Chapter 9 Aiden
Chapter 9 AIDEN
T he loveliest thing about Nora wasn’t her nose, or anything about her physical appearance. It was something else, something Aiden couldn’t quite put his finger on. Perhaps it wasn’t just one thing.
She placed a hand on his knee.
Her touch.
“Can I tempt you with some chocolate ice cream?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes. Her eyes. Too bad of all flavors, she’d offered him chocolate.
“Thank you very much, but I’ll have to say no. Sensitive teeth.” It wasn’t a lie, at least.
“What about coffee?”
Aiden chuckled. “If I drink coffee at this hour, I won’t be sleeping tonight.”
“I don’t think we’ll be sleeping tonight anyway.”
Her banter .
He let out a part-nervous, part-surprised laugh. He couldn’t say he wasn’t enjoying her sassy comebacks.
“Hey, it’s Brazilian coffee. Come on, you have to try it. It’s fantastic. You’ll love it!”
Her excitement over small things.
Aiden smiled. “Coffee it is, then.”
Aiden couldn’t help but watch as she made her way to the kitchen.
Her many, many physical assets.
Soon Nora was back with a bowl of ice cream for herself and two small cups of coffee.
“Oh, Lord. I didn’t think it would be an espresso.”
“It’s drip coffee, but we serve it on these small cups,” she explained. “We literally call it ‘small coffee.’”
“Right. Allow me to pose the next question, then,” Aiden waited for his coffee to cool off a bit. He took the magazine from the coffee table. “Let’s see... Oh, question eleven is a good one.” Now that the fire had been burning for some time, he was getting too warm, so he stood up and sat on the other side of the large sofa. Nora didn’t seem to mind.
Her confidence.
If Aiden were to list each and every thing he liked about her, where would he end? Falling in love, perhaps, as the questionnaire suggested. Maybe he should hold back a little.
“‘Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible,’” he read.
“Four minutes? How am I supposed to do that?”
He showed her his phone screen with the timer running. “You just lost five seconds.”
“Are you already... No, wait! Stop the timer, let me think.”
“Fifteen seconds.”
“Shit! Okay, okay. I was born in Brasília, the capital of Brazil, in mid-January. It was the rainy season, although it’s summer in the Southern hemisphere. My mother is a graphic designer from Rio, and my father is a German businessman. Growing up, I always went to Catholic schools and was a good student, and very well behaved, at least until I was a teenager, then I kind of rebelled a bit, and... uh... my mind’s a blank. I don’t know.” Nora ate a spoonful of her ice cream and immediately sipped her coffee.
Aiden grimaced at the thought of the cold and hot hitting his teeth at once. “You still have three minutes.”
“But I don’t know! What should I talk about?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. First kiss?”
“Okay, I had my first kiss at fourteen, and it was horrible, and I promised myself I’d never look at that boy’s face again, and I was lucky enough to move right after that. My mother married an American man, so we moved to Nashville, and that’s when I started practicing belly dance, and I met Dipa, and ever since she’s been my best friend. She’s responsible for my sugar addiction—she runs her family’s bakery, and they make the best cakes ever. I order the same flavor for my birthday every year—pina colada—and every year she delivers to me a Black Forest cake as a joke since I’m half German. I’ve never even tasted the pina colada cake.”
Speaking of tasting, the coffee Nora had given him had a bold flavor with nutty notes. It was delicious, if a little sweet for his taste. He gave her a thumbs up, and she smiled proudly.
“I struggled with depression because I was constantly in pain when I was a teenager. After going to one trillion doctors, when I was eighteen, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, as I told you, and finally started the right treatment. I’ve had a few ups and downs ever since, but it seems to be under control now. I haven’t had a flare in over a year.” Nora smiled. “I went to college—go Tennessee Tech!—and majored in Computer Science and... Oh, while I was in college I had the shittiest jobs in the galaxy and I met some pretty shitty people. But I also had some cool jobs, like at the bar right beside the campus—I think those were the craziest months of my life. Fast forward a few years and I meet Jay. Four months into our relationship, Jay and I moved into this house, and we were happy for about a year. Then things started going downhill until, eventually, we both agreed we needed to break up. I have a love-hate relationship with my work, so I don’t like talking much about it, and I also have a complicated relationship with my dad, but I talk about him a lot. I have the cutest dog ever. Her name’s Lucy, and her last name is In the Sky with Diamonds, and she lives with my mother because they’re both getting old and love company. I’m at work all day and into the evening, and that’s one of the reasons I’m dissatisfied with my job. Do I still have time?” Nora shoved a big spoon of ice cream into her mouth.
“Yes, about two minutes.”
“That much left? I have the least eventful life, apparently. Well, I... I love jigsaw puzzles and when I was sixteen, I won a competition and got a trip to Disneyland, which was every sixteen year old’s dream but mine. I prefer watching telenovelas over movies. The only bone I ever broke was my pinkie toe; I kicked the fridge out of rage in my rebellious teenage years and my mother got so panicked driving me to the hospital she almost crashed the car, twice. Uh... I’ve never met my German grandparents, though they sent me some nice gifts when they were alive, like this necklace that belonged to my Oma”—Nora touched an emerald pendant—“and I feel connected to her through it. My dad said I have her eyes. As for my Brazilian grandmother, she keeps sending me rosaries that she says are for my protection. Whenever I go to Brazil, the first thing I do once I arrive is eat coxinha with guaraná; it’s my ritual. Then, if possible, I go straight to the beach with my cousins. My Brazilian aunts always ask if I’m dating someone and when I’m getting married, and I always answer, ‘when you stop asking,’ so I’m afraid I’ll be single forever. I cut my hair short two years ago and regretted it—”
“Four minutes!” Aiden called at the timer’s chime.
“—every single day until it grew back. That’s my life in four minutes.”
Aiden finished his coffee and nodded. “Quite an interesting life, Nora. But the most interesting of it all... what’s the thing you eat in Brazil?”
“Coxinha.”
“Coshinya?”
He knew he pronounced it wrong because she giggled. “Yeah, it’s a fried snack made of dough filled with shredded chicken meat.”
“Sounds scrumptious.”
“It is, believe me. Now, let me set your four-minute timer.” She did so on his phone. “Go!”
Aiden cleared his throat and spoke without hurry. “I was born in Bath on a wintry evening. My mother, Louisa, is an architect, my father, Miles, a biochemist and professor, both English. I have an older sister, Celina, and a younger brother, Sean. I took my first steps when I was one, but Mum tells me how, at nine months, I learned to climb the shelves my dad built. Dad swears the first word I ever said was ‘biscuit,’ though it was probably ‘mama,’ and he was just jealous.”
Nora’s lips curled into a sweet smile.
Her smile.
“When I was around four,” Aiden went on, “my sister and I secretly rescued a stray cat and kept it hidden in the basement. It almost killed Dad. He has a severe allergy to cat hair, and we didn’t know it. At school I started playing football and was fairly talented, but I had a foul temper as a child; no coach wanted to deal with me. I picked fights for no reason, verbal and physical, and gave my poor mum a hard time during those years. It was my way of dealing with other children—keeping everyone at a distance. Fists speak louder than words. I regret those times now, except for one time when a bunch of tossers were messing with Sean. I remember little of the scene—I was wild with rage—but it ended with stitches, a cast, fat lips, and black eyes. And blood. Lots of blood. My problem with the sight of blood started there, as far as I recall.”
Nora stopped a spoon of ice cream halfway to her mouth, her eyes wide open.
“My parents gave me the mandatory ear-boxing, but I could see my mother was proud that I’d defended my little brother. Anyway, when I was in middle school, we moved here. Dad was invited to teach for a few terms at Vanderbilt, and Mum thought it would be good for us to experience a new environment. It was hard in the beginning. The other kids didn’t like me, and I defended myself by being rude and violent, so I was an outcast. That’s when I met her. Paola. She was this dark-eyed, dark-haired goddess, and by some ridiculous stroke of luck, also Celina’s best friend. They were inseparable, and although I missed my sister’s company, I could hardly complain about her bringing Paola around. By her mother’s insistence, this beautiful girl started bringing along her little brother, Gabe.”
“You mean—”
“Yes, that Gabe. At first, I resented the intrusion, but then we became friends—we went to the same school—and that was a good thing for so many reasons. After some time, Celina and Paola stopped talking to each other altogether. I’m not sure why, but because of that I started coming to this house to spend time with Gabe and to secretly pine for Paola. Of course, she never looked twice at the scrawny, ill-mannered lad I was, yet the painful crush lasted for longer than I care to admit. Because of my crush on Paola, I didn’t have eyes for any other girl during my time here. Which was fine. No girl would fancy me anyway, as I told you. I was not the brightest student, and the school system here was foreign to me, so I relied on sports to have somewhere to belong. Here, football is a giant peanut and is played with your hands, so I had to join the ‘soccer’ team to kick an actual ball with my feet. Gabe was on the team as well, and I think we would have been professional players, but soon my family had to move back to England, and that was—”
The alarm went off. Saved by the proverbial bell. Aiden took a sip of wine to wet his throat.
Nora was biting her lip. Her lip —he had to stop this! “You made me tell you about my first kiss. Be a good sport and tell me yours,” she said.
“But time is up. I did as requested, using as many details as possible. Of course, there wouldn’t be time for everything.”
“Let’s consider this an un-official question, then. Answer it if you want to. Though I’m sure you’ll want to, you’re such a gentleman. And besides, I’m giving you shelter and food...”
“And wonderful coffee and wine. I can’t thank you enough, Nora. I’m forever in debt to you.” He raised his glass in a silent toast, also trying to silence his inner voice saying her generosity .
“Of course, all your debts would be paid if you answer this one question...”
“Yes, answering one extra question is the least I can do. My first kiss was with a girl from school. I was fifteen.” Aiden took a long sip of his wine, conjuring the most innocent face he could.
Nora’s eyes made clear she was not satisfied with his answer. “Seriously, Aiden? That’s how you thank me? I want the whole goddamn story.”
He took a deep breath. “Fine. I was back in England. Having lived in the States didn’t make me popular, but it must have made me interesting somehow, because suddenly I wasn’t so invisible anymore. Mind you, I was still hideous, but my parents had put me in acting classes to help with my shyness and my temper, and I learned to play the guitar. A girl in my class started paying attention to me. We began exchanging notes, and through the notes I got to know her. Not unlike what we’re doing here, in a sense.”
“Should I look for my scented pens and stickers so we can write notes?” Nora teased.
Aiden laughed. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to get a love note from Nora. “Anyway. One thing led to another, and in a few months, I realized I liked her. It took me some time to finally gather the courage to ask her out. We went to an ice-cream parlor, and when the conversation took an awkward pause, I kissed her. I must have done something very wrong because she muttered some half-hearted excuse and left. Even though she never downright ditched me, after that she gave me the cold shoulder, and that was it.”
Nora gave him a suspicious glance. “Something tells me you know exactly what you did wrong.”
And something told Aiden that the truth was written all over his face. “Right. You sorceress. Yes, I know exactly what I did.”
“Care to share? It’s evil to leave a woman hanging. I’ll lose sleep trying to figure out what you did.”
He liked the idea of her losing sleep over him.
“And I will figure it out, eventually. What is it, did your teeth knock together?”
“Why, no!”
Nora’s eyes widened, and she smiled almost in a derisive way. “You had B.O.?”
Of all the things his former girlfriends had accused him of, body odor had never been on the list. “Do I have...?”
“I didn’t say that!”
“But do I?”
“Let’s see.” She crawled over the sofa until she was close enough to sniff his neck. Aiden froze. “No, you don’t smell bad. Not at all.”
The light touch of her nose on the nape of his neck made his skin explode in gooseflesh. What was she trying to do to him? Aiden bit the inside of his cheeks to prevent a sigh, or a moan, or an even more physical reaction.
As Nora sat back—now slightly closer than before—Aiden’s heart raced. “Thank you very much,” he mumbled.
“If you’d only tell me what happened, I wouldn’t have to guess.” She grinned.
Aiden inhaled deeply. “All right, all right. Please, bear in mind it was long ago, and I was a daft boy. God, this is embarrassing. I’ve never told anyone.” Aiden ran his hands through his curls, looking away. “Her name was Emilia. I called her Paola. There. I said it.”
Nora bellowed in laughter, and thunder struck outside, as if the storm, too, was laughing at his faux pas. “No... shit!” It was pure, unbridled joy. Her laugh wasn’t cute or discreet by any means—it was real, contagious. Something within his heart shifted, making his breath hitch. Before he had time to think, she spoke again. “I can’t believe you did that to a girl. Called her by another girl’s name! In her place, I would have killed you!”
“It was a dog’s dinner, I agree.”
Her cackle blared louder. “A what?”
“A disaster. A true disaster.” His head was in his hands. Then he looked up into her face. “But don’t worry. I’ll never mess up your name, Sarah.”