At the very beginning of my shift, I’d been in the break room getting my name tag pin and had immediately fumbled and dropped it, only to have it fall to the floor and get stepped on ... and broken into a million pieces by a coworker’s unknowing foot.

Grant, the supervisor, who was in the room at the time, saw my anguished look at the tiny, brittle pieces which remained of my name tag littering the floor, and only grunted.

‘No big deal, kid,’ he grunted, in his unconcerned but not unkind manner. ‘Just wear your brother’s today. No one can tell you apart anyway. We’ll have a new one made for you by your next shift.’

It was true, but still, my brother and I liked to think we had some unique characteristics which told us apart. Of course, we were lying to ourselves. Being identical twins means just that--we were physically identical in every single way. We even, unfortunately, gravitated towards the same style of hair cut. The only way anyone could tell us apart for sure if we acted the same way on purpose was by looking at our shoulders. I had a deep scar running down from my left shoulder blade all the way to my collarbone--very faint in the light, due to our pale-skinned European blood, but still noticeable if you knew what you were looking for. It was a result of a particularly angry barn cat I’d picked up when I was two or so.

But, in my uniform, no one would be able to see the scar, and no one would care if I was my brother or not. I worked just as hard as Eddie did, and Grant already knew the hours were mine, so he’d put my hours towards MY next pay cheque and not Eddie’s. No problem.

So I picked up his name tag and pinned it to my chest, and Grant gave me my first task of the day: our very first customer had somehow managed to catch a bag of feed on one of the shelves, and it had torn open and feed had spilt everywhere. Grant asked me to go clean it up. Obediently, I fetched the broom and pan and went to do just that. Most of the jobs like these fell on Eddie’s or my shoulders, so I was used to it.

‘Hey, Mitch,’ Grant called to me as he went by. ‘Another one in aisle four when you’re done here.’

‘Sure,’ I called back, suppressing a sigh. Usually, I loved working at the local farm equipment store, but today things seemed to be looking down. In a few minutes I finished sweeping the last of the feed up and turned to go to aisle four when suddenly there was the sound of feet urgently pounding over the concrete floor coming in my direction.

‘Eddie!’ Shouted a familiar voice. ‘Eddie!’

Surprised, I turned towards the voice with broom and pan in hand. It was Cindy, Eddie’s girlfriend. She’d never spared me a second glance in her life before now--she hadn’t been unkind to me, but it was obvious all of her attentions were focussed on my brother, and if we were ever alone in a room together she was distantly polite in a very impersonal sort of way.

Eddie and I are, if you will excuse the phrase, built like brick shithouses. It’s just in our genetics. The both of us stand six feet four inches at sixteen years old, and neither of us is a stick in the least. We’re broad-shouldered, robust young men.

Now Cindy, on the other hand, stood at about five feet six inches. It’s easy, at least outwardly, to understand what my brother likes about her. She’s all curves with gorgeously rounded hips and luscious, drool-worthy melons of breasts. She walks in a way that captures any man’s attention, and I’m pretty sure that’s just her natural stride, too. The soft, feminine clothes she favours give her a sweet, gentle appearance and sets off the blonde curls trailing halfway down her back.

‘Eddie!’ She shouted again, and stopped just short of running smack into me. Cindy planted her hands firmly on her hips and glared up at me. ‘Why haven’t you been answering my messages?’ She demanded, with fiery eyes.

‘I--’ I began, about to say I wasn’t Eddie, I was Mitch, and yet knowing full well why Eddie hadn’t been answering his mobile phone. He’d accidentally pushed it into the rinse dishwater yesterday night and was getting a new one.

‘Don’t give me any cockamamy excuses!’ Cindy threatened me, leaning as close to my face as she could in a threatening way. ‘Don’t you dare, Eddie Somers!’

‘I’m not--’ I began again, desperate to set her straight about which twin I was.

‘The truth!’ She hissed.

‘It fell in the dishwater,’ I blurted out, surprising myself. I had been certain that the first words I’d meant to come out of my mouth were, ‘I’m Mitch.’

Cindy narrowed her pretty blue eyes at me again.

I felt inordinately attacked by this small, angry girl (in comparison with myself, of course) and held up my hands defensively, in surrender. ‘I swear!’ I told her, resisting the urge to back up a few paces. ‘And I’ve been on shift since early today.’

Cindy’s face softened immediately, crumbling like a piece of toast. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Good. I’m so relieved.’ To my amazement, she began to cry, at first trying not to show it, and then just full out bawling.

‘Cindy,’ I said, concerned. ‘Cindy ... what’s the matter?’ Wordlessly, Cindy took the two steps separating us and wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face into my uniform shirt.

For a moment, I was taken aback, but after a second I put down the broom and tentatively put my arms around her. Her hair was very soft against my arm.

As she began to calm down, my mind registered other things. She smelt nice ... fresh, sort of. Like the wind outside in the springtime. And then ... and then there were those two glorious, lovely problems pressing into my stomach. Her breasts were oh so soft pressed against my body, and through the fuzzy light blue sweater she was wearing I could even feel the press of her nipples. It was amazing, but if she didn’t move away soon, she’d be getting poked in the belly herself.

I shifted uncomfortably at the thought. Eddie would absolutely KILL me if he ever found out I poked his girlfriend with my boner. Thankfully, Cindy pulled away just then. A second longer and she would have noticed my response to her hug. Her eyes were bright with tears still, but she was smiling.

‘You’re the best,’ she said, and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss me. It all happened so quickly I didn’t have time to move away or anything before her soft mouth was pressed against my lips. It was a brief peck, and then she was down on her heels again and looking around quickly with a giggle. In another second she was back up on her toes, pressing her soft lips against mine and opening her mouth to me. I was so shocked I started to kiss her back.

I’d frenched with a girl before a handful of times in my life. They had all been pretty inexperienced kissers, though, just shoving their tongues unceremoniously in and out of my mouth. Cindy, though ... Cindy knew what she was doing. She languorously chased my tongue with her own and drew it into her mouth, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. My hands found her ass (inadvertently) and pulled her in closer, squeezing each globe before I could even think, which made her practically purr into my ear.

Then, it was over, and I stood there in a daze while Cindy smiled up at me innocently.

‘I missed you,’ she said in a low voice. Her gaze flicked down to the front of my uniform pants and her smile widened. She reached out and squeezed my erection lightly. ‘And I missed this,’ she whispered.

All I could do was stammer and desperately try not to spurt in my pants. Cindy laughed.

Then her expression saddened again. ‘I have some bad news, but you’re on shift right now. Let’s talk tonight at the lake. 11 pm, at the East Bridge. I’ll bring the blanket, you bring some snacks. See you there,’ she called out, waltzing back down the aisle and out of sight.

Because I didn’t know what else to do, I retrieved my broom and pan and headed to aisle four. I was surprised Cindy hadn’t realized it was me she was kissing instead of my brother, and felt guilty that I’d kissed her back and enjoyed it so much. My boner was proof of how much I’d enjoyed it.

What on earth did she want to talk about tonight? I couldn’t go. I couldn’t. I wasn’t Eddie. What if her bad news was that she was pregnant? I couldn’t take credit for that with her. I couldn’t take credit for that with any girl, being a virgin. No, I’d better tell Eddie to go. He’d know what to do. Cindy wasn’t my responsibility.

Her teary eyes remained in my mind for the rest of the shift.

Twelve hours later, I was still arguing with myself about going or not going. Our family had already finished supper, and I’d hardly been able to swallow a bite I was so nervous. Now, Eddie and I had just finished doing the dishes. (Sometimes, being the youngest sucks.)

Eddie was there in the kitchen with me as I stirred the milk on stove, messing around on his guitar: a bit of a song here, a little of a song there.

‘What are you doing?’ He asked, frowning over at me.

‘Warming milk. For cocoa,’ I added, my eyes skipping away guiltily from his questioning gaze. I was worried I had ‘I kissed your girlfriend,’ written in block letters all over my face, a statement which would not be helped by, ‘She kissed me first,’ however true it was.

Eddie shrugged. ‘Okay.’ He resumed playing, and the milk finished warming. I made the cocoa up and quickly poured it into the thermos. The indecision was killing me. I turned and looked straight at my brother, who was looking at his left hand, making sure he was fretting properly.

‘Cindy--’ I began, and broke off.

Eddie looked up. ‘What about Cindy?’ He asked, tightening the C-string.

I swallowed, hard. ‘She was looking for you today,’ I said, which was the truth. ‘At work. She seemed upset.’

Eddie sighed, running a hand through his hair. ‘I’ll call her tomorrow,’ he vowed. ‘She has a hard time at home, a lot,’ he explained to me. His expression was sad, but tender thinking about her, and I felt even worse than I already did that I had now committed to going through with the lie.

‘She seems like a great girl,’ I told him honestly. ‘I should get myself one of them.’

Eddie shook his head with a laugh. ‘Go out on dates more, then,’ he said.

I had a big bag of hickory sticks and some dried mango pieces tucked away with the thermos in my backpack. I mean, she was a girl, right? She might not want to eat something so greasy and salty.

I snuck out the front door at 10.30 and hightailed it to the East Bridge. When I arrived, there was a small fire crackling in the gravel down by the bridge support, mostly embers and coals now. Cindy jerked her head around when she heard me coming and stood up. I could barely see her, even by the light of the fire, but it reflected back in her eyes enough that I could tell she was smiling.

‘Eddie,’ she breathed, and walked up to hug me. I tried to act natural and hugged her back, returning the little kiss she gave me.

‘Where did you park your car?’ She asked.

‘Oh,’ I said, my mind whirling. Damn, damn, and double damn! Eddie drove. Of course he did. And here I was, the loser without the licence. ‘Um ... I didn’t take it,’ I said. ‘I walked. My mum would have noticed for sure if I’d taken the car.’

‘Oh,’ she said, not suspecting a thing. ‘That’s true. I’m just glad you’re here! I’m so hungry, I was just about to start without you,’ she said, taking my hand and leading me to the blanket. We sat, and she ripped open a packet of something surprisingly aggressively with her teeth. The wonderful aroma of hot dogs wafted up into the night air and to my nose, making my stomach growl. Now that I was here, I wasn’t so nervous, and as a result, I was starving. She’d never know I wasn’t Eddie, especially not in the dark where any mistakes I made were covered up.

‘I thought I was supposed to bring the snacks,’ I said, pretending to be offended that she’d brought food too. She laughed.

‘Yeah, that’s what I said, wasn’t it? Well, I hadn’t had any supper, and you didn’t know that, so I took it in my own hands and got some hotdogs to roast for my supper. You can have some too,’ she said in a sweet tone. ‘I heard your stomach talking over there.’ We both laughed.

‘Okay, thanks,’ I said. I took my knapsack off and opened it. ‘I brought some cocoa, a bag of hickory sticks, and some dried mango. Is that enough?’

‘Perfect,’ she declared. ‘Can I have some of the hickory sticks now? They’re just what I’ve been craving.’

I passed her the bag and she opened them.

‘Mmm,’ she moaned. My mouth watered just at the smell of the delicious snacks. ‘I haven’t had hickory sticks in years,’ she said. ‘I thought you didn’t like them, Eddie.’

‘I don’t,’ I said quickly, remembering how much my brother hated them. ‘But,’ I amended, ‘I remembered how much you love them, and I figured you needed some cheering up.’

‘That’s so sweet,’ Cindy murmured. She put the bag down and clambered over to me, and, to my surprise, climbed onto my lap, facing me. One hand stroked my hair softly and she leaned in to kiss me.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured. Then her lips met mine, and opened them against my own, and I was tasting the hickory and salt in her mouth and only wanting more of it.

Already I was hard. Shit. I had not meant to come here to make out with my brother’s girlfriend. The only reason I’d come was to support her in her time of need and, let’s face it, so Eddie would never know I’d accidentally kissed his girlfriend once, and so Cindy would never be embarrassed that she’d mixed us up.

‘Come on,’ I said, hoping she wouldn’t notice my stiffy. ‘let’s have some hotdogs. It’s been a while since I’ve roasted them over a fire.’

She giggled and got off me. ‘Okay,’ she agreed, and passed me one of the sticks. For a while all we did was roast the hotdogs and tell jokes and funny stories about people at school. It was really nice. In fact, I’d never had such a good time with a girl my age before.

When the hotdogs were gone and we were sipping cocoa in front of the fire (when we were done roasting I’d added another log so it would keep burning), I turned to Cindy.

‘What was your bad news?’ I said softly, feeling the urge to take her hand. I did, and stroked it softly. She had her head on my shoulder and sat up a little when I spoke.

‘Oh,’ she said in a small voice. ‘It’s awful, Eddie. My dad pushed me down the stairs yesterday and today... ‘ Her voice trembled. ‘Today, he kicked me out,’ she finished, taking a wavering breath. ‘I should be used to it by now, huh? Him pushing me around and Mum helpless to do anything, knowing he’d hurt her worse because she’s not his blood. But it’s been so good lately. Ever since he got that new job, he’s hardly drunk a drop. But last night ... last night he was feeling too celebratory and took a few, and just turned nasty out of nowhere and then this morning... ‘

She couldn’t finish, and buried her head in my chest. I held her to me.

Just by looking at her, you’d have never imagined life at home was so awful. You never could just by looking at anyone, I guess ... but Cindy always seemed so strong and happy and in control of her life when that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Anger rose up in me. A lovely girl like Cindy shouldn’t have to put up with that sort of shit!

‘Damn him,’ I muttered fiercely into her hair.

‘I thought you’d say that,’ she said, smiling up at me lovingly, and hopped up onto my lap again to kiss me. This time, I tasted her tears on my lips. ‘That’s why I packed up a suitcase. I thought we could run away somewhere together until we’re old enough to get married.’

I don’t know how Eddie would have reacted, but I was very surprised.

‘Don’t say no,’ she said quickly, ‘at least not for now. I can stay here a few days while we decide and hang onto the beautiful dream that you’ll say yes.’

‘Here?’ I said, looking around in shock. ‘You can’t stay here, Cindy. It would be dangerous to stay here overnight.’

She crossed her arms, scowling at me. ‘I can look after myself,’ she declared. Then her expression softened, and she put a hand to my cheek. ‘Please, Eddie? Please just think about it?’

I sighed deeply, closing my eyes. ‘All right,’ I agreed when I opened them. ‘I’ll think about it, you minx you.’

‘Yay!’ Cindy threw her arms around my neck and kissed me soundly. ‘Thank you, Eddie! Thank you!’

Then she was kissing all over my face.

‘I don’t want to wait anymore,’ she breathed. ‘We should do it tonight.’ She began to unbutton my shirt, but I grabbed her hands in a panic.

‘Wait! Wait!’ I said. ‘Do what?’ I was pretty certain I knew what she wanted, and I was one hundred percent certain that was something Cindy and I must not do.

She giggled and kissed the tip of my nose. ‘IT, silly. We should make love. This seems like a perfect time to give you my virginity.’

‘Why?’ I asked, stalling for time. My mind whirled in a million directions.

‘Well, we’ve been waiting so long,’ she began, and then her eyes narrowed at me. ‘Wait a second. Did you never want to do it to begin with? Am I not pretty enough?’

Quickly, I kissed her. ‘No, no, that’s not it, Cindy. You’re a stone fox, believe me. It’s just I feel like you’re vulnerable right now with this whole thing with your dad, and I don’t want to take advantage of your vulnerability and do something you might regret later,’ I added. Good. That sounded good.

‘It’s not because of my dad that I want to do this,’ she insisted. ‘It’s not like I’d want to do something so big as this just to spite him. It’s because I love you, Eddie Somers, and you drive this girl crazy.’

She took my hand and put it on her breast. I could feel her heart beating fast beneath it, beneath the thin fabric of the summer dress she was wearing. ‘I want to feel you inside me tonight,’ she whispered, and I could see the sincerity in her eyes in the glow of the fire they reflected.

I wasn’t going to go through with this. Eddie would have my guts for garters if I did. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy a little time with Cindy ... just touching a little. Right? Nothing wrong with that.

I felt my cock jump at her words. I wanted to be inside her, too, but that wasn’t about to happen. Not today, not ever.

She felt me jerk beneath her, against her covered pussy, and smiled.

‘You want to,’ she breathed.

‘Yes,’ I admitted, and crushed her in for a kiss. She wiggled closer as our lips met, her arms around me and my arms around her.

Her tongue darted around deliciously, and her hands began to unbutton my shirt again. Her hands smoothed over the strong muscles on my chest, murmuring her appreciation against my mouth. She could unbutton my shirt and touch me, right? No big deal. She hadn’t even pushed it off my shoulders. We could just touch for a little bit.

‘I need you to suck my nipples,’ she breathed, pulling away for just enough time to say it. That sounded like a brilliant idea. We continued to kiss, more sloppily now as I fumbled urgently with the buttons at the front of her dress. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. I pushed the loose garment down off her shoulders, drinking in the sight of her glorious breasts, pert and perky and soft all at the same time.