Roger felt for the vibration of his phone on the clothing-littered floor.
“Yeah,” he breathed into the receiver. The young man still clung to his dreams, his eyes shut to whomever he spoke to.
“Yo, we're on our way,” a voice similar to his own shouted over speeding winds and summer rock on the radio. Roger hated rock, but upon recognizing the speaker a scare shot through him. The person on the other end said, “You sure you’re okay if we stop by?”
Roger hazily remembered his arrangement from weeks ago. This would be quick, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He nodded to his phone, caught his mistake and said to them, “Yeah, of course! How close are ya?”
“Less than an hour?” they asked someone in the car with them. He heard an answer of twenty minutes and the name Raj, a nickname Roger had always avoided. The caller said to him, “I’ll see you then—same address, right?”
“Same unit and everything.” Roger said and hung up. Shutting his eyes he tried to snatch one last wink of sleep. He sucked through his teeth, swallowing dread. The last person he wanted to see today was himself.
Roger had a clone. Not an identical twin who since birth had wanted to exercise their individuality, but a clone made to look, act, and—at the time—write the necessary reports Roger’s major required. However pressures outside of his engineering major piled up forcing Roger to take a year off while his double remained enrolled. The clone went on to get their own degree as the original returned that next fall. Roger forwent a shower and dressed himself, thinking back to the uncomfortable applause he gave and the sour thoughts as the clone strutted across the commencement stage.
‘We here,’ a text vibrated his phone on, jolting Roger from his thoughts. He inspected his muted attire; perfect for an autumn night in, but good enough for this meeting of clone and progenitor. Roger trudged to the apartment entrance, hoping to get this over with quick.
“There he is!” the clone rushed him with a tight embrace. Standing apart, Roger expected to see a mirror image, but saw an unfamiliar reflection beaming back. He looked good. Clad in neon fashion, a diamond stud glimmered in the clone’s ear and he had braided his bouffant black hair into a million twists. The beard too, was groomed into a tight shape. Roger felt conscious of his own scraggly facial hair and uncombed fro. Opposite each other, the two resembled a before and after—No one would guess that he was an identical clone at some point
“Eight months,” the clone said, “That’s too long.” And he was right. The two hadn’t talked for more than a few spurious, empty texts since graduation. Roger figured he and his clone were living separate lives since then and having to get the degree on his own terms now, always found life too busy to reach out to his clone. Seeing him in the flesh cemented how different they’d turned out.
“Damn, Raj,” an unfamiliar man strolled up to them from the curbside car, a cup of coffee in his hands. Roger held back sneering at the stranger. Like his clone, the man was in shorts and a breezy sleeveless tee. While Roger would never give any hint to it, this coffee-bearer was handsome. The man said, “You didn’t tell me good looks run in your family!”
“Oh,” the clone, going by Raj it seemed, pulled the other man closer and said, “Roger, I know you’re not on anything, so let me introduce you to my—”
“Adrian,” the man handed off the coffee to Roger, “Raj always gets these turtles, but hope you like it too.”
Still hot, but a caramel and espresso aroma spilled from the cup. Roger took a sip of favorite café drink, running through simple, yet probing questions to ask Raj and Adrian. Roger invited them in, steeling himself for their empty compliments on his shabby apartment.
“Actually,” Raj apologized, “we were only passing through.”
“Heading out East for a beach trip,” Adrian said, friendly enough it boarded on eager, “but there's room if you wanted to join us! Raj had said you two hadn't spent a lot of time together recently.”
Both clone and progenitor held the same surprised expression, but the similarities diverged when they each spoke.
“We do got space for ya,” Raj’s voice lifted on excitement, “how fast can you pack a bag?”
Roger stuttered a stock excuse. Summer semester had ended and the fall classes weren’t beginning for another week. It had been at least a decade since he walked on sunny-warmed sand where the ocean would wave at him. But seeing his clone and Adrian—riding with this couple, Roger couldn’t. He knew his presence would bring them down, and before any further thoughts crashing down on him, Roger forced a smiled, “No, I got a class tomorrow I should probably study for.”
To stop himself from saying any more words, he drank a little. It was pretty good coffee.
Raj and Adrian seemed to understand, and after a hug and a handshake the couple drove off on their journey. Roger waved from the front entrance. He breathed in a deep gulp of fresh air and returned to his basement unit. The same as it ever was.