Pretend

by Charlene Antrobus

  When I stared down at that something it was a wheelchair and sat right there smiling away at my probably dumbfound expression was Kyle. I was literally frozen in one spot and robbed of all possible words at this moment. It had been six weeks since I had last seen him and he looked so healthy. The colour in his cheeks was back, the smile on his face and the sparkle in his eyes.

  "I don't understand, you said that I wouldn't see you until..." I trailed off as I looked down at his legs and the wheelchair that he was sat in.

  "Yes I did and I never break a promise April," he said before reaching his hand out to Aiden.

  As I watched Kyle using all of his strength to lift himself out of the wheelchair as he clutched on to Aiden's hand I felt the tears start to spill onto my cheeks. I watched as he kept a smile on his face every step of the way. He started off using Aiden for support and then when he got comfortable he let go. Granted he wasn't sprinting over here or even walking like he usually would, I could see that it was a struggle and took everything that he had but the point was he was walking.

  As he took the final steps that led him to me I threw my arms around him in excitement.

  "You did it! You really did it!" I squealed as I held him even tighter.

  "I told you that I would and so I did. That and the fact that that moron over there threatened me with all sorts if my birthday present to him wasn't me being able to walk," he said as he looked back and smiled at a very happy looking Aiden.

  "Oh, did he now?" I asked as I began to chuckle.

  "You're damn right I did," Aiden said as he smiled at me.

  "I'll give you guys a minute, ok," Aiden said as he smiled at me and then walked off into the trees.

  I gently helped Kyle back over to his chair and then sat down next to him.

  "So, how have you been?" I asked as I smiled up at him.

  "Great actually. Believe it or not I've met some really cool people since being in hospital and my physio therapist is kind of hot ask Aid-" He hesitated before we both burst out laughing.

  "Oh, I'll be asking him later, don't worry," I said as I began to smile.

  "How did you do it?" I asked, nervously as I gestured towards his legs.

  "It was hard, believe me but when you have people around you that believe in you it changes everything. He never gave up on me you know," he said as he avoided my gaze.

  "I knew that he wouldn't," I replied with a small smile on my face.

  "I know that I always had my doubts about him but he's a real good guy April. If it wasn't for Aiden I don't know where I would be right now. So many times I just wanted it to be over, I wanted to end it but he just kept pushing me and pushing me. He believed in me even when I couldn't. I'll never forget what he did for me."

  "I don't think that he'll ever forget what you did for him either, Kyle," I said as I gently squeezed his hand and smiled.

  "So, how's the party going?" He asked with a grin.

  "It's been nice, are you joining us?" I asked.

  "No, I'm going to go and get some rest, all that walking is tiring you know," he said as he chuckled to himself.

  "Not getting old on me are you Edwards?" I teased.

  "Give me a month and I'll be showing you my dance moves," he said as we both burst out laughing.

  "Now this I have got to see-"

  "What's all the cackling about?" Aiden asked as he walked towards us, smiling.

  "Just letting her know that I'll be breaking it down on the dance floor again in about a month," he said as Aiden raised his eyebrows at him.

  "Now this I would pay to see," Aiden chuckled.

  "What, I've got moves you know," Kyle replied.

  "Must be all the hard work the physio therapist is putting in," Aiden said as he winked at him.

  "Oh, yeah I've heard all about her. Hot is she then?" I asked Aiden in a playful tone.

  "Dude, what happened to the bro code?" Aiden said as he slapped Kyle around the head and laughed.

  "Hey, it just slipped out, no need for violence," Kyle said as he rubbed the back of his head and winked at Aiden.

  "Now, now children let's calm down," I said as I raised my eyebrows at them both.

  "Yes Mom," they both said as they burst out laughing.

  Men!

  After chatting and laughing away we finally dropped Kyle back to his house since his mom hadn't stayed at the park to drop him back home. It also seemed that Aiden was quite a hit with Kyle's parents too. They were treating him like their second son which made sense since Aiden and Kyle were acting like a couple of hyper active brothers. Wow, that was a sentence that I never thought that I'd say. Mimi also seems to love Aiden and didn't hesitate in letting me know that she approved of him being my boyfriend and that he was already like her big brother too which was pretty adorable to be honest.

  "Ok, now remember what I said about Tommy," Aiden said as he looked Mimi in the eyes.

  "I know, I know. We can talk but if he tries to kiss me then I have to tell him that my big brothers are going to come down the school and beat him up. You've said this like a thousand times now Aidy," she moaned as she put her hands on her hips and scrunched up her face.

  "Yeah and tell him that I'll drive over his foot," Kyle said as him and Aiden slammed their fists together before laughing very loudly. Mimi and I just rolled our eyes of course.

  "It's a wheelchair silly, you're not supposed to run people over with it, that's not what it's for dufus. You can't hurt Tommy anyway, I like him," she said as she stuck out her tongue at the two of them.

  "Oh, are you daring us dear sweet little sister?" Aiden said as he stuck his tongue back out at her like a little kid. To think these two have both had the title of boyfriend in my life, what is the world coming to?

  "No, you two won't otherwise you'll have me to deal with. Now you go and get some rest and you put your tongue back in your head and get back to your party," I said as I stared at the two of them.

  "Can I come?" Mimi said in an excited voice.

  "No squirt, its way past your bed time," Kyle said as he messed up her hair.

  "But I want to go to Aidy's house, I haven't been before," she said in a sad voice.

  "You can come another day, princess, ok?" Aiden said.

  "Ok, but you better take me or I'll never speak to you again," she said as she frowned at him.

  "Oh no, we can't have that now, can we?" he said as he picked her up and span her around as she giggled, loudly.

  "Ok time for us to go now, nighthy, night," Aiden said as he gave Mimi a little squeeze and placed her back on the floor.

  "Bye April, I love you," she said as she latched onto my leg and squeezed tight.

  "I love you too baby," I said as I bent down and kissed her on the head.

  "I'll see you tomorrow," Aiden said as he turned to Kyle.

  "What! It's Saturday tomorrow. I thought that that was our day off?" Kyle asked in shock.

  "No, I told you that once I see some improvement I'm going to work you harder," he said with a smirk on his face.

  "That's so backwards," Kyle said as he scoffed.

  "Yeah, yeah. Just be ready for nine thirty," Aiden said as he bent down and gave Kyle a 'man hug'.

  "Mr and Mrs E, I will see you both in the morning," he said as he shook Kyle's dad's hand and gave his mom a hug.

  “See you tomorrow son,” Mr Edwards said.

  "We'll have some breakfast waiting for you," Mrs Edwards said as the smile on Aiden’s face doubled in size.

  "April, it was lovely seeing you, you must visit more often, ok?" She said as she turned to face me.

  "Yeah, please!" Mimi agreed.

  "I will," I said as I gave Mr and Mrs Edwards a hug.

  “You take care and please don’t leave it so long next time,” I whispered in Kyle’s ear as I gave him a tight squeeze.

  “I won’t,” he said as he held me tight.

  “Love you,” I said before gently pulling away.

  “You too,” he said as he
winked at me and then smiled at a happy looking Aiden.

  "Bye," Both Aiden and I said before walking out of the door and heading towards his car.

  As we stepped outside I instantly threw my arms around Aiden.

  “What was that for?” He said as he chuckled.

  “You are amazing,” I said as I held him even tighter.

  “I learnt from the best,” he said as he kissed the top of my head and then led me to his car.

  "That was really nice," I said as he started to drive.

  "Yeah," he said with a smile on his face.

  "I'm really proud of you, with the way that you've helped Kyle, you know," I said as I sat smiling at him.

  "I wanted to," he said as he kept his eyes on the road.

  "You don't have to feel guilty you know," I said as I kept my eyes on him.

  "I don't anymore. I did at first but he helped me to see it differently," he replied.

  "How?"

  "He asked me one question. He asked me, if I had been in his position and knew that him getting hurt would have broken your heart would I have done the same thing."

  "What did you say?"

  "I said yes. Since then I stopped feeling guilty. He was right, I would have done that, I would do anything for you," he said as he gently squeezed my hand.

  "Thank you," I said as I smiled at him.

  As we pulled back up outside of Aiden's house I saw a car parked up that hadn't been there before and I knew that my surprise had arrived.

  "You know the saying 'great minds think alike'?" I asked.

  "Yeah."

  "Well, it's definitely true. I guess we both had similar ideas when picking a gift for each other," I said as I watched Caitlyn jump out of the car and run towards us.

  "Hey!" Aiden said as he jumped out and took her into his arms.

  "Now this is what I call a nice surprise," Aiden said as he gave his sister a kiss on the cheek.

  "How's your day going?" She asked as she looked up at him.

  "Even better now that you're here. Who's car's that?" He asked as he pointed towards the green Cadillac that Caitlyn had just emerged from.

  "Mine, Son," a deep voice said as Aiden's head snapped up.

  "Dad?" He asked in shock.

  "The one and only."

  "Come on sweetie, let's go and get you some food, shall we?" I said as I took Caitlyn's hand in mine and walked back into the house.

  I hope that Aiden wasn't angry that I'd asked his dad to come. I remember that he had told me that he wanted to go and help him and start seeing him but with everything that had been going on he hadn't managed to just yet. Crystal and I therefore made it our duty to do just that whilst he busied himself with Kyle. We snuck off at every opportunity to visit their dad. He had been going to AA meetings, counselling and anger management sessions. He hadn't touched a drink in two weeks and Kate had even said that there hadn't been any violence in all of that time. I know that it won't be an easy journey but I think that if he has his family around him then he has a fighting chance. I just hope that Aiden will stick around to help him.

  I was suddenly brought out of my thoughts as I felt a pair of arms snake around my waist from behind.

  "Thanks," Aiden whispered before planting a gentle kiss on my cheek, causing me to smile, especially when I caught Grandma giving me the thumbs up.

  I placed my hands on top of his and closed my eyes, dreamily as I thought about how amazing everything has managed to turn out. It seems like I've been thrown into a film these past few weeks and only just managed to escape but if Aiden is the result then I would happily do it all again.

  * * *

  As the night went on, we played games, talked, laughed and just enjoyed ourselves. I could tell that Aiden was enjoying himself because there was a constant smile on his face throughout the night that just made me feel so happy.

  "Hey," Crystal said as she sat down on the couch beside me.

  "You ok?" I asked as I smiled at her.

  "Yeah, I'm just happy that we managed to pull this off without Aiden suspecting a thing," she said as she let out a breath.

  "I know, I think we deserve a medal," I said as we both laughed, quietly.

  "Who would have thought it hey, you and Aiden, Anthony and Jess, Kyle and Aiden-"

  "Now that just sounds strange," I said as we both burst out laughing.

  "It is crazy though, you should have seen them. They've gone from being mortal enemies to acting like brothers who grew up together," I said with a smile on my face as I thought about how happy it made me to see Kyle and Aiden getting along.

  "It makes sense though. Even I can never forget what Kyle did for Aiden. I guess I can’t call him a jerk anymore,” she said as we both burst out laughing.

  “Yeah, I guess you can’t,” I replied.

  "Hey, what are you two chuckling about?" Jess said as her, Jinnie and Erica came to sit by us. Well apart from Jinnie who saw it fit to lie across the four of us.

  "I told you that you weigh too much for that didn't I!" Erica complained.

  "Oh please, your mouth weighs more than the five of us put together!" Jinnie spat back.

  "Don't you two start!" Crystal said as she gave them both a look that silenced them straight away.

  "That's it Mommy you tell of the naughty children," Jess said as she winked at the twins.

  "So, what were you two giggling about before," Jess asked.

  "Aiden and Kyle," I said as I smiled.

  "Oh gosh yeah they've got like this whole new bromance going on, haven't they?" Jinnie said as we all burst out laughing.

  "It's true!" Crystal agreed.

  "Don't say it too loud, Anthony might get jealous. You know that Aiden's his bestest BFF in the whole world," Jess said in a baby voice as we all burst out laughing.

  "Now you see, this is why you don't get them real kisses like April, because you're always insulting me," Anthony said, as he crept up behind us, making us jump.

  "Oh, is that the stupid reason?" She said as she rolled her eyes at him.

  "I thought that it was down to you trying to hold on to your player reputation," she scoffed.

  "Is that what you think?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

  "Yes," she grunted.

  "Ok, Jinnie would you care to excuse me please?" He said.

  "No, don't move," Jess said as she clamped her hand down on Jinnie's waist so that she couldn't move.

  "You either move by yourself or I’ll move you," Anthony said with a big smirk on his face.

  "Sorry but that boy has muscles," Jinnie said as she jumped up off of our laps.

  "Traitor," Jess mumbled as she tried not to look at Anthony.

  "Jess, can you come here for a minute please?" He asked politely.

  "Nope," she answered as she looked away from him, causing us all to burst out laughing. As you can imagine a whole crowd had started to gather now and the room was silent other than their two voices.

  "Jess, I will ask you once more before taking matters into my own hands," he said as he smiled at her.

  "No," she said as she tried to hold back the smile that so clearly wanted to escape.

  "Ok, you asked for it," he said as he lifted her out of the chair bridal style.

  "Put me down you stupid player!" She screamed as he held her in the air.

  "Are you sure about that because it's a long way down?" He said as they both looked down at the floor.

  "What do you want?" She mumbled as she finally stopped struggling to get free of his grasp.

  "To talk, now are you ready to listen?" He asked.

  "Do I have a choice?"

  "Nope," he said as he smiled, causing her to roll her eyes again.

  "Now everyone this girl that I currently have in my arms is called Jessica Marie Annabel Johnson and she is quite possibly the most annoying, spoilt, bratty, feisty and stubborn girl that I have ever met in my entire life."

  "Nice," she said as she gave him a dirty look.

&n
bsp; "I have to put up with her abuse, violence, rants, moans and very crazy mood swings but she has somehow managed to be the first and hopefully the last girl that I have ever fallen completely head over heels in love with. So ladies and gentleman as you can see my player days are now officially behind me because there is no way that I would ever go back to that if it meant trading her in. I mean, who else is going to bother me twenty four, seven," he said as she hit his chest playfully.

  "Shut up and kiss me you big moron," she said as he gently lowered her to her feet and kissed her in front of everyone. Those two are definitely the cutest couple ever.

  "Right, now if you don't mind I'm going to take out five minutes to figure out how to be a man again," he said as he burst out laughing and dragged Jess out of the living room door, leaving everyone else smiling like idiots.

  "That was so romantic, I can't believe that that came out of Anthony's mouth," Crystal said as we all nodded in agreement.

  "That dude is so whipped!" Murphy said as he burst out laughing.

  "Don't hate, you lonely old man," Crystal said as she slapped Murphy on the arm.

  "Always with the violence, now you and I both know that that wouldn't work for you Crystal," he said as he kept her gaze.

  "Really? Then what would, Einstein?"

  Suddenly Murphy stepped right up to Crystal, gently placing his hand on her hip before placing his mouth right next to her ear. It was clear to see the shock on her face. The very fact that she had been shocked into silence told a whole story of the effect that he was having on her right now.

  "Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" He said before gently removing his hand and walking away.

  "What the hell was that?" Jinnie said in a shocked voice.

  "I don't know but remind me to kill him later," Aiden said as we stared at a very pleased looking Murphy.

  "You do remember that you are dating her best friend right?" Erica asked as she pointed towards Crystal.

  "This isn't about me and April, Jinnie dear," he said with a smirk on his face.

  "It's Erica," she grumbled.

  "One day, I'll get it right, one day," he said as he laughed to himself.