The Bad Boy's Decision

Chapter 22: Babysitting (part 1)

Raising my glass up to a loud clink creates a domino effect of brightly uttered out mumbles of gratitude, alongside a joyous chorus of cheers, each one giddy with anticipation.

"Right girls, food. What we having? Chinese or pizza?" questions Anna, taking charge of the situation whilst rather generously taking a large swig of her white wine.

"Pizza! Always pizza." replies Sally, seemingly delighted by prospect of stuffing ourselves silly with cheesy goodness.

Having decided it was much needed and long overdue, I invited Chloe, Jess, Hayley, Sally and Anna around for girls night with strict instructions to supply the evening with copious amounts of alcohol and junk food, because even us girls deserve to pig out every once in a while. Besides, it's necessary to partake in a healthy dose of girl talk and although today marks one week exactly until Aidan leaves for England, the pair of us decided it would be good for us to spend the night apart, with friends.

Which is why Aidan and the boys, and by boys I mean Drew, Dylan and Kyle, have all opted out for their own version of guys night and I believe are doing so with a pub crawl inspired night out. According to Kyle, who is texting Hayley nonstop, they're on their third bar already and with Dylan promising to get them all "positively hammered" I can only image the state they're going to come home in.

That being said, Aidan and I have baby sitting duties tomorrow evening, having offered to do so for my Dad and Hannah so I don't expect him to drink too much. Originally, it was only supposed to be me, Ethan and Emily but Aidan suggested helping out and offered to bring April along for the ride, promising an action packed sleepover.

This afternoon, we went grocery shopping for the occasion and loaded up on the essentials; candy, soda and most importantly, face masks. "They'll love it!" I'd promised Aidan, who looked rather reluctant at the time but proceeded to shove the items in our basket and pay for them at the checkout. I even managed to persuade him to buy Frozen on DVD because, well, why the hell not?

"Oh Christ, Drew has send me a picture. Look at the state of this!" laughs Jess, flashing us all her phone screen to show us a picture of Dylan in a somewhat compromising position with a signpost.

"Oh great, I'll be looking after his drunk ass tonight." sighs Chloe, sipping cautiously on her drink now, too wary of exceeding her limit, no doubt.

I allow myself a silent giggle at the expense of Dylan and his drunken antics before pulling out my own phone, composing a quick text to Aidan.

<Just seen a picture of Dylan and his new girlfriend. Very funny, Don't you go making out with any signposts tonight, I may get jealous! ;) love you, have fun!! xxxxx>

I hit send and leave my phone on my kitchen counter, deciding afterwards to rummage through my drawers in an attempt to locate the many pizza menus I know I have hidden somewhere. I manage to find two before my phone beeps, alerting me of an incoming text message and while passing the menus over to Anna, I reach for my wine and phone, opening the unread text straight away.

<Haha., tell Chloe she has somr competition. Dont worry about me darking, my lips are only for you. Love you too/have fun with girls.xxxxxxxxxx>

So much for not drinking too much, Aidan.

I do nothing but roll my eyes at the attempt he so willingly makes at composing a decent enough text message and focus in on the various spelling mistakes and appalling grammar, all hinting towards his far from sober mind. I then laugh, hoping his night out provides him the head space he's been so desperate for lately. It's no secret how Aidan and I feel about one another so it makes logical sense that we spend as much time as humanly possible together before he leaves. Still, it's not healthy to be doing so and I've noticed his decline in mood lately.