Pretend

by Charlene Antrobus

  "Cute," she said before jumping on my bed and switching on the TV.

  * * *

  By quarter to seven, I was dressed and clued up on everything to do with Cameron. Crystal obviously thought that it was necessary to spend the rest of the evening talking about Cameron...Fun!

  "So, are you all set and ready?" Crystal said as she gave me the once over.

  "Yup."

  "You look hot," she said with a smile on her face.

  "Why thank you," I replied as we both walked down the stairs, giggling.

  "Oh, I left my phone upstairs, I'll be back in a sec," she said before spinning around and running back up the stairs.

  "Ok."

  "Nice," Aiden said as he walked into the living room.

  "Pardon?" I asked as I walked down the stairs and entered the living room.

  "You look nice," he said as he threw himself into the chair, bit into a piece of candy and started to flick through the TV stations.

  "Thanks," I said as my cheeks began to blush. I don't know why but I felt slightly embarrassed whenever Aiden complimented me, it was weird.

  I didn’t want to bring up what he said upstairs and so I tried to start a conversation.

  "Are you staying in tonight?" I asked.

  "No, I'm meeting Taise, Anthony, Murphy and a couple of chicks later," he said as a smile slipped onto his face.

  I knew that he wanted to make me jealous and believe me I was but he was the last person that would ever know that.

  "Cool, sounds like fun," I said as I took my lip gloss from my bag and began to spread it across my lips.

  I could see him watching me from the corner of my eye but I refused to look.

  "Aren't one of you going to get that?" I heard Crystal shout down the stairs.

  "Huh?" I said as I stepped into the hall and looked up the stairs.

  "The door!" She shouted.

  The door? I didn't even hear it.

  "Hey," I said as I opened the door and saw Jake standing there, smiling.

  "Hey beautiful, you ready?"

  "Yeah, sure," I replied before turning to look at Aiden who was now heading towards the door.

  "Hey dude," Jake said when he spotted Aiden.

  It was clear that there was a lot of tension but everyone seemed to be pretending that it wasn’t there. This was awkward.

  "Hey," Aiden said as he looked at Jake.

  Maybe I was seeing things but I could have sworn that he looked jealous. I had never seen him act jealous before so maybe it was just in my head.

  "Ok, bye," I said as I stepped out of the door and followed Jake to his red truck.

  "Bye," I heard Aiden say before the door closed.

  "So, ready to bowl?" Jake asked as he held the car door open for me.

  "Yup," I lied before stepping in and clipping my belt in.

  "That's a shame because we're not going," he said as a smirk filled his face.

  "Huh?"

  "Well a little birdie told me that bowling wasn't really your thing, so I thought that we'd skip it and go for something to eat instead," he said as he began to drive.

  "Crystal?" I asked as a smile filled my lips.

  Thank God, she saved me from a night of embarrassment.

  "Try the other Daniels," he said.

  "Aiden?"

  "Yup."

  Aiden, told him? I didn't understand. That meant that when he asked where Jake was taking me, he already knew that I wasn't going bowling. I couldn't help but let a smile spread across my lips.

  I slipped my phone from out of my pocket and began to type a message to Aiden.

  Thanks x

  "So, I heard about your aunt, sorry to hear that she's unwell," Jake said as I slipped my cell back into my pocket.

  "Thanks, I don't really know her that well but my grandma's pretty cut up about it," I replied.

  "It's never a nice thing to go through," he said as he pulled into the parking lot of Danny's Diner. I love this place! I couldn't help the smile that had now spread across my face.

  "Good choice?" He said as he examined my face.

  "Yeah, did Aiden tell you that I liked it here?"

  "No, this one was all me," he said as we both stepped out of the car.

  "Cool," I said as I smiled at him.

  Something just told me that this night may just be better than I thought.

  AIDEN’S POINT OF VIEW

  As I read April's text, I couldn't help but smile, I knew what she was saying thanks for. Jake had spoken to me yesterday about taking her bowling. At first I was going to let him, just to ruin their little date but then I thought about April and I suppose, I just didn't want to ruin her night. I wasn't sure where he was taking her now but hopefully she would have a good time.

  I had no idea what it was about April but I got a weird feeling every time that I thought about her and the strangest thing of all was that I actually liked it. That's why I wasn't really looking forward to tonight. Anthony had some chicks that we were supposed to go and meet, apparently they were hot but mine and Anthony's taste was very different. I suppose it would be a good distraction since April was with Jake anyway. I hate to admit it but I was slightly bothered about this date thing. Jake was no virgin to the dating game and he had enough charm to have enough girls queuing. Kissing her again, didn't exactly help either but every time that I'm around her it's like something just comes over me. Kissing April feels, well...Good.

  Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted as the doorbell rang.

  "You ready dude," Taise said as soon as I opened the door.

  "Hello to you too," I said.

  "Sorry man but I'm eager to go see these chicks that Ant's been talking about," he said with a big grin on his face.

  This dude liked the ladies but the ladies didn't like him. We had all tried so hard to teach him how to get a girl to like him and failed. Now it was Anthony's turn.

  "Crystal, I'm gone. Where are Anthony and Murphy?" I asked as I stepped outside of the door.

  "Sitting in my car but they’re coming now," he said as he waved an arm at them, signalling for them to come out. The other thing about Taise was that he avoided spending money on everything, including gas. Driving his car was never an option hence why my keys were already in my hand.

  "So, I was thinking that we could take your car. I know that you like to drive and all," Taise said as we continued to walk down the path.

  "Yeah, sure," I said as I let out a slight laugh.

  "Yo, my main man," Anthony said as he gripped my hand and slapped my back.

  "What's up," I said to both him and Murphy.

  "You guys ready to meet the ladies?" He said as he rubbed his hands together.

  "Dude, I was born ready," Taise replied.

  Suddenly we all burst out laughing and walked towards my car.

  "Dude you'll never be ready," Murphy said as slapped Taise around the head.

  "Ouch, what was that for?" He asked as we all burst out laughing.

  "Never mind," Murphy said as we all jumped into my car.

  "So, where are we meeting these chicks?" I asked as I turned around to face Anthony, in the back.

  "They said something about some diner," Anthony said as he scratched the back of his neck.

  "Diner? Was it Danny's?" I asked as I started up the engine. It was the closest and best one to here.

  "Yeah, I think it’s the one that we used to go to with Crystal and April."

  "Yeah, I know the place," I replied.

  "Cool."

  "Let's go get some ladies then," Murphy said as him and Anthony began laughing at the back. This was going to be a very eventful night I could tell.

  "So, what did you do then?" I asked excitedly.

  "Nothing, I just ran," Jake said as we both burst out laughing.

  We had been at the diner for two hours now and I have to admit that I was having a great time. One thing that I had learnt about Jake was how funny he actually was. We had spent the past hour just
telling jokes and funny stories, which he had loads of. It didn't take long to order as I already knew what I wanted, half a rack of bbq ribs, French fries, onion rings, veg and an extra side of bbq sauce. Jake decided to try it too. What took long was to eat it because we laughed for about five minutes after every mouth full.

  "Ok, so what's your party trick?" He asked.

  "My party trick?" I replied as I took a sip of my drink.

  "Yeah, everyone has one," he said as he let out a slight laugh, that only made him look even hotter than he already did.

  "They do?"

  "Yup."

  "Ok, so tell me yours first," I said as I let out a slight giggle.

  "Mine?"

  "Yes yours," I said.

  "Ok, if you're sure you want to see it?"

  "I do, now hurry up," I joked.

  "Ok," he said before burping the chorus of Justin Bieber's song, Boyfriend.

  Now most girls would have probably found that revolting but I wasn't most girls and instead I was highly amused. We did however get some disgusted looks from around the diner but that didn't make me laugh any quieter.

  "That's like my favourite song! Not my favourite version though but that was hilarious!" I shrieked as the tears began to run down my eyes.

  "Yeah, it's one of my greatest talents," he replied as we both continued laughing.

  I found it so easy to be around Jake and to talk to him, it was strange. I felt like I had known him for years to be honest and he seemed pretty comfortable too. Unfortunately that didn't stop my mind from wondering back to what happened at the Daniels’ house earlier. I was having a great time but no matter what I did, he was on my mind, I just couldn't stop thinking about-

  "Aiden?"

  "What?" I asked in shock as Jake just answered my thoughts.

  What the hell!

  "It's Aiden," he said pointing towards the front door of the diner.

  "Aiden?" I asked as I turned around to look in the direction that he was pointing.

  You have got to be kidding me. This is where they are coming to meet the 'chicks'! This night was just about to get a whole lot more exciting…Not!

  "Look who it is!" I heard Anthony shout loud enough for even my mom to hear him in England.

  "Hey," Jake and I both said as I tried to avoid eye contact with Aiden.

  At first, I thought that he had planned this but from the look on his face, he was more shocked than I was.

  "What are you guys doing here?" Jake asked as they all took a chair from another table and sat around ours.

  "Meeting some chicks, I mean girls," Murphy said as he looked at my expression.

  "Oh, cool," Jake said.

  "So, you looking after my lil sis?" Anthony said with a serious expression.

  "Yes he is and I'm not your lil sis," I said as I caught a glimpse of Aiden's eyes on me.

  "Ok, ok chill out, just looking out for you," Anthony said with a smirk on his face.

  "Says the world’s biggest player," I replied as all of the guys burst out laughing, except for Aiden.

  "Oh, you got jokes," he said as he tickled my side, making me squirm like a fish.

  I should really try and remember that Anthony and Aiden will always use tickling as revenge next time that I have the urge to insult one of them. To be honest I was quite glad that Anthony was there, it kind of made the tense atmosphere less tense.

  "So where are these chicks?" Taise said, looking around the diner.

  "Kelly just text to say that they're two minutes away, calm down man, you look nervous," Anthony teased.

  Everyone knew that Taise was no good with girls. It was crazy since he was friends with Aiden and Murphy at school and girls literally threw themselves at them so I don’t know what happened to poor Taise. It wasn't that he wasn't good looking, he just wasn't very good with words.

  "I ain't nervous man, shut up," he said as his cheeks turned red.

  "Hey, leave him alone man," Murphy said as he let out a laugh that everyone except Taise could see.

  "Anyway, why don't we leave these two, to their date. Wouldn't want to intrude," Aiden said as he kept his eyes on me.

  His face wasn't its usual playful one, in fact, I couldn't read his expression at all but he didn't look particularly happy.

  "Jake don't mind, do you?" Murphy said as he slapped his back and smiled.

  "Course not," Jake said giving me the 'I'm so sorry' look.

  I knew that there wasn't much that he could do, so I just took in a deep breath and grinned.

  "Back in a minute," Anthony said as he looked at his phone and then headed towards the diner's front doors.

  There was kind of an awkward silence once Anthony left and although I knew that they were all oblivious to mine and Aiden's situation it felt like all eyes were on me.

  "Hey, you ok?" Jake whispered as he placed his hand on top of mine.

  "Yeah, I'm cool," I said as I slipped my hand from his after realising that Aiden's eyes were fixated on our hands. Maybe it was just me but Jake seemed slightly annoyed by my action but I ignored it.

  "Sorry about this, they'll go and sit somewhere else once those girls come, I'm sure," he continued.

  "Yeah, sure."

  "Guys, this is Trixy and Kelly," Anthony said as he walked in with his arms thrown over both of their shoulders. The big grin on his face told me that I was in for a long night.

  "Hey," they both said in unison as they waved their hands at everybody.

  I instantly noticed that the one that he had called Trixy had her eyes fixated on Aiden, which for some reason annoyed me. I really needed to snap out of this, I was here with Jake.

  As I watched Trixy strategically place her chair in between Aiden and Anthony, I almost growled with anger. I did not know how much longer I could watch this for. It also amazed me that Anthony brought two girls when there four of them.

  Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a rather high pitched and annoying voice that reminded me of Cayce's.

  "Hi, I'm Kelly," she said as a smile filled her face.

  "I'm April," I said as I watched her place her chair next to mine.

  "You're so pretty."

  "Thanks," I said as I felt my cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment as I sensed both Aiden and Jake's eyes on me.

  "So, you’re brave coming here with all these guys, on your own," she giggled.

  She wasn’t going to shut up, I could tell.

  "No, I didn't, I actually just came with Jake. I know the guys but we sort of bumped into each other here," I replied.

  "Oh, are you two a couple then?" She asked, excitedly.

  "No, we're just-"

  "They're on a date sweet cheeks," Anthony interrupted.

  "Oh, that's so cute. Oh my gosh and we're like, totally crashing," she said with a worried face.

  You think!

  "No, it's fine," I lied.

  "Oh, ok," she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

  She seemed quite nice to be honest. It was Trixy over there that I didn't like.

  "So, Anthony said that you play the guitar, that is so hot," Trixy said as she leaned on Aiden’s shoulder.

  "Yeah, I do," he said with a look of embarrassment on his face. I had no idea why he didn't like anyone to know that he played it, it was weird. I also don't know how he had expected nobody to ask how he knew Jake without mentioning that they went to music school together.

  "You want another drink?" Jake asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

  "Yeah, sure, I'll come with you," I said as I tried to avoid Aiden's gaze.

  "Not offering anyone else then?" Aiden asked Jake with a straight face.

  "Sorry dude, you all looked kind of busy," Jake joked.

  "Whatever," Aiden said, turning back to Trixy.

  That was rude.

  "Hey, just ignore him. Crystal said that he's been having mood swings for the past few days," I said as I walked to the counter with Jake.

  "It's cool, I know what's up with
him anyway," he said as we stopped at the counter.

  "You do?"

  "Yeah him and that Cayce finished, didn't they. I think he must have really liked her but I don't mention it," he said.

  If only you knew.

  "Yeah," I said as I leaned against the counter so that I could catch a glimpse of Trixy and Aiden.

  I wasn't too impressed when I saw her stroking his face and making some stupid joke. He also seemed to be enjoying the attention a little too much. I knew that I couldn't hide my expression in front of Jake and I needed to get away.

  "Hey, you order the drinks, I'm just going to the restroom," I said, already making my way there.

  "Oh, ok, what do you want?"

  "Surprise me," I said as I speed off in the direction of the ladies.

  I slammed through the double doors in search of the stupid little sign that told me that it was the ladies. Once I spotted it, I slammed through that door too. When I realised that no one else was in there, I let out a frustrated scream. This was not my ideal night! I was so annoyed. I had actually been having a great night with Jake and then along he comes and spoils it all. Who does that Trixy girl think she is anyway? She’s out there throwing herself all over him and giggling like a hyena. ARHHGHHHHHH!

  Why did this have to bother me so much? Aiden wasn't mine, in fact it was silly to even think about him in this way. He was Crystal's brother for goodness sakes! So, why was I so bothered every time that I visualised that silly brunette’s stupid little fingers all over him?

  Right, calm down April, you need to compose yourself. Walk back out there and act normal.

  As I walked out of the door, I noticed that some tissue paper was stuck to my foot. As I bent down to take it off of my foot I fell, head first into something. At first I thought that it was a wall but it was soft and when I looked up, I was not impressed with what I saw.

  "You really ought to watch where you're walking," he snapped as he helped me up and raised an eyebrow in the air.

  "Well, if you didn't just appear everywhere that I went then I wouldn't need to watch where I was going would?" I whisper, shouted back at him.

  "I didn't know that you were coming here. Do you actually think that I'd want to come and watch that?" He said.