Being The Player's Neighbour

Chapter 6 - Beat Him At His Own Game

I sighed and asked Aaron in a tired voice, "Why do you turn up everywhere I go?"

He scoffed in reply. "Self obsessed much? It's my best friend's party. Where else would I be? In fact, I should be asking you why you're here."

I quickly attempted to explain myself to cover up the embarrassment of thinking he was stalking me, "Oh...I didn't think you and Sam would be friends. He's all sweet, and gentlemanly, whereas you are...well, you. And I'm here only because Shanaya forced me to be here."

"That's what I thought. A nobody like you would never get invited to such a party," he said through gritted teeth. "And I've said this before, you don't fucking know me. Or my friends."

"That wasn't harsh at all." I quietly mumbled, not wanting to anger him further.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, smartass."

"Extremely useful against stupid people like you."

"Judging again, are we?"

"I'm not judging, just very confused! Who in their right mind stands by and watches a girl almost get raped?"

He rolled his eyes and gave me a deadpan look. "You did not almost get raped."

That's when I almost lost it and started rambling like my mouth was a broken fountain that could not be stop. "That guy was literally clinging to me! I've faced enough trauma in the past year to last me a lifetime. I do not need another incident. Also, I'm too young to die. What would've happened if he'd dragged me off to some god forsaken place and—"

"Oh stop. You seemed to have it all under control. Besides, I wouldn't have let that asshole lay a finger on you..." He saw the shift in my expression and stopped abruptly. Realising what he'd just blurted out, he rushed to take back his words. "I mean, I wasn't going to...save you or anything...I just..uh..happened to see you when you blinded that piece of shit...I wouldn't rescue you and all that cheesy shit...hah..." He trailed off uncertainly.

By the time his little speech was done, an amused smile had found its way to my lips. Maybe part of it was relief that he hadn't just been standing around watching someone helpless be taken advantage of, but also, watching him squirm was pretty funny and I had to admit he looked kinda cute.

Crap. Did I just say he looked cute?

No. I meant to say weird. I definitely meant to say weird. He looked kinda weird.

I stopped correcting myself and spoke to Aaron, who was looking at me with a sheepish look, presumably waiting for my reaction. "You are right about one thing. I totally had the situation under control."

He visibly relaxed when I didn't say anything about the rest of his statement, and even his tone lightened up a bit as he joked. "I've never seen a stiletto put to better use. It's no wonder that I've heard guys in your grade are afraid to talk to you. They probably think you'll gouge their eyes out with your bare hands. Do you go to, like, a self-defence school or something?"

I laughed and decided to play along since this was one of the few times that we were having a proper conversation without biting each other's heads off. "Yeah, totally. We learn how to use stilettos for stabbing, make-up for blinding and accessories as whiplashes."

"Wow. You have such incredible, unheard-of skills. Please don't maim me." He teased back, holding his hands up in surrender.

I playfully slapped his arm, though it felt stupid even as I did it. "You're ridiculous."

"Being ridiculous is good once in a while, Ms. Uptight-Goody-Two-Shoes."

That caused me to immediately defend myself. "Hey! I'm just a little more put-together than most teenagers."

"Yeah, right. You're practically a saint."

"Am not."

"Mm, I know you and I disagree."

"No, you don't. And I definitely am not."

"Sure. You just—"

"Stop squabbling like a married couple, you two!" A petite brunette appeared at the top of the stairs, holding hands with a guy who I assumed had just spoken.

Aaron gave them both a quick glance. His eyes held something that looked like a warning but I didn't really understand it. Before I could decide what the look meant, he introduced me to the couple and I became quite sure I had been imagining things.

"Avery, meet Armaan, my brother, and his fiancé, Riva."

"Hi, nice to meet you both!" I gave them a small wave. "So...all our names start with the same letter, huh?"
I mentally face-palmed myself so hard for making the most random comment I could've made in that situation. I literally just met these people, they probably think I'm a freak.

Riva chuckled and spoke for the first time. "I love you already. You seem so much cooler than all your boyfriend's exes."

This caused both me and Aaron to look at her so quickly, for a second I thought our heads were going to get snapped clean off our shoulders. We rushed to deny her words, causing us both to speak up at the same time and stumble over each other's words.

"God! No! We're not together...eugh! I hate him!"

"Riva! We're not— gross. I hate her!"

I shot Aaron a stone cold glare and got one in return from him. How dare he say that he hated me? He was the one who'd been flirting with me and had forced me to have dinner with him. I turned on my heel and stalked down the stairs.
I wasn't ready to face the truth.
And the truth was that when Aaron said he hated me, it hurt.

Damn it! I shouldn't have cared what that jackass thought of me.
I didn't care what he thought of me.

I had almost reached the edge of the dancing crowd downstairs when I felt a pair of strong hands grip my waist. Normally, my instant reaction would have been to punch the living daylights out of the creep who had dared touch me, but I turned around to see Aaron staring down at me.

The tingles that ran up my spine were something I had never felt before; his hands fit my waist so perfectly, it felt like they'd been made just for me. It felt so right. My silly, impractical heart secretly hoped he would never let go.
His face looked so flawless up close that I barely held myself back from reaching out and touching his cheek. And then my roaming gaze landed on his eyes. Oh. I had never seen such a beautiful combination of bronze and chocolate brown. The smouldering intensity with which he looked at me made my knees turn to marshmallows— and don't even ask about my heart. It had stopped beating and was probably lying in some corner, waiting for me to snap out of the speechless trance this boy had put me in.

Hold up a second...trance?
Oh my God! I couldn't let him know that he had me helplessly trapped under his spell. That would only boost his already over-inflated ego. C'mon, snap out of it, Avery.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I managed to mumble out as he leaned forward so that I was pressed up against his hard chest. I could feel my cheeks heating up as I stammered a little from the nervousness.

He reached down and whispered in my ear, "Watching the effect I have on you."

His deep, husky voice made goose bumps rise on my arms. Before I could even open my mouth to speak, he let go of my waist and disappeared into the crowd. I stumbled back a few steps as I realised, I already missed the warmth of his body.

As my senses returned to normal, my frozen brain registered what Aaron had just done.

Oh, hell no!
There was absolutely no way he was going to get away with that stunt he'd just pulled.

If that's how he was going to do this, I would play along.
And I would absolutely beat Aaron Miller at his own game.

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Author's Note: What's she gonna do? ;)
Tell me what you think's gonna happen, and tell me what you think SHOULD happen too! :P

Thanks so much for reading. I love you all.

Song: Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris

Xoxo
~ Av ~