Pretend (2 page)

"Yep.”

"Ok well have fun and if you need picking up just call," she said with a smile on her face.

"I'll be fine, thanks M
om," I replied, hoping that Cry
stal's plan was to get me a ride
there and back.

"Oh, and
don’t forget to
say
hi to Crystal and Aiden for me. I’m sure they’re missing their Aunty
Kels
by now,
" she added as I
 
slipped through the
 
front door
,
laughing at her comment.

“I’m sure they are and I will
," I replied before shutting the door behind me and heading towards the car.

I felt slightly guilty since I was the reason that she hadn’t seen them. I spent the whole summer hiding away from everyone but it was what I needed.

As I stepped out of my front door I gasped. Aiden looked somewhat different to how I remembered.
How can someone change that much in six weeks? Clearly the gym has become his new best friend.

I walked slowly over to the car, aware that his eyes were on me the entire time.

"Mustang
mmm
..." I said as I opened the car door
with a smirk on my face
.

"The word's hello and don't hate on the car
,
she might get upset," he said with a smirk on his face.

"So cars have feelings now?" I replied as I sat
down
in the passenger's seat.

I stared into his light brown eyes. He had changed so much. He wasn't how I'd remembered. My eyes were instantly drawn to his now athletic chest and muscular arms. He had on a tight white tee that seemed to hug his shape in all the right places. His jeans were a dark blue that fitted him nicely. As I watched the sun shine off of his dark brown hair I suddenly jumped. It was my phone vibrating.

I answered it and then lifted it up to my face.

"Hey
,
where are you?" An impatient voice questioned.

"I'm on my way, I've just stepped into the car," I answered. I could see Aiden staring at me out of the corner of my eye. He clearly found the fact that I had jumped rather amusing.

"Well
,
tell Aiden to get a move on, people are arriving and I want you here," Crystal demanded.

"Ok, I think he can
hear you. I'll see you in five.”

"Good," she replied before hanging up the phone.

"And you can stop laughing," I said as I tried to force the grin off of my face.

Aiden was like this for as long as I could remember. When Crystal and I were little he would always make us laugh.
I hadn’t seen him much lately since I had been in hiding. Even before that, Crystal spent most nights at my house, so I hadn’t been to hers in quite some time.
He was also a
 
junior and I was a s
ophomore, so it wasn't that often that our paths crossed.

That reminds me
,
I will be a j
unior once we go back on Monday, scary thought.

"Oh, m
y mom said to say hey," I said
as he started up the car.

"That was nice of her, tell her I said hey too," he replied with a smirk on his face.

"Think it's a little late for that," I replied with a smile spread across my lips.

"Ha ha comedian, you know what I mean, when you get back home.
 
Anyway, how's life?" He asked.

"
Erm
...It's great yeah," I lied, suddenly feeling my whole mood change as thoughts of Kyle came back to haunt me.

"Yours?"
I quickly added.

"Mine's just peachy thanks," he said in a high pitched girly voice.

"Still immature," I said as I looked out of the car window.

"Still sensible," he laughed.

We spent the rest of the journey in silence. I was trying to plan ho
w I would behave tonight. I had a nice group of friends but I wasn’t exactly what you’d call a social butterfly. It was also no secret that
Kyle had somewhat knocked my confidence. I knew that news of him and Rachel would have flown around pretty quickly, even though it was the summer break. I wasn't ready to handle the glares, whispers and silly comments that I knew would be heading my way tonight. I did of course have one weapon though, Crystal. She pretty much didn't take crap from anyone and she had always been somewhat of a bodyguard to me as we
grew up. I always found comfort in having her around
me. S
he was the true definition of a best friend.

As Aiden pulled onto his road, the nerves began to kick in again. He threw me a little smile.

"You look nice by the way," he said as he kept his eyes fixated on the road ahead.

I knew that he was just trying to give me a confidence boost but it was still nice.

"Thanks," I replied as I forced a smile onto my nervous face.

I suddenly heard the sound of music blaring as we came closer to his house. My stomach suddenly dropped as the realisation that I'd actually have to deal with people hit me. He mu
st have
sensed my sudden panic.

"Hey, you'll be ok," he said as he threw me a reassuring smile once again. I smiled back and then stepped out of the car. My heart raced as we moved closer to the house.

"Ladies first," he said as he held the front door open for me.

“Thanks.”

"Crystal's in the living room. I'm just going to grab a drink, do you want one?"
 
He asked.

"Yeah ok, thanks," I said. I was a little apprehensive about being left alone but I would have to do this eventually.

I was instantly thrown into a group of wild teenagers dancing and laughing loudly. I
 
watched as a few of them began to stare as they recognised my face. I took a deep breath and continued walking towards the living room to find Crystal.

The vibration of the music was resonating through my
entire
body and the heat of the room was making my already shaky hands become clammy. As I
 
stepped into the living room a familiar face caused my heart to completely skip a beat. I felt the colour of my cheeks begin to change as the
embarrassment filled my
body. I felt as though everyone in the room was now staring at me even though they probably
weren’t
.
 
I stood frozen.

"April
,
I have to tell you something," Crystal said as she ran over to where I was stood.

"I think
that
I already know," I said as my eyes remained fixated on my previous discovery.

"I am so sorry.
I didn't
even
know that they were here till like two minutes ago. Someone must
 
have invited them. I'l
l tell them to leave right now.”

"No
,
don't," I
 
said.

"Huh?" She replied,
 
sounding more puzzled than ever.

"I don't want him to think that he's won," I said as I watched Kyle's smile now turn to complete shock as he too made his discovery.

He quickly whispered something to Rachel. I knew
that that
 
something was about me because her eyes instantly met with mine. Slowly he walked over to me with Rachel watching at all times. She tried to act as though she was engaged in a great con
versation with the red head who was
also staring at me
.
 
It was clear that
 
she was now desperate to know what he was about to say to me and to tell you the truth, so was I.

"Hey," he said as he shifted his eyes from my face, to the floor and back again. He seemed embarrassed.

"Hi," I replied in a bid to sound like I had gotten over him.

"Look, I can leave if you want," he said in a guilty voice.

"No, it's fine. I'm over it. I'm here with somebody else anyway," I said in as strong a tone as I could muster up in this kind of a situation.
 

"Oh," he said in a surprised tone.

I don't know what possessed me to lie but I had to. I didn't want him thinking that I still wanted him. I didn't want him to have that power over me anymore.

"So
,
who's the lucky guy?" He replied in what seemed like a jealous tone. I began smiling inside at the sight of his jealousy until I remembered that there was
no guy.

"He's
erm
...He's..." I stuttered.

"Right here," I heard a voice say as a masculine hand wrapped itself around my waist, pulling me closer to his warm body.

When
I turned my head to examine the culprit,
I discovered that
it was Aiden. A look of confusion swept over my fa
ce, he must have
realised as he gently squeezed my side.

"Here's your drink baby," he said as he handed me a
 
dark bubbly liquid, probably Pepsi knowing Aiden's obsession with it over the years.

"Thank you, baby," I
 
replied in an attempt to sound convincing.

As I looked at Kyle's face, I realised just how jealous all of this was making him. I took the drink from Aiden's hand, took a sip
 
and began to smile. Yep, it was Pepsi.

"Kyle, you remember Aiden don't you?" I asked
,
feeling rather proud of myself.

"Yeah vaguely," he replied with a baffled look on his face. This was really beginning to get to him. Result!

"Hi," Aiden said as he extended his hand towards Kyle.

"Hi," Kyle replied
as he took Aiden's hand in his and shook
it firmly in a bid to appear more masculine.

"Oh and thanks," Aiden added. Both Kyle and I now turned to face Aiden
,
rather confused by his last comment.

"For what
?"
Kyle asked.

"Letting her go," Aiden said with a smug look on his face. I gently dug him in the side to let him know that he was going a little too far. He didn't look at me but his smile told me that he was enjoying every minute of humiliating Kyle. Crystal had mentioned that for some reason he had never liked him, so I
 
can only imagine
 
that this was the perfect scenario for him.

"Anyway I better be off,
Rachel's
waiting," he said, putting extra emphasis on the word Rachel in a bid to now make me jealous. It worked of course but I played my role well.

"Ok tell her I...I mean
we
said hi," I said as I watched him walk away.

I watched as he walked
back towards his stupid, blonde
trophy, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. She
 
started to giggle as she enjoyed the new attention that she was suddenly getting. I almost got mad until I remembered just how jealous Kyle had just appeared to be.

"Did you see that?" I said as I span around to face Crystal.

"Yes," she replied in an uninterested tone.

"That dude was pretty jealous. I'd say Mr Macho isn't quite as over you as he thinks," he said as we began to walk towards the kitchen.

I couldn't help but allow a
small
smile to spread across my lips. After weeks of planning what I would do if I ever bumped into Kyle and Rachel, I had never imagined anything quite like this.

"Well
as weird as it was to see my brother all over my best friend, that was quite amusing. Serves his right anyway, he's a
jerk," Crystal replied looking rather displeased by my new found excitement.

"I hope that you're not thinking that this is
 
a chance for you two to get back together April?" She demanded.

"No of course not, it was just nice to see him finally suffering, a little," I lied.

It was stupid but I did still want him back, I couldn't help it. For just that minute, it was nice seeing those old feelings that he had before
,
written all over his face again.

"That was some decent acting by the way, Mr Daniels. Well apart from the
whole
'thanks for letting her go' bit," I
 
said as I took another sip of my drink before placing it down on the
marble
counter.