Pretend (4 page)

             
"Do you want one?" He asked, gesturing towards the can in his hand.

             
"No and you haven't answered my question yet," I
 
replied, now keeping my eyes fixated on him.

             
"She's-"

             
"I cannot believe that Hayley girl! Four times she was sick, four times!" Crystal interrupted as she burst through the kitchen door.

             
"It didn't get onto any of
 
the carpets, did it?" Aiden asked, with a look of panic now spread across his face.

             
"No, she at least managed to get it all into the toilet but it was still gross," she said as if she were relieving the moment.

             
"Where is she now?"

             
"Home, I hope. Her friend took her. Anyway enough about her, come on, we have a party to attend," she said as she grabbed hold of my arm and began dragging me towards the living room.

I felt a sense of panic come over me as I realised that I would be facing Kyle again. I was not looking forward to it. I turned back to face Aiden before we left.

             
"You'll be fine," he mouthed to me. He had obviously sensed my sudden panic.

             
As we walked through the living room doors, I felt my confidence slowly begin to slip.

             
I just hoped that he wa
s right.

"Ready?" Crystal asked as we stood outside of the living room door.

             
"Yes and no
," I mumbled back, feeling more nervous as
 
we got closer to entering the room.

             
"I'm
 
with you,
 
so don'
t worry about anyone else, ok?"

             
"Sure," I replied as I tried to force a smile onto my nervous face.

             
As we entered the living room I felt Crystal give my
hand a tiny squeeze.
I think that
 
it was her way of reminding me of what
she had just said. My eyes instantly scanned the room in search of Kyle and Rachel. I looked in the direction that they had previously been
stood by the light green drape
s but they were no longer there. I continued to allow my eyes to scan every corner
of the room and to my surprise
there was no sign of them.

             
"I think
that they're gone and good riddance too,
" Crystal whispered into my ear as she gently allowed her hand to slip free of mine.

             
A sudden feeling of relief came over me and for the first time tonight, I started to relax. As Crystal beckoned me to follow her, deeper into the living room, I could still feel the eyes of different people staring at me. It made me slightly uncomfortable but I just avoided
 
making eye contact
 
by looking down at the floor.

             
"Hey, it's April!" Jess
 
beamed as we approached her and the crowd that she was stood in. She instantly threw her arms around me, which soon became
 
a pattern that was followed by both Erica and Jinnie.

             
"I'm so glad that you came! We have missed you so
much. How are you?" Jess asked. I watched
as they all stood, staring and waiting for my reply.

             
It was nice seeing them all but I had to admit that I did feel a little swamped by all of the attention that I was now getting. These girls had been my friends since I started high school and I knew what they really wanted to ask. It would be questions about Kyle and Rachel, me and Kyle, how we broke up and all the other list of things that they had probably discussed a thousand times already. I felt relaxed, knowing that none of them had enough guts to actually approach the situation head on.

             
"I'm ok thanks," I replied as I tried to avoid looking into Jess' big, blue eyes. She was taller than the rest of us and so it was easier to avoid her gaze. Her ruffled, black dress seemed to make her appear to be larger than she actually was and the fact that she had chosen to wear flat, black ballerina shoes hadn't really helped.
 
Cutting her blonde hair to her shoulders, did however make her face appear thinner that it was, I wasn't sure how, but it just did. She was still very pretty, as always.

             
"Good, we're just glad to see you out and enjoying yourself again, right girls?" She said, looking at Erica and Jinnie.

             
"Yup," they both replied, at the same time. I always found it funny how much Erica and Jinnie did in unison. I get that twins have a 'special' connection but it did border on creepy at times. They did however have completely different styles. Jinnie was more of a tomboy and liked baggier, lighter clothes. Erica on the other hand was pretty much like Crystal when it came to clothes, completely girly.

             
I stayed with Jess, Erica and Jinnie as Crystal continued to mingle with the rest of her guests. I wasn't in the mood to dance and so I took my seat in between Jinnie and Jess.
 

             
I admired
 
Crystal's social skills in situations like these. She just loved being around people. As I watched her, she seemed right at home.

             
As I slowly took my gaze off of Crystal, I couldn't help but feel as though someo
ne was watching me. I was right. I
t was a tall, muscular guy. I didn't know him very well but I did recognise him as being one of Aiden's friends.
He wasn’t a close friend but I’d seen his face a few times.
He had on a loose, dark blue top and a pair of black jeans. As he leaned against the wall, talking to a
pretty, dark haired
girl, it became apparent that he was not listening to her at all as his eyes were completely fixated on me.

A slight rush of embarrassment came over me as he continued to stare in my direction.

             
"Hey
,
I'm going to get a drink, anyone else?" Jess asked as she stood up.

             
"No thanks," I replied.

             
"I'll come," both Jinnie and Erica said at the same time.

             
"You have got to stop doing that," Erica complained.

             
"Me? It's you that copies everything that
 
I say," Jinnie threw back at her.

             
"Yeah right, I'm a straight A student why would I want to copy someone who barely gets an F," she said with a smirk on her face.

             
"Oh shut up, that was once. I got an F once. Let it go!"

             
"Yeah whatever you say sis," Erica replied.

             
"Back in a minute," Jess said to me as she laughed at Jinnie and Erica's rather petty disagreement.

             
I suddenly felt the vibration of my phone and slipped it out of my bag. It was a message from my mom.

             
Hey sweetie. Hope that you are having a lovely time. Don't
             
forget
,
if you need a lift then just text. Oh
 
and I'm so proud of
             
you
and I love you so much. Ok,
I'm going to stop now, sorry!
             
Enjoy the rest of your evening.

             
Momxx

             
A smile crept onto my face as I read the message over, twice. It was sweet but more importantly she was actually texting. It took me months just to get her to understand what a text actually was. I pressed reply and quickly began typing my message back.

             
Hey mom. I'm having a lovely time thanks and wow your
             
actually texting. Thanks for checking on me and I
 
luv
u2 (that
             
means I love you too by the way
lol
)
xX
April Xx

             
As I pressed send, I felt a shadow tower over me. As I looked up, it was the guy that had been staring at me earlier. I could suddenly feel my face becoming hotter.

             
"Hey, is this seat taken?" He said, pointing at the empty space next to me.

             
"It is but it should be vacant for at least five minutes," I said as I threw him a smile.

             
"Pretty and funny, nice," he said, smiling back at me.
 
His comment took me by surprise as I w
as not even trying to be funny
in fact I was quite nervous.

             
I would be lying if I said that I didn't find him attractive. As he sat down, he threw his big hand through his light brown hair. I wondered what he was actually going to say as his hazel eyes once again met with mine.

             
"I'm Jake by the way," he said as he continued to stare directly at me.

             
"April," I replied.

             
"I
know
,
you're Crystal's friend.”

             
"Yeah, you know Aiden, right?"

             
"Yeah,
we go to the same music school.”

             
I suddenly felt my phone vibrate again. It was from my mom.

             
"Sorry," I
 
said as I began to read the text.

             
"It's ok, I'm not going anywhere for now," he replied with a smile on his face.

             
Good, I'm glad that you are happy. I do know what it means
             
April, I'm not that old. Oh and by the way
,
what is
lol
?

             
Mom xx

             
I let out a
loud
laugh as I read
over
the last sentence.

             
"Anything worth sharing?"
Jake asked.

             
"No just a joke message," I said as I tried to straighten my face. I quickly typed my message.

             
I'll explain later x

             
Feeling a little rude, I quickly gave Jake my full attention.

             
"Sorry, so you were saying that Aiden goes to the same music school as you?"

             
"Yeah, e
very Saturday.
We learn to play the guitar," he replied.

             
"Oh, cool. He never mentioned that," I said.

             
"I think he tries to keep it pretty quiet, so don't mention it ok?"

             
"Sure, I wouldn't do that. I don't know why he keeps it quiet though, I think
that
it's amazing to be able to play an instrument," I replied.