The Show Goes On

"Are you coming tonight? Hey...Landon, are you coming tonight?!" Landon looked over to his left and noticed his crush was speaking to him. He was too mesmerized by her beauty to respond. "Are you coming tonight? Hello!!!" Persephone waved her hands in front of Landon's face attempting to get his attention, but he was still in a daze. "Hey, Loser, P is talking to you!" said a deep voice as Landon felt a hard punch on his left arm. "OUCH!!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT, LANCE?!" It was Landon's twin brother, Lance. Lance had been dating Persephone for over 3 years, even though Landon had been crushing on her forever.

Persephone asked the question again, "are you coming tonight? It's our housewarming and we'd love for you to be there." Landon knew it was Lance and Persephone's housewarming, they just brought a house together and beginning to start their new lives while he was still in the darkness lusting after her. "Uh...I don't know if I can come. But we'll see," he said. Landon knew he couldn't go to that housewarming. He knew that if he went he'd watch Lance and Persephone greeting their guests together, talking about how they plan on knocking down the wall in their bedroom to extend it a little more, and how they'll get into a small disagreement about turning their third bedroom into an office or a nursery for whenever they decide to have children. He didn't want to be exposed to that. It was already enough having to deal with them at his parents house for Sunday dinner.

"Well, I hope you do come. I made sure to order tacos from that vegan place you like!," said Persephone. Landon couldn't believe that someone as sweet and thoughtful as her would be dating someone like his brother. Landon and Lance might have been twins but their looks were the only thing they had in common. Landon had the smarts, he made most of his money by creating a dating app. Shockingly, he helped thousands of people find love, and yet he needed help himself. Meanwhile, his brother, Lance was the athletic one of the two. He had a promising football career, until he got injured while playing, but he became a successful sports agent. Lance interrupted Landon and Persephone's conversation and said, "Vegan...eww...how do vegans have tacos, all they eat is grass." Persephone interjected, "Now babe, that's not true. They have many options to choose from. I've had a taco from that place and they're actually pretty decent. I think the one I had was made with tofu." Landon said, "tofu, avocado and cilantro?" Persephone smiled and she said, "yep, that's the one! It was so good!" Lance scoffed and said, "well, how about you two enjoy the rabbit food, while I have a field day with the massive pig that I will be putting on the grill." Landon rolled his eyes at his brother and said, "of course, eating like a caveman I see." Persephone laughed at Landon's jab at his brother. Landon liked that. He loved hearing Persephone laugh, he loved how her face lit up whenever she did it.

Landon decided to go to the housewarming party, but he told Persephone that he had to wrap up some things for work before he did. After leaving his parent's place, he made a quick trip home to get a couple work things done. He logged into his computer, began looking over his numbers and user accounts and he received an email from an anonymous user. At first he was going to delete it, he thought maybe it could be from his assistant. One time she got locked out of her accounts and had to get in touch with him through her boyfriend's phone. He opened the email and it read:

"I think it's funny how engaged men have profiles on your dating app, your site needs quality control!"

He scrolled through the email and it was a photo of his brother kissing a woman who was not Persephone. The photo was timestamped with a recent date at the bottom. Surprisingly, this was not shocking to Landon, he knew his brother, this was the type of guy he was. The shocking thing was that he managed to stay with Persephone long enough to actually want to buy a house with her. Now Landon had to make a choice, should he show this to Persephone? Should he blow it off and assume it's photoshop? Also, who sent this email? Could it be someone who would be at the party tonight? Could it be someone he knew?

Landon slammed his laptop closed and he thought he should tell Persephone. But then he thought, "maybe I shouldn't tell her this tonight, it would break her heart and I don't want to break her heart in front of all her friends and family. No matter how much I want to see Lance go down."

Landon arrived at Lance and Persephone's housewarming. He saw Persephone standing by the staircase wearing this beautiful, bright, red dress. She waved at him and he waved back. She walked over to him and she said, "Hey...can I talk to you for a minute?" He said, "of course!" He followed her upstairs to the master bedroom. Persephone placed her wine on the vanity and took a seat on the bed. Landon smiled at her and he said, "Ok, you got me. what do you want to talk about?" Persephone looked down at her hands and began twisting the ring that was on her index finger. She looked back up at Landon and said, "I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly. Can you do that?" Landon said, "Come on, P. You know I'm always honest with you. What is it?" She said, "Would Lance ever cheat on me?" Landon looked at her, she wasn't smiling, her face wasn't lit up as usual. He noticed a photo on the bed next to her and it was the same photo that was emailed to him earlier. He looked her in the eyes and he said, "he's my brother..."