Pretend (67 page)

             
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, damn," I said as I quickly broke free of his hold and sped through the door.

             
"Don't forget to mention how sexy I am once you two make up and tell her that I'll be waiting for her in Murphy's room," Anthony shouted with a sound of amusement in his voice.

             
"Dude I told you to stay the hell out of my room!" Murphy said as I ran past him in search of Jess.

             
I quickly
scanned
d
the living room that we had all been in earlier before my eyes landed on Jess in the corner of the room with Crystal, Jinnie, Erica and Rachel's red headed friend.

             
"Hey," I said as I approached the group cautiously.

             
"Hey," Erica and Jinnie said at the same time.

             
"Typical, you can't just say hi by yourself, you just have to say it in unison with me!" Erica grunted.

             
"Are you kidding me?
Really?
You are so full of it, you moron," Jinnie replied in anger.

             
I took their squabble as a quick opportunity to get Jess' attention.

             
"Hey, can we talk for a second
,  i
n
private?" I asked as I tried to battle with the music, and Jinnie and Erica
’s voices
.

             
"Sure," she said before following me towards the door.
Crystal gave a quick understanding look before I watched her slap both Jinnie and Erica on the arms before telling them off. I would not change my friends for the world.

             
When we finally found a quiet spot in the hall way, I turned to Jess nervously.

             
"So, look, I'm really
sorr
-"

             
"
It's
fine," she quickly jumped in with a smile on her face.

             
"It's not, I jumped to conclusions and I was wrong and rude, I'm sorry," I said as I threw her a gentle smile.

             
"It's ok April, honestly. I know that you were just mad because of what Rachel did. I knew that you wo
uld come around sooner or later. I
t's water under the bridge
,
honestly," she said before I threw my arms around her.

             
"Is it me or did God just give me like all
of
the best friends in the world?" I asked as I smiled at her.

             
"Oh no
,
it's not you, he really did," she said as we both began to giggle.

             
"Oh yeah, Anthony mentioned something about meeting you in Murphy's room," I said as we both burst out laughing.

             
"I swear that boy belongs in Hollywood," she said as we both began to catch
our breath
.

             
"What do you mean?" I asked with an amused expression.

             
"He's a born actor, I swear. He acts like that when he knows that we haven't done anything," she said as she rolled her eyes.

             
"Really?"
I asked in shock.

             
"Yes really! What do you take me for?" She said as she playfully hit my arm.

             
"So
,
you guys haven't done anything?" I asked in a more serious tone.

             
"No, just kissed. Is that weird?" She asked.

             
"No, not at all.
It's just that it's Anthony. He must really like you if he's letting you make him wait," I said.

             
"Oh no
,
it's not me!" She blurted out.

             
"It's not?"

             
"No, well at first yeah but you know
there have been moments
where it
’
s gotten close," she said in a shy voice.

             
"Ok and you stopped it?" I asked.

             
"No, that's the point. If it was up to me and my lack of self control then the deed would have been done," she said as we both giggled again.

             
"Oh," I said as I got a better understanding. Wow, Anthony is truly whipped!

             
"He said that he wants my first time to be special. He doesn't want to rush it," she said as she smiled at whatever thought was going through her head.

             
"That is actually really sweet especially coming from Anthony," I said as we both started to laugh.

             
"I know yeah. So
, what about you and Aiden?
I
see the tension between you two,
" she said as she winked at me.

             
"Honestly, we haven't even discussed it. I hadn't even given it much thought to be honest," I replied.

             
"Oh, well that's really good especially for men like Anthony and Aiden," she said with a smirk on her face.

             
"Yes it is, if I'd known that you would be the one to calm Anthony down then I would have introduced you to him years ago," I said as a smirk filled my lips too.

             
"Did I just hear my name?" Anthony said as he threw his arm around Jess' shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek.

             
"Maybe you did
,
nosey," she said as she smiled at him.

             
"Hey," Aiden said before slipping his arm around my waist and giving me a smile that made my heart do a crazy back
flip.

             
"Oh
,
there you all are," Crystal said as she, Jinnie, Erica and the red head approached us.

             
"Guys
,
this is Marissa, Rachel's friend," she said, pointing to the red head.

             
"Ex friend," the red head said nervously.

             
"You never know, once she gets through this little thing that she
's going through I'm sure you tw
o can work it out," I said
,
knowing that she felt guilty because of what Rachel did tonight. I wanted to reassure her that there were no hard feelings.

             
"Hopefully," she replied as she threw me an understanding smile.

             
"Anyway I'm glad that you guys are all here because I wanted to talk to you," Crystal said as she pointed at Aiden, Jess and Anthony with an evil smile on her face.

             
"Uh oh," Anthony mumbled.

             
"Yes uh oh my dear sweet lying little Anthony," she said as she gave him a death glare.

             
"Hey
,
I didn't lie, I just didn't talk," he said as he tried to avoid Crystal's gaze.

             
It was all quite amusing since I could see that she was fighting to hold back her laugh
ter
.

"You see I've already grilled madam here," she said looking towards me.

             
"And I expect doughnut brain here to hide stuff from me because he always has," she said as she slapped the back of Aiden's head.

             
"Ouch, I need my brains you know, hot looks alone mean nothing in this word," he said as a smirk filled his face.
I rolled my eyes at the same time that Crystal did, causing him to only laugh more.

             
"So
,
that leaves my two 'loyal' little friends over here. Now, now, now what to do with you two," she said as she eyed up Anthony and Jess.

             
"Hey I'm Aiden's best friend so I was torn plus I'm a guy you can't expect me to make rational decisions. Aiden told me whilst I was already doing something and you know that guys can't multitask, I got confused. Here take her, she's the real
villain
here," he said as he pushed Jess, gently towards her.

             
"Oh, don't think
that
I'll forget that later," Jess said as she threw Anthony a look that meant that there would be payback.

             
"The funny thing is that you all actually believed that you could lie to me and that I wouldn't know," Crystal continued with her little game.

             
"
Erm
...Well...Yes?
I'm coming!" Anthony shouted as we all looked at him in confusion.

             
"Sorry guys Murphy's calling me, he needs help with that thing from earlier, you coming baby?" He said turning to Jess.

             
"Thing?
Oh that thing, yeah the important thing that we've got to do," she replied, playing along with his little game making the smirk on Crystal's face increase.

             
"Yeah tha
t thing," he replied with a nod
.

             
"Yeah we better get going to help him with
erm
...The thing then," Jess replied.

             
"Yep, ok guys we'll catch you later," Anthony said as he dragged Jess' arm and walked off towards kitchen whilst smiling.

             
"Oh you can run but you can't hide," Crystal shouted after them as the smirk on her face increased.

             
"Yeah but we're in Murphy
’
s mansion, so many places to hide and hiding should be fun with my sexy little girlfriend here," he said as his eyes scanned Jess' body and he placed his hand on her waist.

             
"Get off me, remember you tried to sacrifice me to her first," she said as she slapped his hand off of her.

             
"That was just
a
part of the plan baby," he said as she scoffed and walked off into the kitchen with him following closely behind her.
We all turned to face each other and then burst out laughing.

             
"Oh gosh, I love my friends," I said as we all tried to calm down.

             
"Yeah always
offering
the greatest entertainment," Crystal added as we all shook our heads in agreement.

             
"What's all the laughing about?" Cameron said as he walked up to us.

             
"Just my crazy friends as usual," Crystal replied as she smiled up at him.

             
"Oh right," he replied as he threw us all a smile and did a little head nod at Aiden.

             
"So could I be a pain and steal Crystal away for a little while?" He asked.

             
"Yeah but remember as much as I like you she's still my
little
sister and I will kill you if you hurt her," Aiden said with a smile on his face.

             
"Of course," Cameron said with a smile on his face. He knew that Aiden was joking of course, well to some extent.

             
"You brother have been sneaking around with my best friend so you are not one to give out threats tonight," Crystal said as she raised an eyebrow at him.

             
"Hey, you already slapped me in my precious brains, I think it's time to let it go now," he said as he winked at her and laughed before ducking from the slap that she was aiming at his head again.

             
"Oh there will be plenty more opportunities believe me," she said as she smiled and then walked off with
Cameron.

             
"Well I'm going to go and find Murphy and Taise
,
ok?" Aiden said as he kissed me on the cheek. I tried to ignore the '
awws
' and '
owws
' from the other three girls that I was stood with.

             
"Ok, I'll see you later," I said with a smile.

             
"Oh and Crystal's staying at Cam's tonight," he said with a very pleased look on his face.

             
"Aren't you staying here tonigh
t?" I asked in a confused tone.
Usually after Murphy's big parties he would always stay the night and help clean up in the morning.