11

It seemed like an ordinary day, so to speak, except for the fact that I was sat in the Walker family dining room, trying to keep my best poker face whilst the Walker family son, Aaron Walker was trying to annoy the hell out of me.

Sam carried on talking about her job, unaware of what was going on around her, well underneath the table to be more specific, and I inwardly apologised to Sam for not paying attention to a word she said.

I turned towards Aaron, irritation apparent on my face.

"What are you doing?!" I whisper yelled. I knew what he was doing. He was doing it to get a rise out of me and I wasn't going to fall for his tricks.

Aaron looked up from his food, feigning innocence.

"What am I doing?" He questioned.

I gave him the biggest death glare I could muster when Sam directed her attention to her food, before tutting.

"Oh, face it, Walker. I think it's about time you met someone who's immune to your 'charms'!" I spat out angrily, making sure Sam didn't hear us even though there was no chance of that. She was too engrossed in her talks that she forgot everything around her. Which, in that situation, I was glad for.

Aaron smiled triumphantly, sensing how irritated I was getting.

"You sure you're immune? You know you can tell me, Lexi" He said, trying his hardest not to break into a laugh.

I had to process what he said before I heard the nickname he gave me. No one had bothered to give me one. They either called me by my name, Alexis or some insult. Both of which I was not particularly fond of, but Lexi was nice. It suited me.

My thoughts stopped when his hand trailed higher and, if I wasn't angry, I would have laughed at how he was using two fingers to walk across my thigh as though they were legs. It was only when he squeezed that I abruptly jumped up from the table, hitting down almost everything from the table.

Everything seemed to stop at that moment and I felt the urge to close my eyes to stop the bubbling embarrassment. Sam had stopped talking and was now looking at me curiously. Her hand was in mid-air and she left it there, frozen completely.

Aaron's response was totally different. He sat, looking down at his plate, trying his hardest not to laugh. I vowed to myself that he would never see the light of day again.

"Alexis, are you okay?" Sam said, sounding as though she was talking to a madman. I squirmed, balancing from foot to foot uncomfortably, thinking of an excuse.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, I had stomach cramps and it hurt a lot so I... Yeah. I think I should just step away from the food " I said, uneasily, a nervous laugh escaping my mouth.

She smiled and seemed to buy it because she didn't question me anymore. I smiled back, before settling down again and picking up a few things that toppled over.

I looked over at Aaron to see he was no longer looking at his plate, but at me, smirking.

"Stomach cramps? Are you sure you'll be okay? It seemed really extreme" He questioned me, raising an eyebrow. His voice was filled with mock concern.

Asshole was all I could think.

"Extreme? No, you're mistaken, Aaron. They're nothing like the ones you suffer. Trust me, if they were, I would have murdered the toilet already, right?" I smiled out through clenched teeth and Aaron grimaced at my words. Sam laughed loudly.

"If you can shut him up like this normally, you can come around more often." She joked and l smiled at the invite. If she invited me again then chances were she didn't completely hate me.

I looked to the time before turning to smile at Sam.

"It's getting late, I think I should leave now. It was really nice meeting you, Sam." I said politely, rising from my seat slowly, but not before poking Aaron hard in the ribs as a punishment for the embarrassment I had faced just moments ago.

Sam spoke out before I could leave.

"No, darling, you can't go! You honestly think I'm gonna let you go when you have a stomach ache? You have to stay and, besides, it's late. Stay here for the night!"

I raised an eyebrow slightly at the offer and that she was so relaxed with asking me. My own mom would have smacked me upside the head if I asked her to let a boy stay over.

I shook my head with a smile.

"Oh no, I'd hate to impose, it's fine, I'll just get going, Sam." I reasoned before grabbing my phone and pocketing it.

Sam tutted, putting her hair behind her ears.

"I insist, Alexis. You will be staying because I would love to have you as my guest. It's the least I can do for the lovely meal." She insisted. Her request was firm and demanding. I knew she wouldn't take no for an answer. She was just like her son in that sense.

I looked to Aaron for help to only see him taking the pasta off my plate to put it in his.

"Oh...fine" I said, half-heartedly, not knowing what else to say. I sometimes hated how compliant I was.

I was a little scared staying over at anyone's house. This was the first time I've done this. Besides, I was little on the edge. I mean, I didn't know if Aaron was okay with this. He didn't say anything on the matter about me staying the night.

"Excellent!" Sam chirped happily.

"Well, none of the guest bedrooms are cleaned out yet so I assume you wouldn't mind sleeping in Aaron's room?" she questioned and I blushed at how direct she was.

At this, Aaron took his attention off his phone, which he had spent the previous minutes texting on, and looked at his mum.

"What?" He said.

His mum scoffed loudly.

"Get off that phone and show Alexis where she'll be staying." she said with an eye roll. When Aaron didn't get up, she wheeled over to him and started ushering him out of his seat.

"Go on! Show her to your room" with that, she was off into the kitchen, scrubbing the dishes. I asked her if she needed help but she told me I was help enough and that was that.

Aaron raised his eyebrows, confused by what had just occurred.

"Okay?" He drawled. He then sighed, put his phone in his back pocket and went up the stairs.

I stood there awkwardly. I didn't know what to do. Was I supposed to start following him or just stand here until I'm told where to go.

"You coming or what?" Aaron said from his position on the stairs, the top half of his body turned as he looked at me. He wore a bored expression and I recoiled at his sudden change in behaviour.

I nodded quickly. He sighed before turning his body fully to the front and running up the stairs. I followed slowly, thinking about how his behaviour had done a complete 180. I knew it was just an act for his mom, but I had hoped we could still be civil despite it all. I thought back to the argument in the cafe and I wandered if he was still mad about what I had called him.

My brain was hurting from all the thinking and my head was throbbing. All I wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep.

I came to the door I had saw Aaron go into. I briefly thought of what his room looked like. There had been a saying I had seen once that denoted that the appearance of someone's room was a clear indicator of the individual's nature. I hadn't been able to test the theory as I never had the chance to sleep over at other people's houses.

Shaking my head free of thoughts, I took a deep breath and opened the door.

________________________