'I'm in love with Aria. And she's the only girl I ever want to be with.'
Who would have imagined that those seemingly simple words would have the power to render me completely dumbfounded – and from the looks of it, I was not the only one.
One look at Aiden's grandma revealed a visibly stunned woman – a far cry from her usual poker face. When she finally managed to speak, it was: “is this true?”
To my alarm, judging by how her sharp blue eyes had locked in on my brown ones, the question seemed to be directed at me. As though to emphasize her point, she added, “are you and Aiden in a relationship?”
Ok, I just had to find my words. Heck, I just had to find my letters.
Alright, let me see. A, b, l, r...shit, I was totally screwed.
If this was some kind of twisted dream in which Aiden's grandma was interrogating me, with his mom and sister watching attentively with bewildered interest, then I demanded to wake up.
But when a full moment passed, and yet nothing changed, I was left with no choice than to accept the fact that this really was my reality. Which then brought the question: what the hell do I do now?
My hands were beginning to do that fidgety thing they did whenever I was nervous or panicked, and the muted ringing in my ears wasn't helping matters. But in the middle of all that, I caught the meaningful look of the boy beside me.
It wasn't hard to decipher just what meaning it aimed to express. After all, I'd seen it many times before, the same way I'd yielded to its message – ‘please help me out here.’
But those were entirely different situations. They were miles apart from the situation at hand now. Still, despite knowing this, like those times before, I found myself unable to resist.
And before I knew it, the word that was slipping off my lips was: “yes.”
Even as I said it, it sounded foreign to my ears, with the word coming out somewhat feebly. Still, I went on, managing some conviction in my tone this time around.
“It's true. Aiden and I are in a relationship.” I could almost hear him release a breath of relief, his previously tense shoulders, finally relaxing a bit.
But while he found relief, his grandma seemed even more confounded than before. Her lips parted to speak, but no words came out.
Aiden on his part, took advantage of her silence to say, “I told you; Aria and I are together. Forget Olivia, I can't even imagine being with any other girl.” His voice radiated such calm confidence, that if I didn't know better, I'd think he was telling the truth.
His lips were upturned in a smile which was almost taunting when he stared at his grandma, with his hand moving to wrap around me, suavely pulling me closer to him.
I was pretty sure I looked awkward as hell right now, still quite in disbelief as to how the events were beginning to unfold.
But despite myself, I managed a small smile of my own which I was pretty sure stretched in a very unnatural way – almost like I was one of the characters in the 'Truth or Dare' movie. But the important thing was that I was smiling.
See? I could do this for a minute or two more. Like Aiden, I could be the happy girl in love with a guy who was unwilling to be with anyone but her.
So, I said, “that's right. I am totally crazy about this guy here. So crazy.” As I spoke, my hand moved to his chest, hitting it 'fondly,' between every word – so fondly that a wicked grin formed on my lips when I felt him flinch from the effect. But he was quick to cover it up with a chuckle.
“Ok, babe, let's not get too excited,” he mused, carefully putting my hand away.
“But I'm just so excited that we can finally tell everyone about us,” I said, voice dripping 'honey,' hitting his arm between every word yet again.
He shot me a look that said: 'please spare me.' But what came out of his mouth was: “Yes, I'm excited too. But let's not express it too strongly.” There was a panicked rush to his words that left me struggling to bite back a giggle.
But someone else wasn't quite able to bite back their exclamation of: “oh god, you two really are together!”
It was only when I heard Aiden's mom that I was reminded of the presence of the three other people in the room. Talking about Aiden's mom, she had bounded over to us, and was now squishing us in her arms. Sorry, I meant hugging us.
“I always knew this day would come. My son is in a serious relationship. I knew right from when he started talking about Aria that there was something more.”
“Ok, mom,” Aiden started with a shaky titter. “Let's not go into all that right now.”
But if she heard him, she did not show it. She had now focused her attention on me, eyes warm when they held mine. “You really are as special as I thought to have been able to tame him. You don't know how happy I am to have you in this family,” she gushed, pulling into yet another hug.
Ok hold up, what? Into the family? Been able to tame him? Why was she saying all these things? Why was she teary-eyed as she spoke? Why were my hands awkwardly tapping on her back? And most importantly, why was this seemingly awkward hug, strangely nice?
Ok, yeah, I was definitely going crazy. No doubt about it.
Hence, I was pretty grateful when Emma said, “mom, please stop making things weird.” Just when I was about to sigh in relief, she had to add, “it's pretty obvious they're together. I didn't think it was this serious though, but I've always known they were hooking up or something.”
Say what now? Hooking up? Hooking up as in me and Aiden? The thought of it was so absurd, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
But someone else had a reaction to give. Because one warning glance from their grandma, and Emma was making a hurried addition of: “I mean, dating. I always knew they were dating.”
“Of course, you did,” Aiden remarked lightly. I, however, had already given up on my ability to form a coherent sentence.
The only thought on my mind was: what the—
“So, it's true. You two really are dating.” Of course, only Aiden's grandma could manage to make a remark like that sound intimidating. But when I turned to face her, I was surprised to find a trace of a smile on her lips.
“Yes, we are,” Aiden deadpanned.
“Well, I'm glad. But we still need to talk about...”
“I think that's enough for now, Leah,” Aiden's mom piped up. “They must be jet lagged. Let's allow them to rest and have a little time to themselves.” I didn't fail to catch the tinge of excitement in her voice at the last part.
Wow, they really must have been waiting for Aiden to get into an actual relationship for a long time now. And just like that, I found myself wondering what they'd do when they found out his 'actual relationship' was all just an actual lie. The rush of dread and panic was instant. So, I quickly shook the thought off my mind.
“Fine,” his grandma breathed in agreement. Facing Aiden, she said, “we'll talk more later. We still have much to discuss.”
“I can't wait,” he answered with exaggerated cheer.
“Anyway...” Of course, that was Aiden's mom — I mean, who else could sound that gleeful? “You should have told me you two were dating. If you had, I wouldn't have had a separate room arranged for Aria. You're a young couple; I understand just how hard it is to keep away from each other, you know?” She finished with a suggestive wink, to which Aiden tittered awkwardly.
And me? Well, I sure didn't need a mirror to know that my face could fit right in a tomato garden. This whole situation was getting more mortifying by the second. And it didn't help that Aiden's mom still had that mischievous grin across her face.
I was still thinking of how to turn her down without screaming out an emphatic: 'no!'
I mean, having to lie about being Aiden's girlfriend was one thing, but sharing the same room? That was just crazy.
And from the looks of it, Aiden seemed to think the same. “Mom, there's no nee–” But that was how far he got before another voice cut in.
“Kara, I don't think putting them in the same room would be appropriate.” I nearly broke into a little victory dance just then. But thankfully, I didn't. I instead listened as Aiden's grandma continued. “This family is–”
Aiden's declaration of, “I think that's a great idea,” cut off the rest of what his grandma was saying.
I didn't miss the tint of pride in her voice when she said, “well, yes. It is.”
“Yes,” he mused in agreement, lips curling into a sly smile as his eyes swept past his grandma to land on his mom. “It's a good idea, mom. I can't even imagine sleeping apart from my cheesecake for a whole week,” he finished, throwing me what was supposed to be a loving gaze, but was received with a glare that could cut through glass.
Emma made a gagging motion, but his mom was a whole different story. She beamed so brightly, that her face could pretty much light up a Christmas tree.
“Well, if that's what you want,” his grandma said, seeming to smile through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, that's what we want,” he answered, eyes holding his grandma's in silent triumph.
That's what we want? We? We as in he and I together? We as in us, as in two people? Ok, I know; I was growing crazier by the second.
But in my defense, this was all his fault. So, when his eyes met mine, I shot him a glare which made him swallow nervously. He knew it too – I was going to kill him.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ok, I'll just leave you two now,” she chirped, moving towards the door, but not past it. You know, just like the past one hundred times before this one.
And like the other times before, I managed a small smile in response to the bright one that spread across her face. “Ok. Thank you.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, it's nothing. I'll have your dinner sent up.”
“Thank you, ma'am.”
“Please, call me Kara – we're basically family now.”
We were?
But to her, I said, “ok.”
She beamed in satisfaction. “Alright, I'll leave now.”
I nodded, watching as she lingered at the door. “I'll just go now. You should get some rest,” she added. Yeah, she was still at the door.
“Mom, you know you need to leave for us to do that, right?” Aiden piped up.
She offered a small titter in response, adding, “that's right. Well, I'll be off now.”
“Ok.”
“It's just so good to have you back,” she gushed. “I've missed you a lot.”
“Me too,” he said, moving to press a soft kiss on her forehead, the both of them sharing a smile soon after.
Something about the scene was so soft, I found myself smiling a little too – and not the awkward type I'd been giving all this time.
“But you really need to go now,” he remarked lightly, to which she chuckled.
“Fine.” Facing me, she said, “goodnight Aria.”
“Goodnight ma...Kara.”
She nodded, shooting us one last smile before finally going out, closing the door behind her.
With her gone, there was only one thing left to do.
“So,” Aiden started, turning to face me with a sheepish chortle. But it was quick to change to a yelp when my purse landed on his chest.
Not sparing him a chance to recover, I jumped on him, causing the both of us to fall over on the bed. I grabbed at a pillow and proceeded to fiercely attack him with it.
“Oww, oww! That actually hurts,” he cried, making futile efforts to dodge my attacks. “Are you trying to kill me or something?”
“I'm glad you noticed,” I said, feigning sweetness before proceeding to continue with the task at hand – killing him that is.
“Ok, ok, ok,” he chimed between chortles. “Sorry. I'm sorry, seriously. I know what happened downstairs was a lot.”
That finally made me stop, but I still held the pillow close, eyeing him warily. “It was more than a lot. It was insane! Why would you tell them we are dating? There are thousands of girl names out there, Aiden. Why did you have to say my name?”
“Because I realized I was in love with you?” He offered, lips curled in mischief.
“Aiden, I swear to god...” I held up the pillow to emphasize my point.
“Ok, ok,” he conceded, covering his face in mock-defense. Despite myself, I betrayed a small smirk at that.
“I just didn't know what to say, okay? Everything happened so suddenly, and then I looked beside me, and you were there. And your name slipped out. And then another lie, and yet another, until I was just spitting out straight up lies.” His voice held a more serious tone now. “I just didn't want my grandma to win.”
I eyed him for a second or two before breathing out a sigh. “Fine. To be fair, she is pretty intense.”
“Tell me about it,” he remarked, to which we chortled.
But it wasn't long before I remembered that I was still mad at him. Hence, my saying, “alright, let's just say you were caught unaware then. But what about that whole...” I cleared my throat, feigning a ridiculously deep voice when I said, “I can't even imagine sleeping apart from my cheesecake for a whole week.”
“First off, I sound nothing like that. I have a more sexy vibe to my voice,” he remarked, obviously amused.
I could only scoff. “You wish.”
“What was that? Oh yeah, the sound of jealousy,” he finished lightly.
“You know I'm still holding the pillow, right?"
“As I was saying, you did a pretty good impression of my voice.”
“I know,” I said, with a pleased grin, to which he chuckled in response.“Anyway, the point is: why did you have to agree to sharing a room?”
“I wanted to say no, but then my grandma had to agree, so I had to say yes. Ok, now that I'm saying it out loud, I realize that might not have been the smartest idea.”
“You think?” I quipped. “How can we even share a room? Didn't you think of how weird it'd be?”
“Well, if you think about it. It's kind of like sharing an apartment. And we already do that, so...”
“Aiden,” I roared. “We don't share an apartment."
“Really?” He questioned in mock-surprise. “Then why am I always at your apartment?”
“I ask myself the same thing sometimes.”
“Oh, come on, admit it – you can't live without my fun company.”
I pretended to consider it before shaking my head in the negative. “No, I'm pretty sure I can.”
“You can be so mean,” he huffed dramatically, causing me to titter slightly.
“But seriously though, this is all crazy. Your family thinks we're dating, we're sharing a room, I mean, what next?”
“We get married,” he offered lightly.
“Aiden,” I seethed, leaving him to make a show of zipping his lips.
“This is serious, okay? Have you thought about what would happen when your family finds out we're lying? What would your grandma do then? And how about Emma? And what about your mom?” I knew I was freaking out now, but I couldn't help it.
“Oh my god, your mom is so excited. She's going to be so disappointed if she finds out. I can't do this; we shouldn't do this. Let's just go downstairs and tell them everything is a lie.”
“Ri, hey,” Aiden called, flipping me over, so that now, he was the one hovering over me, while I lay on the bed, looking up at him.
“It's going to be fine, I promise,” he soothed.
“But how can you be so sure? What if they find out?”
“They won't. We're only staying here for a week, remember? After that, we'll be gone, and all this will be over.”
“But won't they ask questions?” I asked, still a little uncertain.
“If they do, I'll just tell them we broke up. It's me after all; I'm sure they'll be expecting that to happen sooner or later,” he explained coolly.
“That's true though.” He nodded in agreement. But it was short-lived with my addition of: “you really don't know the concept of relationships, or love, or...”
“Ok, I get it,” he cut in.
“I was just saying,” I offered oh-so-innocently.
“Yeah, sure,” came his sarcastic response, lips upturned in a knowing smile. “Anyway, we just have to make it through this week and it's over. Just this one week. Please.”
Oh, he was doing his pleading eyes. Damn those stupid irresistible pleading eyes of his. Still, the words that left my lips were: “I don't know, Aiden.”
“Come on, I promise it won't be that bad. Well, that is unless...” he drawled, a sly smirk etched on his face which only made more curious.
“Unless what?”
“Unless you're worried that us spending the week together like this might make you…I don't know, fall head over heels for me,” he sallied, obviously enjoying this.
I, however, took a moment longer than I should to formulate a response. What? I knew he was kidding, but falling for him? For him? Me? Seriously, me? As in me? As in I?
But although my thoughts were leading me to crazy ville, I managed a scoff. “Don't even dream of it. If anything, I think you should be more worried about yourself.”
“Oh, really?” He asked, voice dropping to a husky whisper as he leaned in closer.
I don't know why, but I found myself swallowing hard under him. Still, I managed to say, “yeah.”
“Fine, we'll see,” he said, a small smile playing on his lips, eyes never once leaving mine.
“We'll see,” I echoed in agreement, holding his stare. We made it through a few seconds before we both broke out laughing.
“Gosh, imagine if that happened,” I mused.
“I know, right?”
“Yeah. I mean, it's you. Why would I even...god, I can't even imagine it.”
“Although, there is that one night.” If not the mischievous glint in his eyes, then his emphasis on the last two words, were enough to tell me just what night he was referring to.
And just like the other times before this one, the thought of it was enough to make my cheeks grow warm in a mortified flush.
That night – how could I forget it?
And just like that, I was transported to another time, another place, or rather, another room.