for the place, so he couldn’t exactly turn me away at the door.
We’d never been what I’d call close, but maybe we could be now that we were on the same campus and I’d be bunking with him—at least until I figured out how to get back into the sorority house.
Brody, a fifth-year senior, had been attending college halfway across the country—largely to get some space from our parents and me. But now, four and a half years and dozens of lost credits later, he was closer to home and trying to climb out of whatever hole he’d dug himself during his years of partying.
That our father had let him transfer again had been a shock to both of us. I’d thought for sure he’d make Brody throw in the towel and figure his shit out before he burned any more of his money at institutions of higher learning. But when Brody promised that a change of scenery and living by himself would help him focus, our dad agreed to give him one more shot before he pulled the plug on his education. I guess he had more faith in Brody than the rest of us did. Brody included.
It occurred to me, as I shifted my bags at the door of Brody’s apartment situated above a small bakery, that I should’ve at least checked to see if he was even going to be home. For all I knew, I could be spending the next five hours waiting for him to get back from class.
Thankfully someone opened the door when I knocked. Instead of my shit-for-brains brother greeting me, it was a handsome stranger.
Guess my brother had already made some friends. Hot ones.
“Hi, I’m looking for Brody. Is he here?”
The guy opened his arms wide and plastered on a smile. “You found him.”
What?
“I’m sorry, is Brody here?”
“I’m Brody. Can I help you with something?”
“You’re not Brody.”
He jerked his head back like the accusation was absurd, and for a brief second, I wondered if I’d somehow entered the Upside Down and was in some sort of parallel universe where nothing made sense and my brother was a gorgeous stranger who looked happy to see me.
I pushed past him without waiting for an invitation. “Brody! Brody!” I called as I moved through the apartment.
“I’m right here. I’m sorry, who are you?”
“The better question is who the hell are you? Because I’m Brody’s sister, and you’re sure as shit not Brody.”
Chapter Two
S O P H I A
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” I asked Brody as soon as he picked up his phone.
“I feel like I get asked that a lot.”
“That should probably tell you something, then. Where are you right now?”
“At home, why?”
“Home as in Mom and Dad’s?”
“No. My apartment. Why? What do you need, Soph? I’m trying to study.”
I was still looking through the apartment like I was going to find Brody bound and gagged in a closet somewhere, which made absolutely no sense since I was currently talking to him. Meanwhile, the man claiming to be Brody was following me around, trying to talk to me. I continued to ignore him.
“You know how I know you’re not at your apartment right now?”
“How?” He sounded skeptical.
“Because I’m at your apartment right now, and there’s some guy here pretending to be you. You wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“Why are you at my apartment?”
“I feel like you’re missing the point!”
“What is the point?” He seemed calmer than the situation called for. I sounded like a victim from Saw 2, and he sounded like fucking Gandhi.
“The point is that I got kicked out of my sorority house, and I came here so I could stay with you for a little while, but you aren’t here.” I looked at the Brody imposter. “Some weirdo is, and… You know what, I’m calling the cops.”
“No! Wait! Don’t hang up. Don’t call the cops.”
I was happy he sounded frantic now too. “What am I supposed to do? You’re missing, and there’s some person claiming he’s you.”
“I’m not missing.”
“Then where are you?”
There was a pause so long, I took the phone away from my ear to see if I’d lost the call. I hadn’t.
Finally, after a deep sigh, he said, “Italy.”
Now it was my turn to pause. “Italy? I really hope you just forgot to put the word Little in front of it and you don’t mean you’re actually in Italy, as in another country on another continent.”
Brody’s silence confirmed it was the latter.
“Oh my God!