to grace me with their presence.

Anger and bitterness seeped inside of me at the horrible day I seemed to be having.

Okay, I reminded myself, deep breaths Eleonore. All you have to do is make it home and this bad day will be behind you.

But just as I was about to turn around and walk towards the door I saw four large figures walking in. I groaned mentally to myself.

Great! Just great.

The first two were boys I had never seen before, their manner guarded as their eyes swept through the room. I thought it was strange at first, but couldn’t dwell on it as I noticed the next two figures walking through the door.

Twins, I noticed immediately, each with a gorgeous head of ginger hair. Their manner was less guarded, their eyes widened as their heads whipped from one place to the other as though searching for something.

I felt my breath catch in my throat, my mouth running dry as I looked at them. There was something...something, something—so strange and distant about the way they looked. They were foreign, definitely, but why did I feel such an intense connection to them?

I scoffed at myself inwardly.

There you go again, Eleonore, romanticizing every single human interaction you make. Rolling my eyes at myself I grabbed my bag from the chair and walked towards the group with my patron-service smile on.

Just...ignore the relentless beating of your heart from nerves and you’ll be fine, I told myself.

I waved at them to gather there attention and walked forward, ready to kick them out. It was late as it was and besides, couldn’t they read the time schedule on the door? It’s like everyone was behaving unreasonably today!

I pulled my phone out to help me communicate with them but was stopped halfway through when the boy with the buzz cut spoke first. “Hi, my name is Mason, do you work here?”

I looked from the boy with the buzz cut and then to the pair of twins next to him, their gaze was so intense it was hard to rip my eyes away from them.

Suddenly, in all my life, I was glad I couldn’t speak because the last thing I wanted was to make myself look stupid in front of those two gorgeous specimens.

I nodded my head a the boy’s question.

“Do you have a name?” He asked me and I nodded as I pulled away and reached for my nametag in my back pocket. I saw Mason stare at me strangely before asking, “Do you not want to tell me? That’s alright. I just wanted to make sure you’re—"

I turned to point at the sign on the circulation desk that read “I can’t speak, but I can understand you!”

The longer haired twin noticed my actions first, and I noticed his eyes sway towards where I was pointing to. “Mason,” He called out to his friend. “Stop talking, look.” And with a jut of his chin he motioned to the rest of them towards the sign I was pointing to.

I shot him a grateful smile when he turned his attention back to me, and I watched with blazing cheeks as his eyes widened and his face turned bashful. There was something else in his eyes that I couldn’t quite point out, but it was gone before I could pinpoint it.

“You can’t speak?” Mason asked me, “Or you’re sick?”

Do I look sick? I could feel myself becoming somewhat self-conscious at his question and shifted from one foot to the other, fluttering my gaze back between the twins.

The twins must have noticed my discomfort because when I looked back to them one of them was pulling Mason from the back of his collar and they took his place up in front of me. I smiled up at them, now even more intimidated by how close they were.

“My name is Hayden and that’s my brother Rhett,” Said the one with the shorter hair.

The one with longer hair gave me a curt nod. Was he shy? There was that look in both of their eyes again, though this time it seemed calmer, more composed. It was like they were itching to do or say something that I couldn’t quite understand.

Their eyes implored me for something, searching and exploring for something they tried to find—what exactly are you looking for?

What do you want from me?

Just what the hell is going on exactly... Did they want to ask me something? Were they lost? Mason in front of me didn’t seem to have the problem of being at a loss for words, however, as he continued to speak and introduce the group to me.

“And that’s Logan,” Mason’s distant voice introduced the final boy. “He doesn’t speak much too so you’ve got that in common.” My eyes widened at what he said as his did, and I supposed that the words were out of his mouth before he got the chance to filter them.

Dark humour was certainly preferred from the casual looks of pity I got usually.

“Sorry about him,” Hayden apologized as he pushed his hand forward in greeting. I could only recognize the twins from the way their hair was styled and the difference in their clothes, besides that they were completely the same, although Hayden seemed larger than his brother, more buff and firmer.

“He needs to work on his filter.” Hayden said. I nodded along with his slight jab at his friend and found myself quickly becoming comfortable with the easy going air the twins seemed to put out, if not still somewhat intimidating.

I pulled my phone out.

[Don’t worry, used to the snide comments.]

I saw Hayden raise his eyebrow at my text, and I continued.

[At least his was funny.]

“Tough day?” Rhett asked with a light laugh as he read my text too and I shot him an exasperated look. I saw there was a light hint of concern there which comforted me.

Smiling down at me Rhett offered his hand for me to shake, his hand stayed in mine a moment longer than necessary before Hayden shook mine as well, doing the same.

Hayden, unlike his brother, drew attention to the vicious blush that had taken over my face with a smirk that seemed to scream.

“Cute,” He mumbled lowly, before pulling away.

This, of course, caused my eyes to widen even larger and the heat to now crawl down my spine.

Why was his voice so... gorgeous? This isn’t fair at all. Why was I the only one being embarrassed here?

Narrowing my eyes back toward him I gripped his hand tighter with a newfound confidence and tugged lightly, pulling his own face closer to mine. I saw his eyes widen at the unsuspecting jolt and his body move slightly from where he originally stood.

Bending my head down lightly, I squinted my eyes closer to his cheeks and neck to see the faintness of a blush appearing there as well. Thanking God I decided to use my good perfume that day as I pulled him a little closer.

My own one sided smile and tilt of my head told him all I had to say—even without a voice.

Cute.

A chortled laugh—though somewhat muffled—came from behind Hayden as his posse noticed the exchange.

There was a slightly disturbed look from Rhett, but I turned my attention back to Mason as he spoke up. It was him who had let out the sound, as I found out, and he did a poor job of covering it up.

“Sorry,” Rhett said moving forward, “But were you about to close up?”

I nodded my head at him, grateful that he was as observant as he’s proven to be. His next words, however, shocked me.

“Would you like us to accompany you home?” I was about to refuse before his next words came up, “It’s pretty dark out there and I don’t see a car?” He looked to me to confirm that I was in fact walking.

There was a slight intensity to his words that shocked me, “Besides it would give us a chance to get to know the neighbourhood.”

Looking from one boy to the other I slowly made my decision and decided to trust them as I nodded my head and lead them out of the building.