In Vancouver

Chapter 12~I almost get found out?

After we finish eating, Jayson gets up to pay the bill, but I stand at the same time.

"I'll pay. You've paid for almost all the taxi rides, so this will make up for that." I say.

"No. I invited you, so I will pay." He insists.

I know that he has politeness implanted in him since birth, but I have a idea of how to resolve this.

"Then lets split it. We both know that we are both stubborn and won't give in first." I say, and hand him two plastic purple bills.

That's another thing that I love about being here. The money is colourful. And yes, it does smell like maple syrup. I've become pretty obsessed with it.

Jayson leaves the table to go pay, and when he returns, he hands me back my money.

"Jayson!!" I groan, glaring at him.

He tricked me!

Jayson just grins. I frown at his smug look, pick up the orange lollipops he got from the front counter, and head towards the door, with him close behind me.

We walk along the sidewalk in silence for a little while before my phone rings. I pick it up and put it to my ear, but pull it away from my head when I here the overly excited voice of Piper on the other end.

"Hi Aubrey! We just wanted to call to see how you are doing. How's tutoring going?" She says loudly.

I see Jayson turn towards me and raise his eyebrows questioningly. He must be able to hear something from the outside.

"Good. It's going...really well. How's your girls time going?" I ramble, trying to come up with something to say.

"Great, although we wish you were here. Hey, are those cars in the background? Are you outside? Are you sure your actually studying? I don't here anyone else with you." Piper asks, getting seriously suspicious.

I start to panic. They won't trust me anymore if they find out I'm lying, and probably won't talk to me for a week.

"Yes-s. I'm sure." I stutter.

The next thing I know Jayson has swiped my phone from me and is holding it to his ear.

"Aubrey is doing a great job as a tutor. I am already getting better at this. No need to worry about her." He says in his deep voice.

Crap. There is no way to explain that. They will know its a boy for sure.

I grab the phone from Jayson hurriedly, just before he opens his mouth to say something else. I put the phone to my ear, glaring at him. He is grinning mischievously at me.

"Yeah. Uh... everything is going well, and.." I start, but am cut off by a bunch of squeals.

"Who is that?! He sounds hot! You never told us you were tutoring a guy!" Piper squeals, and then I hear her talking to Stephanie, who is probably in another room.

"Steph! Aubrey is tutoring a boy! Did you know that?" She says.

"What?!" I head Stephanie scream back, and here her voice getting louder as she enters the room.

"Anyways guys, I should go. We have to get back to work." I say quickly.

"You are with a guy? Who? When did this happen?" Stephanie starts, and I groan.

"Ok. Well bye guys!" I say into the phone, ignoring Stephanies questions.

I take the phone away from my face to hang up. Right before I hang up, I hear a final statement from Piper.

"Don't think we are done talking about this. You are going to be explaining this whole thing when we see you tomorrow."

I press the off button on my phone, and turn to Jayson with a hand on my forehead.

"You realize I could hear that entire conversation. Seems like they like the idea of you finally talking to a boy." Jayson says.

"Oh whatever. As far as I know, you don't talk to many girls either. What the heck were you thinking? Do you know how long it is going to take for them to get over this?" I groan.

He doesn't understand. He can't.

"Well you should talk to guys more often, and maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal to them."

"Oh, shut up."

"You're funny." Jayson says, pulling me into a side hug.

That's the last straw.

"And you're not." I say, and then push him away.

He starts to run down the sidewalk, and I chase after him until I am out of breath.

He slows down and then stops, waiting for me.

"Stupid long legs." I mumble.

" Are you sure it isn't just your short legs?" He asks, his eyes laughing at me.

"How dare you! I'm not that short!" I say, laughing.

He is suddenly picks me up, flinging me over his shoulder, and starts carrying me down the road.

"I wouldn't be able to do this if you weren't short." He says, continuing to carry me.

I pound on his back and he puts me down. I glare at him, but he just smiles.

We walk in silence, taking in the cool night air, and the sounds of the city until Jayson breaks the silence between us.

"Hey, Aubrey?" He says

"Yes."

"Do you think you could actually tutor me for our first class?"

I look up at him in shock.

"Are you hinting that I may be better then you at something?" I ask.

"Maybe... So what do you say?"

"Sure. I'll tutor you."

"Really?" He asks, and he sounds pretty surprised.

"Ya. Sure, why not. It will probably help with the explaination of tonight. I just won't tell them its you. They already have a thing with us."

"Wait, what? What thing?"

"Oh, nothing important. They just think I like you." I mumble.

"What?! Do you?" He asks.

"What?! No! You're so arrogant! And if I did, I obviously wouldn't tell you!" I say, practically yelling the first bit.

Jayson starts to laugh at my annoyance, and I shake my head at him in disgust.

"You are so weird Jayson."

He only smiles in response.