A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Thirty-Four

            I burst out laughing, causing Aaron to frown. "Chris?" I cried through my laughter, holding my gut. "Oh, that's a good one, Aaron. Oh, ow..." 

            "What's so funny?" he demanded. "It's the truth!" 

            "You really think I'll believe that?" I deadpanned, putting an abrupt halt to my laughter. "I may be unfairly nice to you, and by unfairly I mean I should hate your guts but I don't, but you're still a liar." 

            He set his jaw. "I'm not." 

            "Chris was with me all night. Didn't you hear me earlier?" 

            "So you're telling me you didn't sleep at all?" 

            Crossing my arms, I leaned back in my chair. "Yeah, I slept. I'm not some superhuman that can run perfectly on no sleep." 

            "Since you're no superhuman you wouldn't be able to tell if Mr. Heywood left while you were asleep, now would you?" 

            That threw me a ball. It was possible that Chris had left while I was asleep. However, it didn't convince me. He wouldn't attack Aaron. He was smarter than that. He would've told me if he did. "He didn't attack you, Aaron." 

            "Yes he did!" 

            I shook my head. "Drop it. I won't believe you." 

            He narrowed his eyes. "Why not? I've seen Mr. Heywood angry. He's not exactly the charmer. Remember that time I posted those pictures? Maybe he's still pissed about that and wanted to take revenge on me-" 

            "And lose his job?" I interjected skeptically. "Aaron, Chris wouldn't risk his job like that." 

            "Why do you call him Chris?" 

"He's a family friend." 

            Aaron didn't look convinced. "Funny. You can come up with excuses for everything, can't you? Just so you know, I knew two of those pictures were not Holly. They were you. I know the difference. I use to see Holly nearly every day." 

            "If you knew, how come you didn't say anything?" 

            His mouth opened to respond, but his eyebrows furrowed, and he shut it again, seemingly unsure of what he wanted to say. "I... I didn't say anything because they wouldn't believe me." 

            I cocked an eyebrow. "Really?" 

            "R-really," he muttered, dropping his gaze. 

            "Or was it because you felt bad about what happened?" I guessed, scrutinizing him for his reaction. 

            It wasn't completely unexpected. His eyes widened and he immediately got defensive. "No! You still deserve it! But Holly... Holly, she yelled at me for it. Of course I couldn't tell. Besides, I was pissed at Shawn for lying to me- I still am, as you know. It was one of those little things I could do to defy him." 

            I suppressed a smile. He still listened to his old babysitter? Maybe that would come in handy later... "Wait," I said, my eyes snapping to his. "Defy Shawn?" 

            "Yeah, he wanted you in trouble so I figured if I just let that bit slide than it would be defying him." 

            "I don't get it. Why would you want to defy him after all that trouble you went through for him? Now everyone in school in the administration thinks you're a lying troublemaker."