Chapter Seventeen

The foreign smells of breakfast wafted upstairs early the next morning and April sat up in
bed, wondering who it was that was cooking.  A glance at the clock told her it was too
early for Nick to be up.  Sighing, she felt her curosity die as she thought of the night
before and the horrible time she had.  Getting up and washing up deemed to much of an
effort and April skipped changing from her pjs.  Instead, she headed straight down to the
kitchen.
“Morning,” Nick mumbled from the table and a mouthful of food.  She glanced at him
and gave a grudging reply before noticing who it was who was cooking.
“ Good morning, April.” AJ sang jovially from the stove, mixing what looked like eggs.
“...Good morning,AJ,” She replied rather stiffly, unable to repress his previous behavior
from her mind.
“ Sit, I made enough for everyone...” April looked down at her shabby pajamas and
cursed herself for not changing on the day it would probably count the most.  
“ Um, actually, I usually just have a cup of coffee for break-”
“ Don’t be silly,” AJ shot the cliched expression at her after a glance at her, then Nick.
“ She’s right, she usually doesn;t eat breakfast,” Nick said from his chair, watching the
look on AJ’s face and the uncertainty on hers.
“ Well, there’s a first for everything.” AJ replied firmly, his voice picking up a note of
annoyance.
“...I need to go change real quick.”  April said before turning back and going upstairs.
“ AJ, you can’t force her to eat breakfast if she doesn’t want any,” Nick’s voice floated
up, followed by AJ’s flat reply.
“ Nick, shut up.” April speculated AJ’s true intentions, she knew he wasn’t cooking just
to make amends.  Giving a groan, she quickly changed and walked back downstairs. 
There was a full plate waiting for her and AJ was already seated, sipping at a cup in his
hands.
“ There’s your food,” He said in a winningly sweet voice.
“ Thanks.” She picked up a fork and he watched as she poked at a piece of egg.
“ Are you going to watch me eat?” She couldn’t keep the snap out of her voice yet he
showed no appearance of being surprised.
“ Well, of course.  I need your thoughts on my superb cooking skills...”
“ God, that’s the only thing you know how to cook.” Nick laughed, pushing his plate
away empty.  They started a conversation of boring business topics as April ate, if
anything, for AJ’s doubtfullness in her finishing.
“ Very good,” She forced a compliment as she stood up and took her plate to the sink full
of dirty dishes.
“ Wow, good job in using every utensil in the house to fix eggs and potatoes.” She
muttered to herself, running the tap on a few before turning it off and returning to her
seat with the cup of coffee she had grown accustomed to drinking to start her day.  
“ I need to go and get dressed...” Nick stated.
“ Are you done with the paper then?” 
“ Yup, here...” He left AJ and April alone, the only noise  the of the rustling paper.  AJ
trained his eyes on her as she read, or attempted to while ignoring the pregnant silence.
“ Anything intresting going on?” He inquired.
“ Um...nope, not really,” She kept looking at the front page, avoiding his gaze.
“ You just seem so entranced.” He spoke lazily, bringing the cup of coffeee to his lips.
“ How’s it like living with Nick?” Another forceful attempt at conversation.  She sighed
inwardly before looking up and answering.
“ I don’t know?  Fun?” AJ chuckled with more meaning than a simple laugh.
“ I get the impression you don’t like me very much, April.” Bluntly stated, the truth in his
words seemed a lot more obvious.
“ Of course I do,” She said, flustered as he let out another laugh.
“ Fine. Prove it.” He tossed airily.
“ Huh?”
“ Prove it.  Go to dinner with me, I’d like to get to know you a little better than ‘Nick’s
Friend’...”
“....Uh...Well-...” He smirked as he got up and put his cup in the sink with the other dirty
dishes he had left.
“ Don’t feel the need to lie to me, April, it doesn’t matter anyways, you’re not a very
good actress.”  The words were spoken with an understanding tone as he lit a cigarette
and resumed his seat.
“ Fine.”
“ Fine?” A short laugh escaped his open lips.
“ Fine, you’re not a good actress or fine you’ll go to dinner with me?” Intently watching
her now, she fought the urge to roll her eyes.
“ Fine, I’ll go.” 
“ Great.  You’re not busy tomorrow night are you?” It was more of a statement than a
question as he reached over and scrolled a number across the top of the newspaper.
“ My number.” He said, muffled through the cigarette in his mouth.
“ In case...plans change, which I hope they don’t.” He slid the paper back to her and
stood up.
“ Tell Nick I’m waiting outside, I know how much he hates smoking in the house.”
“ Ok,” He began walking out of the room and April stared down at his handwriting.
“ I’ll be looking forward to having the pleasure of your company,” He called over his
shoulder...






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