“Yeah, I guess,” I groaned. “This is so embarrassing and almost unbelievable.”
“Don’t worry, Alice, there’s nothing you can tell me that I wouldn’t believe,” Xander said. “And I’ve heard stories from Liv about the two of you, so trust me when I say that I can believe it all.”
“Thanks.” I made a face. “I’m not really sure that that’s a compliment.”
“Enough already,” Liv said. “Xander is just looking to get himself into trouble.”
“Okay,” I said with a sigh and then closed my eyes. “I guess I should start at the beginning.” I opened my eyes and looked at an expectant Xander and my face flushed as I opened my mouth to begin my story. The story of how I’d seduced Aiden Taylor, the older brother of my best friend in the world.And then my phone rang. And my heart stopped beating for about three seconds as I stared. It was the call I’d been eagerly anticipating for the last six years. And I had absolutely no idea why he was calling.
Chapter Three
Sometimes a Girl Just Has to Sneak into a Bed
I have had a crush on Aiden Taylor since I was ten. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, how can you have a crush on a boy when you’re ten and he is sixteen? Trust me, it is very, very easy. Aiden Taylor has always been handsome. And when he was sixteen, he was the stuff of every school girl’s dreams. His now-dark hair had been a dirty blond then, and longer, almost like a surfer’s, but he’d been on the baseball team. His bright blue eyes had always been full of mischief and he’d always treated me as an annoyance, just like he’d treated Liv, but I hadn’t minded. In fact, I’d loved it. I loved spending time with him. I loved it when he let us play video games with him. I loved it when he’d tickled me or played board games with us. Aiden had been the bossy older brother, but he’d also made time to hang out with us. It had been easy to daydream about him becoming my boyfriend. Not that it was ever going to happen. I was too young for him, and he hadn’t seen me as anything other than his sister’s best friend. That was, until the summer after he’d graduated from college. He’d come home for the summer with his girlfriend, Lisa or something. I could still remember the first time we’d laid eyes on each other that summer. It had been a magical moment. I was sixteen, about to turn seventeen, and he was twenty-two. We hadn’t seen each other for about two years, as his college schedule had kept him away except for holidays like Christmas, and even then he’d only been home for a few days.
Walking into the Taylor house that summer and seeing Aiden was like the first time you see a mountain or the ocean. It’s a breathtaking, miraculous and awe-inspiring experience. But the walking into the house wasn’t the best part. The best part was when Aiden looked at me. It was magical. It was one of those moments that you live to go through. Everyone should have a moment like that at least once in their life. I can remember it clearly. I’d walked into the living room, and he’d looked up casually to see who it was. And his eyes had lit up in appreciation for ten glorious seconds as he looked me up and down. In that moment, I’d been Alice Waldron, beautiful swan, and he’d taken in all of my glory. His eyes had met mine and for a few seconds, he’d smiled at me, with a flirtatious, sweet smile that had flipped my heart over a million times as if I were an Olympic gymnast. And then Liv had run into the room and given me a hug, and he’d become his old bossy self, acting as if he had been personally assigned as our warden and we were his inmates.
I’m not exactly sure how I came up with my plan. It wasn’t something that I’d thought about for a long time. I hadn’t spent my years plotting how to seduce Aiden Taylor. Not at all. I think it really came to me in the moment, out of jealousy and excitement. You see, it had killed me that Aiden wasn’t alone that summer. Especially as I knew that Lisa was beautiful and easy. Okay, I didn’t know if she was really easy, but I assumed she was. Of course, she was sleeping in a separate bedroom, but that didn’t stop them from sneaking off and making out—something that had made me extremely jealous. Then one night, Lisa had given me a note and asked me to give it to Aiden. Of course, I’d opened it and read it. And of course, I’d seen red as I read it furiously. Lisa had stated that she was going to sneak into Aiden’s bedroom that night at midnight. She told him to keep the lights off and to have protection ready. She said she didn’t want to disrespect his parents, but she needed him badly and didn’t want to go another night without him. She also said, which made me smile, that she was sad that he didn’t think their relationship was going to work out and that she still loved him, even if he was technically no longer her boyfriend. This made me grin for days. Of course, I’d seen them arguing, but I’d had no idea that they had broken up. That meant I still had a chance. Of course, I was conveniently forgetting that I was in high school still and he had just graduated from college. That seemed to be of no real importance to me. You should know that I did hand Aiden the note. And he screwed it up in his hand and threw it into the trash. I did what I thought I should do, and I told Lisa that Aiden didn’t want her to come to his room. She seemed upset, but accepted it calmly. I did feel a bit guilty as I heard her making a call for someone to pick her up. Though my guilt left when I saw a hot Tom Cruise lookalike arriving about thirty minutes later and kissing her like he’d been away at war and hadn’t seen her in years. Lisa left so quickly that I felt bad for Aiden, as she hadn’t even told him goodbye. Well, not really that bad. And I can’t say that’s exactly what gave me my idea, but it was definitely one of the reasons I thought I was pretty brilliant. My plan was pretty simple: I was going to sneak into bed with Aiden, and we were going to snuggle and kiss and I was going to seduce him. And it had worked. I’d snuck into his bedroom around midnight wearing nothing but a long T-shirt. I’d slipped into his bed and put my arms around his naked chest and pressed myself up against him.