For Crying Out Loud by J. Preston
26Mr Perfect
I am currently unsupervised. It freaks me out, too, but the possibilities are endless.
- Jason
Jenny
Sully is filled with presents for Dad to the point that I needed to flat out jump on it to close the monstrous thing. There are Twinkies and those disgusting ‘Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick’ things Dad is so fond of, amongst other ‘American’ things. Not that I’m trying to send him subliminal messages, like ‘come back to America’. ‘Let’s stay here forever’. Noo, not at all.
When I’m done zipping up the blue monster, there’s still some time left before we need to leave for the airport. Carter should be coming soon to pick up Jake, so I decide to go play with the brown fur ball before I’m separated from him for the next two and a half weeks.
Strolling down the corridor and dragging Sully behind me, I stumble into a full stop in front of Aiden’s open bedroom door. Graceful it is not, but hey, I’m lugging at least two hundred pounds worth of crap in my suitcases. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get my point. The thing is heavy!
Aiden is sitting on his bed, his suitcase by his leg and Jake sitting next to it, looking up at Mr. Perfect. And Mr. Perfect is exactly what Aiden should be called when he’s sitting in nothing but his jeans, his hair wet and dripping droplets down his magical torso. Magical, because it’s got me hypnotised. No joke. My eyes are glued to it and all I can think about is going over and touching it, maybe giving it a little lick. I have to dig my fingers into his door jamb to stop myself from looking like a fool in front of him and following through with what my brain is making me want to do. Naughty things. It makes me want to do naughty things.
Aiden is looking down at Jake and sighs, sticking his perfect hand attached to his perfectly muscled arm into his perfect hair. Ugh! I hate perfect! Not really, but I honestly wish this boy had a fault. Nothing major. Just a long nose, a missing finger, or a cross eye would do. Anything to make us, mere mortals, feel normal in his presence rather than get the distinctive feeling I currently have: that next to him I must look like a Blobfish. Google it.
“Stop judging me!” His voice startles me, and I jump in my stance like someone who just got caught ogling a forbidden cookie. I could never understand all that craze about fruit, cookies on the other hand? A chocolate chip one? Now that would have been worth getting rid of the whole Garden of Eden thing. All I’m saying is, that snake would have to honestly rethink its strategy if I were Eve. Imagine if we had chocolate chip cookies growing on trees, or Oreos… Oh my god, I’d probably have died and gone to heaven. I assume they’d have a chocolate chip tree in heaven, otherwise the whole thing is a scam! I digress.
“S-sorry,” I struggle through the word, blushing furiously. “I-I wasn’t, I swear!”
Aiden’s head whips to me and, in seconds, he’s on his feet and in front of me, his hands on my shoulders.
“Jenny,” he breathes, his voice barely audible and his beautiful eyes boring into mine, making me melt in response, all the things he ever did to annoy me all but forgotten. Then I notice it, the dark circle around his right eye. My hand reaches out to touch it before my brain processes what I’m doing. When my fingers connect with his bruised flesh, Aiden sucks in a breath but doesn’t move his head away. Instead, he closes his eyes and leans into my fingers. “I was talking to Jake,” he says quietly, and it takes my brain too long to realize he is referring to the comment he made while I was watching him.
“What happened?” I ask quietly while he puts his hand over mine and spreads my fingers to the side of his face, his stubble rough on my palm.
He smiles a half smile, his eyes open and turned to mine, leaving me confused about what it was I was asking. “I had a little conversation with your brother.” My jaw drops to the floor. Did Jason mess Aiden’s pretty face up because I told him I was in love with him? Or was it worse? Did Aiden say that he doesn’t want anything to do with me and Jason just defended my feelings? I’m about to take a step back when Aiden speaks again. “It’s okay, kitten, we talked things through and everything’s okay now.” He smiles full force now, his dimples enticing me to stick my fingers in them to see if they’re real.
“Oh,” I reply cleverly, because, you know, I’m basically a member of MENSA. They’d never say ‘no’ if they’d heard my conversational skills.
“Well,” he says, pushing a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. “Almost everything is okay, but I’m planning to make sure it will be. We’ve got two and a half weeks for that.”
I’m lost. I’m not sure what he’s talking about anymore… Me or Jason? But I really hope he’s talking about me, and I plan to use the next two weeks wisely. I’ll either avoid him like the plague or I’ll… I’m not sure, but it will definitely involve fewer clothes than he’s currently wearing. My lips form a smile at the thought and I catch myself in the daydream, realizing that I’m actually daydreaming about Aiden in front of Aiden…
I clear my throat, taking a step away from him. Jake’s head whips from me to Aiden, and his tail taps the hardwood floor a few times.
“Okay then,” I say, confirming my status as a woman of few words. There’s a first for everything.
“Hellooooooo!” Carter sing-songs from the living room.
“When will we learn to lock the front door?” Aiden mutters, shaking his head. I take another step back while Jake runs to the living room to greet his favourite human. Second favorite, actually.
I turn on my heel and stomp into Jason’s room, leaving Sully behind. Sucker can make its own way to the airport. Okay, I’m hoping Aiden will lug it for me. Seeing as he’s got all the pretty-looking muscles, he might as well use them.
“What the hell?” I huff, putting my hands on my hips.
“Good morning, grumpy,” Jason replies unimpressed by my show of displeasure.
“You punched Aiden!” I say accusingly.
“Yeah, well, we had a minor disagreement. We talked after and it’s all good now,” he replies lazily.
“It is?” I narrow my eyes. Could this mean that there’s a slight chance my brother might be ok with Aiden and me dating?
“Yes!” he says, exasperated.
“Oh, okay then,” I say, backing out of his room. “We leave in fifteen. I hope you’re ready.”
We’re not leaving in fifteen minutes. In fact, we have another forty minutes before we need to start rushing, but my brother is that person. You know the one, the one who’s always late to everything. That boy would be late to his own funeral, honestly…
With a bounce in my step, I walk to the living room. I’m excited for our trip, excited to see Dad. I’ve started to really miss him in the past couple of months. Phone calls a few times a week are just not enough. My scheming ways of convincing him he misses all the American ways better pay off!
When I enter the room, Carter and Aiden talk in hushed voices.
“What the hell were you thinking, man? Staying over at hers last night?” Carter’s quiet voice makes me freeze mid step.
“I was obviously hammered, thanks to you, so I wasn’t thinking,” Aiden replies before Carter notices me and stops him, nodding in my direction.
I unfreeze myself and pretend I didn’t hear any of their conversation, but as I walk, smiling, towards the two guys, my head is spinning. So Aiden stayed over at Chloe’s. There’s not really any other option or any other ‘her’ Carter could be referring to.
“Morning, grasshopper.” Carter gives me a side hug.
“Corky,” I reply, nodding at him. “What were you guys talking about?” I ask, deciding that beating around the bush will not help the situation in any way.
“Uhh, I got pretty wasted last night.” Aiden says sheepishly. “We were just talking about how tequila and I are no longer friends.”
Aiden outright omitting the truth hurts more than I thought possible. As awkwardness dawns upon us, I turn around, my eyes stinging, and busy myself with straightening up the skewed cushions on the sofa. I’m not going to cry, but I wish Aiden was man enough to admit to me he stayed over at Chloe’s. I mean, it’s not like he belongs to me, as much as I’d want him to. He’s got every right to sleep wherever he wants. I just wish he wanted to sleep in my bed.
Carter leaves with Jake and, to my dismay, Aiden puts a shirt on. Rude. Once Jason finally emerges from his room, we pile into a taxi and drive to the airport. In silence. The ride is awkward as I sit in the backseat next to Aiden, who keeps throwing sideway glances my way. I’m determined not to react and stubbornly fixate on the scenery outside my window until we get to the airport. I shoot Hayley one last text and switch my phone off.
“Mr. Vaughn,” a suited man in his late thirties says, addressing Jason. Jason raises his eyebrow at the man and looks over at Aiden, who’s busy trying to pull Sully out of the taxi, nodding in his direction. The man clears his throat curtly and turns to Aiden. “Mr. Vaughn, please let me help,” he says to Aiden this time. Aiden doesn’t even look in his direction, he just grunts at him. The man moves to the trunk of the taxi, and the two of them successfully move Sully onto a cart. “Is the whole of your party here?” the man inquires.
“Who are you?” Aiden rudely asks the man who so kindly helped him just a second ago move the world’s heaviest suitcase. Jason and I silently watch the exchange.
“Oh.” The man clears his throat. “I do apologize. My name is Simon and I work for your father. He has asked me to ensure you have a pleasant send off this side of the Atlantic,” he says and, I kid you not, clicks his heels. Dorothy. I shall name him Dorothy.
“You can tell my father that I don’t need a glorified babysitter. We’re fine on our own,” Aiden barks. Disappointed, I start walking toward the trolley and consider just sitting on top of the suitcases and convincing one of the boys to drive me around the airport.
“I’m afraid I have to do this,” Dorothy Simon replies. “Unless you’re happy for me to lose my job…”
Aiden sighs and growls a curt, “Fine.”
Dorothy Simon takes the trolley before I have a chance to put my plan into action and guides us through the express check-in and security checks, straight into the First Class lounge. I look around at the abundance of unnecessary things: the cushy sofas, the amount of food that’s on display, the alcohol on tap and in decanters. Aiden’s jaw is tight, and his leg twitches while we wait for our departure. Dorothy Simon settles himself on the sofa opposite us and sits up straight and unmoving, like a statue or one of the vampires from Twilight. I bump Jason’s shoulder and motion my head towards him, chuckling. My brother, as if on cue, throws a grape at Simon. He misses miserably, but it still makes me laugh uncontrollably. The awkwardness from before, gone.
I look over at Aiden, his eyes laughing as he’s trying his hardest to keep his lips from smiling. When it’s time to get on the plane, I’m no longer mad at him. There’s no point. The only thing I can do is to try to convince him that it’s me he wants, not Chloe. I’ve got two and a half weeks to do that.
My luck has no limit when I discover that I’m sitting right next to Aiden while Jason is in a different section altogether, way behind us. He grumbles for a bit, of course. But since, somehow, we’ve all been magically upgraded to First Class, he soon quiets down and settles himself in his comfy seat.
I do the same and thank whomever was in charge of random upgrades for sitting me right next to Aiden.
In First Class.
Where food is free.
Because, with all the excitement of the day, I forgot to eat breakfast, and when I’m starving my brain forgets to function. It makes me do stupid things.
Like pretend that I’m scared of flying just so that Aiden holds my hand.