Pretend (5 page)

             
"Yeah me too," he said as he took a sip of the drink that he was holding in his hand.

             
"So
,
would it be right for me to assume that someone as beautiful as yourself already has a boyfriend?" He said as he allowed his smile to display his beautiful white teeth.

             
"Actually, you'd be quite wrong," I said as my eyes dropped to the floor. Every time
that somebody
mentioned anything to do with relationships, boyfriends or anything
 
within that subject
,
 
my mind reverted directly back
 
to Kyle.
 
 

             
It may have been risky telling him that I was single after mine and Aiden's little act earlie
r but something tells me that Jake
and Kyle are not likely to talk anytime soon.

             
"So, then it would be ok for me to ask for your number, right?" he said as a smile spread across his lips yet again.

             
"Look, you're really sweet and you seem great but I'm just not looking for anything like that right now," I said, trying to brush him off as gently as I possibly could.

             
"I understand and I totally respect that. What about if I asked you as a friend? We all need friends
,
don't we?"

             
I couldn't help but smile. T
here was something very charming about Jake. Something that in some ways reminded me of the Kyle that I used to know

             
"Ok," I said as I took the phone that he was now holding out in front of me, out of his hand. I typed my number and then handed the phone back to him.

             
"Thanks," he said as an even bigger smile now filled his face.

             
"Well, I'm just going to
try and
find my friends so maybe we might bump into each other later," I said.

             
"Yeah that sounds good to me," he replied.

             
"Ok, bye," I said as I stood up and began to walk towards the door.

             
"Bye," he replied.

             
I wasn't really going to find anyone but my bladder was bursting and telling him that wasn't really something that I wanted to do. As I walked up the all too familiar, cream carpeted stairs
,
I smiled as childhood memories of me and Crystal running from Aiden, as he tried to tag us, popped into my head. I had some great memories in this house and they never failed to make me
smile. As I approached the rest
room door, I turned the handle, stepped in and then shut and
locked
 
it
behind me. I lifted the white toilet seat and began to pull my jeans down past my thighs. A sudden relief came over me once I had finished. I stood to my feet, fixed my clothes and flushed the toilet.

             
As I began to wash my hands, I looked in the mirror at my messy bun. I quickly dri
ed my hands and opened the cabinet
above the sink in the hope that everything was exactly the same as it was before.

             
"Yes," I muttered to myself as I looked up to see that Crystal still kept all of her hair products in here. I quickly slid her brush off of the top shelf, gently pulled the band out of my hair and began to brush through my shoulder length, blonde hair.
 
I closed my eyes as the soft bristles massaged my scalp. After a few minutes of enjoying the peace and quiet,
 
I opened my eyes again and looked in the mirror at my reflection. Once I was happy with the result, I made sure to remove my
hair from Crystal's brush, thro
w it in
side of
the
trash can
 
and then place
 
the brush
 
back,
exac
tly as I had found it
. I unlocked the door, turned off the light and walked out.

             
As I came into the hall
way
, a tall dark figure made me jump. As my eyes focused, I recognised who it was. His eyes looked somewhat serious as though he had something that he needed to get off of his chest. As I continued to stare at him, he finally spoke...

             
"We need to talk..."

"There is nothing left to say Kyle," I said as
 
I walked past him and headed towards the stairs.

             
"Please?" H
e pleaded as he gently
 
took
a
hold of my arm.

T
he all too familiar touch
caught me off guard. I'd missed the feeling of his skin touching mine and the memories were still so painful. I gently turned to fac
e him. As I stared into his dark brown
eyes my heart skipped a beat. All I could see was pain when I looked at him and feelings of betrayal. The face that kept me safe now made me feel so insecure. As I watched a piece of his dark
,
blonde
hair hangi
ng over his eyes my heart ached
knowing that there was once a time that I would have slid it away, before gently kissing his soft lips. Everything had changed now...

             
"You have two minutes," I replied as I waited for him to respond.

             
"I'm so sorry April," he said as he stared into my eyes with a look of pain.

             
"I've already heard this," I said, feeling rather frustrated.

             
"I know but every time that I think about what I've done to you...I was just a jerk. I know
that
I can't change what
has
happened but when I seen you tonight with Aiden-"

             
"So
this
is
what it’s all about,
" I said as I cut off
.

             
"Typical!
It's all a game to you
,
isn't it? It was ok when you thought that I'd be broken and forever begging you to come back but now that I've actually moved
on, you can't take that, can you?
" I said as a feeling of anger swept over my body.

             
"It's not like that and you know it, I just don't get what you see in him. Isn't he like your best friend
’
s brother or something?"

             
"And if he is?" I snapped back.

             
"Look, I didn't come up here to talk about him. I just...April, I miss you and I thought that
 
I knew what I wanted but I didn't. Everything that we had, I just can't forget
about
it.
It’s driving me crazy.
If you can
really stand there and say
that it means nothing to you then I'll never bother you again," he said.

I paused for a m
oment. How could I say anything right now?
I would either have to tell
him
the truth or lie and right now, I didn't have the strength to do either.

             
"Please," he said as he stepped closer to me. As his soft hand met with my cheek, I closed my eyes. I missed that touch so much. He stroked my cheek so gently that I could have almost missed it. I couldn't cope with all of this, it was too much. Being so close to Kyle again was like adding more ingredients to my broken heart. I opened my eyes and moved my mouth to speak but the words just refused to come out.

             
"April, I still-"

             
"Kyle!"

             
It was Rachel's voice. It was as though someone had just thrown a glass of ice cold water in my face and slapped me back to reality.

             
"I'm sorry-"

             
"Just go Kyle," I said
as I turned my body away from him.

             
"April
ple
-"

             
"Kyle! What are you doing? How long does it take to go to the toilet! Come on!" Rachel shouted, sounding more frustrated than ever.

             
"I'm sorry, I've got to go," he said before the sound of his footsteps began to disappear down the stairs.

             
I stood frozen. I felt a single tear roll down the side of my cheek. I felt my ey
es begin to blur as the water rose
to the edges of
them.
I held them back and wiped my cheek with my hand.

Once I was sure that
 
they were gone
,
I began to make my way down the stairs. I headed for outside, I needed some fresh air so that I could clear my mind. I wasn't ready to face all of Crystal's guests again, not yet.

             
As I placed my hand on the
door
handle I was interrupted by the sound of my name being called.
 
I turned around, feeling rather frustrated.

             
"April,
are
you ok?"

             
"Yeah I'm fine,
I
just need a little
bit of
fresh air," I replied in a less than enthusiastic tone.

             
"Ok, w
ell I need you for two minutes.”

             
"Aiden, can't this wait? I'm really not in the mood," I replied.

             
"No it
can't, it's important. Come on.”

             
I reluctantly followed him through the dining room doors. I watched as he scanned around b
efore sliding the doors shut. It
seemed as though he was making sure that no one
else
was around. I must admit that
I loved the Daniels’ dining room as
it had a
classy feel to it. The wooden
flooring was somehow always warm under your feet and the chandelier added a warm glow to the room. Their dining room table was probably one of the largest that I had
 
ever seen, not that I'd
actually
seen many. I relaxed into one of the chairs that was placed around the table and took a deep breath.
 
I liked it in here.

             
"So
,
what's so im
portant?" I asked, impatiently
as he bent down to retrieve something from one of the draw
er
s in the cabinet.

             
I watched as he carefully took out a small, black box. He gently placed it on the table in front of me.

             
"What do you think?" He asked with a serious expression on his face.

             
As I looked at the box, I saw the silver bracelet that was being protected inside of it. I carefully slipped it out and began to admire the details.
It was made up of small crystal
like balls.
There was a silver strip that connected the whole bracelet together and when I further examined it, I realised that the name Crystal was engraved on it.

             
"Aiden, this is beautiful," I said as I looked up at him.

             
"So, do
you think
that
she'll like it?"