Pretend

by Charlene Antrobus

  "I do trust you."

  "Then don't ever lie to me again," she said as a small smile escaped her lips.

  "I won't," I said, returning the smile.

  "Promise?"

  "I promise," I replied before throwing my arms around her and holding her tight.

  "I love you Crystal," I said as I closed my eyes and smiled.

  "I love you too April."

  After a few moments I released myself from the embrace and looked at Crystal.

  "So how come you didn't say anything all of this time, if you already knew?" I asked.

  "I was waiting, giving you the chance to tell me. I had hoped that you would."

  "I was going to, honestly," I said.

  "I know, it has been hard keeping quiet all of this time. I did have fun teasing you though," she said as a smirk spread across her face, reminding me of Aiden.

  "Teasing?" I asked in a confused tone.

  "Yes teasing. I decided that since you didn't trust me I would play a few games with you, like when I started the whole mystery girl nonsense, you should have seen the fear in your eyes," she said as she chuckled to herself with a look of satisfaction spread across her face.

  "You knew from then?" I asked in a shocked tone.

  "Hell yes, I knew from then. I had my fun and you deserved it, the two of you," she said as she raised an eyebrow at me.

  "I know, I know. So when did you first realise?" I asked.

  "I had my suspicions from when I went looking for you guys that day that we all went to the park. There was just something about the look in both of your eyes that day that told a whole story and from then the signs just got stronger and eventually I knew that I was right," she said, sounding rather pleased with herself.

  "Oh no!" I suddenly shouted as a feeling of guilt rushed over me.

  "What?" She asked, looking more than confused.

  "I thought that Jess had told you," I said as my mind flashed back to how I had just treated her.

  "No, I knew that she knew but she didn't crack. Neither her or Anthony said a word even though I did try to break them both down. Stubborn little rats they were," she said with a wicked look on her face.

  "You knew that they knew?" I asked.

  "Of course! None of you morons can lie to me without me knowing, I know you all too well," she said as we both burst out laughing.

  "Poor Jess was practically peeing her pants under my interrogation but she didn't breathe a word and that jerk Anthony, let's just say I'm planning to make you all suffer for lying to me," she said with an evil smirk on her face.

  "I suppose we deserve it," I said as I smiled to myself.

  "You're damn right and you all better not pull a stunt like that again otherwise I'll hurt you," she said as we both started to laugh again. It was nice to have my best friend back, no lies, no secrets just us being us.

  "Thanks," I mumbled after our laughing had slowed down.

  "What for?" She asked as a look of confusion spread across her face.

  "For everything. Forgiving me, understanding and not making me chose," I said.

  "I would never make you chose April, what kind of friend would that make me? Plus when you and Aiden have minis I get to be God Mother and Aunty, oh yeah!"

  "Yeah, you're getting a little ahead of yourself there," I said as I raised my eyebrows in the air.

  "Yeah, yeah we'll see. Oh and nice slap by the way," she said as she winked at me.

  "Huh?"

  "Rachel, I mean she literally fell to the floor. It was pretty damn funny," she said as she began laughing to herself.

  "You saw that?" I asked as a feeling of confusion came over me.

  "Yeah, me and the whole of YouTube! It was awesome!"

  "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that people filmed that. I didn't mean to go that far, she just made me so mad," I said as I thought back to the whole scene earlier.

  "Yeah well she deserved it. Got a little taste of her own medicine but this one didn't come with a spoon full of sugar," she said as we both burst out laughing.

  "Well I still feel bad," I said.

  "You shouldn't!" She said as she pulled an annoyed face at me.

  "Yeah but violence and all that, it's just not me. I don't want anyone to make me act like that again," I replied.

  "Don't worry they won't, next time I'll be there to do it. Now let's go party," she said as she jumped off of the car and started to walk towards the house.

  "You are a danger to society you know," I said as a small smile filled my lips.

  "Yes, yes I am," she replied with a smirk on her face.

  "By the way whose car is this?" I asked as I slid off of the hood of the car and headed towards Murphy's house with her.

  "I don't know," she said as she casually shrugged her shoulders.

  "Crystal," I said as I raised my eyebrows.

  "What? It was comfortable, wasn't it?" She asked as she smiled at me.

  "Oh, just come on," I said as I dragged her arm and started to plan out Jess' apology speech in my head.

  As we approached the front door we were suddenly stopped by all of the commotion that was going on.

  "Get your hands off of me! You can't kick me out!" Rachel screamed as I watched a frustrated looking Murphy with his hands around her waist, carrying her out.

  "Oh how I love to be entertained," Crystal said before I nudged her in the side.

  "Behave," I replied as I smiled back at her.

  "Look, just calm down man, go home and get some sleep," Murphy said as though he had been saying the same thing for quite a while now.

  "This is all your fault!" I heard her scream as she looked in my direction.

  "Oh get a grip will you!" Crystal jumped in as she began laughing at Rachel.

  "Jumping to her defence as always?" Rachel growled through gritted teeth.

  "Aww are you just upset that you ran out of blusher and only got to do one cheek," she said, referring to the red mark that my slap had left on her face.

  "I can help you with the other side if you like," Crystal said as she started to head towards Rachel with her hand held in the air, ready to slap her other cheek. I quickly grabbed her arm and shook my head before slowly stepping up to where Rachel was stood in Murphy's arms.

  "Rachel just stop, you're embarrassing yourself now," I said as I looked at her with pity.

  She may be a lot of things but deep down I could tell that this all stemmed from the fact that she was hurt, I could see it in the depths of her eyes and part of me just felt sorry for her.

  "Shut up! Look at you, you think that you've got it all don't you, friends, boyfriend, everything. Well you won't have it forever because you're pathetic and sooner or later he'll get bored of you and start looking for something more entertaining just like Kyle did," she said as she pointed towards Aiden.

  I quickly jumped in as I saw the frustrated look in Aiden's face as he went to reply. I gave him a look that said that I could handle it and seen him physically begin to calm down.

  "Maybe he will, maybe he won't but I don't really care Rachel, it's a chance that I would happily take with him. I would much rather that than be like you. You're lonely, bitter and only live to hurt other people and all for what? Just to make yourself feel better. It's time to move on, I get it, Kyle hurt you, he hurt me too but that doesn't mean that you have the right to go around trying to destroy other people's lives. It hurts, I know but it gets better but you have to move forward. Stop looking to ruin lives and instead look to find happiness in your own," I said gently as I held her gaze.

  I could see that my words had touched something deep inside of her as her eyes softened just a little. I watched as she struggled to keep back the tears that had already reached the brim of her eyes.

  "Get off me," she whispered to Murphy in a shaky voice.

  He looked to me and I shook my head. She took a few steps forward before turning around to face her red headed friend that I recognised from Crystal's party.

 
; "You coming?" She half whispered as she tried to hold back more tears.

  "No. I can't do this anymore, what you did tonight was wrong Rachel, we're through," she said as she shifted her eyes to the ground, looking more nervous than ever.

  "Fine," Rachel mumbled before walking away.

  I couldn't help but want to follow her, I could feel her pain and I felt guilty.

  "Don't," Crystal said gently as she held my wrist in her hand.

  "Trust me," I said before giving everyone a little nod that told then to go back inside. They all followed my command obediently before walking through the front door.

  "Rachel?" I said in a gentle tone as I caught up with her.

  "Just leave me alone," she said as I watched the tears stream down her cheeks.

  "It gets better," I whispered.

  "What?" She asked in a confused tone.

  "The pain, the heartbreak, it gets better," I repeated.

  "I hope you're right," she said before slipping inside of her car.

  I watched as she started up her engine and began to drive away. As she turned her head to look back at me I could have sworn that she gave me a small smile. In that strange moment that seemed to make no sense, I knew that she'd be ok. I understood her in a way that didn't seem possible. When my heart got broken I hid and suppressed all of my feelings but Rachel lashed out, it was the only way she knew how and my heart broke for her but I knew that she would be ok, eventually.

  "Hey," a voice said from behind me as a pair of strong hands gently slipped around my waist and a head rested on my shoulder. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was, I would know him anywhere.

  "Hey," I whispered as his grip got tighter.

  "You ok?" He asked as I felt his warm breath brush across the side of my neck. I nodded my head to say yes as we stood in silence for a little while.

  "Crystal doesn't look mad anymore," he said.

  "She's not, we talked and she understands," I said as a small smile filled my face.

  "So, that means that I no longer have to hide how I feel?" He asked as he gently turned me around to face him.

  "Well, I don't think that she'll want a full blown show everyday but yeah," I said as a giggle escaped my lips.

  "I can work with that," he said as I watched his eyes flicker to my lips before closing the gap between us.

  I don't know why but for some reason it felt like he was kissing me for the first time and I was loving every minute of it. Maybe it was the fact that we didn't have to lie anymore or maybe it was just that everything was finally going good again. I didn't know but I knew one thing, I wanted to bottle up the moment forever.

  "Yeah, me too," I finally replied once his lips had left mine.

  "What is it?" I asked as he stood in silence and stared at me with a serious look on his face.

  "I don't remember being this happy in a long time," he said as his face remained serious.

  "Me either," I said as I continued to stare into his eyes.

  "Mmmm," he said as he let out a little sigh as though he was struggling with something.

  "What's the matter?" I asked as I looked up at him curiously.

  "I planned to do this a little smoother but I can't wait," he said as though he was going through an internal battle in his head as he scratched the back of his neck.

  "Aiden, are you ok?" I asked as I looked up at him with a confused expression.

  "Mmmm," he said as he shook his head to say yes.

  "You sure?" I asked.

  "Yeah, just kiss me again," he said in what appeared to be desperation.

  I loved kissing him so he didn't get an argument from me. As I kissed him, he took over as I felt his tongue fill my mouth. His kiss was so passionate and beautiful as though he was trying to tell me something.

  "Sssh, keep your eyes closed," he whispered as we gently parted. I shook my head to say yes and kept them closed as requested. My body shuddered as I felt his hands gently make their way up to my cheeks.

  "April?" He whispered as I felt his lips form into a smile against my cheek as he gently brushed past it, towards my ear. I knew that he could feel the way that my body was responding to him and he clearly liked it.

  "Yes?" I said, hardly able to even speak as my body took in the feel of his warmth against me.

  "I need you," he said as I silently enjoyed his words and the feel of him against me. I shook my head once again.

  "I want you more than I have ever wanted anybody in my whole life," he said in a husky voice that was driving my body insane.

  "I-"

  "Ssssh," he said, cutting me off. He obviously had something that he was trying to say and so I remained silent, standing still with my eyes closed as I listened deeply to the sound of his voice.

  "I want you so much," he said as he somehow managed to get even closer making my body shudder yet again.

  "What I mean...What I'm trying to say-"

  "Yes?" I cut in. I couldn't help it, I needed to hear it, my whole body wanted to hear it.

  "I love you," he finally whispered as my eyes snapped open to see him staring directly into my eyes. None of us looked away but instead just held each other’s gaze.

  "I love you so much," he repeated as his eyes never left mine.

  "I love you too," I finally said as I let a small smile slip onto my face.

  Before I could even take in his or my words he had already pulled me into yet another kiss but I didn't care, I wanted him to kiss me like this for the rest of my life. I couldn't put into words how Aiden made me feel but it was like an out of body experience, it felt so right and so natural. It just confirmed that he was the one that I would want to kiss me for the rest of my life. I needed him too, I wanted him, I wanted to be his and him to be mine and he was.

  "Ok, ok can we break up the spit war now? There's a party in there and you two need to be moving yourselves and your tongues this way," Anthony said as he broke out into laughter.

  "Way to ruin a moment Ant," Aiden said as he smirked at his best friend.

  "Hey, what are friends for?" Anthony said as he forced himself in between us, slung his arms over our shoulders and led us back towards the front door.

  "Plus I was starting to miss you dude, I was having withdrawal symptoms," Anthony continued as a smirk filled his face.

  "Yeah sure you were," Aiden replied as he rolled his eyes and smiled.

  "Shouldn't you be engaging in your own 'spit war' with Jess?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow at him.

  "I should, yeah but you see, somebody upset her and I'm not getting any tlc as a result," he said as he looked over at me.

  "Oh yeah, I forgot about that, damn," I said as I quickly broke free of his hold and sped through the door.

  "Don't forget to mention how sexy I am once you two make up and tell her that I'll be waiting for her in Murphy's room," Anthony shouted with a sound of amusement in his voice.

  "Dude I told you to stay the hell out of my room!" Murphy said as I ran past him in search of Jess.

  I quickly scannedd the living room that we had all been in earlier before my eyes landed on Jess in the corner of the room with Crystal, Jinnie, Erica and Rachel's red headed friend.

  "Hey," I said as I approached the group cautiously.

  "Hey," Erica and Jinnie said at the same time.

  "Typical, you can't just say hi by yourself, you just have to say it in unison with me!" Erica grunted.

  "Are you kidding me? Really? You are so full of it, you moron," Jinnie replied in anger.

  I took their squabble as a quick opportunity to get Jess' attention.

  "Hey, can we talk for a second, in private?" I asked as I tried to battle with the music, and Jinnie and Erica’s voices.

  "Sure," she said before following me towards the door. Crystal gave a quick understanding look before I watched her slap both Jinnie and Erica on the arms before telling them off. I would not change my friends for the world.

  When we finally found a quiet spot in the
hall way, I turned to Jess nervously.

  "So, look, I'm really sorr-"

  "It's fine," she quickly jumped in with a smile on her face.

  "It's not, I jumped to conclusions and I was wrong and rude, I'm sorry," I said as I threw her a gentle smile.

  "It's ok April, honestly. I know that you were just mad because of what Rachel did. I knew that you would come around sooner or later. It's water under the bridge, honestly," she said before I threw my arms around her.

  "Is it me or did God just give me like all of the best friends in the world?" I asked as I smiled at her.

  "Oh no, it's not you, he really did," she said as we both began to giggle.

  "Oh yeah, Anthony mentioned something about meeting you in Murphy's room," I said as we both burst out laughing.

  "I swear that boy belongs in Hollywood," she said as we both began to catch our breath.

  "What do you mean?" I asked with an amused expression.

  "He's a born actor, I swear. He acts like that when he knows that we haven't done anything," she said as she rolled her eyes.

  "Really?" I asked in shock.

  "Yes really! What do you take me for?" She said as she playfully hit my arm.

  "So, you guys haven't done anything?" I asked in a more serious tone.

  "No, just kissed. Is that weird?" She asked.

  "No, not at all. It's just that it's Anthony. He must really like you if he's letting you make him wait," I said.

  "Oh no, it's not me!" She blurted out.

  "It's not?"

  "No, well at first yeah but you know there have been moments where it’s gotten close," she said in a shy voice.

  "Ok and you stopped it?" I asked.

  "No, that's the point. If it was up to me and my lack of self control then the deed would have been done," she said as we both giggled again.

  "Oh," I said as I got a better understanding. Wow, Anthony is truly whipped!

  "He said that he wants my first time to be special. He doesn't want to rush it," she said as she smiled at whatever thought was going through her head.

  "That is actually really sweet especially coming from Anthony," I said as we both started to laugh.

  "I know yeah. So, what about you and Aiden? I see the tension between you two," she said as she winked at me.

  "Honestly, we haven't even discussed it. I hadn't even given it much thought to be honest," I replied.