Pretend

by Charlene Antrobus

  "Can you at least put some clothes on or something," I moaned as I tried to keep my eyes on his face.

  "Says the girl that forgot to do up her robe," he said as he stared at me.

  I gasped in shock, span around and tried to tie it up, very fast. That was the point when I realised that he was joking and that my robe was already done up.

  "Very funny," I said as I turned back around to face him.

  "Not as funny as the expression on your face. That was priceless," he said as he turned towards his room. I grumbled a few insults and then walked into Crystal's room. One day almost down and six to go, Great!

  "At last, right, sit," she said as she pulled out the stool from underneath her dresser.

  "Now, straight or curly?" She asked as she stared at my reflection in the mirror.

  "Erm...Curly?" I asked as I bit down on my lip.

  "Straight it is," she said as she turned on the flat iron.

  "Why bother asking?" I said sarcastically.

  "It's fun," she said as she smirked at me.

  "So, are you still nervous?" She asked as she took out a comb and began parting my hair into sections.

  "Kind of, I suppose," I answered as I tensed the back of my neck as I felt the heat of the flat iron getting closer.

  "It'll be fine, besides I'm going to make you look freaking awesome, so don't worry. Not that you don't look awesome anyway because you do but you're going to look irresistible by the time that I have finished with you," she said as a smirk filled her mouth.

  "Thanks."

  "My pleasure, anyway, have you spoken to Aiden lately?" She asked.

  "Aiden? No, why?" I asked nervously.

  "I don't know, he just seems to be acting strange lately," she whispered.

  "In what way?" I asked.

  "Just one minute he's happy and the next he's all moody and argumentative. I think I know why though," she said, giving me a strange look.

  "You do?" I asked, nervously.

  "Yup and so do you," she said as she looked me dead in the eyes.

  "I do?" I stuttered.

  "Yes. It's a girl, obviously and not Cayce. I don't even think that he did anything with Cayce to be honest and since she's stopped coming round, there have been no other girls. Now, my mom always works so he has lots of opportunities to invite girls round but no. I think that he's whipped," she said letting out a small giggle.

  "Really?" I muttered. That was the only thing that my lips were actually able to say.

  "Yes and it's our job to find out who she is. Now turn your head," she said as the sound of excitement filled her voice.

  "Really? I don't know if that's a good idea, spying on him and all. Maybe he wants to keep whatever is going on private. I'm sure that he'll tell you in his own time," I said, hoping that this would be the end of it.

  "You're right but we're still going to find out. I want to know who this girl is and if she's good enough for my brother. I also want to tell her to either make him happy or sad because I can't take his stupid mood swings anymore," she said as she began to straighten the last section of my hair.

  This was a disaster, once Crystal had an idea in her head that was it, there was no stopping her. She wasn't going to stop until she knew exactly who it was. I was screwed! I needed a way to get out of this and fast.

  Wait, did she say that he was whipped?

  "Hello," she said, waving her hand in front of my face.

  "Sorry, I got distracted. Ok, so what do you plan to do?" I asked, dreading whatever answer was coming my way.

  "Anything, check his phone, listen to his conversations, you know, follow the clues," she said as she giggled.

  "It'll be like when we were little and we use to spy on him, it'll be fun," she whispered in excitement.

  Oh this a little different to when we were kids!

  "I don't think that it's a good idea, I'm sure he's going to get mad if you start snooping around in his business," I replied.

  "Oh, who cares, it's not like he's going to find out, is it?" She said as though I was acting completely stupid.

  "I'm off to work now, bye kids."

  "Bye Mom," Crystal shouted loudly.

  "Bye Mrs Daniels," I shouted.

  I didn't hear Aiden but I'm sure that he had said goodbye too. It wasn't often that Mrs Daniels was at home which is why Crystal could get away with so much and also why I was so nervous about staying for an entire week.

  "So, are you in or what? She asked.

  "Ok," I answered reluctantly.

  It will be much harder for her to discover a mystery girl if the mystery girl was an inside man.

  "Great! This is going to be so much fun!" She squealed as she placed her flat iron down and looked at me in the mirror.

  It took her about ten minutes to do my makeup, it could have been five but she kept stopping to talk about her master plan, much to my dismay.

  "So, what do you think?" She said as she stepped from in front of me, so that I could look in the mirror.

  "Wow, you did good," I said as I looked in the mirror.

  I had to admit that I was pretty impressed. My hair looked completely, silky straight and my makeup was subtle but effective. She had made my eyes look smoky, an effect that I struggled to get on my own.

  "I know, right," she said as she held up her hand in the air and high fived me.

  "Jake won't be able to resist you," she said as a cheeky smile filled her face.

  Oh, it's not Jake that I'm worried about.

  "Right, I'm going to phone Jess and then get us some drinks. You go and finish getting ready in your room, I'll be right up," she said excitedly as she ran down the stairs.

  As she left, I quickly unplugged the flat iron and headed to my room. As I walked past Aiden's room, I noticed that the door was opened and quickly tried to peek in to see if he was in there.

  "You know, it's rude to spy on people," a voice said from behind me, making me jump.

  "I'm not spying, now sshhh and come here," I said, dragging his arm and pulling him towards my room. Once we were in, I quickly closed the door and started to pace up and down.

  "So, as nice as it is to watch you walking up and down, I kind of have things to do," he said as a smile filled his face.

  "Shhhh I'm trying to think. Look, Crystal suspects that you have some secret girl that you are seeing or something and she wants us to find out who it is," I blurted out, all in one breathe.

  "Ok," he said, looking at me as if I was crazy.

  "Ok?" I asked, confused.

  "Yeah, ok. There is no secret girl, is there?"

  Was he playing some stupid game because now was not the time.

  "I'm talking about me! Will you keep up? She suspects something," I said in a frustrated tone.

  "Oh, you mean the secret girl that kissed me today and then ran out and told me to forget it, no sorry can't say that I remember," he said as a smirk filled his face.

  "Really? This is not the time to play jokes?" I said as I looked at him in a state of shock.

  "You told me to forget it, so I did. So therefore there is no secret girl, is there?" He said as though I was acting crazy.

  "Did anyone ever mention how annoying you are?" I asked.

  "I'm only annoying when the other person cares," he said with a smirk on his face.

  "I'm just warning you because she plans to look through your texts and stuff."

  "I'm not scared, you are," he said as he began to walk past me.

  "I'm not scared," I spat back at him.

  He came to a halt, turned to face me and began to smile.

  Why was my heart beating so fast, again?

  "Yes you are," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  "Don't worry we all get scared from time to time," he said, casually.

  "I'm not scared!"

  "Sssshhh, no need to get so touchy," he said as he began to laugh.

  "I'm not getting touchy, will you shut up," I growled.

  "Make me," he s
aid as his smile increased.

  "Oh, just get out," I said as I walked past him, opened the door and pointed in the direction that he should walk.

  "Bye," I continued.

  He walked towards the door, gently removed my hand from the handle and then pushed the door shut.

  "I would go but that's not really what you want, is it?" He said as he took a few steps closer to me.

  I want to try and explain what my heart was doing but I don't think that they have invented the word that describes this feeling yet.

  "Aiden just get-"

  "Out, yeah I know," he said as he slipped his hand around my waist and pulled me towards him. I must have been stupid because I didn't even try and fight.

  Before I could even take in the situation, I felt his lips touch mine again. As I felt the gentle sensation of his tongue, push my lips apart, I didn't struggle. Before I knew it, I was kissing Aiden, again. The very thing that I had run away from, I was doing.

  I wanted to scream, no what about Crystal, what about Jake but in that moment when his kiss took me to a planet that hadn't yet been discovered, I didn't care. My body shuddered as he pressed closer against me and as I felt his lips form into a smile, I knew that he too felt the same thing that I had.

  Earlier, I had said that when Aiden kissed me, it was the best kiss of my life, I was wrong, this one was. Excitement filled my entire body as I felt our two hearts beating in unison, getting faster by the minute. I could hear him as he attempted to control his breathing. I even caught the slight moan that escaped from his lips. I wanted more.

  Just as I allowed my hand to slip, once again into his light brown hair, the sound of footsteps caused me to freeze.

  "Aiden," I whispered as a look of shock caused my body to turn cold.

  "April, open the door. I've got the drinks," Crystal shouted from outside of my bedroom door.

  As I scanned the room, took in the situation and studied Aiden's now panic ridden face, it suddenly dawned on me that I was making out with Crystal's brother, my best friend's brother.

  How the hell am I going to explain this?

  As I listened to Crystal's footsteps walking up the stairs and getting closer to the guest room, I almost fainted.

  "What are we going to do?" I whispered.

  "Nothing," he replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

  Either I was going crazy or he just said nothing.

  "Nothing?"

  "Yup," he said as he casually sat on my bed with a smile on his face.

  "Aiden, Crystal is about to walk in you need to hide befo-"

  "April, I called you when I was at the bottom of the stairs why isn't the door open yet? Come on my hands are full!" Crystal shouted from behind the door.

  This was it, I was officially going to have a heart attack.

  "You need to calm down and trust me," Aiden said with a straight face.

  "But-"

  "Trust me," he repeated.

  Trust him? For some reason I did, so I took a deep breath, turned the handle and opened the door. I had officially gone crazy.

  "At last!" She shouted as she stomped into the room.

  "What are you doing here?" She said as she placed the two cans of Pepsi on the chest of drawers and turned to face Aiden.

  "Who, me? Sorry, last time I checked, I lived here too," Aiden said with a smirk on his face.

  This is what I trusted him for, to make stupid comments. Oh great!

  "Was you born sarcastic or is it a skill that you've just perfected over the years?" Crystal snorted at him.

  "It was a gift actually and to answer your question, I'm giving April some advice for her date tonight," Aiden replied. Please work, please work, please work!

  "You? You’re giving out advice on dating? Ha, that's a joke isn't it, especially after Cayce," Crystal replied.

  "Whatever. Anyway as I was saying, where's he taking you tonight?" Aiden asked.

  I stood frozen, I knew that I needed to talk but I couldn't. Aiden was so good at this but I was sure that Crystal could probably see the sweat on my hands and the fear in my eyes.

  "Hello," Aiden said as he looked into my eyes. As I stared back at him all I could think about was that I had just kissed him. I had kissed Aiden Daniels, my best friend's brother and the worst part of it all was that I wanted to do it again.

  "Sorry, I was just-"

  "Daydreaming, yeah we know. She does that a lot lately," Crystal interrupted.

  "He's taking me bowling," I finally said.

  Suddenly the room went silent, they both stopped what they were doing to stare at me and then they burst into a fit of laughter that I was sure would make their ribs crack.

  "Bowling? Are you serious?" Aiden asked as he began to catch his breath.

  "Yes, I'm not that bad," I replied.

  "You really are," Crystal said as they both started laughing again.

  "Yeah, well that was a while ago, I'm sure that I would be much better now," I said.

  "Mmmm, we'll see," Aiden muttered.

  "I heard that," I replied.

  "Well, the bowling I can't help you with but your hair is another matter. I've just done it, why is it sticking up like that?" Crystal asked as she pointed at my head.

  "My hair?" I asked as I walked over to the mirror to examine myself,

  As I looked at my reflection, I knew exactly what she meant. Catching a glimpse of Aiden's smiling face in the mirror didn't help either because now I was trying to keep a straight.

  "Oh, it must have been when I was looking through the closet for something to wear," I said as I tried to force the smile off of my face.

  I was getting as good as Aiden.

  "Must be some closet you have in there to attack your hair like that," Aiden said with a smirk on his face.

  "You should know, it's in your house," I said as I looked at his reflection in the mirror.

  "Ok, well stay here, I'm going to get my brush and some hair spray," Crystal said as she walked out of the room.

  "See, I told you that you could trust me," Aiden said as he stood up and walked towards me with a smirk on his face.

  "You didn't exactly help the situation with your comments," I said as I tilted my head slightly and looked at him.

  Damn! He was even sexier than his reflection, is that even possible?

  "If you ask me, I'd say that you liked the danger," he said with a smirk on his face.

  "Well I didn't ask you," I said as I allowed a smirk to now spread across my face.

  "You didn't?"

  "No I-"

  Suddenly I was cut off as he gently pressed his lips against mine. Is it possible that a kiss can make you go dizzy because that was exactly how I felt right now. Every part of my body was tingling and he had only just let his lips gently touch mine.

  Just as I went to part his lips with my tongue, he pulled away.

  "And there was me thinking that you didn't want me," he said as a smirk filled his face.

  "You're such a jerk," I whispered as a smile spread across my lips.

  "Then you should really re-consider your taste in men," he whispered back.

  “Who said that you’re my type?” I asked as I began to smile.

  “April, that kiss told me everything,” he said with a cocky grin on his face. I really couldn’t argue with that. Suddenly his expression became more serious.

  “April?”

  “Yes,” I whispered as I looked up at him.

  “Don’t go with Jake tonight,” he said in a sad tone.

  “But-“

  "Right, sorry but I couldn't remember where I had put the hairspray. Ready?" Crystal interrupted as she walked through the door.

  It was as if I was in a trance. He didn’t want me to go with Jake tonight but what could I do? I couldn’t just cancel but I also couldn’t get Aiden off of my mind.

  "Yeah," I said as I struggled to look away from Aiden.

  "See you ladies later," he said before walking out of the door.

>   "So?" Crystal asked as she ran and shut the door in.

  "So, what?" I asked in a state of confusion.

  "Well, you didn't think that I was really looking for hairspray all that time did you? What happened?"

  "Happened?" I stuttered.

  "Yes, with you and Aiden? I left you here on purpose. At first I was a little confused as to why you'd have him in here in your room asking about advice on your date but then I realised what was going on," she said.

  "Going on?"

  "Yes, you were trying to find out about the mystery girl. So, what did you find out?" She asked eagerly.

  "Girl, oh yes, the mystery girl, of course that's what I was doing," I said as a feeling of relief came over me.

  "Well?" She replied.

  "Nothing. He didn't mention anything, sorry," I said as I tried to avoid eye contact.

  "Well that sucks. Oh well, at least we've got all week to find out more, I suppose."

  "Yeah," I mumbled.

  "So you still haven't told me about the night that you went to see Mimi," she said as she began to brush my hair and spray it with her hairspray.

  "She was great, she was talking and joking just like her old self," I said.

  "That's good news, so she'll be out soon?"

  "Yeah, tomorrow," I replied.

  "Are you going to see her tomorrow then?" She asked.

  "No, I'll give her a day to settle in and then go on Thursday if Kyle doesn't mind."

  "Good, you can help me get ready for my date with Cameron then. Oh and why would Kyle mind?" She asked as she sprayed my hair again.

  "Well to cut a long story short, he tried to kiss me," I said.

  "He what? Oh, he is such a super jerk. I felt sorry for him as well but not if he's going to pull a stunt like that. Someone should have punched him the nose!" She grunted as she put down her brush, picked up her can of Pepsi and started to drink it.

  "Mmmm," I replied as a thought of Aiden and Kyle's little run in crossed my mind.

  "So, what are you wearing?"

  "My black skinny jeans and my blue tank top," I replied, waiting for her opinion.