Faker Boy (Alexis Secret Book 1)

by Elsie Charlotte

  Aaron’s mom.

  “It’s Alexis” He said, looking more interested in the apple then this conversation.

  “Oh, I am delighted to meet you” she said with a smile, but there was a sorrowful undertone to it. She probably thought I was just another jewel in the belt for Aaron. She struggled to wheel towards me and Aaron.

  Aaron walked up to her and pushed her over to where I was standing. “Mum, you could have told me if you wanted something. You didn’t have to move.” He said harshly, but I knew it came from a place of love.

  This is the Aaron I agreed to help, not the angry one. Not the emotionless one and most definitely NOT the player. The sweet guy, who loved his mother immensely, going to great lengths to make her happy- even dating someone like me.

  She smiled up at her son

  “Don’t worry. Now who is this Alexis?” she said.

  For his mom, I repeated.

  I took a deep breath and stepped forward towards Aaron taking his hand in my own. I ignored his stare when I smiled kindly at his mom and said the words I hope I would not regret.

  “I’m Alexis Dawson. I’m Aaron’s girlfriend.”

  7- Happy Mom, Happy Me

  Did you ever feel someone staring at you while you were talking to someone else?

  Well, that’s how I felt whilst introducing myself to Aaron’s mom. I felt his questioning glance burning into the side of my head, but I carried on smiling at his mom.

  His mom gave me the same tight smile in response, before clearing her throat with a cough.

  “Forgive me, Alexis. I wish I was better prepared, I didn’t make anything.” She said apologetically and I let out a small laugh.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it, part of the fun of food is making it. I can help.” I mused, rolling up my sleeves before making my way into the kitchen. I heard the sound of Aaron’s mom behind me and the small huffs of breath as she hurried to get to me.

  “Alexis, honey, don’t work yourself up. I can order something.” She said and I turned on my heels as I placed my phone on the kitchen counter.

  I grinned widely, watching as Aaron entered from behind, a curious look on his face.

  “Oh, don’t be silly, I can just make it. Plus, I cook a mean pasta.” I joked again and Aaron’s mom gave me a once over. It made me cower into myself slightly, but I stayed with a smile on my face.

  “You cook as well as go to school? However do you stay on top of your work?” She questioned, a curious look on her face and I felt as though I had entered a job interview.

  I gave her a wave of dismissal before looking around to familiarise myself with the utensils and ingredients.

  “A lot of daily tiresome work. It’s not easy but I think I’m managing” to which Aaron’s mom let out a laugh.

  “Just managing? You’re getting A’s left, right and centre.” Aaron scoffed out and I looked towards him, not expecting the interruption. His eyes glimmered, but gave nothing away and I coughed awkwardly before turning away towards the stove.

  “Can cook and a straight A student? What else can I say except for, where do you want me to lend a hand?′ Aaron’s mom spoke, giving me her first genuine smile and I pointed towards the fridge.

  “Well, I could use some help cleaning and cutting some chicken, if you have any, Miss Walker.” I said in a bright tone.

  Aaron’s mom rolled up her sleeves before giving me a large grin.

  “You can call me Sam.”

  ***********

  Sam’s laughter emanated through the kitchen and I slapped her arm playfully before adding some mushrooms to the pasta mix.

  “I can’t believe you did that when you were younger.” I barked out ungracefully and I almost felt mindful to Aaron who stayed rooted to his spot near the dishwasher.

  It had been nearly 25 minutes since we were in the kitchen and I think Sam had warmed up to me. I looked in her direction as she laughed and thought back to a while ago when she looked dull and dead. I smiled knowing I was a partial cause for her happiness.

  “Oh, that’s nothing! There was another time, wh- wher-” She didn’t finish off her conversation, but instead began to laugh profusely.

  “Mom, stay calm.” Aaron interrupted, but his eyes were focused on me. His face gave nothing away.

  Sam stopped in her word vomit, turning beet red.

  “Sorry I guess I’m just a little bit hyper” She said laughing, her tone sounding a little flustered. With that, she turned around and wheeled off out of the kitchen, excusing herself to the bathroom.

  Aaron’s voice rang out into the silence.

  “Why’d you come back?” He said, his voice devoid of emotion.

  I looked at him. He was looking off into the direction his mom went, his face as emotionless as his voice.

  I smiled. Even though, he was distant right now, I could tell he was happy. The promise to his mom was being fulfilled. I spoke, my voice tight with emotion.

  “I did it for your mom and.... For you”

  8- Our Fake Beginning

  We were currently sat at Aaron’s dinner table. Aaron and me on one side whilst his mom sat on the other side, an empty chair beside her mostly likely for her husband.

  “So...” Sam started.

  I fidgeted nervously. I know I wasn’t really going out with Aaron, but I still felt I needed to make a good impression on his mother. I just did.

  I looked towards him to see him wildly attacking his plate, his attention focused only on the pasta. I watched in impressed shock as one of his hands held onto the fork, stabbing viciously at his food. His other hand was occupied- holding my hand.

  I felt awkward with my hand in his, like it wasn’t meant to be there. His hand was rough but smooth and significantly larger than mine. I couldn’t help but appreciate the warmth it gave and I now know why people enjoyed hand-holding so much.

  “So how did you guys meet?” Sam said, breaking the silence. She looked at me intently.

  Aaron immediately stopped eating, turning towards me to send me a panicked look.

  “Er, Lexi tells this story better.” And I could have glared at how he put me under the spotlight. However, instead of panicking, I smiled. Many a day, I had spent my afternoons living in books, reading novel after novel. I’ve picked up my fair share of romantic tales along the way, so safe to say, I had already thought of this.

  I giggled, as if I was remembering our first meeting.

  “Well..” I started, smiling widely to give the impression of absolute happiness.

  “I came into school one day and was at my locker when I heard someone talking loudly. I knew it had to be Aaron..” I turned towards him, giving off my best ‘I’m in love’ face. In return, he smiled widely, playing along before giving his pasta plate a more affectionate look.

  I nearly rolled my eyes, but composed myself and continued.

  “He was shouting about how he was going to fail the English test in the afternoon. I felt sorry for him. It was obvious he cared about his grades. So I thought about offering to help him and now I’m glad I did..” I smiled at him bashfully and, in response, he put a warm arm around my shoulder, not even bothering to swallow his food before he grunted in confirmation. I tensed at his touch before continuing.

  “Then?” Sam said, her voice curious and bubbly. She was obviously a fellow romance lover like myself. I laughed like a schoolgirl then spoke.

  “During free period, just before the English test, I helped him understand the material. It was quite fun really. I would say something serious and he would make a joke of it and we would end up laughing about it.. I would be angry at first, but I caved instantly when he smiled at me..” I said, sparing him my most loving gaze. He smiled in my direction to demonstrate and my stomach fluttered at how good he looked.

  “He has the most beautiful smile” I murmured, truthfully. Aaron raised an eyebrow at my words and I knew, when we were alone, that he would tease me for my words. I nudged him slightly with my elbow and he nudged back
before pinching my arm with the hand that was draped across my shoulder.

  “Aww!” Sam cooed, her eyes twinkling with immense happiness.

  “You guys are just too cute. Carry on!”

  I sent a smile to Aaron before speaking.

  “Well, after that meeting, we said goodbye. Aaron went in to do the exam and I went home. I hadn’t talked to him after that. We just went our separate ways, until results day. I was sitting down on a bench looking at my grades when I saw a shadow. I looked up to see Aaron towering over me. I was about to ask him what he was doing there, but he pulled me into a hug. Afterwards, I asked him what he was so happy about and he told me he passed English. I was so happy for him...” I smiled to Aaron, knowing he actually had passed English. Heck, everyone knew! He was shouting it down the fricking hallways. I guess, English wasn’t his best subject.

  Aaron then chose to spoke.

  “She helped me through a rough point even though we didn’t know each other. I’m lucky I have her, even if she is a little uptight.”

  He slid in, smirking and I clenched my teeth, feigning a smile.

  His mother chuckled at this and I pinched Aaron’s leg hard to which he let out a whispered ‘ow’. I smiled in triumph.

  “Oh, love, I’m only uptight when I’m faced with stupid, trivial situations. And, with you, well let’s just say I have enough stupid I could bathe in it.” I acted like I was joking but gave a little smirk in Aaron’s direction.

  “And hopefully, drown.” Aaron muttered and I glared hard at him. He only looked back with a challenging look in his gaze.

  I returned my gaze to Sam who was watching us, a look of amusement on her face.

  “He then asked me to me his girlfriend. I was shocked, but happy too. I mean, I had a crush on him since I helped him with his English test. I was a little hurt he didn’t speak to me after that, but now I was over the moon. Aaron probably thought I was gonna reject him because he looked beyond worried but I said yes and the rest is history” I sighed, pretending to be love struck before turning to Aaron.

  “I regret saying yes to this day.” I joked with him, causing Sam to laugh.

  Aaron laughed also, his husky voice making my hair stand on end. I noticed that, whenever he laughed, he would close his eyes. It made him look ten times more attractive.

  I snapped my head away from him before he saw me looking and tried to change the topic.

  “So, Sam enough about us! I wanna hear about you. What do you do for a living?”

  Sam smiled kindly and opened her mouth to speak.

  “Well, I’m currently working as a therapist. Oh, you’ll love it really. The cases are always new and entertaining”

  I smiled politely.

  “What interesting cases have you had so far?”

  Sam started talking about different cases that amused her, without talking about the actual cases itself, but the way they made her and the clients feel. I nodded, showing her I was listening.

  I raised a glass of water to my lips to drink and my breath hitched.

  Aaron’s hand was on my knee, drawing lazy circles. I looked towards him, glaring daggers, but he didn’t seem to know what he was doing. His head was looking down as he carried on eating. He was doing this on purpose. It was for the teasing I had done to him during the dinner.

  I tried to ignore it and turned my head to look at Sam and concentrate on what she way saying, but the feeling of foreign contact had me feeling uncomfortable.

  So, I retaliated.

  I kicked Aaron hard in the shin, smirking as he let out a loud groan.

  Serves him right.

  9- Stomach Aches and Sleepovers

  It seemed like an ordinary day, so to speak, except for the fact that I was sat in the Walker family dining room, trying to keep my best poker face whilst the Walker family son, Aaron Walker was trying to annoy the hell out of me.

  Sam carried on talking about her job, unaware of what was going on around her, well underneath the table to be more specific, and I inwardly apologised to Sam for not paying attention to a word she said.

  I turned towards Aaron, irritation apparent on my face.

  “What are you doing?!” I whisper yelled. I knew what he was doing. He was doing it to get a rise out of me and I wasn’t going to fall for his tricks.

  Aaron looked up from his food, feigning innocence.

  “What am I doing?” He questioned.

  I gave him the biggest death glare I could muster when Sam directed her attention to her food, before tutting.

  “Oh, face it, Walker. I think it’s about time you met someone who’s immune to your ‘charms’!” I spat out angrily, making sure Sam didn’t hear us even though there was no chance of that. She was too engrossed in her talks that she forgot everything around her. Which, in that situation, I was glad for.

  Aaron smiled triumphantly, sensing how irritated I was getting.

  “You sure you’re immune? You know you can tell me, Lexi” He said, trying his hardest not to break into a laugh.

  I had to process what he said before I heard the nickname he gave me. No one had bothered to give me one. They either called me by my name, Alexis or some insult. Both of which I was not particularly fond of, but Lexi was nice. It suited me.

  My thoughts stopped when his hand trailed higher and, if I wasn’t angry, I would have laughed at how he was using two fingers to walk across my thigh as though they were legs. It was only when he squeezed that I abruptly jumped up from the table, hitting down almost everything from the table.

  Everything seemed to stop at that moment and I felt the urge to close my eyes to stop the bubbling embarrassment. Sam had stopped talking and was now looking at me curiously. Her hand was in mid-air and she left it there, frozen completely.

  Aaron’s response was totally different. He sat, looking down at his plate, trying his hardest not to laugh. I vowed to myself that he would never see the light of day again.

  “Erm, Alexis, are you okay?” Sam said, sounding as though she was talking to a madman. I squirmed, balancing from foot to foot uncomfortably, thinking of an excuse.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just, erm, I had stomach pains and it hurt a lot so I... Yeah. I think I should just step away from the food ” I said, uneasily, a nervous laugh escaping my mouth.

  She smiled and seemed to buy it because she didn’t question me anymore. I smiled back, before settling down again and picking up a few things that toppled over.

  I looked over at Aaron to see he was no longer looking at his plate, but at me, smirking.

  “Stomach pains? Are you sure you’ll be okay? It seemed really extreme” He questioned me, raising an eyebrow. His voice was filled with mock concern.

  Asshole was all I could think.

  “Extreme? No, you’re mistaken, Aaron. They’re nothing like the ones you suffer. Trust me, if they were, I would have murdered the toilet already. Right, darling?” I smiled out through clenched teeth and Aaron grimaced at my words. Sam laughed loudly.

  “If you can shut him up like this normally, you can come around more often.” She joked and l smiled at the invite. If she invited me again then chances were she didn’t completely hate me.

  I looked to the time before turning to smile at Sam.

  “It’s getting late, I think I should leave now. It was really nice meeting you, Sam.” I said politely, rising from my seat slowly, but not before poking Aaron hard in the ribs as a punishment for the embarrassment I had faced just moments ago.

  Sam spoke out before I could leave.

  “No, darling, you can’t go! You honestly think I’m gonna let you go when you have a stomach ache? You have to stay and, besides, it’s late. Stay here for the night!”

  I shook my head with a smile.

  “Oh no, I’d hate to impose, it’s fine, I’ll just get going, Sam.” I reasoned before grabbing my phone and pocketing it.

  Sam tutted, putting her hair behind her ears.

  “I insist, Alexis. You
will be staying because I would love to have you as my guest. It’s the least I can do for the lovely meal.” She insisted. Her request was firm and demanding. I knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She was just like her son in that sense.

  I looked to Aaron for help to only see him taking the pasta off my plate to put it in his.

  “Er, fine” I said, half-heartedly.

  I was a little scared staying over at anyone’s house. This was the first time I’ve done this. Besides, I was little on the edge. I mean, I didn’t know if Aaron was okay with this. He didn’t say anything on the matter about me staying the night.

  “Excellent!” Sam chirped happily.

  “Well, none of the guest bedrooms are cleaned out yet so I assume you wouldn’t mind sleeping in Aaron’s room?” she questioned and I blushed at how direct she was.

  At this, Aaron took his attention off his phone, which he had spent the previous minutes texting on, and looked at his mum.

  “What?” He said.

  His mum scoffed loudly.

  “Get off that phone and show Alexis where she’ll be staying.” she said with an eye roll. When Aaron didn’t get up, she wheeled over to him and started ushering him out of his seat.

  “Go on! Show her to your room” with that, she was off into the kitchen, scrubbing the dishes. I asked her if she needed help but she told me I was help enough and that was that.

  Aaron raised his eyebrows, confused by what had just occurred.

  “Okay?” He drawled. He then sighed, put his phone in his back pocket and went up the stairs.

  I stood there awkwardly. I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to start following him or just stand here until I’m told where to go.

  “You coming or what?” Aaron said from his position on the stairs, the top half of his body turned as he looked at me. He wore a bored expression and I recoiled at his sudden change in behaviour.

  I nodded quickly. He sighed before turning his body fully to the front and running up the stairs. I followed slowly, thinking about how his behaviour had done a complete 180. I knew it was just an act for his mom, but I had hoped we could still be civil despite it all. I thought back to the argument in the cafe and I wandered if he was still mad about what I had called him.