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A Pleasant Story

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Double Trouble


After a long night of traveling through the parties of La Fiesta Tech, Gunnar Roque headed to the gym to harden his body, his favorite activity.



He worked up a good sweat, then sat to think about where to go next. Dawn was soon to be on the horizon so the parties would be winding down and the pickings likely to be slim.

“Oh well,” he thought. “I might as well go home and get some studying done.”



As he left the fitness center he spotted his housemate, Lilith, walking in front of him.



While she’d pretty much spurned his advances in the past, he thought he might give it another shot and called out to attract her attention.

“Lilith!” he yelled toward her.



She turned and stood still on the sidewalk, staring at him uncertainly.



As she continued to gaze at him silently, he thought she looked a little different.

“Hey, Lilith! It’s me, Gunnar!”

When she didn’t respond, he laughed and said, “You know, your overly affectionate pal?”

She finally responded with a small smile and approached him just as the sun came up over the desert.

She stopped in front of him, but still didn’t speak.

Gunnar thought again that she did look different, though still pretty.




She didn’t seem disposed to start the conversation, so Gunnar ventured, “What are you up to?”



Her voice as she replied sounded odd, kind of quaky and nervous.

“Um, I’ve been . . . bugwatching.”



“At night? That seems like an odd thing to do at night,” Gunnar said.

“Why do you care?” she snapped. “I can watch bugs whenever I want!”



Gunnar wasn’t sure why his housemate was so touchy this morning and tried to change the subject.

“Whoa, sure, that’s fine. Um, how did your encounter with the aliens go?”

“Ugh!” she said. “I don’t like aliens! Why would you say that?”



“You know,” he said, “when you went to the alien dorm? How did it go?”



“OH! That!” She began to laugh in a forced and artificial way, then stopped and said, “It was fine.”



Gunnar couldn’t figure out why she was acting so strangely and said, “Well, I need to head home so I’ll probably see you there.”

“Oh, yes. Right. I mean, maybe later,” she replied.



During his walk back to Shifting Paradymes, Gunnar wondered what could have happened to make Lilith act so strangely and look so odd. She did not seem like herself at all. And bugwatching at night? He didn’t know what she might have been up to.

“But that can wait,” he said to himself as he approached home.



He stopped in front of the mailbox and shouted, “You! Hey you! Yes, you out there! In front of the screen!”



“You may be unaware of this because you are sloppy and forgetful, but my name is GUNNAR. Not GUNTHER. You’ve called me GUNTHER more times than I can count!”



“I want to see better work from now on. It’s GUNNAR. G-U-N-N-A-R. GUNNAR. Not Gunther. Gunnar, got it?”

There was an embarrassed silence.

“Good,” Gunnar said.



GUNNAR proceeded into the house to find three of his housemates sitting down to breakfast. There was Mitch, and Jasmine, and . . .

“Lilith?”



Gunnar moved to the table and asked, “Lilith, how did you get here so fast?

Lilith was shoveling cereal into her mouth and didn’t respond immediately.




Gunnar sat down and waited for her to finish chewing, then asked again, “How did you get here so fast?”

“Well, Gunnar,” Lilith said, “I started at the beginning of the semester and moved into Stella’s room, and this morning I woke up and came down for breakfast. How did YOU get here so fast?”



Gunnar laughed and said, “No, no, I mean just now. We were at the athletic center and I left before you did. How did you get here before me?”

“I wasn’t at the athletic center, what are you talking about?” Lilith asked him.

“I was just talking to you,” Gunnar said, confused.

“Nope, wasn’t me. Have you been sucking down fraternity fruit punch all night?”

“Lilith,” Gunnar said seriously, “You and I just had a conversation in front of the athletic center. Do you seriously not remember?”

Lilith suddenly looked thoughtful and was silent for a moment, then asked, “When you were talking to ‘me,’ did I look like myself? And sound the same?”



“No, you sounded pretty much the same but you did look a little different. This is a weird conversation,” he laughed.

“I think I might know what happened. Did I ever tell you I have an identical twin sister?” Lilith asked him.

“No! You’re kidding!” Gunnar exclaimed.

“What are you two chattering about?” Mitch asked from the other end of the table.

Lilith explained that she had an identical twin sister named Angela and apparently she’d talked to Gunnar earlier and pretended to be her.

“It’s like something in a movie!” Gunnar said.

Mitch said, “I can’t imagine what your identical twin would be like, Lilith.”



“Well,” she replied, “Pretty much just like me, but with a stick up her . . .”

“Hey!” Gunnar interrupted, “I’ve got an idea. Let’s give her a taste of her own medicine. I don’t know why she pretended to be you, but I can’t imagine it’s for any good reason. How about if I ask her out and then act completely obnoxious?”

The others started to laugh but were interrupted by one of the joys of university life, a stripper running through the dining room.



When the disruption had passed, Jasmine said, “Gunnar is definitely the person to act obnoxious on a date.”

Gunnar grinned. “Hey, I resent that. I’m charming when I want to be.”

“Sure you are. Having to watch you arm wrestle an entire bar to show off your muscles was the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Gunnar stuck his tongue out at her and said, “That was one time,” he protested, laughing.

Lilith cut in, amused. “So what’s the plan? Just make her have a terrible date if she pretends to be me?”

Gunnar looked confused, then brightened. “Sure! I could confess my eternal love for ‘Lilith!’ And try to find out what she’s up to.”




“I know one thing you can find out, Gunnar,” Lilith said. “See if she actually goes here or if she’s just hanging around. She told everyone she was off to Academie de la Tour, so if she really enrolled here, that’s some serious commitment to whatever scheme she’s running.”

Gunnar was about to dial the college directory to get Angela’s number, then hung up and turned to Lilith.

“Hang on, I don’t know if she knows that we live together. Might make her suspicious if I call instead of just asking her in person. At the house we share.”

“Hmm, true,” Lilith said. “How about you wait until tonight, go to the Wasteland Lounge, and call her from there? Then you can just say you were out and ask her to join you.”



After they cleaned up the breakfast dishes, Lilith and Jasmine laughed about what Gunnar could do to make Angela uncomfortable while Gunnar admired his hair.

“If she is really hanging around school pretending to be me,” Lilith said, “she’s going to deserve everything she gets. She’s hated me my whole life, but this is a new low even for her.”





Gunnar headed off to the Lounge after the sun went down, then called Angela and called her “Lilith” and asked her if she wanted to meet up with him. He was a bit surprised she said yes, but figured she was planning to run some scam on him.

He waited for her at the corner until she arrived and then walked with her down the sidewalk, thinking she really did look remarkably like Lilith -- same hair, same sharp little smirk -- though there was something off about the way she held herself. Lilith never tried that hard.




“Nice spot you picked,” Angela said brightly, fiddling with the strap around her waist. Not exactly my scene, but I guess it’ll do.”

Gunnar smiled, pretending to go along. “Come on, Lilith. You’ve dragged me to worse places.”

She laughed too quickly. “Right. Yeah. Guess I did.”

He glanced at her, amused. “You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself.”



“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, “I’m just . . . thinking. Been a long week.”

“Yeah, I get that,” he said easily. “Work’s been brutal for me too. You still doing that project with your mom?”

She blinked. “Project?”

“You know,” he said casually, testing her. “The big one you were organizing--neighborhood clean-up, or something like that. You complained that no one showed up on time.”

Her smile faltered for half a second. “Oh. Right. That. Yeah, still going. Mom’s been . . . really involved.”



Gunnar nodded as though satisfied. “Good to hear. You seem more organized than most people I know.”

Angela relaxed a little and smiled. “Well, I like to keep things under control.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Gunnar said with a small grin. “Even on a date, you’re managing the schedule.”

She chuckled tightly. “Somebody has to.”

Gunnar started digging into why she was here and asked, “How are you enjoying school? When did you get here?”


“At the beginning of the semester, like everybody else,” she answered sharply. “They assigned me to a dorm but I didn’t like the people so I got my own place.”

Gunnar smiled. She obviously didn’t know Lilith was his housemate and it sounded like she’d actually enrolled at La Fiesta.




The he nodded toward the bar. “You hungry? I think they’ve got the same burnt nachos as last time I was here.”

“Ew, no thanks,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“That’s funny,” he said, “you devoured the leftovers last time I brought them home.”



She clicked her tongue nervously, then rolled her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

He smiled mischievously. “That’s what makes me charming.”

Angela didn’t respond, so Gunnar continued, “So, how’s Jim these days? Still keeping busy?”

Angela blinked. “Jim?”

“Yeah,” he said smoothly. “You mentioned him in passing--something about him helping with your art stuff.”

“Oh, that. Right. Yeah. He’s fine.”

“Good,” Gunnar said. “He always struck me as a solid guy.” He smiled disarmingly. “But I’m glad you picked me tonight instead.”

Angela blinked again but covered it quickly with a smirk. “Well, you did call me. I figured I’d see what the big deal was.”

“Guess we’ll find out.”



Gunnar decided to push “Lilith’ a little further. He shifted closer, lowering his voice in what could pass as a flirt--gentle, teasing, still in character. “You look nice tonight, by the way.”

“Thanks,” she said stiffly.

“You’re supposed to say I look nice too.”

Angela sighed. “Fine. You look nice too.”

Gunnar laughed. “That sounded so sincere.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

He leaned in just a little more, smiling. “What? No tickle? No backrub? I’ve been waiting for a chance to express my heart.”



Angela finished her stretch and drew back, looking alarmed. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to have a little fun,” he said lightly as he leaned in closer. “You’re awfully uptight for someone who agreed to a date.”

“This is a date to you?” she said sharply. “Standing around talking about my mom and Jim?”

“Hey, I’m spontaneous,” he said with mock seriousness. “It’s part of my charm. How about this . . .”

Before she could move, he slid a hand lightly toward her shoulder and leaned in, aiming for a quick kiss--more teasing than serious, a test of how far she’d play along.

Angela jerked back so fast she nearly fell. “Don’t touch me!”



He blinked, keeping his tone innocent. “Whoa, take it easy, baby. Too soon?”

“Way too soon!” she snapped, stepping back. “You think you can just grab someone like that?”

Gunnar decided to keep up the pressure. “Relax, baby,” he said, “You know you want me.”

Her face flushed with anger. “You’re unbelievable! You’re such a pig!”


She poked him in the chest, and Gunnar backed up a little.



Angela stomped her foot and glared at him angrily.

Gunnar pretended to be offended. “I think you owe me a kiss after what you said the other day. You’re just playing hard to get.”



Angela sputtered and stomped her foot again, then turned sharply and stormed down the sidewalk, heels clicking furiously against the pavement.

“No goodnight kiss?” Gunnar called after her.

He chuckled to himself, hands sliding into his pockets as he watched her retreat. His tone was quiet, thoughtful. “Guess I hit a nerve,” he murmured. “Now to figure out why.”

***

Back at Shifting Paradymes, Lilith spotted Gunnar returning home and ran outside to greet him.

“Well, how did it go?”

“Near as I can tell, she enrolled here, but I have no idea why she’s pretending to be you. I annoyed her too fast to get much information.” He grinned boyishly.




“I think I’m going to have to confront her,” Lilith said. “If she started talking to my professors and acting like me, she could really cause trouble.”

“Yeah,” Gunnar said, “She seemed pretty angry about something. I tried to charm her but it didn’t work, so then I just tried to get overly familiar, and that made her mad.”

Lilith laughed, “Yeah she was always easy to get riled up. So what did you do?”

Gunnar detailed his behavior and described Angela’s outrage up to when she stomped away and they laughed together until Lilith said, “Oh, Jasmine and Zoe are inside, let’s go fill them in.”



Zoe was working on homework but paused long enough to hear the tale of the bad date.

Jasmine pondered, “But what could she be trying to achieve? Just causing trouble for Lilith?”

Lilith shook her head, “Just causing trouble wouldn’t be at all unusual. Angela can hold a serious grudge and she’s hated me since we were kids.” She leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I’m going to talk to her tomorrow.”



She sat up suddenly and turned toward the window. She’d heard footsteps outside. She jumped and ran to the window and peered out. As she suspected, she saw Angela skulking away from the house.



She turned to the others and shouted, “Angela! And I bet I know what she did!”

Lilith ran to the front door and opened it to confirm what she’d suspected. Angela had left behind the classic delivery after a bad date--a paper bag filled with a very unpleasant smelly substance collected from a dog, and lit on fire so that whoever stomped it out would be left with the unpleasant residue stuck to their shoes.



Mitch got home from class as the others joined Lilith on the front porch.

“Ew,” he said. “I guess that date went exactly as expected! Gunnar, you have a gift.”



Before the others could stop him, Gunnar stomped on the bag to put out the fire.

“Gunnar!” Zoe exclaimed, “Don’t you know what that is?”



It was too late. Gunnar had discovered the unpleasant package.

“Ugh! Did you all know what that was?’ he asked.

Jasmine gaped at him. “Are you telling me you’ve never had a bad date? This is what you get at the end of a bad date.”

“Can’t say I have,” he said. “A few mediocre ones, but I guess my charm usually prevents a really bad one,” he said with a rakish grin.

“Unbelievable,” Mitch said. “I got a bunch of those in high school. Of course, I thought going to sci fi movie marathons was the height of romance back then.”

Gunnar leaned down to clean up the mess and said, “Well, at least my only bad date came on purpose. The Romance is still alive!”



Gunnar took the mess to the garbage can as the others, except Lilith, went inside.

He asked her, “Hey, so didn’t you have a date recently too? One of the guys you girls went out dancing with?”

“Yeah, Corvus! He’s great. It’s fun getting to know the alien students and he's really sweet and cute.”

“Well have fun,” Gunnar said. “I hope you have no flaming deliveries in your future!



The next day after her classes, Lilith looked up Angela’s address in the college directory and went to talk to her.




As soon as her fingers knocked on the door she lost her nerve and ran to hide around the side of the house.

“This is ridiculous,” she told herself. “You need to stand up to her! She’s messing with your life!

Lilith took a deep breath and called Angela’s name.



Angela came around the corner, successfully dodging the lurking professor who liked to stalk college students.

When she saw Lilith she looked startled.



“Well. There you are,” Angela said.

“Yup, and there you are, looking like me,” Lilith said. “Would you like to tell me what you think you are up to going around impersonating me? And why you are here at La Fiesta? This is the school that wasn’t good enough for you, remember?”



“Back off, twin,” Angela replied. “I’ve got my own style and I’m not impersonating you. You, of all people. As if!”



Lilith laughed at Angela’s lame attempt to deflect her. “Apparently you aren’t aware that Gunnar is my housemate. And we figured out what you were doing as soon as you met him. The date last night was a set up. Gunnar did it as a favor to me to see what you’re up to.”

Angela waved away Lilith’s explanations and said, “I can’t believe you’d listen to that Neanderthal you live with. I’ll have you know he tried to grab me and kiss me. But then he got mad when I didn’t want to kiss him so now he’s making up lies.”



Lilith laughed at her. “Angela, we were on to you the first time he met you outside the athletic center. He came home and I was there and we figured it out immediately. So don’t try and lie to me. I know what you’re up to. I just don’t know why.”

“Why are you enrolled at my school when you know you hated the idea of coming here? You got in everywhere and you could have gone to the Academie. Why are you wasting your time trying to mess with me?”

“Oh school,” Angela said dismissively. “I never cared about school. I’m just having fun, and this is the best party school. Once I got out of my stupid dorm, it’s been fun. I’m just playing around.”



“What do you mean you never cared about school?” Lilith asked. “I was the one who didn’t care--until my senior year when I asked mom to help me get into a good college. You were the one with straight As and constantly studying. Are you seriously delusional or just still trying to mess with me?”

Their argument continued but Angela kept dodging everything Lilith said and she was no closer to understanding why Angela was acting like this. She really seemed unhinged.



The sun went down as they talked and Lilith was getting tired. Finally, she just put her foot down.

“All right, forget it. Stop acting like me, stop telling people you are me, and leave me and my friends alone. There’s no profit in this for you and you’ll end up in trouble. Believe it or not, I don’t want you in trouble.”

Angela made a noise of dismissive disgust.

“Just stop it!” Lilith barked. “Oh, and by the way, I have a boyfriend and I am going to tell him to be on the lookout for you. He’s an alien and he’s really smart so he’s not going to fall for your antics.”



“Ew,” Angela said, “an alien? That’s really gross. I knew you had bad taste but that’s just unnatural.”



Lilith stared at her twin, unbelieving. Finally, she shook her head and spoke.

“You know, I thought, even after all this, that maybe there might be a chance for us. But your prejudices are disgusting. I am done with you. Stay away from me. Forever.”

With that, Lilith ran away without looking back and Angela watched her, telling herself she didn’t care.



Angela turned with a flounce and went inside. She stomped upstairs and threw herself on her bed. While she was angry at Lilith and hated that she’d been caught in her deception, she refused to admit it to herself.

“I won’t think about it. I’ll think of something else,” she mused.

Suddenly, an image swam into her mind.



She jumped up and smiled. “That’s it!” she thought. “I may not be able to bring down my stupid twin, but I can punish Dustin for his betrayal. Oh, and it’s going to be so easy.”

Angela dialed Dustin’s number and put on her sweetest honey voice. “Oh, hi Dustin! I just wanted to see how you’re doing at school! I’m actually on campus and I wondered if you’d meet me for coffee tomorrow. At the Cactus Café.”

Dustin agreed.

“Perfect,” she purred. “I’ll see you there at seven tomorrow night.”



Angela hung up and then dialed the college directory to get another number.

“Hi, this is Lilith Pleasant. I’m part of the welcoming committee for new students from the islands. I’d like to take you for coffee so we can get to know each other. At the Cactus Café.”

Angela listened to the response and wicked smile spread on her face.

“That’s great, Lainey. I’ll see you there tomorrow at seven-fifteen!”



When Lilith got home, she called her mom to tell her about what Angela was doing but there was no answer.

“Hmm, that’s odd,” Lilith thought, “she usually picks up. Guess I’ll call Cyd.”

When Cyd answered, Lilith explained she was looking for her mom and he told her there was no need to worry—she was just out to dinner at Carla’s house.

There was no need to worry.