Pretend (15 page)

             
With all
of the craziness of last night
I didn't
 
get the chance to talk to Aiden and I would be lying if I said that it didn't bother me. I feel awful for saying this but Aiden was just as much on my mind as Mimi was last night. I knew that he wouldn't have understo
od what had happened
and I felt terrible for not getting the chance to explain.

             
As I slipped
my phone out of my black purse
my stomach dropped as I realised that there was still no message from Aiden. I opened up a new message and began to type.

             
Aiden, hey it's me
,
April, obviously. Look
 
we really need to
             
talk, I know that you think that
 
there was something
             
happening with me and Kyle last night but it wasn't, it's
             
actually a really long and crazy story but the point is all I
             
could think about last night was you. I
 
wished so bad that we
             
had
kissed,
I can't even begin to explain. I just really need to
             
see you, so we can talk at some point today?

             
xXAprilXx

             
I st
ared at the screen for a while
in doubt. This was exactly how I felt, it wasn't a lie and
it's what I wanted to say. So
why did
it frighten the hell out of me
when I thought about actually pressing send? After about a solid minute of gazing a
t the words on my screen
I finally gave in to my fear and erased the whol
e message. I was such a chicken
sometimes! I quickly typed a new message and pressed send.

             
Hey, I think we need to talk...

             
Not quite as informative as the last message but it would have to do.

             
"Hey," Kyle said as he leapt inside of the car.

             
"You scared the life out of me," I said as I slapped his arm and slipped my phone back into my bag.

* * *

             
We pretty much spent the entire journey in silence. I was quietly, listening for that sound that would let me know that Aiden had replied. It never came.

             
As we pulled up in the school car park, that scary feeli
ng that I had expected to feel
never came. After everything that had happened lately, staring eyes and whispers in the corridor were the least of my worries.

             
"You, ok?" I asked Kyle as I gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

             
"Yeah, you?"
He replied.

             
"I'm ok. You will let me know
if you hear anything about
Mimi?
" I asked as I stepped out of the car door.

             
"Of course," he replied, throwing me a smile.

             
"Thanks-"

             
"Oh
my gosh
! You have got to be kidding me! Am I seeing what I think I am seeing?" Crystal interrupted as she stormed towards me and Kyle.

             
As I looked over her shoulder I spotted Aiden stepping out of the car. They must have pulled up at
 
the same
time as us. T
his
 
did not look good.
 
Great!

             
"Crystal, calm down," I tried to say as she continued on with her rant.

             
"You said that you were staying away. I mean, when Aiden said that
 
HE was outside of your house last night that was one thing but to come in together the next day!"

             
"Crystal it is not what you think and will you be quiet
,
everyone is starting to stare," I shout, whispered at her.

             
"No! I am so disappointed in you April! This guy cheats on you, rips your heart to shreds, makes a complete and utter idiot out of you and what
do you do? You hand the cheater yourself on a
plate!"

             
I was usually very calm in situations such as these, always acti
ng as the peace maker but I had just about had enough. For weeks now
it seemed as though everyone was in control of my life except for me and I was fed-up with it! Suddenly something just snapped!

             
"Shut the hell up!" I screamed, causing Crystal to freeze, which was something that I had never actually seen her do before.

             
"I am so sick and tired of being told what to do by you and everyone else! Who do you think you are! You do not control me Crystal, despite what you may think in that stupid head of yours!"

             
I heard her gasp and with that I stormed past her and walked away. I suddenly stopped in my tracks and turned back to face her, one last time. The anger had completely taken over.

             
"And for your
information, Mimi is in hospital and I was doing something that you should try sometime...Being a friend!" I could see the guilt that now consumed her entire face as she shifted her eyes to the ground, looking rather embarrassed.

             
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," I heard her mutter, sounding more than just a little bit ashamed of herself.

             
I quickly
 
turned my e
yes to Kyle and gave him a look
that told him that I was sorry for all of the drama. He seemed to
understand and so I turned back
around and tried to find Aiden. He conveniently
disappeared as soon as Crystal's words had hit the atmosphere.

             
As I walked up to the school building
,
that I had dreaded returning to all summer, I wanted nothing more than to burst inside. I quickly began to scan the halls in search of Aiden but it was as if he had disappeared off of the face of the earth.

I continued to push through
the crowds of girls screaming
because they had just seen their friends after summer break, guys chatting up girls, people being thrown into lockers and having money stolen and teachers shouting to students, telling them to
 
get into class. Everything was definitely back to normal.

As I had fi
nally given up on finding Aiden
 
a smile appeared on my face as I spotted h
im standing by a row of lockers
by his friends. As I started to walk towards him, I suddenly froz
e in my tracks as
 
Cayce Hellman
slid in front of him. My stomach dropped as I watched her slip her arms around his strong neck, flicking her chocolate brown hair in the air. I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying to him but from the high pitch tone in her voice, I knew that she was flirting. As if he knew that
 
I was watching him, his eyes quickly lifted and met mine. I could see the hurt in his light brown
 
eyes and then in a matter of seconds
 
they turned cold and dark,
 
then
 
he turned
 
his gaze back to Cayce's face. I knew that he was angry
 
with me but surely he would give me the chance to explain
, wouldn’t he?
Wrong.
 
I watched as he wrapped his strong hand around her waist and laughed at whatever stupid joke that she was telling
him
. I knew that he wa
s just as aware of my presence
as I was his. As my entire body filled with anger, I did the only thing that I could do.

             
I walked away...

AIDEN’S POINT OF VIEW

The thought of kissing April had my mind racing all over the place.
 
The very fact that she was no
w sat in my car, in front of me
provided me with an opportunity that I simply couldn't resist.

As I pulled up on the sidewalk
I saw the shocked expression on her face.
 
Even when she was pulling stupid faces, she still
 
looked beautiful.

             
"What are you doing? We're like two minutes from my house," she said after staring at me in what appeared to be disbelief.

             
"I know," I said as I took in all of her features. I couldn't help but notice how her nose scrunched up when she was confused or the way that her hazel eyes glistened as she gazed into mine. My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I had to take deep breaths to control it. To say
that I wasn't excited
would be a lie.

Suddenly
we were both silent, keeping our eyes focused on one another. As
I gently unbuckled my seatbelt
I watched as her eyes traced my every move. I knew that she wanted exactly the same thing that I did. It seems crazy but I just
 
couldn't look away from this girl. I was breaking every rule in the manual right now. Th
is was my sister's best friend and every dude knows that
that's off limits, so why was I crossing the line?

             
Since Crystal's party, April was the only thing on my mind, no matter what I did, it was crazy. I can't explain why but
 
I wanted her so bad and I was willing t
o break every rule in the book just
to have her. As I
 
slowly lifted my body off of
my seat and drew nearer to her
I could literally hear her
 
breathing. As I allo
wed my fingers to trace
 
her arm I felt her shudder at my touch. T
o say that it was sexy was an understatement.
 
I examined the expression on her face and I knew that she was thinking exactly what I was. I
gently let my hand make it
s way to her che
ek. As I caressed her soft skin
I felt like an electric bolt had just been sent through my
 
entire body. I had to
keep my cool and control myself.
I didn't get how she
 
could make
 
me feel like this.
 
As I watched the strands of her silky blonde hair dangle over her plump
 
lips, it made me want them even more. I slid the
loose
strands of
her
hair behind her ear and slowly began to close the gap between us.
 
I allowed a smile to form on my lips as I watched her close her eyes, inviting me
 
to exactly where I wanted to be. I don't know whether it was excitement or what but my hand quickly slipped down her body and griped her curvy waist. Her body felt amazing to touch. Every curve, every angle was
 
better than the next and I wanted it all, I wanted her.
 
I closed my e
yes and drew nearer. T
his was it, no going back.