Chapter 11 Aiden
Chapter 11 AIDEN
S o Nora had a thing for famous Harrison Ford, of all people? There were, in fact, only two degrees between Nora and the actor—Aiden had met him during a charity event. But he couldn’t tell her that.
When Aiden reached the kitchen, his bare feet touched something wet on the floor.
Nora was at his side in an instant, mouth agape. “Oh my God! How did this happen?”
It didn’t take long for Aiden to see the rain coming through a crack in the window frame. “The storm really wants to join us,” he said. “You are indeed a superb host.”
“I won’t let the little bitch in,” Nora replied, a good stack of rags in her arms. Loud thunder boomed, and they shared a look.
Nora grabbed a rag and got on all fours to dry the floor. Aiden shook his head and cleared his throat, trying to banish the improper thoughts that ran through his mind.
The woman was fast—in a minute she had already mopped the entire flooded space. Aiden took the opportunity to fetch glasses of water for them both.
As he stepped towards the sink, Nora stood up swiftly. “Careful, it might still be slippe—”
Before she could finish the sentence, she slipped and lost her balance. Aiden caught her waist, cradling her torso, and their eyes found each other. Maybe it was the slippery floor, maybe it was the warmth of her skin against his, but Aiden lost his balance, too, and they fell to the floor. Nora landed on top of him, her forehead just an inch above his.
“‘I’ll catch you if you swoon,’” Aiden said, trying to add some humor to the awkward situation.
“I didn’t swoon, Aiden. I—”
“You slipped. I know. But this quote seemed too perfect not to use. It’s from The English Patient , in case you’re wondering.” Even if he might have misremembered it slightly.
After she rolled her eyes, a pensive expression took over Nora’s face, her body still on top of his. “Is that the movie about a woman who tends to an Englishman’s wounds, and they end up falling in love?”
Aiden nodded. Then he noticed the slightest smile on her lips, and... Oh. A woman who tended to an Englishman’s wounds.
As she moved to get up, Aiden encircled her waist to keep her in place. “Be careful. You might fall.”
Nora looked straight into his eyes. “If I fall, you’re the one to blame.”
Was she talking about his clumsiness? Or was she talking about another kind of fall?
Before he came to a conclusion, she patted his chest. “Come on, let’s get you off of this cold floor. We don’t want you catching a cold... Englishman.”
As Nora rolled herself to the side, Aiden quickly stood to offer her a hand. A jolt of electricity ran through his arm when their fingers met. With his help, Nora pulled herself up, the momentum bringing her a mere inch away from him.
Her hand was still on his, while her other hand patted his shoulder, his arm, his chest. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“No. I’m all right. You?”
Aiden couldn’t take his eyes from Nora’s as she shook her head, standing so close that he could feel her breath on his lips. He didn’t let go of her hand—and she didn’t let go of his, as if she also didn’t want to disconnect, as if she also wanted to get closer, and closer, and—
A piercing siren cut the air. An ambulance—or maybe a police car—rushed down the street, startling Nora and ruining the moment.
After sealing the kitchen window crack with rags to prevent another flooding event, Aiden led Nora to the fireplace with a hand on her lower back. This time she seemed tense, as if his touch may be unwelcome, as if the moment for that had passed by, so he took his hand away.
The storm kept rumbling outside. Thunder. Lightning. A river of rain. Despite the late hour, Aiden felt wide awake. The questions—or the small coffee—had proved themselves to be quite stimulating. It felt good to talk about random yet personal subjects, without fear of exposure or judgment. In fact, it felt good to just talk. Which was unusual for Aiden.
“Here, give me the magazine. My turn to ask,” he said.
Nora handed it to him and stood up, then headed to the fireplace to feed the embers, nurse them back to life.
They were at question fifteen. Almost halfway done with the whole lot. He didn’t want the questions to end. Real life awaited him at the break of dawn, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to go back just yet.
“Oh, this question is deep. ‘What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?’”
Nora’s face lit up, pride in her smile. “Having paid all my student debt by myself.”
Aiden lifted his wine glass in a toast. “Wow, that’s huge.”
“Yeah, I mean... Most of my friends haven’t paid their loans off, and the moment I realized this was the moment I knew I had a good job. I can’t complain. Well, of course I can, but I shouldn’t. What about you? What’s your greatest accomplishment?”
“I wasn’t the best student in school, not by a long shot. My teachers used to call me hopeless, and to be honest, I did little to prove them wrong. Then when I was twelve or thirteen, I was almost failing. I needed to excel in a maths test, but I had always struggled with numbers. So I abandoned everything else in my life—the arcade, playing football, you name it, I dropped it—and studied like never before. And never again, might I add.” Nora laughed. “So I got the grade I needed. My teacher praised me in front of the whole class, saying how driven and inspiring I was; I felt like a world champion. Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest accomplishment, but it’s the one that made me feel the best.”
And it was true. His small academic success still filled him with pride.
“I’ve always had a thing for boys who aced math tests.”
Both Nora’s words and the sideways glance she flashed him, her lips parted provocatively, sent pleasant shivers down his body. “Have you?”
“Yeah,” she answered, as if unaware of the effect she had on him. “You should feel great. A kid dropping the arcade and soccer to study? That’s impressive. But, you know... that’s the thing about these questions, and about life in general, I guess. It’s all subjective. Maybe another person would say your biggest accomplishment was something else. Maybe if you were in my position, you wouldn’t even consider paying your debts an accomplishment, but I do.” Nora again spoke in the passionate way he found so fetching. “And it’s interesting that these answers reveal so much about our personality, and yet... Well, people only meet the version of ourselves we choose to show them. If my boss asked me these questions, my answers would probably differ from the answers I gave you, because I want him to have a certain image of me.”
Her theory resonated deep within him. People only meet the version of ourselves we choose to show them . Wasn’t this exactly what he was doing with Nora? While not outright lying, Aiden chose to show her the version of himself that didn’t include his celebrity side.
Was now the time to tell her the truth? He considered it but lost his nerve away as she continued speaking.
“Everyone sees a different version of me because who I am around them is affected by, well, them. I’m not pretending to be someone else in front of anyone; there are just these subtle hues, which—depending on your reference point—can make a tremendous difference. Me, the true me, I guess no one really knows, because I’m a mix of all these personas. And for as much as I try to be transparent and give you my most honest, unfiltered answers, all I can do is reveal to you the image I have of myself. But, if you stick around long enough, you might come to your own conclusions about who I am.”
“I’d like that,” Aiden said. “To stick around long enough to see who you really are. And I’d like you to see who I really am, too.” If only he weren’t such a coward.
Lightning struck, and almost immediately thunder followed and startled her again, making her grab his arm. Was the storm trying to say something?
“Me, too,” Nora said in a quiet voice, the warmth of her fingers wrapped tightly around his bicep as pleasing as her words.
Would she, though? What would happen if she knew he was bloody famous? With her “worst disease of the century” diatribe, he didn’t know what would be worse—to come clean or to keep hiding the truth. The right thing to do was pretty obvious, Aiden knew. She would end up finding out everything, anyway. But again he hesitated, out of fear and self-indulgence.
Oblivious to his inner turmoil, Nora peered at the questions over his shoulder. “Question sixteen is a fun one. ‘What do you value most in a friendship?’”
“They should have more of these wholesome questions,” Aiden said, glad for the distraction. “What I value most in a friendship... I think it’s when your friend accepts you for who you are.” That was one aspect of his life that he tried to protect at all costs. Being a public person made it much more difficult to make real friends. On the other hand, would he fight so fiercely to nurture his friendships if he was anonymous? “You can spend years apart, and when you meet up again it’s like no time has passed at all. It’s nice to know a friendship will endure without constant contact. It is so situational otherwise. Like the ‘friends’ you make while on a day tour. You chat, you eat together, take a pic or ten with them, maybe even add each other on social media, and that’s that.”
“Disposable,” Nora offered.
Aiden snapped his fingers and smiled. “Yes! Disposable, that’s the word I needed. Nothing wrong with one-day-friends, but yeah, you know what I mean.”
“I know! I have so many pictures with people I thought I’d stay friends with, and they turn out to be only day-tour friends. As for my answer... honesty. No doubt, no concession.”
Honesty. Honesty. Honesty. The word kept repeating itself inside Aiden’s head. The one thing she valued the most was the one thing he hadn’t given her. If he was honest with her now, would he regret it?
“And gifts,” Nora continued. “I love gifts, both getting and receiving them.”
Still shaken, Aiden barely registered his own words. “Right, one can’t forget to convert feelings into material things.”
Nora gave his arm a light slap. It seemed to be her standard way to convey mock outrage. Or was she truly offended? “I guess it comes from my dad participating in my life only by giving gifts, so, in my mind, gifts became synonymous with showing affection. I know this is not the way to show you love someone. But in my fucked-up head, the more expensive, the better.” Nora laughed, but her fidgeting told him a different story.
If it was honesty Nora valued most in a friend, she certainly delivered it herself, admitting so openly something she could easily be judged for. If only he was as brave as she was or cared a little less about her reaction. “Thanks for the honesty. For me, I appreciate the thought behind a gift much more than its cost. And I wouldn’t trade my niece’s handmade gifts for anything in the world; golden watches, sports cars, anything.” He watched her face fall. Darn him and his big mouth. Had he screwed up for good this time? The thought of hurting her crushed him, and he placed his hand on top of hers. “My apologies, Nora. I don’t mean to judge you or your honesty. By sharing my thoughts, I don’t mean to invalidate yours.”
“Don’t worry. It’s something I’d like to change about myself. But now that you mention it... I’ve never gotten a handmade gift, from anyone. I guess I don’t know many creative people.” She kept her eyes on their joined hands.
Aiden was glad she let it slide. He didn’t want to upset her and ruin whatever was starting to grow between them.
“All I know are creative people,” Aiden said, thinking of the plethora of actors, directors, and writers he wouldn’t exactly call friends. “Even so, I will make it a point to remember your love for flashy gifts.”
With a light caress, Nora pulled her hand from his. “Diamonds would be highly appreciated,” she said, giving a casual glance at her nails. “I’m kidding. You could give me the gift of not being just a day-tour friend, how about that?”
“I think I can do that. In fact, I’d benefit more from that than you would, I think.” Then he realized what his words implied and hoped it wouldn’t scare her. “Question seventeen. ‘What is your most treasured memory?’” Aiden asked, trying to focus on the questionnaire while his mind whirred with ideas.
“There’s this day I spent with my mom at the zoo. By the end of it we were exhausted, and we had pizza at my favorite place, called Planeta da Pizza . There was an arcade right in front of it, and I won the teddy bear I wanted—a girl bear, and I named her Babalu after a character from an old telenovela. I still have her.”
It was an adorable memory, one that echoed within his heart. “That’s lovely.”
“What’s yours?”
“The first to pop into my mind is when I got to meet my favorite singer. She was so beautiful, so out of my league—still is, of course. I could barely speak. I was such an awkward boy, and she was this goddess... I made an utter fool of myself. But she was so sweet. She gave me a peck on the cheek, and I swore I would never wash my face again.”
“Did you keep your oath?”
Aiden cocked a brow. “Do you want to get closer and check?”
“Can you handle it?”
“Make sure you can.”
Nora chortled and a pretty flush spread up her neck. “Who... was the singer?”
Aiden averted his eyes. “It was, uh... Posh Spice.”
“No way! She’s my favorite Spice, too! I wanted to be just like her. No, I wanted to be her. Have you tried to meet her again? Now that you’re not an ‘awkward boy’ anymore.”
“I could never! I can’t bear to make a fool of myself again.” Aiden had, in fact, seen Posh Spice during a red-carpet event, but he didn’t have the courage to speak to her. What if she didn’t know who he was? What if she did?
While he spoke, another memory—quiet and unexpected—crept into his mind. It was when his niece recognized him for the first time, reaching out to him with her chubby baby arms. He knew, then and there, that was his most treasured memory. But it triggered yet another memory; a painful, sorrowful one, which he took great care to keep locked away. His mind quickly veered from it.
“Excuse me for a moment. I need to use the loo.”