Pretend (60 page)

             
"Yeah, it must have been the game of twister," I said as we both laughed, quietly.

             
"Must have been, w
ho's that?" He said as he pulled up outside of his house.
There was a car parked there, I recognised it but just couldn't think who it belonged to.
 

             
"I'm just going to check if anyone's in it," Aiden said as he opened his car door.

             
"I'm coming with you," I said as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

             
"No
,
stay there," he said in a protective tone.

             
I ignored him of course and jumped out anyway. I think the slam of the car door must have woken Crystal up because she was soon outside of the car asking what was going on. None of us answered her as we examined the car further. Suddenly someone stepped out of the driver
’
s side.

             
It was Rachel.

             
"What the hell does she
want!
" Crystal asked, angrily.

             
"I just want to talk to April, for a minute," she said as she tried to avoid eye contact with me.

             
"Why?" I asked quietly as the shock took over my body.

             
"I have to tell you something," she said as she finally managed to make eye contact.
Aiden looked at me and I gave him a gentle nod to say that I would be ok.

             
"Come on Crystal," he said as he headed towards the front door.

             
"No I want to know what she wants!"

             
"It's ok Crystal, honestly. I'll be fine," I said as I threw her a small smile.

             
"Sure?"

             
"I'm sure," I said before watching her walk in as she gave Rachel a dirty look.

             
"Look I'm sorry to just show up like this but I've been meaning to do this for a while and I finally plucked up the courage," Rachel said without taking a breath.

             
"I don't understand?" I said in a confused tone.

             
"I want to apologise, for everything," she said as she looked down at the ground.

             
"Why?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

             
"It was wrong, what I did was selfish," she replied.

             
"And you've only just realised that?" I said sarcastically.

             
"No, look let me explain. I know
that
this sounds pathetic but I
've always been jealous of you."

             
"Of me?"
I asked in shock.

             
"Yes. You're
pretty, smart and you had Kyle."

             
"Yeah and you took him," I reminded her.

             
"Yeah because I always wanted him and I was mad that you had him, you have everyt
hing, it just didn't seem fair."

             
"Believe me Rachel I do not have everything," I replied.

             
"I know that now, it just took me a while to figure it out. Look, I wanted Kyle so bad and when he gave me a little bit of attention, I jumped at it. I know that it was wrong but I just wanted that feeling. It didn't matter in the end though," she said sadly.

             
"What do you mean?"

             
"You.
He just couldn't stop loving you, no matter how perfect I tried to be it was just never good enough. It used to make me so angry and we
'd argue all the time about it."

             
"Why are you telling me this now?"

             
"Because he broke up with me and told me that it was because he still loved you, that he was
in
love with you and in that
moment when he said those words and wa
lked away I realised something."

             
"What?"

             
"That the way that my heart was breaking, the pain I went through must have been exactly what I put you through and I didn't want to know that I was responsible for doing that to somebody else. Not without trying to at least make it right. I guess I'm just trying to say that I finally get it and I'm sorry," she said as she played with the ends of her blonde hair.

             
 
I sat silent, actually not knowing what to say to her.

             
"I know that you hate me but I just had to say that
. For what it's worth I can see how nice
you are and if I was Kyle, I would have picked you too," she said as she walked back towards her car.

             
"I don't hate you," I finally managed to whisper.

             
"What?" She asked.

             
"I don't hate you Rachel. I was hurt, yes but I get what it's like to just love someone so much that you do craz
y things to get them. I get it."

             
"You do?"

             
"Yes, believe me I do. I don't want to be angry with anyo
ne or hate anyone.
I just want to be happy. I'm glad that you spoke to me," I said.

             
"Me too.
I wanted to do it before but there was never a right time and I just thought tonight or never. I drove up here and wait
ed a whole hour and I thought if you weren'
t back in the next five minutes
then
I would go. I guess fate really wanted it to be toni
ght because then you pulled up."

             
"Yeah
,
fate has a funny way of doing things like that," I said as I thought about Aiden.

             
"Yeah."

             
"Well thank you," I said.

             
"No, thank you. See you around," she said as she went to get into her car.

             
"Wait
,
are you going to the party tomorrow?" I asked.

             
"Party?
Do you remember what I did at the last one, I don't think that your friends would be as forgiving as you, especially not Crystal," she said as she looked at me.

             
"No, probably not but I'm inviting you anyway," I said as I threw her a smile.

             
"I don't know, I'll think about it," she said as she smiled back at me.

             
"Ok," I said as I watched her get into her car.

             
I turned to walk up the path and inside of the Daniels' house when I was interrupted.

             
"And April," Rachel called from her car window.

             
"Yeah?"

             
"
Thank you
," she said before finally driving off and leaving me smiling to myself.
 
Maybe fate does have a strange way of working things out...

             
"Hey," I said as I walked into the living room and saw Aiden sat watching TV.

             
"Hey," he replied as he smiled up at me.

             
"Crystal gone to bed?"

             
"Yeah
,
she tried to stay up but kept falling asleep so I told her to go up
and I'd wait for you."

             
"Thanks."

             
"No problem. So what was all of that about?" He asked as I walked over and sat next to him.

             
"She wanted to apologise for everything that she's ever done to me," I said still shocked by my strange encounter with Rachel.

             
"Wow, that was big of her," he replied.

             
"Yeah it was, I guess today just keeps getting weirder," I said as I thought about Ed.

             
"Yep.
So I guess a little normality is what you're looking for now?" He asked.

             
"It would be nice, yeah," I replied in a quiet tone.

             
"I think that I can help you with that," he said before planting a kiss on my lips.

             
"Yeah that may have helped just a little," I said as I smiled.

             
"I've wanted
to do that all day. You have no idea," he said with a smirk on his face.

             
"Oh, I think I do," I said as I let out a small laugh.

             
"Come here," he said as he used his head to gesture that I come towards him.

             
He took me gently into his arms so that my head was resting on his warm chest, it felt nice.

             
"It's been a crazy day hasn't it," he said as he allowed his fingers to stroke my hair.
I nodded my head to say yes as I closed my eyes and took in the calming sound of his heart beat.

             
"Crazy or not you'll always have me, you know that
,
right?" He said as he kissed the crown of my head.

             
"Yes and you'll always have me too Mr Daniels," I replied as I snuggled deeper into his chest.

             
"I think I might just like the sound of that," he said.

             
"Me too, me too," I said as I began to drift off into a sleep.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," I heard a voice say as I slowly forced my eyes open.

             
"
Mmmm
," I mumbled as I tried to focus my eyes since the light coming through the window seemed to be suffocating them.

             
"Crystal?" I asked, confused by my surroundings.

             
"Yes, wh
o else would it be you doughnut?
Come
on,
get up, girly day out
!!" She said in an excited tone
that in my opinion was far too loud for first thing in the morning.

             
When I was finally able to open my eyes I realised that I was lying in the guest room bed much to my surprise. I guess that Aiden must have carried me up last night after I fell asleep. The fact that I was still dressed in yesterday's outfit also told me that he had tried to be the 'gentleman' again. He made me laugh.

             
"Ok, I'm coming just give me a minute," I muttered as I watched the huge grin on Crystal's face as she left the room.

             
After
about
thirty minutes I was dressed, ready and on my way down the stairs.

             
"Hey," I said as I walked into the living room where Crystal was sat waiting impatiently.

             
"Finally!
I've been waiting forever!" She replied as she jumped up from the chair and switched the TV off.

             
"Ok, so where do you want to go?"

             
"Well
,
I was thinking that we could go to the park, chill out for a
bit and then go to the mall," she said as she looked at me.