Identity Crisis - Pt 6

Part 1: https://vocal.media/fiction/identity-crisis-yb14r02l5

Part 2: https://vocal.media/fiction/identity-crisis-pt-2

Part 3: https://vocal.media/fiction/identity-crisis-pt-3

Part 4: https://vocal.media/fiction/identity-crisis-pt-4

Part 5: https://vocal.media/fiction/identity-crisis-pt-5

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Identity Crisis

Chapter 6

Walking up to the patrol car Jason stopped. “Look, I don’t have to sit in back again do I?”

Officer Jalynda Feliciano chuckled. “No. You get to sit up front this time like a real person.”

Jason smiled and climbed in as the Hispanic woman went around to the driver side. “Your friend lives on Thames Drive, right?” she said as she got behind the wheel.

“Yeah. 578 Thames Drive.”

“All righty then. Hang on to your hat.” Officer Feliciano flipped on the lights and sirens and hit the gas. Jason grabbed the front dash. “Just kidding. It’s still in park.” Jalynda chuckled and turned off the overhead lights and siren.

When they got to Dan’s house, Jason sat for a moment.

“You okay Jason?” Jalynda asked.

“Yeah. Just wondering if this would be the last time I ever come here. This whole thing is, like, unreal. I still think of myself as Quinn, you know?”

“Yeah. Sorry for all that. Still, it sounds like you have two families that love you. Some never get one.”

Jason looked at her for a second. “Maybe. Well, thanks for the ride.”

“Jason, there’ll be a car in the area all night. Here’s my phone number. Call if you need anything.” She handed him a card with a cell number on the back.

“I will.”

“Oh, and Quinn…”

“Yeah?”

“Should that cute Special Agent happen to ask, you have my permission to give him my number.” She winked.

Jason smirked. “No sweat. I’ll give it to him. You know. Just in case.” As he exited the patrol car, Dan banged open the front door of the house and darted over.

“Quinn! Holy crap! What a shocker! You need to write a damn book or something. Kidnapped as a baby…, twin brother… Okay, you gotta tell me what the hell happened at the cop shop man.”

“Whoa, Dan. Take a breath.”

“Seriously dude. You okay? That was some wicked shit this morning.” Dan held his friend by the shoulders and searched his face.

Jason gave a half-hearted chuckle. “I’ll be okay. Let’s head in. I’ll fill you in. First, though, I gotta call Laura.”

As the two teens entered the house Dan called out, “Mom, Quinn’s here.” The house smelled enticingly of chocolate chip cookies and fried chicken. Dan’s dog, Clyde – a midsize Australian Shepard – bounded in from the hall. Jumping up, the ecstatic canine placed his paws on Jason’s chest and proceeded to lick him like a lollipop. Jason staggered back as the friendly canine was almost sixty pounds of happy energy.

Jason grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck and shook his head playfully back and forth. “Clyde. Who’s a good doggy? Good boy.” The dog barked loudly and danced playfully on his hind paws, his tail almost knocking a vase of flowers off a small table.

Linda Rigby walked in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Clyde. Down!” she yelled at the over excited dog who laid down, putting his head on his paws.

“It’s fine Mrs. Rigby. Clyde’s just happy to see me. Seems to be a lot of that going around today.”

“So I’ve heard.” Walking over she looked at her son’s friend. Dan and Quinn had been friends since the fourth grade, and, after more than six years, he almost felt like a second son to her. Quinn was the reason Dan had joined soccer and become more outgoing. “Quinn, you know we’re here for you. If you need anyone to talk to…”

“Thanks Mrs. Rigby.” Pushing the dog down, Jason gave his friend’s mom a quick hug. “I know. But, about the whole Quinn thing. It seems I’m actually named Jason. Jason Trilby.”

“Okay. Would you rather I call you Jason?”

“No. Not really. Quinn still feels right to me. Mrs.Rigby…, I’m not even sure right now who I am. It’s crazy. Am I Quinn Marcellus, soccer player, or Jason Trilby the twin? It’s … I don’t know.”

Linda looked the boy in the eyes for a moment then gave him a quick hug. “Quinn, I don’t know exactly how to answer that. This is an identity crisis. But, it seems to me that right now you’re both.”

Dan laughed. ‘You’re Jason Quinn. Mystery man of two worlds. They’ll make a Hallmark movie.”

“And I’ll watch it,” Linda said, smiling. “How does your biological family seem? Are they nice?”

“Yeah, they are. My… brother, Anthony seems pretty cool. I always wanted a brother. Closest I had until now was this idiot.” He gave a low chuckle and jabbed a thumb at Dan.”

“And your parents?”

“They’re nice. Of course I wonder what it would have been like to be raised by my real parents. But, then I never would have met you guys. You all are a second family to me. And, then, there’s Laura.”

Dan gave his friend a light hearted smack on the back of the head. “Told you I’d take care of Laura for you bro.”

“Well, Quinn…, we are certainly glad you’re here too. But, it seems you have a lot of thinking to do. Lord, I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for your mother and father. Their baby disappearing like that. Stolen. Never knowing where you were or if you were okay. That would be horrible. I’m sure they love you. You know none of this was their fault, right?”

“I know. It’s just…, I love my life here. This is home.”

“What about your…, adopted parents?” Linda asked. “I can’t imagine they knew.”

“No. They love me, and I love them.”

“Quinn, they chose you to love and raise. They adopted a baby boy and watched him grow into a fine young man. Your mom was there when you got sick. I remember your mom and dad cheering their heads off when you were the high scorer in the championship game last year. They love you very much. I know that.”

“That’s part of why I’m so torn. I want to know my real family, but I also don’t want to leave my home.”

“Well, Quinn, you’re going to have to give your real family a chance. But, you’ll always be welcome here.”

“Dude, we’re bros.” Dan clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder.

“Bros,” Jason said.

“Okay then, Quinn. You boys want some cookies? They’re fresh.”

Taking two cookies each, the boys headed for Dan’s room. Just as they were about to close the door behind them, Dan’s little sister, Katherine, pushed in. “Quinn!” she squealed. Katherine was an exuberantly energetic thirteen years old and had had a crush on her brother’s friend for as long as she could remember. She started to throw her arms around him, then caught herself – not wanting to seem like a little girl. Pulling herself back, she said, “I hear you’re going to spend a couple of nights here. What’s up with that? Everything all right?”

Jason smiled at the freckle-faced girl. Her dirty-blonde hair was tied in a ribbon in the back and fell in waves to almost the middle of her back. She was smiling wide at him, obviously happy at the thought of him being there. “Hey there Kit Kat. How ya doing?”

“I’m good. Just busy with school and all you know. I joined orchestra. I’m going to play the cello.”

“That’s awesome. You’re pretty good with that thing from what I’ve seen. Anyone committed enough to learn to play an instrument that’s bigger than they are… What are you now? About four and a half feet tall?” He reached out and ruffled the girl’s hair.

Katherine pulled back. “Don’t do that please. I’m not a little girl, you know. I’ll have you know I’m 5’4” and, besides, I’ll be in high school next year. Maybe I can be a cheer leader for your soccer team.” Kat put her hands on her hips and looked up at Quinn hopefully.

“Sorry Kit Kat. I’ll try to come to your recitals.” Jason paused. He had to recall that he would probably be hundreds of miles away in a few days.

“Kat, cookies,” came Linda’s voice from the kitchen.

“Coming.” Katherine looked at her brother. “You seem a bit odd today Dan. What’s up?”

“We’ll fill you in in a bit Kat. Right now we have some stuff to figure out. Okay?”

“Fine then. Be that way.” Turning back to Quinn she smiled in what she hoped was an alluring way. “See you in a bit, Quinn? We’re having fried chicken for dinner.”

“Sure thing Kit Kat.” When his sister exited, Dan closed the door and locked it.

“She doesn’t know, huh?”

“No. I only got home a few minutes before you got here, and I don’t think Mom felt it was her place to tell her. You know. It’s your business.”

Walking over to the bed, Jason flopped down. He looked around the room where he had spent many good times over the past six years. Dan’s basketball trophies were on the dresser next to a television and Play Station Five partially covered by a Spiderman tee shirt. His Marvel superheroes poster had been replaced by a Taylor Swift poster a couple of months back. Next to that there was a Call Of Duty (COD) poster. On the opposite wall hung a medieval sword and shield and a large, bleached dragon skull Dan had gotten from a trip to Medieval Times in Kissimmee. He had a framed 8 x 10 inch family picture with himself, Katherine, and their parents from a vacation trip to Aspen last winter on a shelf. Next to it was a 5 x 7 inch picture of Dan and Quinn in Boy Scout uniforms smiling as they proudly displayed a ten-inch trout hanging from a fishing rod. They had been twelve years old when that picture was taken. Jason sighed. “Look, do you mind if I give Laura a call? I really need to fill her in.”

“No sweat. I’ll be in the living room. The new episode of The Voice recorded last night.”

Jason laughed. “You just want to see Gwen Stefani in short shorts.”

“And your point? She’s really cute for an older woman. Besides, they have some really good singers on there.”

“No point. Thanks man.” As Dan left the room, Jason pulled out his cell and dialed Laura’s number.

After explaining the situation as best he could to Laura, who agreed to come by later after dinner, Jason flopped back on the bed. Pulling the second pillow over his face he let out a muffled scream. What the hell was he going to do? New parents, a twin, a sister. Freakin’ Indiana. Holy Christ!”

“You okay in there Quinn?” Dan said from the hall.

“I’m … crap, I don’t know.”

Dan came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “Man, I don’t know how this all feels, although I guess it’d be kind of shitty to discover you weren’t who you always thought you were. Still, it’s not all bad, is it?”

“I have a little sister Dan.”

“Really? Oh what a joy.” Dan laughed. “I hope she’s as annoying as Kat.”

Jason pulled the pillow from his face and swung it at his friend’s head. “Asshole. Her name is Melinda, she’s fourteen and wants to be an actress.”

“Is she cute? I need a girlfriend.”

“Dude, that’s my sister you’re talking about!” Jason grinned as his friend waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Dan laughed and, grabbing the pillow from his friend, proceeded to pummel him with it. The ensuing pillow fight soon had the two of them laughing and breathing hard. Finally, Dan flopped down next to his best friend. “Man, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but, no matter what, we’ll still be best friends.”

Jason leaned up on an elbow. With his other hand he high fived his friend. “Of course, dude. Who else is going to help keep your swelled head in an acceptable hat size? Hey, is it going to be okay with your mom if Laura comes by after dinner?”

“So long as the two of you don’t try to sneak into any closed bedrooms.” Dan smirked. “We’ve still got a couple of hours before dad comes home and we eat. Wanna go for a bike ride? You can use Kat’s bike. You’d look really cute on it.”

“No doubt.” Jason pictured himself riding down the street on a hot pink girl’s bicycle with streamers on the handlebars. “I would absolutely rock that bike, but Officer Feliciano said there was going to be a patrol car nearby all night. That may not be a good idea.”

“Fine. How about some Call of Duty?”

“Sounds good to me. I could use some gratuitous violence right about now.”

After an hour of virtually killing people, throwing grenades into bunkers, and generally slaughtering people indiscriminately, Jason set the PS5 controller down. He had been unable to concentrate on the game after about half an hour and Dan had laughed at him, calling him inept a couple of times. Jason’s thoughts couldn’t help but circle continually back to his family situation. Laura kept intruding on his thoughts, of course. He could barely stand the thought of leaving either the only parents he had ever known or the first girl he had ever actually kissed. Jason was pretty sure that a peck on his mother’s cheek didn’t count. He had even considered the thought of running away, but he had nowhere to go. There was school, soccer…, Laura. It wasn’t like he could be the high scoring soccer star on the school team or see Laura if he was sleeping on a park bench and hiding out. Damn, this sucks, he thought. How could Mom and Dad do this to me?

Pausing the game, Dan sat his controller down. “All good Quinn?”

“I don’t know. Hey, you remember when I first started going out with Laura?”

“Of course. We were all in Algebra I together. Man, you were making puppy dog eyes at her for weeks dude. It was embarrassing.”

Jason stuck out his tongue as his friend mimicked putting his hands under his chin, palms down and made big sad eyes while blinking comically. “You were looking too man. Don’t deny it.”

“What can I say? She’s hot. But, to be honest, I kind of like her friend Shelby.”

“Dude? Why didn’t you say so?”

“Man, she’s out of my league. Besides, she’s dating Chester.”

“Yeah, there is that. He’d wipe the floor with you with one hand.”

“Probably so.” Dan laughed and made with the stupid face – mouth hanging open, head tilted to one side. “He’s a freaking Cro-Magnon, I swear. Guys gotta be 6’4”.”

“Six foot four inches of muscle and dumb.” Jason chuckled. “He won’t win a Nobel, but he’ll probably make millions in the NFL.”

“As for Laura. Man, I remember you mooning over her for weeks. But, the day she walked right up to you in class, looked you in the eye and told you to just for God’s sake just go ahead and ask her out why don’t you…, that was priceless.”

“Yeah, it was. She’s priceless man. What the hell am I going to do?”

“You’re going to stay in touch, write emails, text, call, and generally be a very sad Hoosier my friend.”

At that moment Kat banged on the door. “Dinner’s just about ready Dan.”

“We’ll be there in a minute,” Dan said. Turning back to his glum friend he shook him by the shoulders. “You’ll be all right Quinn. You’ve got me here. I’ll keep Laura company for you.”

“You are such an ass Dan. But, thanks.”

Turning off the game console the boys went to wash their hands and headed to the kitchen dining table.

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After speaking with Quinn, Laura was at a loss. She couldn’t believe that her boyfriend was most likely going to have to move all the way to Indiana. Much less the insane story about being kidnapped as a baby and all that. A twin brother he hadn’t known existed showing up in class like that. Holy crap, that had to have freaked Quinn out. Laura knew Mr. and Mrs. Marcellus. They seemed so nice. Were they actually baby-nappers? Her thoughts were in a turmoil. Should I break up with him? Immediately her mind yelled “No!” The thought of a long-distance relationship scared her. She didn’t know if she could handle it. But, Quinn is so cute, so nice. He makes me laugh. He treats me like a lady. He had brought her five roses on their first date – admittedly he had snitched them from his neighbor’s flower garden, but still. We like the same movies, mostly the same music. What am I supposed to do? Laura almost felt like crying.

Thinking back, she smiled, remembering how awkward he had been when they met. It had been freshman year Algebra. For the first couple of weeks of school he had mooned at her from across the class, snatching looks at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. Guys, she thought. You had to lead the by the hand to get them anywhere. She could tell he liked her. Heck, she liked him. He was good looking, seemed nice, and had a good sense of humor from what she could tell. If only he would just get up the courage to ask her out. Laura had made a point of passing by his table at lunch, but he always turned a cute shade of red and put his face to his plate. She had even asked him how to factor a second-degree polynomial once after class. He had dropped his pencil on the floor in surprise. He showed her how to do it – as if she hadn’t already known in actuality – but had not been brave enough to ask her out. Closing her eyes, she pictured the day she had finally taken matters into her own hands thanks to Shelby.

Looking across the crowded room full of chattering high school freshman, Shelby Rainier had caught Daniel Rigby looking at her. She wasn’t interested in Dan, much. He was cute enough with a ready smile, but she liked jocks. Movement from the desk next to Dan caught her eye. It was Dan’s friend Quinn. Quinn was gazing with puppy dog eyes at Laura, seated next to her, like he had been doing since the first day. Shelby rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure exactly why, but Laura liked Quinn, and this was getting silly.

Class was almost over. Shelby nudged Laura and nodded toward the boy across the room. “He’s mooning again Laura. You need to do something. He obviously likes you, and I know you like him,” she said softly so the teacher wouldn’t hear.

Laura looked over to where Quinn sat. As soon as her eyes met his he turned a cute shade of pink and looked down. She sighed. “What should I do? He’s shy.”

“He’s a teenaged boy. Of course he’s shy,” Shelby replied. “Look, do you want to go out with him?”

“Yes.”

“Then for God’s sake, take the bull by the horns and tell him. Otherwise he’s going to just waste away from terminal angst.”

Laura chuckled and turned back to the front of the room. When the bell rang, she picked up her books, but, instead of exiting with the rest of the herd of teens stampeding to the door, she headed straight towards Quinn. Walking up to him she put her empty hand on her hip and looked straight at him. “Quinn Marcellus, this is ridiculous,” she said. “Just go ahead and ask me out. I like pizza and movies.”

Dan had goggled at the two of them as his best friend and the pretty girl he had been pining over confronted each other. Several other students had stopped and were watching the show. Whispers were going around the room like wildfire.

“Uh, uh…,” Quinn had replied, his face beet red.

“Well? Are you going to ask me out or not?” Laura asked.

Quinn, flummoxed, bravely rallied. Swallowing the giant lump in his throat and trying to ignore his racing pulse, he straightened. Laura could see the shyness fighting with his desire to go out with her. Finally, he had met her eyes. “Yes. I want to go out with you,” he had said.

“Fine then. Friday night. Meet me at the mall food court. Six o’clock. We’ll have pizza and catch a movie. Thor: Love and Thunder.”

Blinking, Quinn shook his head. Suddenly a huge smile broke out on his face. It was like the sun had come out from behind the clouds. Laura thought his smile was absolutely radiant. It actually warmed her heart.

“You like the MCU?” he asked, thunderstruck.

“Of course I like Marvel movies. Doesn’t everyone? I also like flowers and boys who are on time. Besides, Chris Hemsworth is hot.”

Quinn had, rather than being jealous, actually laughed. “I guess you got me there. I’ll be there. It’s…, it’s a date.”

The last few kids in the room clapped and there were a couple of whistles. The Algebra teacher, Mrs. Forghul, had chuckled, shook her head, and turned back to writing another equation on the chalkboard.

“Yes. It is.” Laura had smiled prettily and walked away. Glancing back, she saw Quinn’s friend Dan waving a hand in front of Quinn’s face. Quinn looked like he was in a trance. Laura tried not to show how rapidly her own heart was beating.

Walking over to Shelby she had given her friend the OMG look with open mouth and wide eyes. Shelby had just laughed and, taking her arm, walked out of the room with her.

Laura smiled wistfully, remembering that first date. Quinn had looked so cute. He had worn jeans and a button-down shirt. When he came into the food court and saw her there, his eyes had lit up and his silly grin had shown his nice teeth. Quinn had walked up to her and handed her five pink roses wrapped in a damp paper towel. Looking at them she had laughed. “You didn’t buy these, did you?” she had asked.

Sheepishly he had mugged acquiescence and shrugged. “Actually, I got them from my neighbor’s rose bush,” he had said, looking shamefaced. Laura had laughed. The roses smelled beautiful and Quinn had looked so cute her heart melted. The two of them had been dating ever since: A year now. It was hard to think of Quinn leaving.

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Part 7: https://vocal.media/fiction/identity-crisis-pt-7