Pretend (69 page)

             
"What's wrong?" I whispered as I looked up at him.

             
"Nothing," he replied
as he gently shifted his body
so that he was lying
down beside me.

             
"Why did you stop?" I asked in a slightly frustrated tone.

             
"I want to get things right," he said calmly.

             
"Is that an easy way to say that you don't want me?" I asked as I looked away from him
,
feeling a little hurt.

             
"April
,
are you crazy?" He asked as he gently turned my face towards him and smiled at me.

             
"Believe me when I say that I want you but I just want us to be perfect," he continued.

             
"There's
no such thing as perfect Aiden."

             
"I know but all of my other relationships have always been so physical. I've never had anything like this, ever. It just means more and so I want to wait, I just want that moment to be perfect for you, for us. I don't want to be with anyone else in anyway so I want to get this right," he said in such a genuine voice that all I could do was smile.

             
"Ok," I whispered as I smiled at him again.

             
"Good, now come here, I'm cold," he said as he wrapped his arm around my waist and drew me closer to him with a smile on his face.

             
I threw him a smile as I snuggled into his warm body.

             
"I love you April," he said as he turned off the side light and kissed my forehead.

             
"I love you too," I said as I smiled happily to myself.

             
I drifted into a sleep knowing that when I wake up it'll be in his arms and boy was that a nice thought.

"
Wakey
,
wakey
my little lovebirds!"
Anthony shouted as he jumped onto the bed, falling directly on top of me and Aiden.

             
"Dude, get up man," Aiden growled next to me.

             
"You have got to be kidding me," I grumbled as I shot Anthony a death glare.
I am not a morning person, at all!

             
"Rise and shine!"
 
He said in the loudest voice that he could muster up.

             
"If you don't get off of me, you're going to have to explain to Jess why you can't have kids," I said as I heard her laughing in the doorway.

             
"Can't you put him on a leash or something?" Aiden asked.

             
"You think this is bad, try waking up next to him," Jess said as she watched Anthony with amusement in her eyes.

             
"Hey, the Anthony can't be put on a leash. I'm an
independent
man
,
I'll have you know," Anthony said as he began laughing at his own stupid joke.

             
"Yeah
independently
whipped," Aiden grumbled, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Anthony.

             
"Truth hurts," Aiden continued as he rubbed the back of his head and tried to go back to sleep.

             
"Come on guys, I'm bored man, get up!" Anthony sang at the top of his voice.

             
"Go play with Jess!" I shouted as I tried to pull the duvet back over my head.

             
"
Aww
is little April
Wapril
still tired?" Anthony said in a baby voice.

             
"Jess!"
I screamed as I
tried
to keep my eyes closed and block out the light.

             
"Ant, you know that she's not a morning person, come on," she said as she tried to hold back her laugh
ter
.

             
"Yup and that's what makes it so much fun," he said as he pulled the covers back and messed up my hair.

             
"Right!"
I screamed as I jumped out of the bed and bolted towards him as he attempted to run out of the door.

             
This reminded me of when we were kids and him and Aiden would try their best to annoy me and Crystal every morning. I see
that
some things never change.

             
"Now, now April violence is never the answer," Anthony said as he continued to race down the hall towards another one of the many bedrooms in Murphy's house.

             
"It's too late to reason with me," I said as I started to speed up my running as I burst out laughing.

             
As he took the corner and disappeared into one of the rooms, I lost my footing and
stumbled
face first through the door in my bid to grab his shirt. The shock on Anthony's face was priceless as I collided with him and sent us both flying through the air and onto the floor. As I landed on top of him I looked down and let an evil smirk spread across my face.

             
"
Mmm
,
looks like I caught you," I said as I looked down at a very confused Anthony and smiled.

             
"Now, now little sis play nice, we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt now would we?"

             
"Oh
,
I'm afraid that you should have thought about that before waking me up," I said before pinching the sides of his stomach.

             
The great thing about growing up with your friends is that you learn their weak spots and luckily for me Anthony had a few.

I burst into laughter as I watched Anthony squirm underneath me, screaming like a little girl.

             
"Say sorry!" I screamed as I continued to torture him.

             
"Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said as he tried to catch his breath.

             
"And you won't do it again?"

             
"No, I promise," he said.

             
"Good, I'm glad that we cleared
tha
-"

             
"Oh gosh, seriously I know that you and Aiden are like 'BFF's' and all but do you literally share everything?" Murphy said sarcastically, in a girly voice as he eyed up the position that me and Anthony were currently in.

             
Realising how it looked
,
we quickly jumped to our feet
as we tried to catch our breath
s.

             
"You know, you really need to get your mind out of the gutter," Anthony said with a smirk on his face.

             
"Yeah look who's talking," Murphy replied as he raised an eyebrow at Anthony before walking away.

             
"You're a beast you know," Anthony said as we both sat down on the edge of the bed in the room that we had run into in an attempt to calm back down.

             
"Well you shouldn't mess with my sleep then, it's precious," I said as a smirk filled my face.

             
"Precious? Who are you?
Gollum?"
He asked as he smirked at me.

             
"Yes and sleep is my
precioussss
," I said in my best Gollum impression, causing us both to burst out laughing.

             
"I forgot how weird you were," he said as he nudged my arm with his elbow.

             
"Ditto," I said as we both began to laugh.

             
We both sat silently for a while
as we tried to catch our breath
s.

             
"So
,
the player has finally been tamed?" I said as I continued to smirk at Anthony.

             
"Nobody can tame the wild tiger within this guy kiddo," he replied as he winked at me.

             
"You're crazy. You know that, right?" I said as we both began to laugh again.

             
"So I've been told."

             
"Seriously though, do you think that this is the real deal?" I asked in a more serious tone.

             
"I can't believe that I'm about to say this but, I think that
 
it is you know," he said as he threw me a warm smile.

             
"Good I'm happy for you. Both of you," I said as
 
I began to smile again.

             
"It's strange though because it's all happened so fast, I just never expected it, you know?"

             
"Yup, believe me, I know," I said as I
 
thought about
 
Aiden.

             
"You just know though because it feels right doesn't it?" I continued.

             
"Yeah
 
it
kinda
does," he replied.

             
"Yup."

             
"Right
,
enough of the
sissy talk
now," he said as he stood to his feet and held out a hand to help me up.

             
"Race you back?" I
 
asked as a grin filled my face.

             
"Ok, after three. One, two-"

             
I didn't hear three because he had already ran off before I got the chance to.

             
"You're such a cheater
,
Anthony!" I screamed behind him.

             
"It's not cheating, it's called being one step ahead," he said as he began to laugh at himself.
I shook my head as I tried to speed up my pace and catch up with him.

             
"Just wait till I catch up with you!" I screamed as I continued to laugh.

             
"Oh scary!
Please don't hurt me April!" He shouted back, sarcastically as he continued running and laughing to himself.

             
"What are you doing?" I heard Jess say as both Anthony and I speed past her and into the room where Aiden was now sat up on the bed.

             
"Jess
,
your boyfriend is such a cheater, I swear!" I said as I sat on the bed and tried to catch my breath.

             
"
Aww
never mind short legs, better luck next time," Anthony said as both
him
and Aiden burst out laughing.

             
"Oh, so you think that
that was funny?" I said as I crawled up the bed towards Aiden with a
n
evil grin on my face.

             
"Now, now beautiful, don't bring me into you two
’s little domestic
," Aiden said as he tried to hold back the smile that was threatening to creep onto his face.

             
"Oh but you brought yourself into it sweetheart," I said in the sweetest and most innocent voice as I lunged at him.