The Player's Pearl | ✔️

Chapter 4

Chapter 4
“You know, you look a little too familiar, have we met before…!?” Lynn slurred as Aaron placed her in the front seat of his car, he quickly stole a glance at the girl as her eyes drooped more by the second. He jogged towards the driver’s seat and sat in.
“And where are you taking…..me” Lynn asked again, this time her eyes closed and the last part coming out muffled. Aaron chuckled to himself, as he couldn’t control anymore, at his little best friend’s cute, clueless, drunk form, right next to him.
“Tell me, why do you find me so familiar? Or are you just trying to get on a date with a Greek God like myself?” He asked, trying to get back to her previous question at the same time being his cocky self. “Oh, now you even sound like him…You look like my crush, so much like him”, at this, Aaron couldn’t help but feel a bit – no, A HELL LOT of hurt and jealousy hearing about his Lynn’s secret crush. Is this what heartbreak felt like??
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Lynn’s voice, “He’s so close to me, knows practically everything about me, and yet somehow, I feel like he doesn’t feel the same…maybe we’re better off as friends.” Okay, now the last part grabbed Aaron’s attention the most. There wasn’t any other guy as close to Lynn as Aaron himself.
“Would you mind telling me his name, cupcake?” he asked, in an attempt to confirm his doubts. At this, Lynn’s eyes flashed open, all wide awake, “You!!! You, how dare you call me that! Only and only HE can call me that” with this sudden outburst, she went back to her sleepy, slurry,wasted self again. Now, Aaron’s face flashed a relieved expression and all he could think was ‘she’s talking about me, she has a crush on me’.
He suddenly stopped his car to the side of the road, and takes a deep breath. He then turned towards Lynn’s sleeping form, chuckling to himself, as he heard her mumbling ‘bloody muffin…’ in her sleep. He stared at her, deep in thoughts. His thoughts randomly wandered to his crazy, feisty best friend, this girl, who had become his lifeline over the past few years. He thought back to the time when he found her crying her heart out, in a heap on the floor of the washroom. He was thankful that it was him, and no one else who had found her, thus starting this long journey of their friendship. Although Aaron agreed to the fact that Lynn was an eye catcher, but she believed in true love, making her ‘so-not-Aaron’s-type’ .
But now, as he saw her sleeping so peacefully next to him, he found his decision of never falling in love wavering. He blamed his past screwed up relationships, where every time he found himself seriously falling for a girl, she’d always end up dumping him and shattering his heart to pieces. It hurt that a girl as perfect as Lynn had fallen for him, but he didn’t consider himself capable of reciprocating her feelings in a way that she deserved.
But his Pearl is not like other girls, hell she’s one in a million. And that’s when realisation hits him hard in the face, he finds himself falling hard for this feisty one. And he promises himself, never to let go of her, protect her and love her with everything he’s got, even if it means that he’ll never show her how much he loves her... He gives out a light chuckle as he thinks what Lynn’s reaction might be if she hears him say ‘protect her’.
Lynn’s mother, Mrs.D’Silva, or as she liked to be called as ‘just Marie’ by Aaron, was one of the few who knew about Lynn’s crush on Aaron, and although she was an open-minded woman and never stopped both Aaron and Lynn from being best friends, she also knew about Aaron’s player ways and therefore, prevented Lynn from ever going beyond being friends with Aaron. Lynn, being the type of daughter that she is, kept her feelings harboured to her heart, and never even thought of telling Aaron, let alone dating him.
Lynn, although looked like a strong, independent girl with no fear, but from inside, she was just like any other girl who wanted to be taken care of, to be loved and to be cherished by her so called “Prince Charming”. Her description of her “prince Charming” was some guy with nothing but love for her which could be seen in his eyes, and yet she found herself falling for this “cupcake” of a player.

Soon, Aaron’s car was seen parked outside Lynn’s house. The light on her porch was still on, which meant Marie(Lynn’s mother), was still awake and Lynn was definitely in some trouble. Aaron, jumping out of his car, jogged towards Lynn’s side and opened the door, to find her still deep in sleep. He picked her up with some effort, there’s no reason hiding the fact that Lynn was a foodie and although she didn’t look fat but she wasn’t on the lean side either. He climbed through the front steps and took a couple of deep breaths as he prepared to face his girls wrath. Before he could knock, which was a huge struggle since he had his hands full with Lynn’s sleeping form, the door suddenly opeaned with a very tensed looking Marie in her pink checked pyjamas and an oversized t-shirt, probably Lynn’s dad’s.
When she saw Aaron her face showed relief but then suddenly showed Lynn, when she saw her daughter in Aaron’s hands. She didn’t say anything, simply opeaned the door wider, indicating him to come in. aaron headed towards the living room to place Lynn on the couch but Marie asked him to simply go and place her on her bed, thanked him for bringing Lynn home safely, wished him good night and went off towards her bedroom.
Aaron, walking towards the stairs, Lynn still in his arms, started climbing the stairs.
On reaching the door to her room, he pushed the door open and heaved a sigh of relief as his hands were dying of carrying Lynn’s weight. He walked towards her bed, gently placing her on her purple, fluffy bed and slowly slipped his hands from under her, so as to not disturb her sleep.
He took a step back and observed Lynn, her lips slightly parted as her breath came out evenly, her dress slightly ridden up and her hair all around her face.
As he turned to walk towards the door, he heard a very faint mumble he almost missed it. He turned to look from where the voice came from and he saw Lynn with her eyes half open, looking at him. He asked “What is it, cupcake?”, went to her and bent low, bringing his ear close to her lips, her breath tickling his ear.
“Now that you’ve stared at me as much as you want, don’t I even get a bed time story…” her last part coming out muffled, which was the only indication that she was still half asleep. Aaron chuckled lightly at his best friend’s cuteness and somehow, he was gonna miss this side of her after tonight.
As he was just about to stand up straight, when two lean but strong hands held onto his neck pulling him into a bear hug, with him in a half standing, half on his knees, an awkward position. At first he was surprised, but then he realised, that Lynn had just pulled him close to her.
He heard her “don’t go just yet…”, he was surprised to hear this, his heart beating faster, he could feel the heat rising up his cheeks and something else rising up down where the sun didn’t shine.
‘Oh dear lord, what the hell is she doing to me’ he thought to himself as his conscience told him You need a really, really cold shower, buddy.