Billie Joe Armstrong is my step-father... and I hate it [EDITING]

14. Rotting [Edited]

"It's not as if I hate the dude," Aiden explained, chucking the last of the joint out of his car window after he had killed it. "Joey knows that I don't hate him. It's just that I don't particularly like him. He's preachy."

I might have provided more of a defense for my soon to be step brother, but I was feeling a bit slow after the joint he had rolled for me. I only nodded slowly, staring out the windscreen of his fancy Mercedes Benz as we watched the tide roll in from the comfort of his car, listening to Alt-J on replay.

Aiden paused for a moment before he kept talking. "I don't know why he's so bothered anyway. He never did accept that I didn't like his music - as though it were my opinion that mattered. He's a fuckin' weird kid."

I started to laugh after that, even though it wasn't overly that funny. In that moment in time, I found it funny though. I turned my head (or lolled it, would be the better word to use here) to look at him, giving him a hazy smile. "Maybe he just fancies you."

"Fancies me?"

"It's a word my dad used to use," I explained. "As in maybe he has a crush on you."

Aiden laughed a bit, sitting back in the driver's seat and shaking his head a little, a dreamy grin on his face. "Maybe he does. Maybe that's why he kissed Andy, to get to me."

I had forgotten about that and remembering that Andy had kissed Joey didn't exactly make me feel good. Something dropped in my stomach and my smile faltered for a moment. For a brief second, I almost hated her for it - hated her for being prettier than me, hated her for knowing him before me but it left as soon as it came, leaving me feeling a bit bewildered.

Probably because he's going to be my step-brother soon, my brain tied to assure me, she probably felt a bit weird seeing you with Aiden, even though she enabled it.

"What do they think of you seeing me?" Aiden suddenly asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I panicked for half a moment - I couldn't tell him that they didn't know. He would think I was ashamed of him. I let out a nervous laugh and looked down. "Well," I started, trying to think of a quick lie. "Well, they..."

He scoffed and when I looked up, he seemed to look annoyed. I gulped a bit, waiting for what he was going to say. When I didn't speak, he shook his head and looked out the window. Shit, he's pissed off with me... "Look, Aiden-"

"Of course they don't like it," he said, pulling one of his knees up towards his chest to rest his arm across it. "They've no right to be sticking their fuckin' noses into it, though. If they wanna take it there with me, they can talk to me about it, not my girl."

I had to admit, a stupid school girl blush came across my face when he called me "his girl". I couldn't help it - I think most girls would swoon if they notorious neighbourhood "bad boy" referred to them as such. I took his hand in mine and gave it a small squeeze.

"Don't worry about them. You shouldn't be fussed on what they think," I told him. "It's not as if I listen to what they say about you anyway. I like to think I know you a little better than they do."

Aiden linked his fingers with mine but he looked thoughtful as he stared out towards the sea, his eyes narrowing a little as he bit into the inside of his cheek. Aiden was always fairly hard to read when he was in such deep thought - I think it was the darkness of his eyes. He didn't speak for a while - we sat in a silence for what seemed like a long time before he suddenly looked at me and he smiled.

"Yeah," he said. "You're right, it's not worth thinkin' bout 'em." He was quiet for another while before he sat up a little bit. "Tobias is throwing a party soon, this Wednesday. His folks are out and he wants to get us together. Well, he wants to get a lot of us together, you know?"