"So, you mean to tell me that you have never bought or put on an, as you call it, ugly Christmas sweater?" Castle cried out indulgently.
"No, I have not. And I don't plan on ever doing so either." Beckett huffed in annoyance. She's used to her partner going on and on about stupid topics but this one takes the cake. He has been on this for almost a week now.
[Last Thursday]
Beckett took a sip of her freshly made cup of coffee. Ah, her first cup of the morning, this always makes her feel human. She put a little more milk in it and placed the carton back into the fridge before taking the blue mug back to her desk.
Exiting the break room, she could see Castle over by the boys. He was sitting on Ryan's desk, his back to her, talking animatedly about who knows what. But, judging by his gestures and Esposito's enthusiastic nods, it must be about that video game he was telling her about buying yesterday.
She walked the rest of the way to her desk without him noticing her. It wasn't until she put down her coffee a little too roughly, knocking down the stack of papers next to it and letting out a silent curse, that he turned around to greet her.
"Hey, Beckett, good morning!" He was too peppy for it being 7 in the morning.
"Morning, Castle," she answered him absently. Dammit, she had spent 10 minutes ordering those transcripts yesterday and now they were all over her desk, and some even on the floor.
He came over to help her pick up the mess of papers. She piled up the ones on her desk while he got down on his knees to retrieve the ones that fluttered under her desk.
"Thanks," she said as he handed her the packet he had collected.
"No problem." The corners of his mouth lifted in that smile that she was sure she was the only ever recipient of. To be very honest, it made her feel things deep in her stomach. She shook her head. Right now she could not deal with honest.
"Nice sweater." Huh?
Oh, yes. She looked down at her outfit. Now that the weather had finally decided that staying below 45 degrees was deemed appropriate, she had gone through the boxes stashed at the back of the top shelf of her closet during her day off. She had gotten into the habit of clearing away all her winter — or summer — clothes with the change of seasons to have a better overview of her closet. So, after last weekend, her wardrobe now consisted of lots of turtlenecks, coats, and the occasional sweater with a wintery pattern.
"Thanks." The one she had decided to put on today was beige with dark brown leaves printed all over it. "I cleaned out my closet this weekend." He looked her over and nodded.
"It looks good on you." The only reaction her body seemed to be able to come up with was to turn her cheeks a pink that definitely did not match her top.
The next day, she put on her grey cardigan with little white snowflakes over one of her signature turtlenecks. She didn't do it because Castle thought yesterday's sweater looked nice. No, sir, absolutely not. The compliment he gave her as she took off her coat and he saw it was well received, but definitely not what she was going for.