Chapter 3

“uhhhhhh. Uhm” Cercei stands there frozen, her mind scrambled as she stares up at the guy that just kissed her. She’s kissed a guy twice and she doesn’t even know his name or who he is. He just looks at her briefly and his attention goes back to whatever caught his attention behind her before the kiss.

Then she hears it again, the scream, well now it sounds more like an angry shriek. She turns around to find a very angry lady walking towards them. She’s confused, wondering why this lady is walking up to her with murderous intent, why this guy just kissed her, why everyone seems to be interested in what's happening in their little corner.

She looks to her right, where the guy was standing beside her and she’s shocked to see a very satisfied look on his face as he watches the lady walk towards them. Did he do this on purpose? She thought to herself.

Just as the angry lady gets to where they're standing, he grabs her by the waist and pulls her closer to his side. Ah so he did do it on purpose, she realizes. He's obviously trying to make the angry lady jealous. He looks down at her and winks just as the lady gets up in his face and points an accusatory finger at him.

“YOU!”  she growls, her voice dripping with anger. As she lifts her hand to slap him. He gets a hold of her arm before her hand could get to his face.

“Hey, you” he says with a smug smile and then he lightly shoves her away from him.

She reels back a little but gets her grounding and more venom “How dare you, what do you think you’re doing” she spat.

“And what am I doing Sandra?”

“You know very well what I’m talking about Aaron, what was that huh? The little stunt you just pulled and who's the tramp?” she says, that accusatory finger pointing at Cercei now.

Cercei is shocked and still a little confused about what exactly is going on around her but she seems to find her focus at being called a tramp. She gets annoyed and is ready to explain to this lady, why women should refrain from using derogatory words like that against each other but Aaron beats her to it.

“Don't you dare call my girlfriend a tramp, Sandra” he saysraising his voice slightly.

Girlfriend? Did she just hear him say girlfriend?. She looks up at him again, her eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth hanging open.

“Close your mouth, sweetie” he says, as he places his knuckles under her chin and softly closes her mouth. He then winks again and turns his attention back to the angry lady, oh Sandra, her name is Sandra.

Looking around, Cercei notices the whole party is tuned in to their little spectacle. She can hear a couple of their whispers.

“Did he just call that girl his girlfriend?” one old lady whispers to another standing beside her.

“Yes, yes he did, oh dear she’s a step down from our Sandra.” The other old lady says.

“And she also has no character, kissing him at his ex-wife's engagement like that” the first old lady says. She looks around the crowd and they all seem to be looking at her, some with questioning looks and some of them are obviously judging her.

She’s his ex-wife? And this is her engagement party? That means she’s Tommy's sister. But isn't she supposed to on the run with some guy? . What is going on??!.

“I don't care who she is, why are you kissing her?” Sandra asks.

Shrugging his shoulders he asks, “I'm sorry, am I not allowed to kiss my girlfriend?”. He still has that smug look on his face, he looks so satisfied with what he’s doing right now. How is he enjoying it this much.

Aaron cannot believe how well this is all going, it’s going way better than he could have ever hoped, he’s also really grateful his ‘girlfriend' is way to stunned to speak. It would be better if she just stayed quiet.

Sandra let’s out a frustrated shriek and starts pacing. Her face has gotten red from anger, she’s mumbling to herself quite frankly she looks like she’s losing it.

She stops her pacing and suddenly whips her head to the side to face Aaron and then her body follows the action.

“So everything you said, all the plans you said you had for us,they were all lies?” Sandra asks, her voice already cracking as tears begin to pool in her eyes.

She continues before Aaron could answer, “You told me it would be better this time, that you would be better this time. You said I should trust you and and and….  “She starts stuttering as the tears begin to fall.

“What are you talking about Sandra? I never said anything to you” He says looking completely unbothered that this woman is breaking down in front of him.

“You know exactly what I am talking about, I just broke off my engagement for you. I was going to abandon it all for you, for everything you said, you made me ruin it all and, just as I’m about to flee my engagement party with you, what do I see? You kissing some r, random bimbo”. Even though her eyes were filled with more unshed tears, Cercei could see the resentment in those eyes when she looked at her.

She looked at her like it was her fault her entire world was crumbling around her. Aaron walks up to Sandra and says “She’s not a bimbo”, then turns back and points a finger back at Cercei and continues “And she has more character and soul in her little pinkie than you would ever have in your entire body”.

He walks back to stand at Cercei's side again, puts his hand around her waist, and holds her tightly against him. He looks at his ex-wife with as much sympathy as you would a murderer on death row.

“I am very sorry your engagement didn’t work out, I truly am” he places his free hand on his chest. “But you shouldn’t use my presence here as an excuse for breaking it off, if I knew this was why you invited me then I never would have come, I want you to be happy so please be happy because I am” he finishes that statement with a look at Cercei. A look that makes it clear to everyone that she is the reason why he’s happy. Even Cercei is fooled by it for a minute.

“You conniving, manipulative, petty, petty man. This was your plan along wasn't it, this is payback for the divorce isn't it?” Sandra seems to have realized something and somehow the realization makes her even angrier, she's seething.

“I can't believe you would do this to me, over a tiny bruise to your ego”.

“Sandra, you're not yourself and I understand you just ended your engagement you're not yourself, maybe you should rest”. He says and then he very discreetly winks at her.

Sandra lets out another one of her angry growls and lunges forward for him when Tommy shows up out of nowhere and grabs her.

Cercei had been wondering where He and Mirabel had disappeared to. She wouldn't have noticed them in the crowd anyway because all her attention has been on this crazy situation she’s found herself in.

She thinks she understands what's going on now though. Aaron is Sandra's ex-husband and also the guy she was supposed to run away with today. But he seems to have lied about wanting her back and is pretending to have a girlfriend to drive home that point. Her acting crazy must be a bonus for him. But what in the world happened between them to cause all of this. It can't be just because of divorce because she doubts he'd do something so cruel and be indifferent about it over a divorce.

But then again she doesn’t know him at all, so she really can't say.

Remembering she hasn't seen her friend, she looks through the crowd and finds her standing around some people just behind where Tommy is now dragging Sandra away. Mirabel gives her the ‘What is going on look, and she shrugs.

Someone tapping a microphone gets everyone’s attention, “Okay, I think that’s all for tonight. We want to thank everyone for coming and for the gifts, I hope you all get home safely and good night” after the announcement people begin to disperse from the party hall, everyone tries to find who they came with and their cars.

Mirabel waves Cercei over to her so they can leave. She starts to walk towards her when Aaron grabs her hand and leads her in the opposite direction. “Come on, love”.

“What the hell are you doing?, the show is over. Where are you taking me?” she asks.

“A girlfriend cannot be seen leaving an event separately from her boyfriend, that wouldn't be right”

“But we're not girlfriend and boyfriend” Cercei point outs.

“Of course not, but we know that, everyone here doesn’t, so we have to keep up our little charade” . He's leading them through the crowd towards the back of the tent. They breakthrough an opening at the back and then there’s nothing but the pitch black night sky except a sleek black expensive looking car.

“Is that your car?” She asks ogling the beautiful piece of metal.

“Yeah it is” he answers and starts leading them towards it.

“How much does it cost?” she asks.

“Your head couldn't handle the numbers”.

He takes her over to the passenger door and opens it. “Get in” he orders.

“Why would I get into a stranger's car?”

“Because it’s a stranger that you've kissed twice?”

“Actually, the second time you kissed me” she says.

He rolls his eyes and sighs. “Whatever just get it, I'll give you a ride”

“oh okay” she says and gets into the car.

He closes the door, walks over to the driver’s side and gets in. He puts the key in ignition and starts the car. As soon as their moving, Cercei starts asking questions.

“What was that in there”

“None of your business”

“How can it is not business, I believe I was used as an integral part of it so it is very much my business” She says turning slightly to look at him. She can't help but notice how truly beautiful this man is especially while his driving, he looks sexythe way his fingers are wrapped around the steering wheel. She shakes her head to clear up her lustful thoughts.

“It’s still none of your business,” he says point-blank without so much as a glance her way.

She deflates seeing as he's not going to answer any of her questions She sits back and looks. outside the window, not like she can see much its dark outside. She realizes he doesn’t know where he's going because she didn’t tell him where she lives.

“Hey, uhh. I'm over at 31st Avenue Bridge road, it’s a red brick building, it's my best friend apartment I'm staying with her”.

“oh ok good for you” he answers absent-mindedly and then he slows the car and pulls over in front of a bus stop.

“Why did you stop?” Cercei asks.

“Because you get off here” he answers with indifference.

Cercei looks at the bus stop and then back at Aaron. “What do you mean, ‘this is where I get off' “, you said you were giving me a ride?”

“And I gave you a ride to the bus stop, you're welcome now get out of my car”. And he had the audacity to smile at her. Cercei can feel herself getting angry so she gets out of the car and slams the door.

“Why are you doing this?” she asks.

“It's punishment for kissing me without my permission” he says.

“Well you kissed me without my permission too” she half-yells.

“Well now we're even” he says.

He winks at her one last time and then he just drives off. She's left standing at an empty bus stop, pissed and stranded. She's not even sure there’s a bus coming, she's really just ready for this whirlwind of a night to be over. She reaches into her purse for her phone.

She pulls it out and pulls up Mirabel's contact. She hates to do this to Mirabel especially since she left without telling her. She dials her number and as soon as she picks up, Cercei says “Hey sweetie” .