#I SAW PEOPLE START TALKING TATTOOS AND THIS HORRID IMAGE POPPED UP AND I AM NOT DRAWING THAT RN

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more than just a game for two | chapter 2

Iris and Amy switch places.

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Amy stepped off the plane, groggy and tired from the long flight. She’d never flown alone before and the entire experience had been something she didn’t care to repeat. Iris had told her that her father, Garcia, had been called in on a job and wouldn’t be able to pick her up from the airport. She likely wouldn’t see him for a couple more days. Instead, she looked for the face that matched the photo in her pocket.

“Iris!”

Amy looked up to see Iris’ Uncle Gabriel pushing through the crowd, a small bouquet of pink lilies in hand – Iris’ favourite flower.

“Uncle Gabe!” She rushed over to him, falling into his arms.

“You look fantastic. What did you do to your hair?”

“I cut it. Do you like it?”

“I love it. And…did you pierce your ears?”

“Maybe.”

“You go to camp for one summer and suddenly you come back an American. I can’t believe it.”

Amy grinned. “You’re an American, remember?”

“Don’t remind me,” Gabe fake shuddered before smiling down at her. “Let’s go, kid.”

Despite her fatigue, Amy couldn’t help but stare around her with eyes wide. The language, the smells, the people; it was all so strange and colourful.

Iris had spoken to Amy in Croatian as often as possible, getting her familiar with the tone and cadence of the language. She’d even gone so far as to teach the girl short phrases, making her twin repeat them over and over until no traces of an American accent remained. And yet that had paled in comparison to being immersed in the language.

It wasn’t only the sounds. At one point they drove by the ocean, the water a shade of glimmering blue Amy had never seen before. The sun reflected from the deep sea and Amy got the urge to run from the car, splashing deep into the water. 

“It’s so beautiful here,” she sighed.

“Not only do you come back American, but a tourist!”

Amy held back a grimace.

“What can I say? Camp made me appreciate home,” she gave Gabe an innocent smile.

It wasn’t much longer before they pulled up to a small townhouse, sitting pretty on a street with flowering trees. Gabe gave Amy the house keys before grabbing her bags from the trunk. She walked up the steps and, taking a deep breath, she slid the key into the lock and twisted the door open.

It was like walking into a stranger’s home, which Amy supposed was exactly what she was doing. The house was filled with sunlight, making it large and inviting. She swept through each room, trailing her fingers across the furniture and scanning through family photos. There were so many photos.

A large family portrait hung over the fireplace in the living room. Baby Iris sat cuddled in her mother’s arms; a beautiful woman with short blonde hair and a heart-warming smile. Iris’ father stood beside her, a hand around her mother’s waist, chin resting on her shoulder as he started at baby Iris in wonder. Amy swallowed hard as a lump formed in her throat.

A shadow cast over the photo as Gabriel stood behind her. She turned away from the image and gave him a watery smile.

“So, what’s for lunch?”

She disappeared into Iris’ room after eating her fill, wriggling around on the bed and trying to make it her own. It wasn’t long before the long trip caught up to her and she fell asleep, a few hours later to a dark figure lurking beside her bed.

Amy screamed, jumping out of the bed and running to the window. She flicked the latch and struggled to pull the window up high enough for her to slip through.

A deep laugh sounded behind her and she paused. “It’s only me, draga.”

“Oh my god, you scared me,” Amy said, raising a hand to her heart where she could feel it pounding out of her chest.

Garcia flipped the switch and light illuminated the dark room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

His smile was wide and her heart instantly slowed in response. Garcia opened his arms and Amy flew to him with no hesitation. Her arms barely reached around his waist as his encircled her so perfectly.

Amy knew that Garcia wasn’t her dad. Her father was a man who signed his name on the dotted line and then decided that he wasn’t ready for the picket fence after all. Her father was a man who couldn’t step up to the plate. Yet still, for a second she allowed herself to fantasise.

“I missed you, tata,” she whispered against his shoulder.

“I missed you, too. What did you do to your hair?”

Amy laughed as she pulled away, tears clutching to her eyelashes. He lightly touched the ends of her hair, tucking it gently behind one ear.

“Is that…did you pierce your ears?”

“A girl I met at camp did it.  Do you hate it?”

“Of course not! I love it. Any other surprise? Belly-button rings, tattoos...? Please don’t tell me you have a tattoo, my old heart couldn’t take it.”

Amy grinned at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for another hug.

“Come on, let’s go get some dinner and you can tell me all about your adventures.”

“Oh yes,” Amy groaned, “I’m starving.”

**

The flight to California was much quicker than the one from Croatia had been and in next to no time at all Iris was walking towards the beautiful, grinning woman that was waiting for her at the baggage claim area. Lucy’s grin lit up her eyes and Iris gave her an anxious smile in return as her stomach clenched.

“Welcome home, honey!”

Lucy opened her arms wide and Iris had no choice but to drop her bags and let herself be enveloped into the hug.

The only memories she had of her mother were of the stories her father had told her. Stories of how much her mother loved her, how much she wanted her. A beautiful woman singing stunning lullabies to her little girl as she held her tight to her chest. But those were all second hand memories; nothing could compare to the real thing.

Iris dug her face into the crook of Lucy’s neck, squeezing her arms tighter around Amy’s mum.

“I hope you had a terrible time because you’re never going back! I missed you too much,” Lucy murmured into Iris’ hair.

“That’s what you say every year…Mum,” voice muffled.

“Well this year I mean it.”

They reluctantly let go and Lucy rested her hands on Iris’ shoulders, taking a good, long look at her.

“Something’s changed. Did you get taller?”

Iris laughed as she shrugged. “So how is everybody?”

“Good! A lot has happened around here, I can’t wait to fill you in.”

“A lot has happened to me, too, Mum. I feel like I’m practically a new woman!”

“A new woman? Hmm, I could have sworn when you went to camp you were a young girl.”

Lucy softly tugged at a strand of Iris’ hair with a fond smile, before grabbing the girl’s duffel bag. Wrapping an arm around Iris’ shoulder, they walked over to the car.

“Thanks for all those amazing letters, by the way,” Lucy said as they were driving home. “I’m really glad I bought you all of that personalised stationery you just had to have.”

“We meant to write, Mum, but we just got so busy with…”

“We?”

“Oh, me and my friend. I met this girl at camp and we got really close. Practically like sisters! She’s a lovely girl.”

Lucy glanced at Iris out of the side of her eyes. “Lovely? At least you still bite your nails so I know they haven’t swapped you with a pod person.”

“I really do need to stop, Mum. It’s a horrid habit, it really is.”

“Horrid habit?” Lucy laughed. “Did I send you to summer camp or finishing school? And why do you keep saying ‘Mum’?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was doing it, Mum,” she grimaced. “Sorry, Mum.”

They both laughed as Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, I just…I missed being able to use that word. I haven’t been able to say the word ‘mum’ all of camp. And a mum is an irreplaceable person in a girls’ life, don’t you think?”

Lucy smiled, a little wistful, and pulled Iris closer. “You’re 100% right.”

Mason was waiting for them as they pulled up to Amy’s house. The large golden retriever let out a loud, delighted bark as he saw the car roll down the driveway. Iris smiled wide as the dog struggled to run to the car, forgetting in his excitement that he was tied to the banister of the porch and couldn’t go anywhere, no matter how hard he pulled on the leash. Jiya appeared from inside the house and waved at the car with a big grin before leaning down to untie Mason. He shot off, yapping and barking, leaping up onto the passenger side door, paws slipping down.

“You better not scratch the paint, Mason,” Lucy groaned as she got out of the car.

Eyes bright, Iris opened the door carefully. Mason backed away, excitedly turning in circles as Iris got out of the car, and then pounced, nose wiggling as he smelled every inch of her. Iris giggled as his wet nose tickled at her exposed skin.

A few seconds later, Mason paused and sat on his back legs, head cocked in confusion. He let out a single bark before suspiciously backing away further.

“What’s up with you, goofball?” Jiya asked as she walked over. “Well if you don’t want to say hello, I will!”

With that, the darker woman pulled Iris into a hug, almost lifting the girl off her feet.

“Hello gorgeous! You’ve grown, you’ve lost weight, you look beautiful, we’ve missed you. Don’t let your sappy mother talk you out of going back to camp, okay? You’re a growing girl.  You need adventure.  Are you hungry?  I made chicken curry,” Jiya let Iris go and looked into her eyes. “Why are you so quiet? Is everything okay?”

Iris nodded. “I’m just really happy to be home.”

But Jiya wasn’t convinced and she pursed her lips. “You’ve changed Ames. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there is definitely something different about you.”

Later that afternoon, Lucy knocked on the door to Amy’s room before popping her head in. “Hi sweetheart. Have you unpacked?”

Iris looked up from where she was playing a video game in bed and nodded. “Most of it went straight to the wash.”

“Okay well get cleaned up. Jiya invited her new boyfriend to dinner.”

“Boyfriend?”

“It’s kind of new. Go on, he’ll be here soon.”

Iris quickly showered and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and plain white t-shirt. Creeping back downstairs, she snuck over to the dining room where she could hear the sound of a man laughing. Peeking around the door frame, she saw Lucy and Jiya sitting at the dinner table with two men.

The man sitting beside Jiya had dark skin and a kind face. He was looking at Jiya as if he couldn’t believe that she wanted to be near him at all, let alone right next to him. They were having a quiet conversation, in their own world.

The second man sat next to Amy’s mother and it was his laughter Iris had heard earlier. He sat too close to Lucy for comfort, and there was something about the way that they were looking at each other that made the hair at the back of her neck stand up. She didn’t know how she was supposed to react to the image in front of her; they hadn’t covered surprise boyfriends when Iris was learning everything she could about being Amy.

“Amy, come in,” Lucy beckoned, spying Iris loitering by the door.

A light flush coloured Iris’ cheeks, but she squared her shoulders and walked over to Lucy’s side, her eyes not leaving the unfamiliar man that sat beside the woman.

“Amy, these are Rufus and Wyatt,” Lucy pointed to each man in turn. “Rufus is Jiya’s new boyfriend.”

The darker man gave Iris a nervous grin and Iris smiled in response.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Amy,” he said,  leaning over and shaking the young girl’s hand. “I’ve heard so much about you from Jiya.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Iris said before turning to the other man. “And who are you?”

“Amy, don’t be rude,” Lucy chastised, but Iris didn’t respond, eyes not moving from his as she waited for his reply.

“I’m Rufus’ friend, Wyatt.”

Wyatt smiled and it didn’t fill Iris with the same sense of comfort that Rufus’ smile had, although that likely had less to do with Wyatt than with the situation at hand. There was something fishy going on. It didn’t make sense that Rufus’ friend would tag along to meet Jiya’s ten year old goddaughter.

The five sat down for dinner and Iris studied the man who was still sitting comfortably beside Lucy. He seemed nice enough, smiling at Lucy and often pulling Iris into the conversation but she couldn’t help but dislike him on principle. She watched as Lucy smiled back at him and placed her hand on his arm.

Iris was sure he was probably a good man, but she wanted him far, far away from Lucy before he ruined everything. The entire reason for swapping places with Amy was so that they could bring their parents together, become sisters in more than blood. If this Wyatt person got involved with Lucy, the girls could kiss their plans goodbye. Amy was not going to like this.

She thought back to what her father had taught her about getting how he would investigate a case. She had to keep calm and get all the facts. Acting impulsively was as bad as not acting at all. There was nothing she could do before she learned everything she could about the situation.

“So how did this happen?” Iris blurted, interrupting the conversation.

“How did what happen, sweetheart?” Lucy asked.

“This,” Iris gestured to the dinner table. “How did everyone meet?”

“I dragged your mother to a club after she dropped you off at camp,” Jiya said, refilling her glass of water. “You know how she gets when you’re away and I thought a little music and alcohol would help.”

“That’s not exactly the lesson I want you teaching my daughter, Jiya,” Lucy intercepted.

Jiya laughed and winked at Iris who forced a smile in return.

“Rufus was there with Wyatt and we all just hit it off.”

“Cool,” she shrugged, before shovelling another forkful of macaroni into her mouth in true Amy fashion. She decided to talk it over with her twin before she did anything drastic.

**

A couple of hours later, halfway around the world, a house phone rang. The sun had barely risen and the family was still getting ready for the day. Everyone paused, confused at the sound.

“Can somebody find and pick up the phone, please?” Garcia yelled from the top of the stairs where he was trying to securely fasten his tie.

“Why do you still have a home phone?” Gabriel yelled in response before locating the phone. “Halo? … Iris?”

“Yes?” Amy asked as she walked past, a piece of toast in hand.

“That’s weird,” he said to her before returning to the phone in his hand. “I’m sorry, who were you after? … Iris? Of course, just a moment.”

He handed the phone to Amy.

“There’s a Denise Christopher for you. She sounds like she could be your twin.”

“My twin? LOL, Uncle Gabe,” she laughed as she put the phone to her ear. “Hello? Oh, Denise, how are you?”

LOL? Gabe mouthed as he walked away.

“Hey! How’s it going over there?” The real Iris asked from the other end of the line.

“Oh, everything’s lovely here. Can you…hold on for a moment?” Amy asked as she stuffed herself in the coat closet with the phone. “Okay, now I can talk. Oh my god, your dad is incredible. He’s so tall and funny and smart and he was telling me a little about his latest case over dinner last night and it sounded so cool! He-”

“Your mother is dating!” Iris blurted, interrupting Amy from her rant filled with all things she already knew.

“What? No she isn’t.” Amy picked at a thread on the dark wool coat in front of her.

“Jiya has a new boyfriend and he came for dinner last night with his friend. Your mum wouldn’t stop smiling at him. It was disgusting.”

“You must be seeing things. My mum hasn’t been interested in anyone since dad left. She wouldn’t start now.”

“Look I know what I saw. We need to switch back.”

“Now? Are you nuts? I’ve only had like a day with your dad. I’m just getting to know what it’s like to have a real dad. It’s not time, not happening.”

“You think I don’t want to spend more time with your mother? She’s beautiful and amazing, and her hugs are incredible, but I don’t want to mess something up.”

“Okay fine. I’ll think of something and call you back. Or Facebook you like a normal person. The house phone, Iris? Really?”