Her Charming Secret (13 page)

“Gosh! Aiden, it’s so simple. You are in love with her!” Adele smiled. He looked at her confused; her brother had no clue about his own feelings.

“I like her, Ady, I do. But I’m not sure if she feels the same for me.” He lowered his head.

“Talk to her, Aiden.”

Just then, they heard a voice right behind them, “Jo, wait! Hey, Jo!”

They turned around to see Josephine walking out of a store. She was laughing and hugging a man. Aiden froze next to Adele. His eyes widened and the way he looked at them, she knew that he was really hurt.

“Let’s go!” he called and walked away.

- Chapter 11 -

Bash The Birthday

It was a bright and sunny day, a day where Abigail could have just lazed around the house eating ice cream or doing something – or maybe nothing at all; instead she was roped into following Jo and Jake on their Uncle-and-Niece day out.

“Guys, wait up!” she called as she tried to keep up with them.

“Walk faster,” Jo chuckled as she pulled Jake forward.

“Jo, my arm hurts,” he moaned. She was literally dragging him. Jake hated shopping, but he never learnt to say no to Jo.

Suddenly, it felt like someone was staring at her.  Abigail turned around to see Aiden and Adele walking away. 
Wait, what are they doing here?
By the look on Aiden’s face, she knew something was wrong – like, 
really
 wrong. Wondering if Jo knew something, she turned to see them disappear into one of the stores and ran to catch up with them.

Walking in, she saw that Jo had walked into a bookstore and already had her head buried in a book. Seriously, with the number of books she bought, it was a wonder their apartment hadn’t been flooded by them yet.

Tapping on her shoulder to get her attention, Abigail asked, “Hey, I saw Aiden just now; did you know he was coming here?”

Jo shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe he is here to shop too.” Turning, she signaled Jake to come near them. “Jake, look at this; this book looks so interesting, I am so gonna get this . . . you getting anything?”

Abigail left them there talking about books again. She moved towards the exit and pulled out her phone; she stared at it for a while before calling Alex. She waited as the phone rang and finally it went to voicemail.

“Hello, this is Alex’s voice. Alex is not here right now — Hey, haven’t you ever lost YOUR voice? Well, believe me, when I find him again, I’ll have a few choice words for him. If you do, too, leave them after the beep.”

She stared at the screen, wondering for the umpteenth time whether Alex actually belonged to this world. She cut the call when she heard Jo’s voice and turned around to see her holding two books, asking her to choose one. Abigail walked towards her, slipping her phone back into her bag before she plucked the book out of Jo’s hand to see which one she would like. This was what typically happened when they went out shopping, Abby got lost in the conversation, forgetting all about Alex.

*  *  *

There was some random song playing on the radio. Adele had given up after making some conversation, only for Aiden to give monosyllabic answers or none at all. He didn’t know why, but the thought of Jo with any other man made his blood boil. The atmosphere had somehow grown cold and they had shopped for the party mostly in silence. Heading back home, he tried to push the thoughts to the back of his head and concentrate on Aubrey’s birthday bash; she would be the first to see through him and realize he was upset, and he didn’t want to spoil her special day.

Putting on a fake smile, he walked in to see Pierre arguing with Alex. Ashton was standing next to them, trying to calm them down; Aubrey was nowhere to be seen. He guessed she must have gone out to play with her friends. As he moved toward them, he caught snippets of their conversation.

“It iz a wondzerful izea,” Pierre almost shouted.

“Are you crazy? There is no way Aubrey wants real horses in the party!” Alex cried.

“But zhe zaid that zhe wantz pony.”

“Yeah! A pony, just one – as in one single pony. Not a herd of them from some wild region, so you better give up that crazy idea!” Alex yelled.

Before Pierre could retaliate, Adele stepped between them and said, “Enough! Stop arguing and start helping us out for the party.”

Alex gave her a mock-salute and said, “Aye Aye, Captain.”

Aiden snickered, and even as Adele tried to look all annoyed, her lips twitched into a small smile.

“Zen I’m gonna zay no zu the horzez,” Grandpa declared and walked away.

“Was he serious when he spoke about those horses? He’s really gonna buy Aubrey horses for her birthday?” Ashton asked incredulously.

“That’s grandpa . . . he can do anything,” Aiden said, smiling as he sat down on the couch.  Alex plopped down next to him and Ashton sat down on the rug facing them. Adele clapped her hands twice to bring their attention to her.

“Listen up, guys! We’ve wasted enough time and now we got to do some serious work,” she said. “Ash, have you sent out all the invites yet?”

Alex rolled his eyes and snickered.

“Yeah, I did that,” Ash replied smirking at Alex. It looked like they were trying to annoy each other again.

“Aid, what time do you plan on getting the cake from Mom’s patisserie?” she asked Aiden.

“Around seven. Why don’t you come with me?” 
It would always be better if she could check on the final details by herself.

“Alright, I guess we can do that. Have you decided how to decorate this place with Aubrey around, Alex? I think you were telling me about some cool idea of yours.”

“Umm . . . I have no clue! You see, I was so busy that I forgot,” Alex said innocently.

“Yeah, right! You were chatting with someone on the phone all day.” Ash snorted. “Ady, I think I have a great idea. Aubrey can go to Aiden’s place for a sleepover. That way she can spend time with Aid while we decorate this place. What say?”

“I don’t mind having her over; we can have lots of fun.” Aiden grinned.

“Zleepover? What iz a zleepover?” he heard Grandpa’s voice behind him.

“Sleepover is spending the night away from home. Aubrey will be staying over at Aiden’s place,” Ashton explained. “Come to think of it . . . it’s gonna be amazing. Can I join you guys later?”

Aiden nodded
. Aubrey and Ashton! Well, it will be easy to handle these two.
Pierre’s face was full of concentration, which was odd because he usually spoke without thinking.

“Moi aussi! (Me too!) I wantz to go to ze zleepover,” he declared. “I go pack mi bagz now.”

“You think you will be able to handle him by yourself, Aido?” Alex asked curiously.

“I think I can manage for few hours,” Aiden sighed.

“We can think of something else, but for the time being let’s discuss Aubrey’s party. We can’t do anything while she is at home, and I need Aid’s help, so I don’t want him to take her to his place yet,” Adele said. “Wait a second. Alex, why don’t
you
take Aubrey out for a while? You can drop her off at Aiden’s place later.”

“I think I can do that; I’ll take her out for ice cream, and then I can drop her off at Aido’s place and join you guys,” Alex said.

“What about grandpa?” Ashton asked. It was kinda confusing; what could they do with him? If he stayed here, he would trouble everyone and might even reveal the secret to Aubrey. Before anyone could answer, Ash spoke, “Alex, take him with you and drop him off at Aid’s place with Aubrey.”

“That’s a great idea; it will keep them both distracted. So I’m going upstairs to pack Aubrey’s stuff,” Adele said as she walked away.

“I am backz! Wheze are we goingz?” Grandpa asked as he sat down on the couch and placed a huge duffel bag next to him.

“What’s that?” Aiden asked, confused, looking at the bag. 
Wait, is he planning on bringing that with him for the sleepover?
 Apparently, Pierre was bringing that with him; it was his overnight bag.
Just for one night!
Aiden sighed.

Adele came downstairs with a pink duffel bag; she walked toward him and handed over the bag. “Here, I packed some clothes and toiletries. Her favorite Cheesy Chex Mix is there, and her teddy. Take care of her.”

“Will do! But what about grandpa?” Aiden asked. They looked at their grandfather, who was playing with Ashton’s phone; Ash looked annoyed, because grandpa was literally trying to break the thing. Just then, the door opened and Aubrey came running in and jumped at Aiden. He caught her in time and she grinned.

“Aidey, I’m back!” she said, smiling. “Guess what? It’s my birthday tomorrow. And I’m going to be 10!”

Aiden hugged her tightly.

“Wow, Little Auby is growing up,” Alex said as he came closer. “I’m gonna take you out for ice cream. Why don’t you join us, Grandpa Pierre?”

“Pourquoi pas? (Why not?) I wouldz luv to come,” he said as he walked away towards the car.

Aiden went to his own room and all the memories of their childhood flooded back. How Alex would tell them ghost stories in the middle of the night while they sat huddled together. How little Ashton would sneak into their room in the middle of the night when he was scared. How baby Aubrey would jump on their beds to wake them up on Christmas morning. Even as these memories stayed strong, a whole part of his life was missing. He stared at the window that overlooked the garden; he could hear Alex’s car backing out of the driveway with Grandpa and Aubrey, who seemed to be having a match to see who could scream goodbye the loudest.

Alex seriously wished he had invested in a pair of earplugs. What with Aubrey and the old man screaming off-tune, singing some weird songs. When Pierre reached a note that was so high that Alex wasn’t even sure if even dogs would catch it, he seriously considered banging his head on the steering wheel. But seeing as they were in the middle of the road, all he could do was sigh.

They reached the ice cream parlor, and Aubrey walked forward and ordered, “One scoop of raspberry ice cream please.” Alex swore that angelic voice and innocent look on her face might just get her that scoop for free. He wasn’t in the mood for an ice cream, so he ordered coffee. When he looked around, he couldn’t find the old man.

“Aubrey, where did your grandpa run off to?” Alex asked as he paid for the ice cream and the coffee.

“I wud like toh bye an ize cream,” he heard a very familiar voice coming from the other side. They turned around to see Pierre ordering himself a huge sundae with extra toppings. 
Gosh! Is he going to eat all that?

“Come on Auby,” Alex called her and she sat down next to him. “Like your ice cream?”

“I love it, but I wish Aidey was here,” she sighed. Alex raised an eyebrow. Anyone who knew Aubrey knew she had a huge Aiden complex – one that stretched a mile long. Grandpa Pierre came and sat down with his sundae and told Alex to pay for it.

“Why should
I
pay for that, old man?” Alex asked. He didn’t get an answer, so he sighed and went to pay for it. Just then, he got a text from Aiden asking him if everything was alright. He called him and explained the sundae thing and how Pierre wanted to buy Aubrey a new car, as she didn’t have one of her own. Aiden assured that it wasn’t going to happen, so after Pierre and Aubrey finished eating their ice creams, they left for his place. He wasn’t there yet, so Alex decided to bring out his secret weapon.

“Bwahahaha!!! You are going to have fun,” he screamed and saw Aubrey jump. “Here you go, kiddo. Enjoy!” He put on her favorite movie, Tangled, and placed all the candies, chocolates and every other sugary snack a kid her age dreamed about on the tea table. “I’m going out now; Aiden will join you in a while, so take care.”

While Alex was a little skeptical about leaving them alone, he knew they would be all right. He trusted Pierre a little and knew he would take care of little Aubrey. Later, Alex drove his car and headed towards his uncle’s home. He walked in to see Aiden talking to Ashton about something – important secret talk.
Yeah right!
The drawing room looked pretty good now; they had managed to put up most of the decorations. The once-sober beige room with tasteful highlights of colors splashed in the middle had been temporarily converted into a pink paradise that Alex was sure Aubrey would love; there were pink and silver balloons all over, and gauzy silver cloth had been used to give it a palace-like feel. There were even pink roses that Adele was tucking into corners, adding to the fairytale feel. Seeing Alex walk in, Ashton, who wanted to go with Aiden, ran upstairs and brought his camcorder out.

“What are you going to do with that?” Alex asked, confused. Every time Ash got out his camcorder, something went terribly wrong and he caught the whole thing on tape to laugh at the other person’s misery. Alex remembered the last time Ash had that camcorder; he recorded a video of him and posted it on YouTube. That wasn’t the real problem; he’d managed to get a video of Alex sleeping and snoring, as he described in that little post he wrote, and the most embarrassing part of the whole mess was that Alex had had nothing on but his Superman boxers. The video had over ten thousand views, and he still hadn’t taken a good revenge for that, but he was planning to do that soon. Maybe he should just lock him up in his grandfather’s home; it was as good as locking him in a haunted house, because it was huge and that library was creepy. Aiden and Ashton left, and Alex was pretty sure that it was their turn to face the wild old man.

Walking into his apartment, Aiden almost walked back out – Grandpa and Aubrey were jumping on his couch! They seemed to have gone through a lot of sugary snacks, judging by the sheer number of wrappers strewn around, and were loudly commenting about – 
wait, was it that movie Tangled again?