Sometimes

Chapter eleven

    “Why shouldn’t you?” Cassie asked.  She sounded all high and mighty.  “You live there too.  And Aiden’s your friend.”  I’d forgotten Aiden would be over too; I was still getting used to the idea that he hung out with my older sister on a frequent basis.  “You could talk to him.”

    “I thought the whole idea of me going down there was to talk to Sonny?”

I heard Cassie crunch something loud and mutter something about crisps.  My stomach pinched with hunger; I’d only had a banana for breakfast.  “Yeah, but.  You feel comfortable talking to Aiden, right?  So if Sonny sees how confident you are when you’re talking to Aiden, he’ll want to talk to you.”

I laughed. “What phase is this?”

    “It’s not a phase,” she replied.  “It’s common knowledge that guys like a confident girl.  Confidence is sexy apparently.”

I snorted.  Yeah, and then the minute I try to talk to Sonny, I’ll start stammering and muttering all over the place and he’ll think I’m some kind of weird kid. 

    “Don’t be negative,” Cassie said.  “You need to be optimistic.”

    “Sure,” I replied, getting up from my bed to look out of the window.  Sonny’s car was parked at the end of the driveway and the sight of it made my stomach squeeze, and not from hunger.  “I’ll snare him with confidence.”

    “That’s the way to talk,” Cassie agreed.  “Now, are you going to go downstairs?”

I perched on my desk and felt nerves shake my resolve to be confident. “Uh, no?”

    “Harriet!” Cassie exclaimed.  “Go downstairs now!”

    “I can’t do it, Cass,” I said, verging on being whiny.  “I’ll just make a fool out of myself.”

    “You’ll be fine,” Cassie assured me.  She sounded like she meant it too.  My confidence rose a touch. 

    “Really?”

    “Yeah.  And if you do well, like, get some information on him, then I’ll get you a brownie from Keke’s.”

My mouth watered at the thought of chocolate.  “Done!”

    “Wow, H,” Cassie said.  “If I’d have known how easy it was to manipulate you, I’d have done it a long time ago.”

I laughed dryly before saying my goodbyes.  If I didn’t go down straight away, I had a feeling I’d be in my room all afternoon with only the smell of bacon and the thoughts of chocolate for company.

                                                                   ***

    It turned out Aiden was the one responsible for the alluring smell of bacon.  I spotted him near the grill in the kitchen, with his back to me, as I reached the bottom of the stairs.  The sound of sizzling fat was loud in my ears and I found myself being drawn to the kitchen, even though I’d promised Cassie I’d socialise. 

    “I didn’t know you could cook, I said, leaning against the fridge.  Aiden’s shoulders rose and I could tell I’d surprised him.  He turned around to face me, holding a plate.  On top the plate were two slices of bread.  My stomach howled. 

    “It’s a bacon sandwich,” Aiden replied, one of his light eyebrows raised.  “It’s not exactly cooking.”

He held the plate out to me and I took it without hesitation, my mouth watering at the thought of eating soon.  It was then that I noticed more plates stacked next to a loaf of bread.