by Portia Moore
“I didn’t think you’d be here. Who’s watching—” I elbow Aidan hard in the stomach. “Owww,” he says rubbing his side. Hillary and Chris look at me as if I’ve lost my mind but Mrs. Scott looks at me gratefully.
“I have the perfect place for us to go!” I say dramatically.
“You have the perfect place for us to go? Since when do you party?” Hillary asks me with a confused laugh.
“Uhm…I saw this listening party on TV that seemed pretty cool. Everyone wears headphones so you can listen to the music you want.”
“Headphones?” Aidan scoffs but thankfully has moved on from spilling information that really isn’t needed right now.
“I’ve been to one, and it’s actually pretty cool.” Hillary says but her eyes go to me.
“You guys are going to be cool at a club? I assumed that Chris would want to hang at a bar or something,” Hillary says curiously. Actually, I’d rather be at a bar than a club—fewer people, more laid back, and no room for issues to arise.
“Whatever you guys want to do,” Chris says.
“Okay I have another suggestion. Let’s all be open-minded about this…” Aidan starts and Chris folds his arms waiting for what he is going to say.
“A strip club!” Aidan shouts enthusiastically, and we all stare at him blankly. Chris tries to stifle a laugh.
“A club where girls are only half-naked it is,” Hillary dismisses his idea. “What are you going to wear, handsome?” she asks looking at Aidan.
“I can borrow some of Chris’s clothes,” he shrugs easily. It makes sense since he and Chris are about the same size.
“Chris, you have clubbing clothes?” Hillary stares at him in disbelief.
“I’m sure we can find something in the closet,” I butt in. “Come on, Aidan. Let me show you around the wardrobe.” I take his hand and pull him out of the room. I glance back at Chris and Hillary who have confused looks on their faces.
“You two, I need your taste buds in the kitchen,” Mrs. Scott picks up on my hint.
“I’m not picky. You pick whatever you think would look good on me, Mrs. Scott,” Aidan says playfully as we round the stairs.
“I’m sure you have more of an opinion than that,” I tell him tightly until we get to the second floor. I lead him into our bedroom and look at him. “Chris doesn’t know about Willa.” His smile fades and realization dawns on his face.
“Oooh.” He crosses his arms across his chest.
“And you guys aren’t going to tell him… ever?” he asks with an concerned chuckle.
“Of course we are. While Mrs. Scott is still figuring things out, it makes no sense to tell him right now.” Aidan looks at me and lets out an incredulous laugh.
“So you think hiding it from him is a good thing?”
“I’m not hiding anything really…” I trail off guiltily. “The thing is, even though it’s been a few months, this is still new to Chris. Collin has been here and it’s all like a fresh wound. I don’t want to go picking at it while it’s fresh.” I try to explain.
“You’re his wife, Lauren. What you say goes.” He throws up his hands in defeat, and I feel like I’ve lost.
“Mrs. Scott doesn’t know if she’s staying with Mr. Scott yet, so it doesn’t make sense for Chris to stress over what all this means right now.” Aidan shrugs, his usual playful demeanor seemingly serious.
“I’ve been over to help Mrs. Scott out, to check on her and I don’t think it’s a question of if they’re working it out,” he says quietly, and I arch my brow at him. “I think the decision has already been made. She loves that little girl and while I don’t think the bastard deserves it at all, I’m pretty sure she still loves him too.”
I can’t say I’m surprised. I had gotten the impression that it was a strong possibility that Mrs. Scott would forgive Mr. Scott. They have been together for so long that this blip or super large pothole is just a bump in the road. I saw the way she looked at him before all of this happened, and while I’m not sure I could ever forgive Chris for something like that, I can’t blame her for doing it. But taking care of the child he created outside of our marriage—that, I don’t think I’d ever be mature enough to do. Whatever she decides isn’t any of my business, but it does change things about keeping secrets from Chris.
“But it’s up to you. I won’t say anything, and if anyone tells him, it should be you or Mrs. Red,” he says as if his mind is made up. That makes things easier and harder at once.
“Well, I guess you should actually take a look in the closet, so I’m not a liar,” I tease him. I open the closet doors and he whistles.
“My whole room could fit in here,” he playfully exaggerates his tone as he shuffles through the closet.
“Have you talked to her?” I ask him unable to contain my curiosity. Well, it’s not just curiosity. I can’t help but wonder about her—we were friends once, we spent a lot of time together while I was in Michigan, and she was my confidante and cheerleader at one point in my life. Aidan’s body becomes visibly rigid.
“Yeah,” he says shortly, the undercurrent of his tone surprisingly bitter. I’m not used to that from Aidan, he’s usually all smiles and jokes. “Right before she left and pretty much dumped Willa on the Scotts.” His aggravation shows as he ruffles through the clothes more roughly. “She’s probably on a beach somewhere with this douchebag she met when we were in high school.” He says begrudgingly.
“They are so many clothes in here. Can you just pick something?” I smile at him and go for a light grey V-neck T-shirt and a pair of black jeans and hand them to him.
“I asked her to stay,” he says out of nowhere. I look at him surprised by the solemnity in his words. There’s no playful glint in his eye, but his look is almost regretful. My eyes widen because I’ve never seen him like this before.
“I would have helped her…” he trails off eying the clothes I just handed him. “This isn’t Chris’s, is it?” he changes the subject and his shift in tone is startling.
“Uhm no,” I tell him. My eyes fall on the T-shirt and jeans and my thoughts shift to Cal. His eyes find mine, and he looks at me contemplatively.
“When I met that Collin dude…” he half-chuckles. “It was weird. I was seeing Chris but not seeing him. I admit I was sort of drunk but… I thought about you, and how it must have been when you met Chris… then Collin.” He looks at me almost sympathetically.
“I know they’re all one person technically, but I have to hand it to you for keeping it all straight,” he says with a half-smile.
“Thanks, Aidan. That means a lot to me.”
“I can cook a little. Just most things tend to be more of the out the box and warm it up variety,” Hillary tells my mom as she watches her clean the chicken wings she’s making for tonight.
“It’s not as hard as it looks. It just takes a little time and patience,” my mom tells her.
“And you cook?” Hillary asks me skeptically.
“I learned from the best.” I throw my arm around my mom’s shoulder.
“Huh. You never used to cook as Cal.” Hillary looks at me skeptically, oblivious to how awkward the statement she just let fly out of her mouth is. I don’t know much about Hillary other than that she’s Lauren’s best friend and that she threw water in Jenna’s face the last time I saw her. Based on that I get that she’s not exactly politically correct.
“Chris is an amazing cook. I’ve been teaching him since he was a little boy,” my mom interjects saving me from an awkward response. “What about you Hillary—did your mom or dad cook?”
She lightly shrugs. “My dad? That’s a laugh.” She chuckles. “My parents are very traditional—meaning a century backward. My mom does all the cooking, all the cleaning, basically an indentured slave,” she says haughtily. “What about your husband—does he cook?" And now the awkwardness that we just managed to avoid is back full force.
“Not really, but only because I enjoy it so much there was never really a need for
him to,” my mom answers back politely.
“When I get married—unless he wants food poisoning—my husband will have to be as good in the kitchen as he is in the bedroom.” She laughs and my mom looks down at the food awkwardly.
I let out a short laugh. This girl and Aidan together seems like it would be nothing but trouble. She’s obviously a firecracker and he’s a wrecking ball, and together they’re a path of destruction. But that’s looking too far ahead. I can’t remember the last time he’s been serious with a girl—not that them being here means that he’s serious—maybe they’re just having fun. I hope so, at least because if things go bad with them—and I don’t see things ending amicably—Lauren and I have enough of our own problems to deal with.
“What do you think?” Aidan comes into the kitchen and does a model pose from Zoolander.
“Very handsome,” my mom tells him excitedly.
“I like,” Hillary agrees with a dramatic smile.
“You look okay I guess.”
“Says the guy who stole my old haircut.” He slaps me on the back of the head, and I slap him back.
“Okay, we should know better than to roughhouse in the kitchen,” my mom tells us, taking me back to when I was twelve.
We all head out of the kitchen and sit down in the living room.
“I’m going to go see what Lauren’s up to,” Hillary says before heading up the stairs and I notice Aidan watching her walk away.
“Seriously Aidan,” I scold him once she’s out of earshot.
“What?” he asks innocently.
“Lauren’s best friend?” I frown at him and he laughs.
“We’re just having fun. Nothing serious I promise.” He holds up his fingers in the scout’s honor promise. “Enough about me though. What about you? Are you cool?”
“Yeah I am,” I tell him with a smile
“I mean looking at this place it looks like you are,” he says.
“Yeah, I’ve got to show you the cars.” I laugh.
“Besides the Audi?”
“There’s a Porsche and one of the new Jeeps.” Aidan’s been obsessed with cars since we were kids, and not just in the way most guys are. He could give you a full history of almost any brand you name, his favorite being Chevy. When we were in high school, he had two cars he fully restored and sold by the time he turned twenty-one.
“Oh man, I’ve got to see them.” He jumps up from the couch. I snatch my keys off the table and yell to my mom that we’re heading to the garage. Once we make it down, he stops at the Porsche and does a long whistle sliding his hand across the hood.
“So, this is your life?” Aidan asks dramatically, obviously impressed.
“Yeah.” I breathe out as I pop the locks to the car and toss him the keys. He looks just as excited as a kid in a candy store.
“I know you don’t like this Cal guy, but you can’t fault him on taste. I’ve got to get on a highway because these streets are ridiculous,” he says as we pull out.
“Yeah, I’m still getting used to them,” I admit. Navigating downtown Chicago is like the Wild West. People cut in front of you, pedestrians jaywalk in hoards, and the cabdrivers are the worst—I don’t know how any of them have licenses.
“So catch me up. You’ve been gone for awhile.”
“Yeah, it sucks too,” I grumble.
“I saw you… or Collin about a month ago.”
“You did?” I ask surprised.
He nods. “Yup.”
It’s so strange to hear things like this, to not remember any of it. “How was he or I?” I correct myself remembering Helen’s earlier words.
“Honestly I was sort of drunk.” I frown at him. “But he looked like you, dude. Well you if you had a designer haircut and graduated from some Ivy League school,” Aidan says. He laughs, and then quickly turns serious “You don’t remember anything?”
“No, not while I was him.” I try to get more used to the face of all these sides of me being me and not another person. Helen’s been stressing that. “When I blacked out, the last thing I remembered before coming to was the thing that happened at my parent’s house.” There’s an awkward silence that stretches longer than I expect it to.
“Yeah, that was pretty fucked up.”
“My mom seems like… she’s dealing with it at least,” I tell him, and he only keeps his eyes on the road.
“Yeah I’ve been making sure to check on her since you’ve been gone,” he says.
“Thanks man.” I knew he would. My family has been his family… him, me, and Lisa were all family. I feel myself becoming angry just thinking about her.
“You saw my dad?” I ask him, he glances over at me.
“I haven’t talked to him if that’s what you mean… you?”
“He was at the house when I came to. I kicked him out though.” Aidan looks at me with a disbelieving smile.
“You kicked your dad out?”
“Yeah…” I say with a half-smile, but it’s forced.
“What was he thinking coming to your house?” I take a deep breath and explain to him what’s been told to me. Everything from Cal trying to kill his stepdad to me being a Crestfield.
“Holy shit, you should have told me this before I started driving, man.”
“It’s not a big deal. It hasn’t made my life any better or worse knowing about it,” I say dryly. He glances over at me as if I’m crazy.
“Are you serious, dude? You’re a Crestfield and you don’t think it’s changing your life?” He sounds perplexed.
“Well, I mean the financial part, yeah. Turns out I’m worth millions of dollars.”
“Drop the fucking mic I’ve got to pull over,” he says dramatically.
“Keep going. The highway’s only about five more minutes off to the left.” I’m surprised by how fast the thought comes to me. I’ve only driven here twice.
He switches lanes. “You don’t drop that type of information on someone while they’re driving a car that they couldn’t afford in three lifetimes,” he says.
“I guess that part is pretty awesome,” I admit.
“You think?”
“That’s actually why I called you earlier. I was thinking we could go into business together.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course. You’re my best friend, and I can’t think of anyone better to be partners with,” I tell him.
“But… I’m not exactly a reader of the Wall Street Journal, Chris. I don’t know the first thing about starting a company,” he says honestly and that’s why he’s my best friend. Here I am offering him to experiment with my money—no investment of his at all—and he’s still looking out for my best interests.
“I’m not talking about starting a Fortune 500 conglomerate.” I laugh. “I was thinking about more along the lines of a car restoration business. Something that you could write a book on with what you know,” I tell him seriously.
“In Michigan, no one could afford what I’d want back out after putting that much time in though.”
“Not in Michigan but here. Look around. There’s obviously money everywhere and these people don’t know what to spend it on. I bet I can even wrangle up the right clientele through Dexter if I wanted to,” I say and he looks at me, a grin on his face.
“You’re serious, dude?” he asks me trying to suppress his enthusiasm.
“Yes, dead serious.”
“Wow, Chris. I don’t know what to say,” he says sheepishly and I don’t think I’ve seen Aidan look modest in his entire life.
“Say yes. I can’t think of anything better than working with my best friend. Besides I want something that’s mine. All of this money came from Cal… and Collin. I want to build something of my own, and if I have any episodes, I’d need to work with someone who won’t freak out and that I can trust,” I tell him honestly.
“Dude, if I wasn’t driving I’d kiss ya,” he declares with a wide smile.
“Well, thank God you’re driving then.”
“So have you talked to Lisa? I mean you can tell me I won’t be mad… much.” It’s not like I expect Aidan to stop talking to her because of what she did to me and my family, even though he should since she’s proven to be a master manipulator and diabolical liar.
“Not in awhile… last I know she’s headed to California.”
“California? What would she be doing there?” I ask confused.
“Something with a guy…” he shrugs, and I laugh in disbelief.
“That’s ridiculous. What guy?” I ask, even though I shouldn’t care at this point. And I don’t, but I’m curious.
“Remember that Brett dude from high school?”
“You’re kidding?” He gives me a look to say he isn’t.
I shake my head. “Why would she do that? Abandon her whole life and take off with a guy she didn’t even really like in high school.”
“Well, it’s not like she had much left here, huh?” he asks, and I know I’m imagining the hint of disdain in his voice. He gets out of the car and I do the same.
“What about her kid?” I try to ignore the fact that the kid is my half-sister.
“Let’s not talk about Lisa anymore man,” he says exasperated and throws his arm around my shoulder. “You’re rich and we have two beautiful women to take out on the town…” he says and I can’t help but laugh at that.
“And drinks are on you, million-dollar man.” He pats me on the back before we go in.
“Are you guys ready to party in the big city!” Hillary squeals at the top of her lungs while sitting on Aidan’s lap in the back of our car. I try to keep from staring at her chest, but they’re out for everyone to see.
“It can’t be that much different from Michigan, can it?” I ask, and Hillary and Lauren share a giggle.