Love is for Show

14 - I Won't Pry.

A/N: Sorry! A bit busy at the moment so this chapter is currently unedited and might be a bit messy in some places. Thank you for your understanding! <3

Aiden and I are in our fifth store by now, goofing off with the sunglasses this time. Last time it was the hats, and the store before that we ransacked the shoes. Heels to be more specific. The image of Aiden wobbling around in 6-inch heels will forever be ingrained into my memory and my phone. I took pictures obviously.

"Okay okay," we both catch our breaths, "what about these?" He spins around and reveals the bright red pair of round sunglasses now hiding the top half of his face. That's how big they are. I immediately fall into another fit of laughter, barely being able to keep myself up as my legs start to shake.

"You- You look so ridiculous," I pull my phone out and snap several photos. He models for each picture, moving from one hand on his hip to placing a finger in his mouth.

I shake my head as I scroll through the various pictures we took today while he's busy taking his huge glass off behind me. Eventually, he joins me on the bench sitting in the middle of the aisle and snorts at the photo of us posing in a full body-length mirror wearing polka dotted skirts.

At the rare moment of silence between us this afternoon, a random thought pops into mind. I almost don't ask, not wanting to ruin whatever atmosphere we ended up creating, but...

"So..." I start, his gaze shifting over to me. "What's the deal between you and Axford's mom?" He raises an eyebrow me, surprisingly smirking a little while he leans some of his body weight on one hand that he places beside him.

"Why do you call him Axford?"

I shrug and clear my throat. "That's his name isn't it?"

He chuckles a bit and nudges our shoulders against each other briefly. "His last name, yeah,"

"Hey, I asked you a question first,"

"I'll answer it, I'm just curious,"

I exhale sharply and cross my feet over one another. "He's a big shot CEO, I don't feel close enough with him to call him by his first name," I pause when a woman strolls through the aisle, thankfully not paying us any mind as she quickly leaves again. "And saying 'Mr. Axford' all the time sounds too formal, especially in private settings so... I went with something in the middle: 'Axford',"

He actually laughs at that. His palm fails to muffle the sound as he looks at me with that mischievous little twinkle in his eyes.

"You really haven't changed, have you, Nathan?"

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing,"

He straightens up again, a smile still pulling at his lips. "No way, that's a really good thing,"

A silent beat passes between us and I use the moment to look over at him again. Surprisingly, his eyes are already on me, almost as if they were trying to decipher something. Is he trying to stare right at my soul or something?

"If it helps, he prefers Kalen in private, something about not wanting his business to overtake his private life," he leans back onto both his hands when he turns to me fully. Making himself maybe a little too comfortable on a public bench, but oh well, barely anyone's in the shop right now anyway. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you called him Kalen,"

I shake my head. "Unless he actually has something against it, or until he explicitly tells me to call him Kalen, I'll stick with Axford," I shrug again and give him a 'your turn' look.

He sighs and nods in understanding. Out of nowhere, he hops up and off the bench, stretches a hand out to me and pulls me up with him as well. "Well, to answer your question, if you couldn't already tell, Kalen's mother isn't the biggest fan of me,"