"Yes Mom," I replied before clipping myself in.
"So, you seem happier than you did last night," he said, suddenly sounding more serious.
"Yeah, being around my family kind of helps to forget about Kyle, you know?"
"Yeah, I think I understand.”
"Thanks," I said as I turned to look out of the window.
"For what?" He asked in a surprised tone.
"Just, you know, being there. First Kyle then today with Gramps, I'm just grateful," I replied.
"April, I will always help you," he replied in a serious tone.
"Even if it meant going against Sally?" I said, laughing.
"Yes," he replied as he kept a straight face and looked ahead.
I was shocked, I hadn't expected that response. When I realised that I was laughing alone, I quickly stopped making noise. I had butterflies in my stomach, although I didn't understand why.
"Aiden?" I began.
Unfortunately the vibration of my phone interrupted what I was about to say.
"Sorry," I said as I took it out of my bag and looked at the screen.
It was a text message from a number that wasn't stored in my contacts. I would love to say that I didn't know who it was but unfortunately, I knew Kyle's number off by heart.
"Great," I mumbled as I proceeded to open the message.
"Everything ok?" Aiden asked.
"Yeah," I lied.
I flicked my eyes back to the screen and read the message.
I need to see you. Can we meet tonight?
Had he completely lost his mind! What the hell was this, some sort of joke?
Aiden must have seen the shocked expression on my face as he glanced over at me.
"Kyle?" He asked.
"Yeah," I replied in an angry tone. I wasn't even a person that got angry and yet my blood was boiling.
"Why don't you just ignore it?" Aiden said in a frustrated tone.
I don't know why he was acting so frustrated when I was the one that this idiot was playing games with. I don't know what was happening but suddenly all of my anger and frustration towards Kyle was surfacing, right now.
"You know, I am so sick and tired of people telling me what to do! First Kyle, then Crystal, then Rachel and now you! What am I, like five! I know how to handle a situation without your advice, thanks!"
"Fine," he replied in an angry tone.
"Yeah, fine," I spat back at him.
I wanted to say sorry, the minute that the words left my mouth but looking at his face, it was probably better to let things cool off a little. I reverted my eyes back to the screen of my phone and read Kyle's message again. I was going to ignore it but I just couldn't, it was making me too angry.
Let's get this straight Kyle, you and I, are over. Got that? OVER! You can't text one minute telling me to move on and then the next saying you want to see me! It doesn't work like that! So just get the hell out my life!!!!
I stared at the screen for a few minutes, dissecting each word one at a time. My heart began beating faster as my thumb hovered over the send button. I can't believe that I'm about to say this but sometimes I wish that I was more like Rachel, cold hearted and spiteful. Unfortunately I wasn't so my thumb went straight over to the delete button. I got rid of the message and started to write again.
Why?
It was pathetic, I know but I just wasn't expecting a follow up to this morning’s text that he had sent me and sending back a message like that, just wasn't my style. I pressed send and then rested my phone in my lap.
I looked up at Aiden who was sat in silence as he continued to drive. I watched as he vigorously pulled each gear into place and swung the steering wheel round with force as we took each corner. He never got mad and I felt so bad.
"Aiden, I'm really So-"
Suddenly I felt my phone vibrate again, which stopped me mid sentence.
"Don't want to leave Kyle waiting," he mumbled as he sniggered angrily to himself.
I felt bad, again. I quickly retrieved my phone from my lap and looked at the screen. It was from Kyle. I opened the message and read the contents.
I have to tell you something, it's really important. Please...
Something important? What could he possibly tell me of importance? Was it that he has an evil twin who cheated on me with Rachel but now he's back to save the day? No. Unless it was as good an excuse as that, I wasn't interested.
I wasn't in the mood to hear any more of Kyle's excuses so I ignored the last text and then put my phone back inside of my bag.
I wanted to talk to Aiden. I needed to make things right before we met up with Crystal. As we pulled up at the park, I got straight out of the car. I watched as he slammed his car door, locked it and then walked off.
"Aiden!" I called after him.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to face me.
"Look, I know that I was a bit harsh back there and you didn't deserve that," I said in a guilty voice as I walked towards him.
"No, I didn't," he replied, still looking rather annoyed.
"I'm sorry, I was just taking my frustration with Kyle out on you," I said as I awaited an answer.
"I know," he replied, more sympathetically this time.
"Forgiven?" I asked.
"Yeah but on one condition," he said as a small smile spread across his lips.
"What?" I asked, curiously.
"You admit that I am the king of charades," he said as he began to laugh.
"Are you kidding me?" I replied as I tried to the force the smile off of my face.
"I never kid," he replied as the smile on his face grew larger.
"And then you'll forgive me?" I asked.
"Completely," he said, staring into my eyes.
"Ok...You're the king of charares," I mumbled as we continued to walk through the park.
"How silly do you think I am? You think that I can't tell that you're not even saying charades?" He said as he let out a loud laugh.
"Ok fine! You really want me to do this?" I asked in a sympathetic voice.
"Yes and your puppy dog eyes don't work on me, angel," he said with a smirk on his face.
"Ok, fine!" I said.
I took a deep breath and looked down at the floor.
"You are the king of charades," I said as quickly as I possibly could.
"Now, doesn't that feel good?" He asked as he threw his hand around my shoulders and continued to laugh.
"Yeah, I suppose you do need reassuring after how badly, the last game we played turned out," I said as I began to laugh, excessively.
"Huh?" He asked with a confused expression on his face.
I began to talk as I slowly tried to control my laughter.
"Remember when me, you, Crystal and Anthony were playing dares and you got the gum stuck up your nose and your mom had to take you to the emergency room?" I replied as I began laughing again.
"Oh you think that's funny do you?"
"Yeah I do actually," I replied, still laughing.
"I wonder how funny you'll find this," he said as he pulled me towards him and began tickling me.
"No!" I screamed as fits of uncontrollable laughter escaped from my mouth.
"Oh, forgot you was ticklish didn't you, good job I didn't," he said as we both fell onto the ground.
Slowly Aiden and I stopped laughing as we took in the situation. As I looked up at him on top of me, my eyes were drawn to his. As he stared down at me, a feeling shot through my spine, just like the one that I had felt in my dream. Suddenly everything seemed so quiet.
"April," he whispered as he looked down at me with a serious expression now on his face. My heart skipped a beat, I couldn't understand why but it did.
"Yes?" I whispered almost unable to talk.
"I-"
"Aiden, April! Where are you?"
It was Crystal. Suddenly without the need to discuss it we both jumped up. I began to dust the grass off of my clothes.
What just ha
ppened?
"Oh, there you are. I have been looking for you everywhere. We went to the shop and then I seen your car on the way back but I couldn't find you and I couldn’t call you, so then I started to-"
Suddenly she cut herself off as she took in the strange expression that was on both of our faces.
"What is wrong with you two? You look like you've just seen a ghost," she said.
I couldn't talk.
"Ok, so you found us now, come on and stop being so dramatic," Aiden replied as they began to walk ahead.
I could feel his eyes on me as he looked back at where I was stood but I refused to look at him.
"Oh shut up Aiden," she replied.
I stood frozen. I just couldn't understand what had just happened. None of it made sense.
"Oh my gosh. April, will you come on?" Crystal shouted back at me, impatiently.
"Yeah, I'm coming," I mumbled as I continued to stare at the two of them walking ahead.
"I'm coming..."
"Found them," Crystal said as we walked towards Jess and Erica.
"Where were you guys?" Jess asked.
"We just got a bit lost," Aiden quickly answered as he glanced at my blank face.
It was as if I had completely lost touch with reality. My mind was racing all over the place and I struggled to keep up with it.
"I'm going to catch up with the guys," Aiden said to Crystal, even though his eyes were fixated on me.
I felt strange, like everyone could hear my thoughts and knew what I was thinking. Crystal continued to engage in conversation with Erica and ignored Aiden but I don't really think that he said it for her benefit anyway.
"Hey, are you ok?" Jess asked as she walked towards me.
"Yeah, I'm just tired," I lied.
"Where's Jinnie?"
"Oh, Erica said that she has some bug, probably twenty four hour. I'm sure she'll be fine by tomorrow," she replied.
"Oh, ok," I mumbled.
"Are you sure that you're ok?" She asked, staring deep into my eyes with what appeared to be a worried expression on her face.
I knew that saying I was tired again just wasn't going to work.
"I got a text from Kyle after the party," I said as I sat down on the bench that was a couple of feet away from where we were stood.
"Should I even ask what it said?" She replied, looking as though she should expect the worst.
"He told me that I needed to move on and then he text me today to say that he wanted to see me and can I met him.”
"Well that's real nice of him, isn't it," she replied sarcastically.
"Hmm.”
"So, are you going to meet him?" She asked.
"No, I think it's time to move on," I said as my eyes fell on Aiden. He was stood with a group of friends, I couldn't quite make out who they were as they were a little too far away now but I knew one thing, he was staring right back at me.
"Yeah, that's the spirit. Kyle's a jerk anyway, you deserve better," she said as she squeezed my hand and smiled.
"Thanks," I said.
"What are you ladies whispering about?" A familiar voice asked.
As I lifted my head I jumped up in excitement.
"Anthony," I shrieked as I threw my arms around him.
"Hey kiddo," he replied as he laughed and swung me round.
"Hey I'm sixteen, don't you think it's time to stop calling me kiddo?" I asked as a smirk grew on my face.
I looked over at Jess. Her face was filled with confusion.
"Sorry, Anthony, this is Jess, Jess this is Anthony. Anthony's one of Aiden's good friends, we used to see each other all the time when we were little, till he decided to move away and forget about us," I said as I hit him playfully on the arm.
"Hey you're making me sound bad," he said before walking up to Jess and extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you, you guys really are proving my theory to be true," he said.
"What theory?" I asked.
"That all of Crystal's friends are beautiful," he said as he looked at Jess.
She was blushing of course. I knew that she would like Anthony. He had all the qualities that she always said that she wanted in a guy. Dark hair, hazel eyes, six pack, tall, funny and the list goes on. I watched as Jess did her 'flirty laugh' and flashed her long eyelashes all over the place.
"Still the charmer I see," I said, looking in his direction.
"I just say it as it is," he replied with a smirk on his face.
"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked.
"I'm staying at my cousin's for a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd swing by and see you guys.”
"Well I'm glad that you did, it was a nice surprise," I replied.
"Yeah, it was," he replied.
"Ok, well I'm going to talk to Crystal, I'll leave you two to err...get to know each other," I said as I winked at Jess and walked off. I knew that it was exactly what she wanted me to do and she would thank me for it later.
"Hey," a voice called from behind me.
As I turned around, that all too familiar feeling in my stomach returned. I felt my cheeks warm up as his eyes met mine.
"Hey," I replied, quietly.
"We need to talk," he said.
"I know but not here Aiden, we-"
"Why are you two always whispering and walking so slow, come here April, we need to talk," Crystal said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me in the opposite direction.
I looked back at Aiden and sighed before turning around to face Crystal.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked as I struggled to keep up with her pace.
"I am going to help you. You need to get over Kyle-"
I quickly tried to interrupt her.
"I am-"
"Properly," she said before I got the chance to finish my sentence.
"So I have the perfect solution," she said as a huge grin filled her face.
"What?" I said feeling rather confused.
"Right there," she replied, pointing ahead of her.
As my eyes focused on where she was pointing, I raised one eyebrow and turned to face her again.
"How is Jake going to help me get over Kyle?" I asked in a frustrated tone. I tried to keep my voice down as I was aware that Aiden was in ear shot of the entire conversation. I didn't want to jump to conclusions but I was pretty sure that he was purposely listening.
"Ok, look again. Have you seen Jake lately, he is freaking hot!" She replied.
"Well then why don't you date him?" I answered, feeling more frustrated.
"Seriously? He's my brother's friend, that would just be wrong," she said with a look of disgust on her face.
Why hadn't I thought of that before?
Aiden was Crystal's brother. He was my best friend's brother. I can't be thinking about him or even thinking about thinking about him.
What's wrong with me?
"Yeah," I finally mumbled.
"Good, now stay here," she said before running off in Jake's direction.
"No, Crystal!" I shouted after her. It was pointless, once she had a plan in her mind there was no stopping her. I slumped down onto the grass, feeling sorry for myself.
Why was my life so complicated?
As I looked up at the sky, I began to relax and enjoy the warmth of the sun on my body. I suddenly felt a shadow block the sun that was previously blanketing my skin.
"Hey, Crystal said that you wanted to talk to me.”
"I never said that, I'm sorry she's just trying to do some stupid match making game," I said, feeling slightly embarrassed after the words left my mouth.
"Sounds fun," he said as he laughed and then sat down next to me on the grass.
"Nice day, isn't it?" He said.
"It's beautiful," I replied.
"It's not the only thing," he said as he smiled at me.
"Thanks," I said as I allowed a smile to spread across my lips.
After ten minutes of talking about the park, the weather and Crystal, Jake and I wer
e in a full blown conversation. He was actually really easy to get along with and when I glanced down at my phone, I realised that we had already been speaking for forty minutes.
"Ok, I know you said that you want to be friends but if I don't at least ask you to come out with me, I think that Crystal may just kill us both," he said as we both watched her, Jess and Erica staring at us.
We both burst out laughing.
"Yeah, you're probably right," I replied after a few seconds.
"Look, I'm not really looking for anything right now," I said as his smile faded into a look of disappointment.
"But," I continued, "it wouldn't hurt to have an extra friend right now," I said as I threw him a smile.
His face lit up immediately.
"Why don't you just hang out with me some day? As friends of course," he said as he let out a quiet laugh.
"Yeah, ok, why not.”
"Really?" He asked in a confused and happy tone.
"Yeah," I replied as a giggle escaped my mouth.
"How about Tuesday?" He asked.
"Yeah, Tuesday is great," I replied.
"Great, I'll text you tomorrow and we can figure out what to do, ok?"
"Yeah, it sounds like a plan," I answered as I threw my head back and allowed the sun to shine on my face. I loved feeling the heat on my skin, it was amazing.
"Hey guys, we're all heading to Jess' house, you coming?" Crystal shouted from across the park.
Jake raised his thumb in the air to signal that he was in and then turned to face me.
"You coming?" He asked.
"No, I think I'll give it a miss, I’ve got some stuff to sort out at home," I replied.
"Ok," he said before standing up and offering me his hand.
"Thanks," I said as I allowed him to pull me to my feet.
We walked over to where everyone else was now stood. They were all chatting about who was going where and which cars they could all squash into. The only quiet one was Aiden. He didn't look at me at all, in fact he looked annoyed.
"Hey," I said.
"So, you guys coming?" Crystal asked in an excited tone.
"No, I think I'm going to give it a miss, I'm just really tired but you guys carry on," I replied.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun," she said, giving me her 'you better come' look.
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