Pretend (29 page)

             
"So, how come you guys have picked me up?" I asked in
a
confused tone.

             
"There's something that we have to tell you sweetie," my mom said in a gentle voice.

             
"Ok," I replied in a worried tone.

             
"You
r a
unt May has taken ill and it may be her last days," she said in a sad tone.

             
Aunt May is Grandma's sister, she lives in England. I had only met her twice in my entire life, when she had come to stay with Grandma. She was a nice lady but I didn't really know her as well as
my mom did but my g
randma did talk about her all the time.

             
"Grandma's flying out there as you've probably guessed and as you know she will not g
o anywhere
without your g
ramps.”

             
I shoo
k my head, showing that I agreed.

             
"So, me and Bob have agreed to fly over as well so that
we can help her out with your g
ramps whilst she's over there as she will be tending to Aunt May as well," my mom continued.

             
"When are you going?" I asked.

             
"Tonight.”

             
"What? That's a bit soon isn't it?"

             
"Yes, well darling, it was sprung on us all today. We've ha
d to spend the whole day trying to get time
off work, booking flights, making calls. We were just as shocked as you are
,
believe me," she continued.

             
"Yes, well I understand and I hope that she gets better," I replied, knowing that it was probably unlikely from the look on mom's face.

             
"Me too angel.
We'll be out there for a week or two depending on the situation," she continued.

             
"
Well I'll be fine
, I don't want you guys worrying about me whilst you're out there. I'm a big girl," I replied in serious tone.

             
"Oh
,
we're not worried about you sweetheart, we've already sorted that out, you'll be happy to know," she said with a smile on her face.

             
"You have?"

             
"Yes, I spoke to Susan this morning and she said that
you can spend the
 
week at hers.”

             
"What!" I screamed in shock.

             
"Well sweetheart, I thought
that
you'd be happy. It'll be just like when you and Crystal were young and you used to have sleepovers," she said in a gentle tone.

             
"Yeah but I'm old
 
enough to look after myself, I don't need babysitting," I pleaded as I thought about having to spend all that time living under the same roof as Aiden.
 

             
"Yes and we know that but it would make me much happier if you weren't al
l alone in that house. At least
at Susan's you will have Aiden and Crystal, which will give me peace of mind. I thought you'd be happy anyway?" She asked.

             
"I am," I replied dryly. I was lying of course.

             
"Good. You can go home and pack, our flights in five hours so you'll have more than enough time to get some things together," she said in a chirpy voice.

             
"Yeah.”

             
Great! A
whole
week living with Aiden, there goes my plans of avoiding him.

             
This was going to be a disaster.
..

As I stepped inside of my house, I quickly ran upstairs so that I could think of a plan. A whole week or maybe two under the same roof as Aiden was not what I had planned. I wasn't sure how he was going to act after our little run in earlier.
What if Crystal started to pick up on something?
Oh gosh, I needed a way to get out of this and fast.

             
Suddenly I felt the familiar vibration of my phone.

             
A whole week at mine!!! EXCITED!! Hurry up and get your
             
butt over here so that I can make you look sexy for your date
             
tonight.
Oh and I told Jake that you’re staying here so he
             
already knows where to pick you up
xx

             
Oh great, I had totally forgot
ten
about Jake, again. I did that a lot lately.
Now that Crystal was so excited, I was even more nervous.

* * *

             
It didn't take me long to pack my things, which was good as I needed as much time as possible to make a new plan.

             
"That was quick," Bob said as I jumped down the last step with my baby blue, mini suitcase in my hand.

             
"Yeah," I said as I forced a smile onto my face.

             
"Hey, M
om
,
I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice if I kept Uncle Harry company whilst you guys were gone?" I asked as I had my fingers crossed behind my back for luck.

             
"Uncle Harry? He's watching
Tilly
, that's enough company to last him a life
time with how hyper she can be."

             
"Yeah but I'm sure that human company is better," I said.

             
"I don't know. Don't you want to stay at Susan's?" She asked suspiciously.

             
"No it's not that but I just feel like I might over stay my welcome," I replied.

             
"You use
d
to stay there much longer than a week when you guys were kids," she said as she continued to write out a
 
list, on a piece of paper.

             
"Yeah but we were little then, I guess that Crystal and Aiden might need a bit more space now," I lied.

             
I knew that Crystal would be over the moon to have me stay and Aiden was hardly going to care with his new found 'feelings'.

             
"I suppose you have a point. Maybe I can ask Uncle Harry then," she said as she picked up the house phone.

             
Result! This was easier than I thought. Crystal would be mad but it was worth it. I couldn't be around Aiden for that
 
long, it was just too dangerous.

             
"Hey, Harry, you ok?" I heard my mom say as I jumped into the chair next to her, so that I could hear the whole conversation.

             
"Hey, sis," he said. It s
ounded as though he had just ta
k
en
a sip of something. Knowing him
,
it would be beer.

             
"April was wondering if you wanted her to come and keep you company whilst we all
 
went away?" She asked as she threw me a smile.

             
"Yeah sure," I heard him say.

             
Woahhhhh
! She shoots, she scores.

             
"Ok
, great, well we're heading to M
om's and then I'll drop her round later ok?"

             
"Yup," he said as he let out a disgusting, sounding burp.

             
"And Harry?"

             
"Yup," he replied.

             
"Please take care of my baby," she said with a slight look of panic on her face.

             
"Of course," he replied.

             
"Good. See you in a bit," my mom said before hanging up the phone.

             
"Right, that's that th
en. We'll take you to see your grandma and g
ramps and then drop you there, ok?"

             
"Yeah, great," I said as a huge smile filled my face.

*
*
*

             
I almost burst into song
in the car as I realised how easily I had saved myself earlier. It felt good to succeed.

"Turn that up please," I asked as I heard
Justin
Bieber's
song,
 
Boyfriend playing on the radio. I love this song.
When Bob and M
om weren't looking I even broke out into a little happy dance. Yes!

             
I came to a halt when I realised that Bob was singing along.

             
"You know this?" I asked as I burst into laughter.

             
"Of course, I'm down with the kids. Me and Baba go way back," he said as he continued to sing and click his head from side to side just as I remember C
hris Tucker doing in rush hour.
Embarrassing.

             
"Bob, it's
Bieber
not Baba," I said as the tears started to roll down my cheeks as I laughed uncontrollably. This was definitely
YouTube
worthy, how did I not film this?

             
"Oh, you know what I mean
," he said, winking at me in the rear view mirror.

             
"Oh Bob concentrate on the road and stop shaking your neck before you get whiplash," my mom said as she looked at Bob as though he were crazy.

             
I literally couldn't stop laughing. Bob and my mom were one of the funniest couple's that I knew. Well next to Jay and Michael from My Wife and Kids, no one was
as funny as
them.

             
It wasn't long before we arrived at Gramps and Grandma's and I couldn't wait to see them before they went.

             
"Hey G
randma," I said as I ran into her arms.

             
"Hello, sweetheart.
Now is it me or have you grown since I last seen you?" She asked as she began to adjust her glasses.

             
"No, I don't think so, it h
as only
been
two days since you last seen me," I said as I giggled.

             
"You'd be surprised what can grow
in that short space of time, take
Bob's belly for example," she said as we both burst out laughing.

             
"Y
ou do know that I can hear you M
oms?" Bob said as he walked through the front door and into the living room to join us.

             
"Oh, your belly is no secret Bob, don't worry, I wasn't trying to whisper," she said as she winked at me.

             
My Grandma was
amazing,
she never failed to make me laugh.

             
"Hey Gramps," I said as I gave him a little squeeze.

             
"
Ssssh
Kelsey, I'm
watch
a new episode of touched by an angel and you're making me miss the most important bit," he said.