Not That Kind Of Girl

Chapter 7- A Deal with the Devil

"This should be good." Josh laughed and took Jamie inside.
I strolled up the driveway to Caroline, I didn't know how to act or what to say straight away, so I stood there awkwardly. Caroline and I had never fought before so this interaction was new.
"Hi," she said looking down at her shoes, kicking away a small rock.
I stood there unsure of whether to say anything at all.
After a moment she clicked her tongue and said, "You were right."
"I'm right about a lot of things," I said sarcastically. Remembering the similar conversation I had with Aden. "What in particular?"
She laughed her brows furrowing to give me a funny look, but she shook her head finally meeting my eyes before wrapping her arms around me.
I hugged her tightly back. "I'm sorry," I whispered into her shoulder. "I didn't mean to make you feel like I judged you."
She shrugged and pulled away to look at me.
"Sleeping with him was never on the table, if you must know," she said, rolling her eyes. I was aware that I hadn't asked.
"He was more interested in some girl named Snookie or Snooks, some shit like that," she said casually.
The blood in my body rushed to my cheeks leaving the rest of me cold.
"Snooks?" I repeated, unable to think for a moment.
She nodded in response, rolling her eyes again.
"Yeah, it sounds like a stupid dog's name!" She snapped at me in disgust.
I made a face feeling slightly insulted by her reaction, even though I hated the pet name myself.
"Yeah, definitely a dog's name," I repeated, afraid if I didn't say anything she would telepathically just know it was me.
She looked down at her feet again.
"I heard him talking on the phone with her. She was the one he was with that night he stood me up," she said, her voice something close to a whisper as if she had been saying that to herself and not to me.
I nodded at her unsure of what to say to mend her ego.
"He's a dick, you were right. And to think I wore my expensive new lingerie for him," she muttered with a soft laughed that sounded humourless. "Jerk-" Caroline was still talking, but I wasn't listening, my mind had gone back to Aden.
Had she heard wrong?
I scoffed internally. Yes Rachel, because Snooks was such a common name.
"So anyway, are we good?" She asked unaware that I had only just tuned back in.
I nodded. "Yeah, of course we are." I didn't dare to ask her any questions, there had already been enough talk about Aden today for my liking.
Even though I didn't want to talk about him, my mind was going in to overdrive with questions.
How could Caroline have heard him talking over the phone with a Snooks, if we had only spoken on the phone once and Caroline had already been in my house? It was impossible.
God, I hated that nickname and couldn't fathom Caroline knowing it.
It wasn't until Caroline had left quickly with her ego a little bruised by Aden's interest in someone else that I realised what he had done.
Aden Lyons was centering his new game around me.
I sighed in frustration and dug through my bag to find my phone.
I pressed on the only number in my phone that shouldn't have been there.
It rang twice.
"Hey there Snooks," he huskily greeted.
"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.
I could almost hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Waiting for your call."
"You purposefully played Caroline! Why? I told you not to let her know you were with me that other night!" I hissed into the phone, whispering so that Josh wouldn't be aware.
"I didn't...not really," he said, his voice lazy as though foggy from sleep.
I wanted to yell but bit my lip to stop the anger from spilling out.
"Why would you be talking to Snooks when you're with her? I'm Snooks!" I demanded. "It's impossible! You faked a phone call. Why?"
"I needed to make things interesting," he said, his voice a hum that seeped deep into my veins, stirring up those feelings in the pit of my stomach.
"Why? Caroline isn't a toy, neither are her feelings!" I spat angrily. "You got what you both wanted, she wanted to sleep with you! If you didn't want to sleep with her why string her along?"
There was a moment of silence and then he sighed. "She didn't want anything more than a one night stand from me, right? A trophy to parade around,  right? But the thing is...girls like Caroline act like that because they want one harmless night to become a relationship," his voice was steady, too serious. "Girls like Caroline think they had this magic ability to change me. To lock me down, I'm not the relationship type Rachel. Im not that kind of guy."
I knew he was right, but I felt the need to defend my friend.
"You should have just left her alone then-"
"But then we wouldn't be talking again," he coaxed, his voice silky like he was suddenly awake, like he was suddenly honest.
"Why are we talking? What do you want?" I demanded, tired and annoyed. Aden was becoming more than just a nuisance.
There was a few more moments of silence and I could do no more than pace around the kitchen.
"Look, my dad is coming back from out of town tomorrow night, your parents have apparently agreed to have dinner with him while he's here. Be my date?"
I stopped pacing. I would know if my parents had agreed to something like that and I hadn't heard from them since my dad had come home last week. Then again my parents weren't really strong on family communication.
"No." I wasn't about to entertain this behaviour or idea. "And my parents are leaving for Shanghai-"
"On Sunday. But on Saturday they'll be here, Josh has already agreed too. Please? My dad needs to see that I've made some good decisions while he's been away the last fee months." He was softer now, almost pleading and it made me wonder how much of the old Aden was really gone. "And he loves you."
I started to pace again.
"I'll make it up to you," he offered, a daring tone in his voice. "Anything you want."
I thought about it for a moment and my heart fluttered, because now Aden Lyons needed me.
"I like it when you need me," I recited, remembering that the last time I was the one pleading for Aden's help and for the most part he'd kept his end of the deal. "Begging suits you."
He laughed and the sound made me smile, the hum hanging in the line between us for a moment.
"Deal. But I want three things," I bartered, my mind reeling at the three favours I already had decided. "And this is strictly platonic! Don't get any ideas!," I added firmly.
I grimaced. He wasn't the only one starting to get ideas.
"Deal," he replied, and once again I could hear the smile in his voice as though he knew that the sound could make my heart race. He chuckled before I hung up the phone.