Alice was upset.
True this was nothing new to anyone who truly knew her. Alice got upset often, from the stress of work to even the smallest trifling of things. If you so much as breathed the words 'black sheep' in her presence, she would dedicate herself completely to making your life a living hell for as long as she felt repentance was necessary. However,on this particular wintry morning, it was completely and utterly ridiculous.
The brunt of winter had arrived, a particularly cold front sweeping down through Canada, heavy winds picking up freshly fallen snow into tornado flurries which lowered visibility. Not to mention the wind chill which dropped the already unbearable temperatures of a typical Canadian winter.
That being said, Matthew was perfectly content bundled tight in his red winter jacket, even being as bold as to leave the fur lined hood resting against his back rather than protecting his head from the cold as was its purpose. However, as much as it made Alice a tad paranoid that he'd catch cold, this wasn't the reason she was so upset. No, the reason why she was upset was the very reason they were even out in this blasted weather. They were shopping.
Not just any shopping mind you, but coat shopping for Alice. Normally she wouldn't quite mind it. After all it was cold and Matthew was offering to pay for anything they bought. So what could possibly be the problem? Simple. She felt like a five year old whose mother was dressing her in whatever ridiculous outfits she pleased. Now that might seem an exaggeration, but in fact it wasn't far from the truth. True, Matthew knew more about winter weather dress here, but somewhere along the way it had turned into him perusing the racks and adding yet another piece of clothing to the towering pile in Alice's arms.
Poor Alice was slowly being buried, and as much as she wanted to speak up, it was hard to break Matthew's cheerful concentration. She had never seen someone seem so at ease as they accumulated so much stuff. He was even humming to himself!
Yet another jacket was tossed back at her and landed on top of the pile in her arms, adding to the weight she was holding. Alright that was it!
"Matthew..." She whined at first and when he didn't appear to be listening, she let the pile fall from her hands to the floor in a heap of synthetic fiber, zippers, buttons, and fur.
Now this finally got his attention. Matthew was a little dumbfounded by his own pile and smiled sheepishly with a hint of nervous laughter. He was quite obviously a bit embarrassed, but who could blame him? He wasn't quite so invisible in his own home country.
Still somehow he was oblivious to exactly how utterly done Alice was with this situation. "Sorry..." He told her with his lopsided smile and the nervous rubbing of the back of his neck.
With that sort of look she was going to let him off, but then he just had to go and speak up again. "I kept you waiting for a while. Let's go have you try them on now okay?" He finished cheerfully, lifting the pile with ease.
Alice was speechless. She had to try them all?! She'd never escape this shop at this rate! Groaning to herself, she took the dreaded steps in his direction. Off to the dressing room it seemed.
This was ridiculous. It was embarrassing beyond all reason! Why did she have to subject herself to such torture?! Any other clothing and she would have gladly modeled it for Matthew, if only to witness his cheeks in flame, a lump in his throat, and his tongue which sprouted sweet words for once stunned into gibberish. This would not do that.
She had tried on three to make him happy. All of which made her appear to be a bloated marshmallow in various flavours. The last one had been the last straw. It had fit at least, that much was true, but it was from the children's section! It was even decorated with bright pink and violet butterflies! This was where she quit.
Tossing the jacket on the floor in a fury, she quickly slipped into her previous thin, deemed Canada unapproved, coat. A stubborn pout was plastered to her face. She was headed home.
"Alice? Wait! What's wrong eh?" Matthew asked, scurrying after her as he zipped his own jacket.
She tossed her head and 'hmph'ed at him. Alright, so that was a bit expected.
"Come on now... what's wrong?" he asked patiently. One needed all the patience in the world to keep up with Alice's spoiled behaviour. Practice is what kept Matthew from taking it to heart.
He moved to stand before her, blocking her path, which stunned her into ceasing. He'd leaned down to adjust her jacket and tighten her haphazardly wrapped scarf. "It's cold out. Alice you really need something to keep warm."
She buried her reddening face in her scarf stubbornly. He was right, she knew. She became ill too easily to risk not bundling up during harsh weather.
"Why don't we go back and-" She immediately cut him short.
"I don't need it!" She sounded much like a child throwing a tantrum.
"But Alice, you'll catch cold!" Matthew argued. He was trying to appeal to her sense of reason.
She merely huffed again and sauntered past him a bit. "I won't."
He sighed. Of course she would say that. "Alice it's not that simple." She couldn't just simply say no and stay healthy all of winter! She ought to know that!
She stopped suddenly, fiddling with her gloved hands. She muttered something that he didn't quite hear. "Eh?"
She let out a frustrated sigh, speaking up this time. "If it gets too cold you'll keep me warm." She said, as if it were an order he could not refuse.
Matthew blinked, processing her orders. His face burst into flame at the path his mind led him down. "E-eh?!" Had he heard her right?! Wasn't she being too forward?!
Alice blushed heavily as well, as if reading his mind. "I-I meant I'd share your coat, you git! Your coat!" She blurted in an embarrassed panic in a way that if Matthew weren't still trying to recover from his previous thoughts, he would have thought was cute.
"A-ah, right..." He attempted to laugh it off and leave it at that. Just a silly misunderstanding, that was what it was. Surely they'd both forget about it soon enough. Still, his cheeks were still inflamed as his feet switched to auto-pilot, moving to met Alice's strides as they headed home. The silence between them that he once thought comfortable was now acting as his worst enemy though, letting his thoughts wander uninterrupted. They kept drifting and he tried to find any sort of distraction to stop them. But as he glanced down at Alice's slightly shivering form, he couldn't help but think of all of the methods he could use to 'warm her up'.