The Story of How Everything went Downhill

3.

Because, don't you know, Aaron actually stuck to his word.

There we were, my parents and I, sitting in front of the telly that Thursday evening with bowls of Mac and cheese when the door bell rang.

"What the freaking hell are you doing here?" I hissed at Aaron as I opened the door to let him in.

He smiled his billion dollar reality TV smile. "I'd made you a promise, didn't I?"

"What the f*ck are you taking about? You did no such thing." I was outraged. Reasonably. Because, we have established how much he shares with the king of spades as far as cockiness is concerned.

So, Aaron just shrugged, walked past me down the hall to the living room. "Hi Mr. Austin, Mrs. Austin."

Rolling my eyes, I followed him, watching him with narrowed eyes as he bantered with my parents.

You see, the thing is that my parents are used to my dickhead friends appearing whenever the hell they want. Last year, they caught Mart and Helen here at two a.m. Luckily, I evaded trouble then because of Mart. Like I said, he's as smooth as silk, no one can resist his charm. Also, my dad is a huge fan of his father, so we got away with a personalised autograph.

Aaron got himself a bowl of Mac and cheese from the kitchen and we both settled on the carpet.

"Did you hear, Mr Austin?" Aaron started after a few bites of glorious silence.

"About what?" My dad peered at him down his rounded middle.

"Oscar Holden has started filming in Las Vegas."

"What? A new movie?" My dad straightened up ever so slightly.

"Yeah, and he's got Martin going too, to help for the first two weeks." I glared at Austin, my mouth full. What the hell was he doing?

"Oh my God, I can't believe this, Kendall isn't that boy your friend?" My dad looked like he was having a coronary.

"How exciting," my mother quipped, sharing her forced enthusiasm. She is the stricter parent, I bet you can tell.

"But the twist, Mr. Austin, is that Martin wants his friends to go with him, all expenses paid."

My dad stiffened for a second before looking at me. I on the other hand, proceeded to fork my macaroni with unnaturally extreme precision and concentration.

"Is that so?" I could almost see the wheels in his balding head turning.

"Yeah, only two weeks, but lots of experience from Mr Holden himself." Aaron smothered lie upon lie onto his little fib.

"So… so…" my dad was a little too overwhelmed.

Seeing his resolve crumbling like a Graham cracker, my mother spoke. "Who is going, then?"

"Well," Aaron smiled dazzlingly at my mom. "All of us actually, except Kenny here." He met my eye. "She wasn't sure you'd let her."

"Of course we'd let her!" My dad spoke in an outraged tone, as if the very idea of keeping me in the house was a sin. I realised by now that I wasn't actually eating anything, I was just stabbing the dead looking cold pieces of macaroni.

"Phillip!" My mom countered in equal outrage. "Kendall is barely of age, how can we let her go traipsing all over the country like this?"

"It's not all over the country, Jillian, it's just Vegas, and even that with Oscar Holden. Our little girl learning the tricks from Oscar Holden." My dad's bowl of Mac and cheese lay forgotten on the side table.

"Just Vegas?!" My mom almost jumped up, the vein in her forehead throbbing dangerously. "Just Vegas?! Phillip think this through, for heaven's sake!"

My dad gave my mom a stiffling look. "I have. Kenny, my little Kenny all grown up. Go on. Bring me another autograph, a clearer one than last time." My dad winked at me as he hauled himself off the sofa and stretched. I mentally celebrated, thanking Aaron for his smooth lie, because by then, you see, I didn't know how much of a mistake this was.

"I'll see you kids," dad said, padding off to the shower.

My mother eyed me and Aaron skeptically as we smiled excitedly at each other. "If I detect any nonsense, I will ground you for the rest of your life," she warned me in her favourite no nonsense parent tone.

And now that I'm here, inside a police station in Las Vegas writing my statement, I'm pretty freaking sure that I'm grounded for life.

So yeah. Thanks Aaron.

***

Better late than never, I guess? 🙈
Z.