Pretend (24 page)

             
"Love you too," I said as I squeezed her a little tighter before finally standing back up.
 

             
"Right, squirt, I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" Kyle said as he messed up her hair with his hand.

             
"Boys," she said as she rolled her eyes and put her hair back into place.

             
We both laughed.

             
"Bye Mimi," we both said as we walked out of the door.

             
"Bye," she whispered.

             
"See you at home," Kyle said to his mom as she walked into the room.

             
"Ok bye. Thanks for coming April, we really appreciate it," she said as she squeezed my hand and then walked towards Mimi.

             
The walk
out of the hospital seemed to take half the time that it did when we first arrived.

             
It was warm outside and I enjoyed feeling the gentle breeze as it hit my skin as we walked to
wards
the car.

             
As we stepped inside, Kyle sat still and began to stare at me.

             
"What's the matter?" I asked.

             
"I can't do this," he said in a sad voice.

             
"Do what?" I asked in a confused voice.

             
"I can't pretend anymore. April, I lied when I said that I could move on and would be happy for you and Aiden. The truth is I'm not," he said.

             
"I don't understand, I thought
that
we had got
ten
past this?"
I said
,
feeling a little frustrated.

             
"Maybe you did," he said sarcastically.

             
"Don't, because I'm not the one that ruined things in the beginning," I
spat
back at him.

             
"I know, I'm sorry," he said in a gentle voice.

             
"Look, I don't feel that way
 
about you anymore. I'm sorry," I said, looking into his eyes.

             
"Because of Aiden?"
He asked as he stared back at me.

             
"No, I just don't," I replied.

             
"I don't believe you. How can you just be over me like that, after
everything?
Don't we at least owe it to ourselves to give it another shot?"

             
"I can't do this Kyle, please," I pleaded.

             
"Well, I can't give up because I still love you. In fact I'm in love with you April," he whispered.

             
I couldn't take in the words, I was shocked. He had never told me that before and I was lost for words.

             
"Can you seriously say that there is nothing there anymore?" He asked.

             
"It d
oesn't matter, Kyle.”

             
"It does.”

             
"I
t doesn't because it's over
," I snapped.

             
"Kiss me," he suddenly blurted out.

             
"What?"

             
"Kiss me and if you feel nothing then I prom
ise to leave you alone forever.”

             
"No, I can't do-"

Suddenly I was cut off as his lips met mine.

             
He kissed me...

AIDEN’S POINT OF VIEW

Seeing April walk out of my front door with Kyle was a slap in the face but I knew why she had to do it. She had her reasons and I was cool with that. I still couldn't figure her out though, sometimes I was so sure that she felt something for me but when Kyle was around he had me second guessin
g myself. Every dude knows that
that's not a feeling that you want to have. No guy wants to admit feeling threatened by another guy, it's
a sign of weakness and I’m not weak. No girl has
ever had me questioning myself like April did, there was something abo
ut her. Even when we were young
I felt different about April. I just thought that it was like a brotherly instinct because she was Crystal's friend, I guess I was wrong. Lately she was the only thing on my mind and it was
so
frustrating.

             
"So, what now?"
Crystal asked as we all stood in the hall way in silence.

             
"I don't know about you guys but I wouldn't mind having Aiden to myself for a little while," Cayce said with a big smile on her face.

             
“That was way too much information,
" Crystal replied with a look of disgust on her face.

             
"No, what about the guys, I invited them, I can't just leave them," I said as I gave Anthony a look that said 'don't you dare leave me alone with her'.
He obviously found it hilarious.

             
"Nah we're cool dude, go have your fun," he said as he winked at me, slapped my back and walked into the living room.

             
I was going to kill him later.

             
"Yeah, I'm cool," Jake said as he followed Anthony with a smile on his face.

             
Him too.

             
"To be honest, I'd rather you two go and be all
 
lovey
d
ovey
 
in your room than down here
with us, so bye," Crystal said as she followed the guys and shut the door behind her.

             
"
Mmmm
, alone at last," Cayce said as she kissed my lips and then ran up the stairs.

             
"Yeah, great," I muttered, sarcastically.

             
By the time that I had w
alked into my room
Cayce had already laid
down on my bed, much to my dismay. If I had ever known that April would leave half way through the night, she wouldn't even have been here. It was wrong but Cayce was my way of making April jealous and so far it didn't seem to be working the way that I had planned.

             
"What are you waiting for, big boy?" She asked as she batted her eyelids at me.

             
"For you to sit up," I replied.

             
"Why?" She asked in a frustrated tone.

             
I slowly walked over to my bed and sat down next to her.

             
"Cayce," I said quietly as I scratched the back of my neck.

             
"Yes baby?"

             
"We're not getting back together," I said to her, feeling rather guilty that I had probably given her the wrong impression.

             
"I know, we're taking it slow and that's fine but there's no reason why we can't have a little fun in the meantime," she said as she pushed me onto my back and straddled me.

             
I quickly grabbed her wrists and pushed her gently off of me.

             
"I'm sorry but this isn't wha
t I want," I mumbled.

             
"So why
have you been inviting me
around so much, lately?
"

             
"I don't know, I've just been confused," I replied.

             
"About what?"
She asked.

             
"I've got feelings for someone else," I
said as a guilty
look spread across my face.

             
"Who?"
She asked.

             
"It doesn't matter. Look, I'm sorry if I've led you on, I never meant to hurt you," I said as I took a step closer to her.

             
Suddenly she burst out laughing which completely caught me off guard.
 

             
"Care to share the joke?" I asked in a confused tone.

             
"You and your sentimental crap.
Look, Aiden as hot as you like to think that you are and you are hot, it's not you that I want," she said as she took a seat on my bed.

             
"What?" I asked
,
feeling even more lost than ever.

             
"I like Anthony.
I was just trying to make him jealous, sorry to burst your bubble," she said as a smirk filled her face.

             
"Seriously?
Anthony? That kind of makes a whole lot of sense actually. So you're doing exactly the same thing that I am," I said as the realisation hit me.

             
"Yeah, yeah I know. Actually it's quite a relief to finally let it out. I was getting kind of worried that you may have
actually wanted me. No offense.”

             
"None taken," I replied.

             
"Well it feels good to get that out in the open.
”

             
“You did do a good job at acting desperate though,” I said as I raised my eyebrows at her.

             
“Well, from what I remember you can’t stand desperate girls so I had to make sure that you wouldn’t actually want to do anything with me but still make Anthony jealous at the same time. Not that it seems to be working anyway,” she said in a sad tone.

             
“Anthony doesn’t do getting jealous and neither does he do relationships. That’s just how he is,” I said sympathetically.

             
“Yeah I’m starting to see that. Look, c
an you kind of
just
keep this between me and you though?" She asked as she stood up.

             
"Yeah sure," I
said, feeling rather used, even t
hough I was doing the
exact
same thing
to her
.

             
"Good," she said as she walked towards the door.

             
"Oh and she likes you too," she said as she turned back around to face me.

             
"Huh?"

             
"April, she's really into you. I can tell," she said as she winked at me.

             
"You knew that I liked April all of this time?" I asked in complete shock.

             
"Of course, only an idiot wouldn't see that. You guys are kind of cute, well you would be if Kyle wasn't in
the picture but hey, who knows."

             
"Hey Cayce, don't mention this to my sister please," I pleaded.

             
"Are you kidding? That girl would somehow find a way to blame me if I told her and no one wants to be on the re
ceiving end of her anger. Your
secret
’
s safe with me," she said as a smile filled her face.

             
"Thanks," I said as I looked back at her.

             
"No problem. Oh and for the
record not everything was fake. Y
ou are one hell of a kisser just like I remembered. April's one lucky girl," she said before
 
walking out of
 
the room and leaving me
stood,
smiling to myself.