Twin-Pack Love - Liebe im Doppelpack

to stop me kissing her!”
    “And I have to confess my guilty conscience about Elaine went absent without leave right at that moment”, sagt Laura leise. “It only came back afterwards.”
    Ich runzle die Stirn. “And while they were on the boat, you were at the Dungeon with your classmates, weren’t you?”, frage ich Carlo.
    Er nickt.
    Na also! Dann hatte ich doch keine Halluzinationen! One by one all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Jetzt verstehe ich! Warum Carlo von Luigis Uhr kaum etwas wusste, warum Luigi keinen Unterschied zwischen Laura und mir bemerkt hat … Wie denn auch, er hatte sich ja die ganze Zeit nur mit Laura getroffen. Mir war er nur das eine Mal bei Hagenbeck begegnet, aber das zählt ja nicht wirklich.
    “Looks like it was always the right couple who met”, sage ich. “Laura and Luigi at the Aquarium and on the boat trip, Carlo and me at the Band Battle and at Planten un Blomen …”
    Wie auf Kommando schütteln wir alle den Kopf. Irgendwie können wir es immer noch nicht fassen, welche Irrungen und Wirrungen wir in den letzten Tagen durchgemacht haben – und wie gut es das Schicksal im Grunde doch mit uns gemeint hat. Kaum auszudenken, wenn ständig die Falschen zusammengekommen wären! Chaos pur!
    Da streift mich ein unguter Gedanke. “Why didn’t you tell us you were twins? We could → have avoided all these problems if we’d known that there were two of you.”
    Noch traue ich mich nicht, zu hoffen, dass sich alles mir nix dir nix in Wohlgefallen auflösen könnte. Vor einer Stunde dachte ich, mein Herz liegt in tausend Scherben und das meiner Schwester gleich dazu, und jetzt soll plötzlich alles paletti sein? It seems too good to be true.
    “Well, don’t forget that we didn’t know you were twins, either”, erklärt Luigi. “And then … when I walked you home after the boat trip, Laura, I tried to tell you. But I got scared, and then you got scared as well and you ran into the house and I didn’t know what to make of it all, and …” Er schüttelt verwirrt den Kopf.
    “I was in a complete tizzy; I thought you were going to tell me you had sensed something and decided to choose my sister instead of me …”, erklärt Laura und wirft ihm einen Anhimmelblick zu. “By the way, your poem is … wow! Amazing!”
    “Oh, so you did find it. I’m glad you like it.” Luigi strahlt mit ihr um die Wette.
    “To be honest, we don’t have the right to → blame you for hiding the truth”, komme ich wieder zur Sache. “Actually, we were the ones who started the twin game. We didn’t mean not to tell you the truth, but … I wanted to find out whether you … I mean … Luca … was serious … and then I guess we were both afraid to lose him … I mean … you …”
    Die Jungs nicken lächelnd. “What an incredible story! Probably all four of us have been half crazy all week. No wonder we were acting a bit strangely sometimes.”
    Carlo sieht zwischen uns hin und her. “There’s only one thing I still don’t understand. You … I think it must have been you, Laura, right? … Why did you run away when you saw me at the party → just now ?”
    “Oh, that was you”, sagt Laura. “That’s why you seemed so → shy – I thought it was strange. Well, Elaine and I had decided to break up with you, and I was the one who had been given the job of doing it.” Sie verzieht das Gesicht.
    “We thought that you … that Luca had kissed both of us. We thought a guy who couldn’t tell us apart – who didn’t really know what, or rather who, he wanted – well, we decided he couldn’t be right for either of us.” Ich lächle entschuldigend.
    “Yes, I can understand that”, sagt Carlo.
    “But when I saw you standing there, and then you turned around and smiled at me … I just couldn’t do it”, erzählt Laura weiter. “I ran into the girls’ toilets, locked myself in and cried.”
    Luigi drückt ihre Hand. “Poor, lovely Laura. You’ll never have to cry for me again, I promise.”
    “When I came out again Elaine was already there”, fährt Laura fort, “and she was walking over to Luca …” Sie sieht zwischen den Jungs hin und her. “… Which must have been you, Luigi, right?”
    Er lächelt.
    “Yes. I saw you … I saw Elaine coming towards me, but I immediately realized something was wrong because she looked so serious. I’d seen Elaine – I mean Laura – and Carlo standing together, so I decided to join them”, fügt Luigi hinzu.