Pretend (31 page)

             
"Ok, love you sweetie, goodbye," my m
om said before kissing me on the cheek and heading towards the car.

             
"By
Suz
," she shouted back as she stepped into the passenger
’
s side.

             
"Bye
now. Right come on in darling. I've set up the guest room for you, just like always so you just make yourself at home, ok?" She said as we walked inside, closing the door behind us.

             
"Thank you Mrs Daniels," I said before racing up the stairs to Crystal's room.

             
"You're here!" She screamed as she seen me walk through her bedroom door.

             
She walked over to me and slapped me on the arm.

             
"Ouch! What was that for?" I asked as I rubbed my arm.

             
"Not texting
me
back. Anyway I'm glad you're here," she squealed in excitement.

             
"Why don't you look excited?" She said as she noticed that I wasn't jumping up and down with her.

             
"Sorry, I think that I'm just a little nervous about tonight," I lied.

             
"Oh, you'll be fine, what time's he coming?" She asked eagerly.

             
"About seven," I said.

             
"What?
It's
four thirty, get in the shower and then I'll d
o your hair and make
up. Hurry up!
" She said as she pushed me out of the door.

             
"Ok, ok," I said as I grabbed my suitcase and took it into the guest room.

             
As I walked into the room, I smiled as I took in all of the memories that I had of staying in this room. Everything was just
as I had remembered it to be. There was still a d
ouble
bed in the middle of the room and a
chest of drawers either side. There was a beautiful, chandelier type lamp that stood in the corner of the room and cream carpet. This room was also great b
ecause it had a walk in closet
and an en suite, every girl's dream.

             
It took me
 
forty minutes to unpack my suitcase, put
everything
where I wanted it and jump into the shower. By the time I had finished, it was ten past, five. I put on my underwear and threw my cream bathrobe around me before heading back to Crystal's room.

             
That's when I saw Aiden walk out of the main
 
bathroom with just his towel on! Great! When we were kids he did this all
of
the time and it was fine. Now
 
it was different, one because his stomach was now replaced with the sexiest six pack that I had ever seen, two the drips of water that were rolling down his chest were making my heart do overtime and three it was making me want to jump on
him and kiss him again.

             
"Can you at least put some clothes on or something," I moaned as I tried to keep my eyes on his face.

             
"Says the girl that forgot to do up her robe," he said as he stared at me.

             
I gasped in shock, span around and tried to tie it up, very fast. That was the point when I realised that he was joking and that my robe was already done up.

             
"Very funny," I said as I turned back around to face him.

             
"Not as funny as the expression on your face. That was priceless," he said as he turned towards his room.
I grumbled a few insults and then walked into Crystal's room. One day almost down and six to go, Great!

             
"At last, right
,
sit," she said as she pulled out the stool from underneath her dresser.

             
"Now, straight or curly
?" She asked as she stared at my reflection in the mirror.

             
"
Erm
...
Curly
?"
I asked as I bit down on my lip.

             
"Straight it is," she said as she turned on the
flat iron
.

             
"Why bother asking?" I said sarcastically.

             
"
It's
fun," she said as she smirked at me.

             
"So, are you still nervous?" She asked as she took out a comb and began parting my hair into sections.

             
"Kind of, I suppose," I answered as I tensed the back of my neck as I felt the heat of the
flat iron
getting closer.

             
"It'll be fine
,
besides I'm going to make you look freaking awesome, so don't worry. Not that you don't look awesome anyway because you do but you're going to look irresistible by the time that I have finished with you," she said as a smirk filled her mouth.

             
"Thanks
."

             
"My pleasure, a
nyway, have you spoken to Aiden lately?" She asked.

             
"Aiden?
No, why?" I asked nervously.

             
"I don't know, he just seems to be acting strange lately," she whispered.

             
"In what way?"
I asked.

             
"Just one minute he's happy and the next he's all moody and argumentative. I think I know why though," she said, giving me a strange look.

             
"You do?" I asked, nervously.

             
"Yup and so do you," she said as she looked me dead in the eyes.

             
"I do?" I stuttered.

             
"Yes. It's a girl, obviously and not Cayce. I don't even think that he did anything with Cayce to be honest and since she's stopped coming round, there
have been no
other
girls
. Now, my mom
always works
so he has lots of opportunities to invite girls round but no. I think
that
he's whipped," she said letting out a small giggle.

             
"Really?"
I muttered. That was the only thing that my lips were actually able to say.

             
"Yes and it's our job to find out who she is. Now turn your head," she said as the sound of excitement filled her voice.

             
"Really?
I don't know if that's a good idea, spying on him and all. Maybe he wants to keep whatever is going on private. I'm sure
that
he'll tell you in his own time," I said, hoping that this would be the end of it.

             
"You're right but we're still going to find out. I want to know who this girl is and if she's good enough for my brother. I also want to tell her to either make him happy or sad because I can't take his stupid mood swings anymore," she said as she began to straighten the last section of my hair.

             
This was a disaster, once Crystal had an idea in her head that was it, there was no stopping her. She wasn't going to stop until she knew exactly who it was. I was screwed! I needed a way to get out of this and fast.

             
Wait
,
did she say that he was whipped?

             
"Hello," she said, waving her hand in front of my face.

             
"Sorry, I got distracted. Ok, so what do you plan to do?" I asked, dreading whatever answer was coming my way.

             
"Anything, check his phone, listen to his conversations, you know, follow the clues," she said as she giggled.

             
"It'll be like when we were
little and we use to spy on him, it'll be fun," she whispered in excitement.

             
Oh this a little different to when we were kids!

             
"I don't think
that
it's a good idea, I'm sure he's going to get mad if you start snooping around in his business," I replied.

             
"Oh, who cares, it's not like he's going to find
out
, is it?" S
he said as though I was acting completely stupid.

             
"I'm off to work now, bye kids."

             
"Bye M
om," Crystal shouted loudly.

             
"Bye Mrs Daniels," I shouted.

             
I didn't hear Aiden but I'm sure that he had said goodbye too. It wasn't often that Mrs Daniels was at home which is why Crystal could get away with so much and also why I was so nervous about staying for an entire week.

             
"So
,
are you in or what? She asked.

             
"Ok," I answered reluctantly.

             
It will
be
much harder for her to discover a mystery girl if the mystery girl was an inside man.

             
"Great! This is going to be so much fun!" She squealed
as she placed her flat iron
down and looked at me in the mirror.

It took her about
 
ten
minutes to do my make
up, it could have been five but she kept stopping to talk about her master plan, much to my dismay.

             
"So, what do you think?" She said as she stepped from in front of me, so that I could look in the mirror.

             
"Wow, you did
good
," I said as I looked in the mirror.

             
I had to admit that I was pretty impressed. My hair looked complet
ely, silky straight and my make
up was subtle but effective. She had made my eyes look smoky, an effect that I struggled to get on my own.

             
"I know, right," she said as she held up her hand in the air and high fived me.

             
"Jake
won't be able to resist you," she said as a cheeky smile filled her face.

             
Oh, it's not Jake that I'm worried about.

             
"Right, I'm going to phone Jess and then get us some drinks. You go and finish getting ready in your room, I'll be right up," she said excitedly as she ran down the stairs.

             
As she left, I qu
ickly unplugged the flat iron
and headed to my room. As I walked past Aiden's room, I noticed that the door was opened and quickly tried to peek
in
to see if he was in there.

             
"You know
,
it's rude to spy on people," a voice said from behind me, making me jump.

             
"I'm not spying, now
sshhh
and come here," I said
,
dragging his arm and pulling him towards my room. Once we were in, I quickly closed the door and started
to pace
up and down.

"So
,
as nice as it is to watch you walking up and down, I kind of have things to do," he said as a smile filled his face.

             
"
Shhhh
I'm trying to think. Look, Crystal suspects that you have some secret girl that you are seeing or something and she wants us to find out who it is," I blurted out, all in one
breathe
.

             
"Ok," he said,
looking at me as if I was crazy.

             
"Ok?" I asked,
confused.

             
"Yeah
,
ok. There is no secret girl, is there?"

             
Was he playing some stupid game because now was not the time.

             
"I'm tal
king about me! Will you keep up?
She suspects something," I said in a frustrated tone.

             
"Oh, you mean the secret girl that kissed me today and then ran out and told me to forget it, no sorry can't say that
 
I remember," he said as a smirk filled his face.