Ch 5

I could feel Aaron's questioning glance burning into the side of my head, but I carried on smiling at his Mum as she gave me the same tight smile in response, before clearing her throat with a cough.

"Forgive me, Alexis. I was going to go make dinner, if you guys want to head upstairs to hang out," she murmured with a tired laugh, gesturing to the stairs and I let out a small laugh.

"Oh, I could help, what are you thinking of making?" I offered, to which his Mum raised an eyebrow. Nevertheless, she shook her head gently.

"No, I would hate to put that work on you," she started and I let out a small laugh, shaking my head.

"It's no work at all, I would love to help. Plus, I cook a mean pasta," I joked, to which his Mum wordlessly gestured to the kitchen, an indecipherable look on her face.

I nodded in thanks before making my way over, ignoring the way in which Aaron was looking at me, most likely wanting to decipher why I was here. I heard Aaron's Mum behind me and looked around in awe as I entered the furnished room. It looked so amazing, and I eyed the marble countertops in fascination.

"Only if you're sure, Alexis, I could just order something," she said and I turned on my heels as I placed my phone on the kitchen counter, grinning widely, watching as Aaron entered from behind, a curious look on his face.

"Oh, but nothing beats a home-cooked meal.

Besides, I make a habit of making dinner every evening," I joked again, and Aaron's Mum gave me a once-over. It made me cower into myself slightly, but I stayed with a smile on my face.

"That must be difficult to keep up with as well as school now that you all have your exams?" she questioned.

I gave her a wave of dismissal before looking around to familiarise myself with the utensils and ingredients. "It is lot of daily tiresome work. It's not easy, but I think I'm managing."

Aaron let out a scoff, making me turn to him. "Just managing? You're getting A's left, right and centre."

His eyes glimmered but gave nothing away and I coughed awkwardly before turning away towards the stove. I couldn't tell whether he meant it, or was just playing into the act.

"Can cook and a straight A student? What else can I say except for, where do you want me to lend a hand?" Aaron's Mum spoke, giving me her first genuine smile. I pointed towards the fridge.

"Well, I could use some help cleaning and cutting some chicken, if you have any, Miss Walker," I said in a bright tone.

"You can call me Sam." Aaron's Mum rolled up her sleeves before giving me a large grin, wheeling towards the kitchen.

I could feel Aaron's stare through the side of my head as though he was asking me to turn, but I ignored it. I started for the kitchen, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

Aaron's voice rang out behind me.

"Why'd you come back?" he said quietly. I looked at him, his face as impassive as his voice. Even though he was distant right now, I could tell he was happy.

The promise to his Mum was being fulfilled and I spoke, my voice tight with emotion, but I shrugged almost noncommittally.

"I'm doing it for you mom. I had promised you I would hear your reasoning out and, on that basis, I want to help. Whatever happened between us during the day is irrelevant," I said with a levelled tone, sparing him a glance as he nodded almost robotically.

"Thanks," he said and I nodded in acknowledgement at his words.

Who said we had to get along for this to work?

***

An hour later, we were sat at Aaron's dinner table.

Aaron and I on one side whilst his Mum sat on the other side, an empty chair beside her mostly likely for her husband, yet he hadn't turned up.

"So..." Sam started.

I fidgeted nervously. I know I wasn't really going out with Aaron, but I still felt the pressure of having to impress her. If I didn't then I wasn't helping, and I gulped down the nerves as I spared a gaze to Aaron.

He was wildly attacking his plate, his attention focused only on the pasta I'd made. I watched in impressed shock as one of his hands held onto the fork, stabbing viciously at his food. His other hand was occupied...holding my hand.

I felt awkward with my hand in his, like it wasn't meant to be there. His hand was rough but warm and significantly larger than mine. I couldn't help but appreciate the warmth it gave, and I now knew why people enjoyed hand-holding so much.

"So how did you guys meet?" Sam said, breaking the silence. She looked at me intently and Aaron immediately stopped eating, turning towards me to send me a panicked look.

"Er, Lexi tells this story better."

I could have glared at how he put me under the spotlight. However, instead of panicking, I smiled.

Many a day, I had spent my afternoons living in books, reading novel after novel. I'd picked up my fair share of romantic tales along the way.

I bit my lip in thought, as if I was remembering our first meeting.

"Well," I started, smiling to give the impression of absolute happiness. "I came into school one day and was at my locker when I heard someone talking loudly. I knew it had to be Aaron."

I turned towards him with a small forced smile. In return, he smiled widely, playing along before giving his pasta plate a more affectionate look. I nearly rolled my eyes but composed myself and continued.

"He was shouting about how he was going to fail the English test in the afternoon. I felt sorry for him. It was obvious he cared about his grades. So I thought about offering to help him and now I'm glad I did." I smiled at him bashfully and, in response, he put a warm arm around my shoulder, not even bothering to swallow his food before he grunted in confirmation.

I tensed at his touch before continuing. I was not used to the feeling, and I turned back to his mother at the action.

"Then?" Sam said, her voice curious and bubbly and I smiled at her interest, my brain running at an insane speed, just to ensure I had a coherent story.

"During free period, I helped him understand the material. It was quite fun really. I would say something serious and he would make a joke of it and we would end up laughing about it. I would be angry at first, but I caved instantly when he smiled at me," I said, sparing him a bland look, one his mother couldn't see. I felt the bile rise to my throat at my own words, but Aaron ignored this.

He smiled in my direction, and I hated to admit how good he looked.

"He has the most beautiful smile," I murmured, adding flavour to the story. Aaron raised an eyebrow at my words, and I knew, when we were alone, that he would tease me. I nudged him roughly with my elbow, smiling when he winced before letting out a small noise when he nudged me back in my side. He was going to pay for that, the ungrateful little-

"Aww! You guys are just too cute. Carry on!" Sam cooed, her eyes twinkling with immense happiness.

I sent a smile to her before speaking. "Well, Aaron went in to do the exam and I went home. I hadn't talked to him after that until results day. I was sitting down on a bench looking at my grades when I saw a shadow. I looked up to see Aaron towering over me. He pulled me into a hug.

Afterwards, I asked him what he was so happy about and he told me he passed English. I was so happy for him..." I smiled at Aaron, knowing he actually had passed English.

Heck, everyone knew! He was shouting it down every hallway. I guess English wasn't his best subject.

Aaron then chose to speak.

"She helped me through a rough point even though we didn't know each other. I'm lucky I have her, even if she is a little uptight," he slid in, smirking. I clenched my teeth, feigning a smile. He was doing this to mess with me, I knew, but I still fell in for his tricks.

His mother chuckled at this, and I pinched Aaron's leg hard, to which he let out a whispered 'ow'. I smiled in triumph.

"Oh, Aaron, I'm only uptight when I'm faced with stupid situations. And, with you, well let's just say I have enough stupid I could bathe in it." I acted like I was joking, but gave a little smirk in Aaron's direction.

"And hopefully, drown," Aaron muttered and I glared hard at him. He only looked back with a challenging look in his gaze, expecting me to retort again, but I turned away, making sure to stomp on his shoe, to which he tensed slightly.

I returned my gaze to Sam, who was watching us, a look of amusement on her face.

"He then asked me to be his girlfriend. I was shocked, but happy too. I mean, I had a crush on him since I helped him with his English test. Aaron probably thought I was gonna reject him because he looked beyond worried, but I said yes and yeah, that's what happened," I finalised, pretending to be happy before looking pointedly at Aaron.

"I regret saying yes to this day," I joked with him, causing Sam to laugh. Aaron laughed also, his husky voice making my hair stand on end. I snapped my head away from him before he saw me looking and tried to change the topic.

"So, Sam, enough about us! I wanna hear about you. What do you do?" I asked curiously and Sam smiled kindly, opening her mouth to speak.

"Well, I'm currently working as a therapist. Oh, you'd love the career, I bet. It's such a challenging yet fulfilling job," she urged passionately and I leaned forward at her words.

"Oh, tell me about it!" I asked in response, and she sat up, her eyes glimmering as she started talking about her routine at work. I nodded, showing her 1 was listening as I raised a glass of water to my lips to drink, but my breath hitched before I could.

Aaron's hand was suddenly on my knee, drawing lazy circles. I looked towards him, glaring daggers, but he didn't seem to know what he was doing. His head was looking down as he carried on eating.

He was doing this on purpose. It was for the teasing I had done to him during the dinner, so I tried to ignore it and turned my head to look at Sam and concentrate on what she was saying, but the feeling of foreign contact made me feel uncomfortable. So, I retaliated, kicking Aaron hard in the shin, smirking as he let out a loud groan.

Served him right.

Sam carried on talking about her job, unaware of what was going on around her-underneath the table to be more specific-and I inwardly apologised for not paying attention.

I turned towards Aaron, irritation apparent on my face.

"What are you doing?!" I whisper-yelled. I knew what he was doing; he was doing it to get a rise out of me, and I wasn't going to fall for his tricks.

Aaron looked up from his food in response, feigning innocence.

"What am I doing?" he questioned innocently, and I gave him the biggest death glare I could muster when Sam directed her attention to her food, before tutting.

"Oh, shut up, Walker! I wasn't born yesterday, so you can keep your shitty act to yourself," I spat out angrily, making sure Sam didn't hear us even though there was no chance of that. She was so engrossed in her talks that she forgot everything around her which, in that situation, I was glad for.

Aaron smiled triumphantly, sensing how irritated I was getting. He enjoyed getting a rise out of me.

"Are you sure you're immune? You know you can tell me, Lexi," he soothed playfully, trying his hardest not to break into a laugh. I had to process what he said before I heard the nickname he gave me. No one had bothered to give me one. They either called me by my name, Alexis, or some insult. Both of which I was not particularly fond of.

But Lexi was nice. It suited me.

My thoughts stopped when his hand trailed higher and, if I wasn't angry, I would have laughed at how he was using two fingers to walk across my thigh as though they were legs. It was completely apt for a guy like him-both childish and playful, yet I couldn't laugh in a situation like this.

It was only when he squeezed that I abruptly jumped up from the table, hitting down almost everything. Everything seemed to stop at that moment, and I felt the urge to close my eyes to stop the bubbling embarrassment. Sam had stopped talking and was now looking at me curiously.

Aaron's response was totally different. He sat, looking down at his plate, trying his hardest not to laugh. I vowed to myself that he would never see the light of day again.

"Alexis, are you okay?" Sam said, sounding as though she was talking to a madman. I squirmed, balancing from foot to foot uncomfortably, thinking of an excuse.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, I had stomach cramps, and it hurt a lot so I... Yeah. I think I should just step away from the food," I said, uneasily, a nervous laugh escaping my mouth.

She smiled and seemed to buy it because she didn't question me anymore. I smiled back, before settling down again and picking up a few things that toppled over. I glared over at Aaron to see he was no longer looking at his plate, but at me, smirking.

"Stomach cramps? Are you sure you'll be okay? It seemed really extreme," he questioned me, raising an eyebrow. His voice was filled with a mock concern that only made me glower.

Asshole was all I could think.

"Extreme? No, you're mistaken, Aaron. They're nothing like the ones you suffer. Trust me, if they were, I would have murdered the toilet already, right?" I smiled out through clenched teeth and Aaron grimaced at my words, making Sam laugh loudly.

"If you can shut him up like this normally, you can come around more often," she joked and 1 smiled at the invite. If she invited me again, then chances were she didn't completely hate me.

At this, I looked at the time on the grandfather clock before turning to smile at Sam.

"It's getting late, I think I should leave now," I said politely, rising from my seat slowly, but not before poking Aaron hard in the ribs as a punishment for the embarrassment I had faced just moments ago, making him smirk at me.

Sam spoke out before I could leave.

"No, darling, you can't go! You honestly think I'm gonna let you go when you have a stomach ache?

You have to stay and, besides, it's late. Stay here for the night!" she urged and I raised an eyebrow slightly at the offer. My own Mum would have smacked me upside the head if I asked her to let a boy stay over.

I shook my head with a smile.

"Oh no, I'd hate to impose, it's fine, I'll just get going," I reasoned before grabbing my phone and pocketing it.

Sam tutted, putting her hair behind her ears.

"I insist, Alexis. You will be staying because I would love to have you as my guest. It's the least I can do for a lovely meal," she insisted, her tone firm and demanding.

She was just like her son-wouldn't take no for an answer-and I looked to Aaron for help, but he looked away.

"Oh..fine," I said, half-heartedly, not knowing what else to say. I sometimes hated how compliant I was.

How had I gone from faking being Aaron's girlfriend to staying overnight at his house in the space of a few hours?