I fire Dana that night.

“It’s all a bunch of bullshit,” he seethes into the phone.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s true or false.” I parrot back his own advice. “It’s the optics.”

“You’re a punk, you know that? You think that you can just play ball and succeed in this business? You’re going to be in for a big surprise, buddy. And the way your personal life is a mess, no one is going to want to sign you!” Dana screams into the phone.

“We both know that’s a lie. You’d take me back in a heartbeat.”

He starts ranting again. I press the end button on my screen and grab a game controller off the coffee table.

“Who’s up for a beating?”

Remy stands up. “I think I heard Nichole calling for me.”

“Coward,” I yell at his retreating back. I turn to my brother. “How about you?”

He gets to his feet. “Let’s go for a beer.”

I think back to the last time I drank and how I ended up in bed with Ara with very little memory of it.

“How about no.”

“One drink in the off-season isn’t going to kill you,” Knox says.

“I know.” But I’ve set out a regimen and I’m sticking with it. “I’ll drink after the draft. How about a movie?” I suggest.

“Done.”

We amicably bicker about what to see, but end up agreeing to catch the new Stephen King horror flick, which turns out to be terrifying but awesome and not because of the clowns in the movie. We run into Rhyann on our way out.

In the concession line waiting to get into the late movie, she chats with her male friend—one she’s close enough to that he feels comfortable palming her ass in public.

I watch as she rises on her tiptoes and gives the boy a smooch. It turns into a tonguing. I pull Knox to a stop.

“Isn’t that the girl who was laying into you on your school app?” Knox says.

“It is indeed.” A smile spreads across my face. The Dana thing is shitty and has a lot more potential to affect my career, but wiping this problem off the books will be nice. I snap a pic and then decide to take a video for good measure.

“She accused you of cheating on her,” he says in disbelief.

I didn’t count the post-Championship game hookup with Ara as cheating. Rhyann had broken up with me months before and didn’t come back begging for a second chance until after the game. If anything, I cheated on Ara with Rhyann, although thankfully I didn’t sleep with Rhyann.

Never had. Never will. Damn glad about it. “Yup.”

“It’s a damn shame Mom raised us the way she did,” he says with a load of disgruntlement.

“Truth,” I yell out. “Rhyann.”

The redhead jerks away from her partner’s mouth and looks around. When she spots me, her eyes widen. Comically, she releases her friend abruptly, jumping away as if she was caught in bed with her pants down by a priest. She says something to her companion.

“Rhyann,” I yell loudly again. “Good to see that you’ve moved on. I like your new man.” I give her the thumbs up and then wave my phone at her so she knows that I have recorded her for posterity’s sake.

Even from a distance, I can see her fair cheeks turn red. “Fuck off,” she yells.

“I think she’s talking to you,” Knox says.

“It could be you.”

“You’re the one who slept with her.”

“Nope. Never did.”

Knox raises his eyebrows. “Re-virginizing yourself, buddy?”

“I’ve always been picky. If the girl says she slept with me even if we never did, I’m not going to embarrass her publicly.”

“Why should you? That’s what you have me for.” He cups his hands around his mouth and yells, “Dude, you gotta be careful. Even if you don’t sleep with her, she’ll pretend like you did and smear you online for saying shit.”

The guy’s eyes widen. Rhyann’s face goes from white to red. “Shut up, you fucker!”

“That was definitely for you.” I grab Knox’s arm and drag him away.

“Meh. Girl couldn’t tell us apart before and I doubt she can now. Unlike some people we know.”

“Yes, Ellie’s perfect.” I steer him toward the car. “I’m glad you found her or you’d still be wondering why God gave you a dick.”

“She’s not the only perfect one around,” he says.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” The smug bastard knows something.

“You can be a real prick, you know that?”

He hums happily. “I do know that.”

If he wasn’t my brother, I’d want to beat his face in. I settle for an elbow to his chest. He responds with a punch to my gut. We both get in a few more blows before calling a truce.

“So this Ara girl,” he says on the ride home.

“Yeah?” I hope he doesn’t bring up the whole twin test again.

“If she’s who you want, then I’m happy for you. When can I meet her officially and welcome her to the family?”

I cast him a surprised look. This is a much different tune than he sang before. “Not this trip. She’s skittish.”

“Gotcha.” He falls silent and then says, “What’s she scared about? Me? The twin test? I don’t plan on running it again.”

There’s an odd note in his voice. I’d label it mischievous, if pressed.

“Nah. You know I don’t believe in that shit.” I shift in the driver’s seat. “She’s scared about fucking up the friendship. The outside stuff isn’t going to get to her. She’s not that kind of person.”

“Solid. I can get behind that.”

I frown. Knox believes in the power of the test. I asked him once what he would've done if Ellie had failed and his blithe response was, “It would never happen. She’s the one.”

More power to him. We may be identical on the outside, but we’re different in a lot of other aspects. That Ara can’t tell us apart doesn’t matter. She’s my closest friend. I’ve held her hand through her breakup. She’s suffered through mine. She’s comforted me when I’ve lost and celebrated with me when I’ve won.

She’s the first one I think about when I have bad news and good news. I’d rather hang out with her than anyone else.

“Good, because Ara fits me. She’s funny, a good listener.” Sexy as hell. “You said that the earth moved when you met Ellie. I suppose it did for me, too, but so slowly I didn’t realize it until we were on top of each other.” Literally.

“If you say she’s the one, then she’s the one,” he says, way too easily, in my opinion.

“If you have something you want to say, get it out,” I tell him.

He leans back, folding his arms behind his head. “I got nothing, bro. If she’s who you want, then I’m for it.”

This isn’t like him at all. I feel compelled to offer another, fuller explanation. “I asked her out the first time I saw her,” I admit.

Knox perks up. “Really?”

“Yeah. Don’t you remember me telling you that I mowed down a girl on my way to class, asked her out and she turned me down?”

“That was Ara?”

“Yeah.” Sophomore year, I was running to class with Remy and a couple other teammates. We were tossing a nerf ball between us. Remy threw it long and I ran full out until I ran into an obstacle. A five-and-a-half-foot, long brown-haired obstacle. I was able to catch her before she hit the ground. “Almost crushed her and then skipped class to apologize to her.”

“She recognize you?”

“Nah, but even if she had, it wouldn’t have meant anything. Her dad’s a big-time sculptor. Like his work is in museums and shit. Being around famous people is normal for her.”

“So you asked her out and she said no. Cuz why?”

I don’t know. “She said she wasn’t in the market for a man, but she could use a friend.”

“And you two lived happily ever after,” he sums up.

“I guess.” I pull into the drive and glance at my quiet phone. “The ever after part is up in the air for now.”

“Really?”

“Nah. I’ll wear her down.”

He busts out laughing and I do, too. Knox stays for two more days, during which Ara ignores all of my texts.

I’m not worried. Like I told Knox, I’ll wear her down. I didn’t become an elite athlete by quitting at the first sign of any resistance.