Careless and Reckless — Chapter 20

I still have no idea where we're going, it's always a mystery with Wyatt. Fifteen minutes go by before we pull up in front of Wyatt's house. I frown in confusion. Why would he bring me here?

I voice my thoughts and ask him just that as I get out of the car.

"You'll see green eyes," he smirks. Oh, I have a fun new drinking game. Take a shot every time Wyatt smirks. On second thought don't do that, you'll probably end up in the hospital due to alcohol poisoning.

I follow Wyatt into the house, curious to find out his plan. He leads me to a small room next to one of their kitchens, I'm still not over the fact they have more than one by the way. As soon as I step in I tense. This is their dog's room. Their dog has its own freaking room! I'm not surprised, their house is massive.

Cat, their dog, runs up to Wyatt when he sees him. Wyatt goes further into the room, petting and playing with the dog whilst I cower in the doorway. Wyatt turns to me and chuckles. Bastard.

"Come on green eyes, he won't hurt you."

I don't move from my spot and instead glare at Wyatt. He knows I don't like dogs. "You're an asshole. Why in hell's name did you think this would cheer me up?" I glower at him.

"Because Cat is super friendly and I thought I could help you get over your blatant fear of dogs," he reasons.

"I am not afraid of dogs," I lie.

He scoffs. "If that's true come and pet him, I promise he won't bite."

I take a hesitant step forward but immediately jump back when Cat moves towards me. "Nope. Not happening," I say.

Suddenly Cat starts running towards me, I shriek and run in the opposite direction. I'm getting a sense of déjà vu. I sprint to the nearest room and slam the door behind me, stopping Cat from getting any closer.

A few minutes later Wyatt calls to me from the other side of the door. "It's alright, green eyes, I've put Cat back in his room. You're safe."

"I don't believe you," I call back. Wyatt loves to play pranks it wouldn't surprise me.

"You wound me, green eyes," he says and I can imagine him putting his hand to his chest in an overdramatic manner. I roll my eyes. "But I promise he's not here and I never break my promises," he tells me firmly. I'm not sure if it was the conviction in his voice or the sincerity I could hear but I sighed and opened the door. Low and behold Cat wasn't there, I guess he doesn't break his promises.

"So tell me," I start, "what did you originally have planned for today?"

"Well, I was going to get us to take Cat for a walk in hopes of ridding you of your fear but I guess that plan just went down the drain," he sighs, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

I give him a soft smile. "It's alright, your intentions were pure but do that again and I won't hesitate to rip your intestines out and hang you with them," I warn him.

He chuckles at my threat. "No promises. You're going to have to get over that fear eventually but for now I think we will work on some other things," he tells me and I nod.

"Hang on a sec," I say, "How were you planning to get Cat out of the house without Anna noticing? She loves him and if she found out she'd kill you for skipping school."

"Anna? She has the week off because my mother is back and my father will be here in about a week. She was going to get her to stay but knew she needed time off. My siblings can be a handful."

"What about you?"

"Me?" He puts his hand on his heart, drama queen, "I'm a saint green eyes, you of all people should know that."

I scoff. "Sure."

He rolls his eyes at me as we hear a loud voice screech, "What in God's name was all that noise? I swear to god Zackary-" the voice stops just as a woman comes into view. She is absolutely stunning, I'm assuming this is Wyatt's mother, it would explain the families otherworldly looks. She has voluminous blonde hair, blue eyes–not as striking as Wyatt's but still lovely–and is on the shorter side. She's still taller than me but Wyatt must definitely get his height from his father.

"Wyatt? What are you doing home from school? And who's this young lady?" She asks, no emotion displayed on her face so I've no idea what she's thinking.

"Relax mum," he starts, "This is Aurora, my ma-friend and I'm home early because there was a situation at school and she needed to calm down." Odd, he was about to call me his tutor and stopped himself, I guess he doesn't want his mum knowing.

His mother gives me a once over before smiling. "Alright. Don't worry I won't pry into business that isn't mine but I hope you're alright dear and might I say that you are stunning, my boy has chosen well," she grins.

My face holds an expression of shock. "No, it's nothing like that Mrs King, I'm just a friend," I tell her desperately, making sure not to mention the whole tutor thing because it seems like Wyatt doesn't want me to.

"Please, call me Camilla, sweetheart," she says with a bright smile just as her phone rings. She glances at the ID before turning back to us. "Excuse me, I have to take this," she says before walking out.

"Your mother seems nice," I say to Wyatt.

He jaw clenches. "There's more to people than meets the eye," he tells me stiffly.

I frown at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

He shakes his head and runs his hand through his dark brown locks. "Don't worry about it, green eyes. I'll tell you another time," he says dismissively.

I want to know what he's going on about but I don't pry, knowing it's not my place.

"Do you want to play a game," Wyatt says, changing the subject and gesturing to the large flatscreen TV with numerous counsels surrounding it. In all my haste to get away from Cat, I didn't realise that I had ended up in the games room, the place where I met Nathan for the first time.

I nod so Wyatt goes to set up a game and I go and plonk myself on one of the sofas.

About twenty minutes later Wyatt and I are drawing. I didn't realise he was so good.

"How the hell do you know how to play this?" He asks.

I shrug but keep my attention on the screen. "I have a younger brother and Alice hates gaming so I always had to play with him. Over time it grew on me and here we are."

Wyatt groans in frustration, full attention now on the screen.

Suddenly the door slams open causing Wyatt to jump in his seat and his character to die. "Yes! Victory!" I cheer.

"That's not fair. You only won because of that stupid door," he argues.

"Too bad, a win is a win," I tell him, sticking my tongue out.

"I call a rematch."

A cough from behind stops our dispute. "Sorry to interrupt but that's going to have to wait until a later date," Camilla says in her warm voice. "I need your help Aurora."

I freeze when I hear my name and Wyatt does also. "Mum I don't think that's a good idea. I know what you're about to say but Aurora is very shy I don't think she'd be comfortable," he says.

I frown. What are they talking about?

"Nonsense," she waves him off. "What girl wouldn't dream of getting this opportunity? Aurora, sweetheart, I need you to fill in for one of my models at my photo shoot today. She just called to tell me she's unwell and I haven't the time to find a replacement because the shoot is in two hours. I was just about to leave when I got the call. Like I said, you're gorgeous and would fit right in at the shoot, I can just see you being a natural. So will you help me, sweetheart?"

Shit. Shit. I need at come up with an excuse, there's no way I'm modelling.

"Aren't I too short to be a model?" I ask pathetically, looking for any way out of this nightmare.

"Height isn't everything sweetheart. Sure you're not the tallest but I'm not either and I've modelled plenty of times plus it's not like you're walking a catwalk, just it's a photo shoot so your height doesn't matter that much," she tells me.

Well fuck. There goes my way out.

~*~*~

I chew on my lip nervously. Wyatt was right when he said I'd be uncomfortable. I don't like being around new people full stop and now I have to pose in front of them next to professionals who actually know what they're doing whilst I have no experience what so ever. This is going to be so embarrassing.

Why didn't I just say no? Believe me, I wanted to but then I would be letting Camilla down, I hardly know her but she needed help so it would be cruel of me to turn my back on her.

Wyatt pointed something out on the way over which made this situation slightly better in a sense. He said that this would be crossing another fear off the list. That's if I even manage to get past hair and makeup without fainting.

After twenty minutes, we arrive at the building. As we enter, I can feel my heart rate increase immensely and my palms become sweaty.

Breathe Aurora. Everything is fine. You'll be fine. You can do this. Just breathe.

"It's alright," Wyatt whispers into my ear softly. "I know you can do this, green eyes, just take deep breaths."

I nod at him gratefully and send him a soft smile which he returns.

Can we just take a minute to appreciate the fact that Wyatt smiled, not smirked. He must've been swapped with his evil alien counterpart, it's the only logical explanation I've come up with.

Once inside I was immediately forced into hair, makeup and wardrobe. I gave Wyatt one last pleading glance as I got dragged away.

Who knew hair and makeup could take so freaking long?! Seriously, I mean I know they're professionals and they know what they're doing and that this needs to look perfect because it's for a famous fashion brand but still.

Wait. I'm modelling for a famous fashion brand. Fuck.

I think I'm going to be sick.