Chapter 1

"But I didn't do anything," Tana cried. "I didn't!"

"Don't lie to me, Tan," Jake scolded. "My friend saw you there."

"I'm a twin, Jake. It was probably Tara. I wasn't at the club!"

"Well," he said, bringing up past arguments, "This wouldn't be the first time. I think we'd better break up."

"You know what?" Tana retorted, "If you can't trust me, then maybe we should."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Tana ran down Jake's porch and ran to her car. She left as quickly as she could, but once she got out of his long, sinuous driveway, she realized she had nowhere to go. Going home meant explaining why she was so upset- something she wasn't ready to do. Finally, she ended up at a park in Jake's neighborhood, sitting on a swing and feeling sorry for herself.

She had been there for maybe 15 minutes when she heard a guy's voice. "'Scuse me miss," he said, "Are you all right?"

Tana turned to see a thin young man with dark blue hair. He was dressed in khaki colored wind pants and 2 beater style tank tops, a white underneath a black. The tank tops showed off his thin arms and their many tattoos. He was peering at her over a pair of designer sunglasses. Though taken aback by his odd appearance, Tana nodded her head yes. However, she had only just turned back around when she felt the tears burning at her eyes. Rather than hold them back, she let them flow.

"Uh," the guy said, "With all due respect, miss, you don't seem to be all right. I don't mean to be nosy, but I'm concerned."

Amazed at his sympathy, Tana motioned for him to sit down. "To make a long story short," she began to explain, "I just went through a hard break-up. I can't go home yet, so I came here."

"Well," the young man said, "It seems as though this guy… uh-"

"Jake."

"It seems to me that whatever happened, this Jake guy is pretty stupid. No guy in his right mind would let a girl like you go."

Had she been in her normal state of mind, Tana might have noticed that this young man seemed extremely interested in her. But on that particular day, Tana was touched by his sweetness.

"Well-"

"Alex."

"Well, Alex," she said, looking at her watch, "I've gotta be going. Thank you very much for your assistance."
"Um, I didn't catch your name," Alex said, stalling for time.

"I'm Tana Frasier."

Well, Tana Frasier, would you mind giving me your phone number so that I might check up on you in a few days and make sure that you're all right?"

So Tana gave the stranger the number to the apartment she shared with her twin Tara, and her cousin Christine.