I'm Seeing Double

James gets off of the bed and stretches. As he does this, he realizes that Rory is frowning. He has no idea why she would be doing this. As far as he knows, he hasn’t done anything wrong. Luckily, she answers his question.
“You really need some new clothes. I’m going to have to take you out shopping tomorrow. I think that Cottonee might have left some clothing when he broke up with my mom.”
“Cottonee?”
“That’s what I called my mom’s ex. He was annoying me when I playing a game, so I named him after the one that I caught and named it after him. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. You’re probably going to want to take a shower too.”
“Yeah.”
“Anywho, we better go downstairs. Me want some pasta! Rory Fact: Rory may not talk with proper grammar, but she does write it. Rory Fact: Rory also likes to talk in third person.”
James chuckles. “You’re pretty weird.”
“Well, that is also a Rory Fact.”
The younger of the two follows the other down the stairs and into the kitchen where there is pasta on the stove. Rory grabs a plate out of the cupboard for herself and also one for James as well. She hands one of them to him and then grabs a fork out of the drawer for each of them as well. Once this is down, she goes over to the spaghetti and sauce and gets some for herself. The brunette waits for James to get his as well before she leads him out into the living room.
Marie is sitting on the couch in front of the flat screen. Her food, mouse, and keyboard is sitting on the coffee table, and on the screen is, of course, World of Warcraft. She doesn’t seem to notice them. That might have to do with the fact that she’s in the middle of a pet battle. Rory sneaks up to her side and then strokes her mother’s hair. James doesn’t really know what to think of this, but when it comes to Rory, he never knows what to think. He’s barely known her or anyone for that matter, but she is definitely an interesting character.
“Mom, didn’t Cottonee leave behind some clothes?” It looks like Marie doesn’t want to talk about it, but she nods. “Can James use them? Oh, and can we go shopping tomorrow so I can buy him so clothes?” She nods again and doesn’t take her eyes off of the screen in front of her. Figures. Rory goes back over to James. “Hey, let’s go eat up in my room. I actually cleaned it a bit, so you can actually walk in there, sit in front of my TV, and... Well, that’s about it.”
“Alright.”
James follows Rory yet again, but this time it’s to go up to her room. When he steps inside, he can see that she had cleaned up some. They don’t have a hard time making it over to her bed like last time. They sit down, and Rory grabs her laptop and sits it so it’s next to her. She gets on her iTunes and puts something on. James doesn’t recognize it, so he knows that it can’t be All Time Low or One Direction. He almost wants to question it, but it’s not important, so he doesn’t. Instead, he starts eating and becomes very happy with that decision.
“Bananas.”
“What?” Did she just say “bananas”?
“Huh? Oh, sometimes I say ‘bananas’. It’s a thing. Most people think that I’m talking about the fruit, but I’m actually talking about this sexy picture of ATL eating bananas sexually in their underwear.”
“Huh. You get more interesting by the second.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, you’re pretty different.”
“I’m just not afraid to act my goofy self. I thank Jack Barakat for that.”
“Who?”
“Jack is the guitarist of All Time Low. He’s my hero. When I started to listen to them, I was slowly starting to come out of my shell. When I saw the way that he was so much himself, it inspired me to be myself. Now I can say all the dirty stuff that I want to say, I swear as much as I want to swear, and I’m me. It was the best day of my life when I got to meet them. Jack kept calling my an artist because of the shirt that I made. Amazing.”
“Music means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“Fuck yeah it does. I love music. The only thing that can stack up to it’s importance would be reading and writing. That’s why I write so much. I write stories online too. They’re fan fiction, and they definitely aren’t about Jack... Nope. Not at all. Well, some of them are. I have... three of them that are. I also have two Jalex stories. Those are about him, but those are him with Alex. Then one of my other ones I have Jack with a guy as well. Oh, and he’s not gay sadly. It would be hot if he was though with Alex. Sexy. Anyway, that’s enough about that. Is there anything else you want to ask me? Ask away!”
“I assume that you like dirty jokes? It just comes off like that.”
“I do. I always have these dirty thoughts, and that’s why my mom didn’t think that I was asexual.”
“What?”
“I’m asexual. It means that I’m not sexually attracted to people. I’m an ace of hearts, so I’m still romantically attracted to people, but I can’t even picture myself in a sexual situation.” Rory grimaces. “Like, I like reading it, but the actual act? Yeah, no.”
“That’s different. Not that there is anything wrong with it.”
“You didn’t have to save yourself there. I know that it isn’t the ‘norm’. Most people don’t know about asexuallity. It’d be cool if they did, so I didn’t have to explain myself. Although... the truth is that I don’t like being asexual. Like, it makes dating harder, and I’m already weird enough as it is. Then I’m never going to have that first time like how I read when people write fluffy smut. My life isn’t going to be like the average person, and it kind of sucks.”
“I’m sure that you’ll find someone.”
“I’m a pessimist though, so yeah. Actually, I haven’t really told anyone about all of that. My trust in you is strangely really high.”
“Same.” Sensing that Rory wants to change the topic, James does. “Who are you listening to?”
“Oh, this is just Sleeping with Sirens. I love them. I actually got to hug Kellin this summer.”
“Do you get to meet all of your favorite musicians?”
“Not all of them. I’ve gotten to meet some of them though. It’s pretty badass. Oh, do you want me to sing one of their songs to you? I can’t sing all of their songs because Kellin has such a high voice, but I can sing a few. Um, how about I do ‘Sorry’? Yeah, that one I can sing fine. I’ll do that one.”
Rory puts the song on and starts to sing along. It’s not the best for her voice, but she pulls it off. Afterward, James claps which causes the brunette to blush. Of course she blushed. She just sang to a really cute guy, and he liked it.
“You’re a really good singer,” he smiles at her.
“Well, so are you.” Rory smirks when she gets a blush out of him as well.
The two of them chat for a little bit while they eat. James learns a few things about her. He learns that she’s a Libra, she also draws, acts, and plays bass, and the only thing that really grosses her out are dirty dishes. She doesn’t know why. It just does. The entire time that she is talking, James can’t help but find it interesting. The only problem is that at the same time, he’s sad. He’s upset that he doesn’t have any stories or facts to tell her. He only has Niall’s memories, and he doesn’t want to count those. They aren’t his memories. Finally, when she’s done. He can’t take it anymore.
“Rory?”
“Yeah?”
“I... I only have his memories. I... want to have my own.”
Rory can’t help but feel bad for the younger. “I’ll help you make your own memories. You can delete all of his from your mind palace and replace them with the ones that I help you create.”
“Mind palace?”
“It’s a Sherlock thing, which is a TV show.”
“Oh alright.”
The two of them hear a knock on the door. It then opens to reveal Marie holding a pile of clothes in her arms. “These will probably be baggy, but it should do for now.”
James gets up and goes over to her before taking them, “Thank you.”
“It’s fine. Rory, do you want me to take the plates downstairs? Knowing you and your room, they’ll probably stay in here if I don’t.”
“I don’t leave plates in here. Cups, yes, but never plates.”
“You never know.”
“Oh, I do, and yes, you may.” Rory goes over to her mom and hands her both of their plates and silverware. Marie leaves with them. “James, why don’t you go ahead and take your shower. I was thinking that we can watch a movie or two afterwards, so I can set all that stuff up while you’re in there. Meow. Oh! I already think I know what my pick is!” Rory runs out of the room and downstairs.
James just stands there for a minute to take in everything that has happened to him. In just one day, he was taken in by a girl, he’s been treated like a normal person for once, he learned how crazy that girl is, and he made a good friend. Yes, he’s only known her for a day, but she’s been there for him more than anyone. She’s kind and funny. Yes, she’s pretty weird, but everyone is weird in their own way. At least she’s being herself. James knows that this is what friendship is suppose to be like. Yes, he has to use Niall’s memory, but he is his clone, so they have to be similar, right?
Well, they can’t be the same though. James knows this. There has to be some differences. The blond tries to think of some, but only one really comes to mind. That would be Rory. James remembers girls that he’s liked, but he doesn’t feel anything towards them. Yes, this could be because they aren’t his memories, but he thinks Rory is better than some of those girls. She isn’t the prettiest girl in his head. She’s average in appearance, but she’s so kind and talented, and she’s just fun to be around. Because James has had no experience whatsoever in his life, he’s not really sure what he’s feeling. It could just be the want for a strong friendship, but he could be on the verge of fancying her. He doesn’t know, and he won’t know until later after he’s been around her more. Of course that is going to happen a lot, so he doesn’t have to worry about not being around her.
Since the blond knows that he should hurrying up and get his shower, he gets up off of the bed, grabs the clothes in the other room, and makes his way into the bathroom. He starts up the water for the shower and undresses while he waits for the water to warm up. He places the clothes into a pile before checking the water. It’s fine, so he gets in. The water runs down his chest and onto his face when he leans in closer. It feels amazing. Of course that makes sense considering how long he’s gone without bathing. He washes his body and hair three times in order to get all of the sweat and dirt out.
Once he is clean, he turns the water off, gets out, and then gets dressed. He almost wishes that he could shower all day. That’s how much he liked getting clean. He puts the clothes on that he borrowed. The top is a simple white T-shirt, and the bottoms are grey sweatpants that are a baggy in the waist. They don’t fit perfect, but that just makes sense. James picks up the dirty pile and tries to find where the dirty laundry goes. He spots it in the corner and puts the pile in the basket. He looks at it for a sec, wondering if he should just throw them away. He decides to keep them. He could always use them as a pair of clothes that he can get dirty in.
Now that that is done, he goes back into Rory’s bedroom and finds her wearing purple pajama bottoms and sitting in the area in front of the TV with pillows and blankets around her and a bowl of popcorn in front of her. The older teen smiles at him and tells him to turn the light out. He does as told before going over to her and sitting down. She turns the PlayStation on and skips to the main menu. Once there, James sees that she put in a movie called The Phantom of the Opera.
“This is one of my favorite movies,” she tells him while taking a handful of popcorn. “Although there are a lot of movies that I love, I’ll always put this one on the list. I’ve loved it for years, you know? Plus, the music is great. I just hate the ending to this. I won’t tell you the ending though. You’ll just have to find out why I hate it for yourself. Oh, do you mind if I sing along to certain songs?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Good because I couldn’t stop myself if I tried.”
Rory finally turns the movie on. It starts off in black and white with an auction going on. Eventually the music starts up and the theater turns into what it looked like all those years ago. It may be a musical, but James thinks that it’s pretty good. It’s even better when Rory starts singing along. She gets really into it. Of course, she’s done that before. Music does mean a lot to her.
After the movie is over, Rory still isn’t tired, so she puts on another one. She doesn’t really care which one it is. She just put in the first thing that she saw. Of course by the end of that one, she is tired. Her hazel eyes look over at the blond to find him passed out. He really is cute when he sleeps. Since Rory is really lazy and tempted by his adorableness, she decides to move the now empty bowl away from them, get the pillows and blankets right, and then lay down next to him. She looks at his face one more time before she closes her eyes and goes to sleep with one thought in her head.
This was some day.

Notes