Pretend (9 page)

             
"Yes, as long as you're not back too late, remember that it's a school night," she said in a more serious tone.

             
"I won't," I added before jumping up and planting a kiss on her cheek.

             
"Thanks M
om.”

             
"I hope you've got your seatbelt on?" She asked.

             
"Of course," I said as I quickly clipped myself in.

             
The rest of the drive to
Grandma’s
was spent, pretty much in silence, apart from the odd time that Bob decided to burst into song.

             
"Right, ladies we have arrived," Bob said as we pulled
up
outside of Grandma's house.
Before leaving the car I qu
ickly remembered to put my cell
back onto vibrate in case Aiden or Crystal tried to call me again.
I slipped my seatbelt off, ran up the path and rang the door bell.
One of my favourite things
was coming here, every Sunday. I remember when I was little and
Grandma and Gra
mps would babysit me, Aiden, Crystal and Anthony,
it was
 
so much fun.
Anthony was Aiden’s friend and was probably around just as much as I was he was like a big brother to me. There
 
are three levels in the
house and to a child that is a dream playhouse.
 
The list of 'adventures' that we went on was
 
enough to be able to write a
whole
book.

             
"April," a
shaky and rather excited voice said as the door gently, swung open.

             
"Grandma," I said as I threw myself into her arms.

             
"Oh it is good to see my favourite grandchild," she said before kissing my forehead.

             
"Grandma, I'm your only grandchild," I said as I began to chuckle.

             
"Exactly," she said as she touched my nose with her finger and winked.

             
"Hi M
om," my mom said as she embraced Grandma for several minutes.

             
"How's my beautiful daughter?" She asked, whilst looking lovingly into her eyes.

             
"I'm good M
om, although you did see me ye
sterday," she said as she let
out a gentle laugh.

             
"Yes, well a lot can chang
e in between now and
 
then
 
dear
.”

             
"Yes Mom.”

             
"Oh
and look at you Bob. I s
ee that, that
beer belly grows a little more between our visits," she said before pulling him in for a hug.

             
"Oh you certainly know how to make a man feel special
, don't you M
oms," he said as he began to laugh and give her a gentle peck on the cheek.

             
"What else are mother in laws for hey," she replied before shutting the front door and walking into the living room with us, all following closely behind her.

             
It was funny
that after all the years of my grandma and g
ramps living here, it still smelt exactly the same. I
loved it though. I
t made me feel at home.

             
"Gramps," I said as I saw him sat in front of the TV, in his wooden chair.

             
"Oh look at you," he said, taking my hand and spinning me around the best that he could whilst still sitting down.

             
"My little Kelsey bird has grown up so fast," he said as a tear filled the corner of his eye.

             
"I'm April
,
Gramps, Kelsey's daughter. Remember I told you last week?" I said, gently as I stroked his hand.

             
"Oh no dear you must be mistaken, I haven't seen you in years," he said before returning back to his TV show. It was a program called 'Touched
By
An Angel', in fact it was a recorded episode. It was the only thing that he would sit down and watch in complete silence if left alone.

             
"Hello D
ad," my mom said as she planted a soft, long kiss onto the top of his head.

             
"Oh hello dear," he replied as he threw my mom a smile. As she walked back over to talk to Grandma, he whispered something in my ear.

             
"Poor girl seems confused, seems to think I'm her father," he said as he began to giggle
quietly, so that M
om wouldn't hear him.

             
I stared into his eyes and smiled. It had been a year since Gramps was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I didn't understand how it would be possible to be around him if he didn't remember me
 
but then I realised that he would always be here, no matter what because I have all of my memories. So
me days are better than others and
sometimes he doesn't even remember me at all.

             
"Where's Harry?" My mom asked Grandma.

             
"Oh he's out there playing with that damn dog. April go
and
fetch your uncle and t
ell him
 
that I want him please.”

             
"Yes Grandma," I replied, before heading towards the sliding patio doors in the kitchen.

             
"Uncle Harry!" I shouted before being jumped on by
Tilly
.

             
"Down girl, down," I said as I stroked her big, floppy ears. She let out a small ba
rk before running back
 
outside
into
 
the garden and chasing her own tail.

             
"
How's my favourite little niece?
" Uncle Harry beamed as he picked me up and started to spin me around in the air. I screamed with excitement and began to laugh.

             
"Don't you think
that I'm a little old for that now?" I asked as I
lifted one eyebrow up in the air and smiled at him.

             
"Too old?
Don't swear at me, here in
Neverland
we never get old," he said, in a rather bad pirate accent, causing us both to burst into laughter.

             
"I see you're still mature," my mom suddenly interrupted as she appeared from around the corner.

             
"Hey
,
big sis!"
He said as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

             
As they continued to talk
I turned to watch
Tilly
playing freely in the garden with her squeaky, mouse toy. I suddenly felt the vibration of my phone. My stomach dropped as I
 
wondered whether or not Kyle had anything
 
else left to say to me.

It was a message from Aiden's phone, from Crystal.
 

             
So?

             
As I read the message, I remembered that I had forgotten to let her know whether I was going to meet her later.

             
Mom said yes. Oh and she said yes to tomorrow too.

             
xX
April Xx

             
As soon as I sent it, she sent one back.

             
Tomorrow?

             
I had forgotten that Crystal was upstairs when her mom had phoned and invited me to dinner.

             
Ask Aiden

             
I sent back, not really in the mood to explain everything right now.

             
Ok. Aiden said he'll pick you up at 5!
xxxxx

             
Dinner seemed to come and go really quickly and before I knew it, it was quarter past four. Gramps was sat still in his wooden chair watching another recording of 'Touched
By
An Angel' whilst we were deep into a game of charades.

             
"Three words, first word...The!
Second word...Lion!" Everyone began shouting at the same time. My family are extremely competitive and I have to admit that I am no exception to that.

             
"The Lion King!"
I screamed as I jumped up,
 
off of the chair and started to do my happy dance.

             
"W
hat's that now Uncle Harry?
Four
, one!"
I said fee
ling rather happy by how close we were to winning.

             
"We're just warming up ladies! Aren't we Bob?" He said, nudging his arm.

             
"That's right and you've got an advantage, you have one extra team member," Bob added.

             
"O
h be quiet Bob, surely that beer belly counts as an extra memb
er," Grandma replied as me and M
om burst into laughter.

             
"
O
hh
y
ou've got jokes M
oms, we'll see who's laughing soon!" Bob said as a smile spread across his face.

I suddenly felt my phone vibrate, it was Aiden.

             
"Hey," I said moving a little away from the noise.

             
"Hey, I had to come into the
area to pick something up, so
 
I'm
 
two minutes
 
away. If you want me to pick you up earlier, then I can?" He asked.

             
My eyes flashed to the clock which now read four, twenty-five.

             
"Yeah, I'll come now if you're already here," I said, a little disappointed that I would be missing my teams final triumphant to victory.

             
"Oh
,
no way!
Is that Aiden?" Bob shouted from across the room.

             
"Yeah," I replied, slightly covering the receiver with my hand.

             
"Tell him that he can't take you
until
we win, if he wants to come early then he'll have to come and play first," Bob shouted, loud enough for Aiden to hear.

             
"Did
you catch that?" I giggled down the phone.

             
"Yep, what are you playing?" He asked.

             
"Charades," I replied.

             
"Oh, I always win in that game, I'm a master," he said. It sounds crazy but I could actually hear him smirking.

             
"Oh, is that right," I replied with a smirk on my face.

             
"Yup," he
 
answered with a sound of confidence resounding in his voice.

             
"Prove it," I said.

             
"I'm already outside," he replied, before I hung up the phone and ran over to let him in.

             
"Welcome to the madness," I said as I smiled at him.

He just about managed to smile back as the eager crowd, also known as my family, grabbed him and prepped him for the game.

* * *

             
Since Aiden had arrive
d, the score had evened up to four, four
. It was the last go and it was my turn to go up. Aiden's eyes were fixated on me. He looked like a warrior ready to go to battle, which made me laugh. I began to focus, knowing that this was the point that would determine our victory or our demise.