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‘Ha. Knew you were faking,’ he laughs.
I wish. The pain is darting the whole way down my leg in these weird waves that start at my knee and kind of trace the bone all the way to the ankle and then work their way back up. I don’t want to say anything to Aiden because he’d probably tell his mam and she’s been fussing over me all afternoon as it is. She’s so lovely, but it’s mortifying. I already had Aiden’s older sister who’s home from college moan, ‘Jesus, Mam never took care of me like that when I broke my arm, did ya, Mam?’
‘Ah, go away, you,’ Aiden’s mam said, laughing as she swatted her daughter out of the room as if she was a manky fly. ‘Don’t mind her, Kayla. You rest up and I’ll see if we have any ice cream in the fridge.’
Aiden says his sister was only joking but I definitely think she was at least half pissed off.
‘Right, what do you want to watch?’ Aiden asks, flicking through the channels on the telly.
‘I don’t mind,’ I shrug.
‘Do you want to go up to my room to watch Netflix? I think the new episode ofRiverdaleis ready.’
I glance at my knee.
‘Can you walk?’ Aiden asks, and I know he’s more concerned than he’s pretending.
‘Course I can,’ I lie. ‘But can we just stay down here? Your mam will be all weird if we go upstairs together. She’ll start thinking we’re going out again.’
Aiden scrunches his nose. ‘Good point,’ he says, and his eyes drop briefly to my knee and I know he knows I’m firing out excuses because my knee is killing me.
‘Anyway, my mam just texted.’ My eyes sweep over my phone screen as I’m talking. ‘She says she’ll be here in fifteen minutes. She’s leaving work early.’
‘What? Noooo,’ Aiden says, pointing to the TV. ‘Look,Friendsis just starting. It’s the one where Joey doesn’t share food.’
‘Joey never shares food,’ I correct, laughing. ‘Anyway, sorry. She seems in a hurry to go. She said, “be ready, please,” and she added a tonne of exclamation marks and no kisses.’
‘Oooohhh,’ Aiden jokes. ‘Someone’s in trouble. What have you done now, Kayla Prendergast Doran? Huh, huh? Speak up, young lady. Speak up.’
Aiden’s impersonation of our principal complete with her silly pout and hands on hips is hilarious and I’m laughing like a donkey when his mam comes back into the sitting room.
‘Well you two certainly seem to be enjoying yourselves.’ She smiles, and I cringe waiting for her to make some joke about me being her future daughter-in-law like she usually does. But Aiden shoots her a warning look and she nods back knowingly.
Oh. My. God. Wait?Did Aiden seriously tell his mam to stop making jokes about us being a couple? What the hell! That’s even more cringe than her actually making jokes about us being a couple. I’m going to kill him for a second time.
‘I’ve thrown a pizza in the oven. It’ll be ready in ten minutes. And I’ve no ice cream but I’ll nip to the shop and get some in a bit. How’s the knee now, Kayla? Any better?’ Aiden’s mam says.
I nod. ‘Yeah. Loads. Oh, Mary, my mam just texted. She said she’ll be here soon. I’m not sure I’ll have time for pizza.’
‘Don’t be daft,’ Mary says. ‘Your mam will probably be starving after a hectic day. I’ll throw another pizza on and she can stay for dinner too.’
‘Thanks, Mary, but I think she’s in a bit of a hurry, I’m sorry,’ I say, cringing a little because it’s really hard to be polite while basically sayingmymam sounds pissed off about something in her text and I doubt she wants to come in for frozen pizza.
‘Not at all,’ Mary shakes her head. ‘If she wants to take you for an X-ray you’ll be in the hospital half the night. She’ll be glad of a bite to eat, don’t worry. Anyway, I haven’t seen your mam in ages. I’m looking forward to a catch-up.’
‘Okay,’ I say, knowing it would be rude to protest. Mam can explain herself when she gets here. And maybe Mary is right. Mam will probably be starving. The pizza won’t be a patch on the one from the takeaway that I was hoping we could get tonight but at least it means I can stay and watchFriends.
Canned laughter fills the sitting room as Aiden and I watch Joey and Phoebe sit on the couch in Central Perk and Joey tries to explain that food is not for sharing.
‘That’s me,’ Aiden says wrinkling his lip and nodding his head, confidently. ‘Aiden doesn’t share food.’
I snort and can’t hold in a laugh. It makes my whole body shake. Including my knee, but the pain is worth it because Aiden’s face is both insulted and hilarious.
‘You don’t even eat the crusts of your pizza!’ I say.
‘Shut up,’ Aiden folds his arms, losing. ‘Crusts hurt my gums. There’s sneaky crispy bits that get stuck there. Sometimes they even bleed.’
I can barely breathe I’m laughing so hard as Aiden throws a cushion and it hits me in the face.
