Three
I have great news. Wonderful news! Aiden and I are going on a date. A real, breathing date! I'm so excited. Here's the play by play:
I was innocently minding my own business, gathering my things while the bell rang and people stampeded out onto the hallway for lunch. It was the middle of the week and I wasn't feeling too good, because turns out I'm going to be filled to the brim of my existence with homework that weekend. As I was pondering this, Aiden happened to come up out of nowhere and began to small talk me.
Then that's when it happened.
I was closing my binder, and lifted my eyes to meet his. Those olive green eyes! His best feature. But, there were of course, many. He was smiling about something, nodding his head, his hand was waving about. It was then that I realized he had asked me a question. Oops!
"So…what will it be?" Aiden wondered, confused.
"Oh! Sorry. I didn't quite hear you. What was that?" I had to say. Oh, how embarrassing. Note to self, stop daydreaming while people talk.
"I was wondering if you could help me with Hamlet. Maybe over coffee? We could go to Cocoa," Aiden repeated. Coffee! At Cocoa! It's incredible how psychic I am. Did I not predict this just the other day? Oh, how wonderful. But what made him think I was an expert on Hamlet? Oh, it doesn't matter. I was going on a date with the wonderful Aiden!
"Oh, sure! I love Hamlet." Wow, I thought. That was really stupid to say.
To my relief, Aiden laughed. He had a nice, warm laugh. Manly, too. "Great, so it'll work out. I'll pick you up tomorrow after practice. See ya later," Aiden waved, smiled, and walked out of the room.
I had a date with Aiden!
**
"What it is with you and Aiden anyway?" Marlene wanted to know, licking a piece of ice cream off her spoon. Marlene ate things off of spoons in a weird way. She held the spoon straight, and tried to catch whatever was in it before it slid off with her tongue. Don't ask me why.
It was the day of the date. It was four o' clock, and sports practices usually got out around five. I was hopelessly trying to find a decent outfit, and figured Marlene would want to see me off so I invited her over. Unfortunately, I was so caught up thinking up of scenario after scenario of how things would go that I had forgotten Marlene disapproved of my date.
"Look, Aiden is such a sweet guy. You know that! So I don't get why all of a sudden you hate him," I whined, looking for a scarf that didn't have such an obnoxious color.
"I don't hate him and I do think he's a good guy. It's not him I'm worried about," Marlene replied quietly. I turned around to look at her.
"Then what, exactly, is it? You know I like him Marlene, and you're my sister. I need you to approve and I need know everything you do so as I don't make a mistake!" I declared. Marlene had this odd way of knowing everything about people. Considering her only friends were me and very few others, I don't know how she does it. Maybe she eavesdrops.
Marlene rolled her eyes and reluctantly set her tub of ice cream down. She was on my bed and leaned all the way back so her head rested on one of my pillows, the one with an American bald eagle stitched on the front.
"I kind of did a bit of research," Marlene admitted. I told you she was sneaky. But I still don't know how she got all the information she did. "It all started when I mentioned Aiden to my mom. She went on a tirade about how his family was a bunch of freaks," She continued.
"What? I've met Aiden's dad once. He was sweet, and his grandma even lives with them. How can this be?" I defended.
"I know, right? But my mom wasn't really talking about his immediate family. Apparently, he has a lot of extended family down in Washington. They're all really close though, even if they live far away. I found out he writes letters to his cousin all the time," Marlene dished.
"Letters? Have they heard of a phone? Or texting?" I commented, my voice barely audible since I was so deep into my closet. Where were those black leather boots…?
"They're pretty old fashioned. Maybe he likes getting letters. When I was a girl, I loved getting letters. Not that I ever got any. I just wished I did," Marlene started eating the ice cream again and her eyes floated up to the ceiling dreamily.
"You know what? I did too. Anyway, so Aiden is old fashioned and close to his family. What exactly is bad about this? I'm loving him more by the minute!" I exclaimed.
Marlene shook her head, swallowed, and looked back at me. "There's more," She countered in a solemn voice.
"Well, get on with it," I replied, smacking her on the butt with one of my scarves.
"My mom said she's met his family, you know, over the years. They're overprotective and powerful. Kind of closed off. It's almost like they have some horrible secret," Marlene went on.
"That's just what your mom thinks. Marlene, have you met your mother? She's nuts." I said this with kindness. Marlene wasn't offended; she knew her mom was crazy too.
"Look, my mom may be crazy, but she knows her stuff. She has some pretty good stories. She just told me to stay away from him. So I figured I'd let you know," Marlene completed.
"Look, I'm going to try and make this coffee date a real, actual date. He's expecting Hamlet, but he's going to get a big ole' dose of Charlotte Maddox. I'll small talk him until we get on the issue of family, and maybe he'll let me know what the big secret is. Sound good?" I proposed.
Marlene shrugged one shoulder. "Whatever you say," She murmured.
I checked my clock. It was almost five! "Quick!" I squealed. "I need an outfit!"
Marlene looked in disdain at all my clothes strewn on the floor. "It's hard. All you own is leather, animal print, flannel, or wool."
She has a point. But I love animal print. One of my trademarks. Leopard, zebra, you name it. "Maybe I should just wear jeans and a nice sweater. Nothing over the top. Aiden seems really down to earth," I muse, considering the clothes on the floor along with Marlene.
Moments later, I decided on dark wash jeans, knee high brown boots, and a white cashmere sweater. I looked very Christmas. Very North Pole.
"Wear that necklace your dad gave you for your sixteenth birthday. It's so pretty!" Marlene gushed. She was referring to my Tiffany's necklace. It was quite a winner, but it didn't have any diamonds. I told my dad not to give me anything with diamonds. I have this secret dream that a future boyfriend will give me a gorgeous diamond necklace I'd wear all the time. I'm simply waiting until that day, so for now, no diamonds.
I find the necklace and after applying some quick make-up, I'm on my way downstairs. Aiden has already texted me saying he'd be here in five minutes. Marlene didn't want to ruin my date so she headed out after wishing me luck.
I had strictly advised my parents to steer clear for when Aiden arrives. Of course, no luck. Right before Aiden texted me he was here, my parents had both descended down from their room. I glared at my mom. She was a girl! I thought she'd understand. She gave me a sheepish smile back and made up some excuse she was checking to see if she'd left the oven on. Dad didn't say anything, just stood near the counter, offering nothing but a goofy grin.
I didn't want Aiden to meet my parents! It'd seem so official. He thought this was just a discussion over Hamlet and offered to get coffee simply to be nice. This is so bad!
My dad suddenly came towards me and gave me a big bear hug. My dad was a pretty big man. Over the years he's gotten a little chubby, especially around the middle, but he still had huge biceps and strong legs for an old guy. He was also incredibly hairy.
I pushed him aside as politely as I could and jumped when the doorbell rang. Mom rushed past me before I could move, and answered the door. "Charlotte! Your friend is here!" She called over her shoulder.
As if she didn't know I was right behind her. As if she didn't already know who Aiden was.
Aiden stepped inside and I immediately froze. Oh, he looked so good. I have a thing for when guys look really cozy and homey. You just want to hug them. And since it was so cold around here, guys tended to do that. A lot. Hey, North Pole isn't so bad after all.
Aiden looked cozy, as I mentioned, wearing a forest green sweater, jeans, boots, and an oversize brown jacket. I just wanted to fling myself against his chest. That's how cozy he looked.
"Hi Aiden!" I said a little too happily. He gave me a small smile, but returned his focus to my parents. It was then I realized all three of them were awkwardly staring at each other.
What's this? My parents are usually cheery people. Like, overly cheery. But now they seemed to be frowning. Aiden didn't look so happy either. Was there something going on I didn't know about?
Finally, it's like someone released oxygen back in the room. My dad stepped forward, offering his hand to Aiden, and put on a small smile. "How's it going?" He said.
Aiden looked relieved and shook my dad's hand. "Great. Charlotte and I were just about to grab some coffee and discuss English homework," Aiden replied.
"Hamlet," I offered.
"Oh! To be, or not to be? That is the question!" My dad quoted. Aiden and I laughed awkwardly.
"Well, do you guys want to hang around here for awhile? I can turn on the fireplace," My mom offered.
"It's ok," I said before Aiden could reply. "We'll go and come right back."
It was then Nate walked by, shirtless. He had his iPod headphones on and was obnoxiously blasting his music. I'm assuming he was working out. All of a sudden Aiden's face lit up. "Nate?"
Miraculously, Nate heard him and pulled his headphones out. "Aiden! My man!" Nate walked over and they seemed to mutually know some type of handshake.
"Did you get it?" Aiden wanted to know.
"I'm getting it this weekend. It'll be sick, you'll see," Nate nodded, grinning.
"You boys know each other?" Dad wondered.
Nate and Aiden nodded. "Aiden's in my Physics class. We're pretty good friends," Nate replied.
My stomach flipped over and my head started to pound. What? Nate, the monster, was friends with Aiden, my love? Not. Possible.
"Well, we gotta go. It was nice meeting you all. I'll catch you later Nate," Aiden said, and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Ready to go?"
I was briefly distracted by the revelation that just happened as I felt his strong, warm hand on my shoulder. Oh, my.
"Yes. Yes, let's go," I said, and hurriedly waved bye to my family. Aiden kept his hand on my shoulder and seemed to lead me away as though I couldn't see for myself.
**
We neared his car. It was a shiny black truck. Too dark to tell the model, but still, very Aiden. He opened the car door for me and it took everything for me not to place my hand over my heart and sigh. I'm an absolute sucker for gentlemen.
We started driving and at first it was somewhat awkward. "So, I never really paid attention, but do you have a car?" Aiden all of a sudden asked.
"Yeah, it's a really old, really embarrassing Volvo. I try to not be seen in it," I replied. Aiden laughed and shook his head.
"I like old cars. We could always trade," He offered playfully, and I breathed a sigh of relief playfully back.
"Deal. You can have it!" I proposed. After that it got quiet again. I'm usually a really talkative person. It's weird how sometimes you can be completely different.
I didn't worry much though, because Cocoa was fairly close. We found a parking spot and got out. Ugh, I hated getting out of cars when it was cold out. You were so warm and comfortable at one point, then you have to face the wrath of North Pole. I almost suggested we stay in.
But Aiden didn't seem the least bit concerned with the weather. He opened the door for me (swoon!) and we walked in. There were quite a lot of people inside, for a Thursday night anyway, and the barista girl smiled at us warmly.
"How can I help you?" She wondered.
"Ladies first," Aiden offered politely. I'm sure I looked taken aback, for I wasn't used to boys my age acting like Casanova.
"Um, white chocolate mocha please," I said and waited for Aiden's order. You can tell a lot about a person by what coffee they drink.
"That sounds good! I'll have the same," He said to the girl.
Oh. My. He's officially the love of my life.
When our drinks were ready, Aiden had graciously gotten up to retrieve them. I was left sitting there, completely nervous. I fiddled with my necklace like crazy. I don't know what it was, but Aiden made me really nervous. Did this mean I truly liked him? What wasn't there to like? Marlene's voice kept invading my mind, though. I had to find out more about him and prove Marlene wrong.
Aiden came back and took a seat, smiling at me cutely, pushing my coffee towards me. "Hopefully this tastes good, or you owe me a coffee," Aiden said playfully as he took his first sip.
I waited to see if he liked it and watched him start nodding. "Good, huh? This is my absolute favorite. I'm obsessed with coffee," I said. Wow, I sound like a total weirdo. I always forget not to share obsessions until the third or fourth date at least! Aiden can't know I'm a little weird. Not yet, anyway.
Aiden smiled warmly, and shrugged. "I guess you don't owe me a coffee after all. Plus I now know what to order. I always look like a loser because I don't really drink coffee that much, so I'm never sure what to get. Well, now I know," He replied chuckling.
"Well if you're going to be hanging with me, you'll definitely learn to like coffee," I said with a flirty tone. What's wrong with me? Get off the coffee subject. Now.
Aiden nodded again. "I guess I will." Wait, did that mean he was implying he'd be hanging with me a lot? Maybe I'm reading into this way too much.
"Uh, so, um, Hamlet?" I laugh nervously. "Let's see. His dad gets killed by his uncle, his uncle marries his mom, he's pretty much obsessed with death. Oh, and he talks to himself. A lot. Kind of like me. Any questions?"
Aiden had to put his coffee down to laugh. Was I really that funny? I like that. Charlotte Maddox, the funny girl. Had a nice ring to it. Guys like funny girls, right?
"You pretty much got it down. How do you even understand that stuff? I can't read Shakespeare at all," Aiden confessed with the cutest confused face I've ever seen.
"I'm a little weird," I confessed myself. I decided I rather let him know now what he was up against, rather than surprise him later. "I actually like Shakespeare. I mean, once you get past the whole hard-to-read-this-weird-old-English part, the stories are really good. Top grade soap opera material," I explained, drinking my coffee a little too fast. Gosh, I hope I didn't burn my tongue. I won't be able to taste anything properly for days. That's the one bad thing about coffee; that and having to pee all the time.
"That's funny. I never really thought about it that way. I guess you're right, there is a lot of interesting things about it. I just hate reading it," Aiden replied. I started to sense this conversation coming to an end. Plus I didn't want to discuss Hamlet anymore. Geez, when was the last time I went on a date anyway? Let me think. Oh, wait, a few months ago. Bobby Fry. We went to this vegetarian place I ended up not liking at all, and he kept talking about sports. It was a pretty bad date. Then, he tried to kiss me, but I was too polite and didn't tell him he had a piece of lettuce or something stuck in his teeth. I lied and said I had a cold and couldn't kiss him. After that I kept making excuse after excuse to get rid of him until he got the hint. I hate rejecting people, but Bobby and I were not meant to be.
Anyway, this was Aiden. Sweet Aiden, always smiling, and very fortunately not a vegetarian. We had to have something else to talk about, didn't we?
"What do you like doing anyway? Reading Shakespeare is obviously out," I tried. Perfect. I could see he was also relieved in not having to talk about books any longer.
"I'm a really outdoorsy person. Over the summer I like camping and stuff when it's not so cold, but when it's cold and dark and we have school I just focus on homework and stuff. I also like to visit my family down in Washington, it's way fun there. I'm really close to them," Aiden explained. I put my arm on the table and placed my head on my palm, looking deeply interested. Maybe this is the scoop I needed so as Marlene can quit being a negative Nancy about Aiden and I eventually going out. Which would happen, by the way. I hope.
"Really? That's cool. If most of your family is in Washington, how come you guys live here?" I wondered. Aiden pulled a face. Oops. Personal matter? I didn't want to look nosy. Even though, I was dying inside to find out. "Never mind. You don't have to tell me," I added.
"It's kind of personal, and I don't really even know myself. Just you know, family fights and stuff. But the good news is, it's been getting better actually. I write to my cousin Jacob down there all the time, and they really want me to come visit again. I'm dying to go back," Aiden looked happy again, talking about this wondrous place I knew nothing about. Unexpectedly, he added, "You'd love it there."
"Me?" I repeated with a little too much surprise.
Aiden chuckled. "Yeah, you. I remember Freshman year you'd always tell me how much you like animals and stuff. Do you still like them?" Aiden wanted to know.
Oh, my. I can't believe I told him that. I don't remember even saying it. Why did he remember, anyway? Oh well. That could only be a good sign. I lightly tapped the side of my coffee nervously. "Yeah, I do. I mean if you live here, you kind of have to love them don't you? Either that or put up with them. There's so much wildlife here," I replied.
"True," Aiden agreed.
"It's kind of my family's fault, too. My dad also likes hunting and camping. And my mom has pretty much an animal replica of everything somewhere around the house," I grumbled, rolling my eyes.
Aiden laughed, listening to me. I smiled, I couldn't really help it. I liked listening to his laugh, and most importantly, I liked the fact he was laughing because of something I said. I was starting to think about how, despite some default awkward first date bumps, this was going incredibly well. We were just two people having coffee, technically brought together simply because of a book. But it felt good. It felt nice being around him.
"That's cool. Your family sounds nice. And I don't mind that you like animals, I think it's cute," Aiden confessed. Oh, my! He thought I was cute! I actually don't really like that word. I'm more of a gorgeous, beautiful, amazing, kind of girl. Those words always sound better. But it works for now.
I giggled shyly. "Ok so, I like Shakespeare, you don't. We both like animals and being outdoors. That's all? We've been here for almost an hour. We're pretty lame," I joked.
Aiden laughed again, and I did too, it was very contagious. "I guess we are. Well, is there anything else you want to share? The animal thing doesn't count. I already knew that about you," Aiden replied.
And so the night went by. I ended up telling Aiden a lot more than I usually tell boys when we first meet or start dating, which was surprising. I usually limit myself on purpose to either save things for another time, or not seem so eager to talk about myself. But I don't know what it was. Aiden just made me feel as if I could tell him anything without feeling weird or guilty. So I did. I told him about what my parents do and what I find annoying about them, Marlene's oddball quirks I loved, the pros and cons of living in North Pole, what I think about our school and certain teachers and certain classes. I told him about wanting to leave North Pole as soon as I could and find new adventures, explore new places. I told him about the unique decorations in my room. I revealed to him the horrible doings of my brother, as of late, of which he replied that everything would be ok soon and that he understood what Nate was going through. I got why Aiden would understand, they were both boys after all, maybe all guys go through some weird monster like phase then gradually get back to normal. I don't know. I couldn't picture Aiden acting in such a way though, so I just let that slide for now. I felt better though, hearing from someone else other than my parents that Nate would get back to normal soon.
Aiden delighted me in turn with stories of his own. I found out he did indeed live with his dad and grandma. Sadly though, his mother left his dad when he was a baby. His dad never really got into it, just told him she just couldn't live with his dad anymore. I didn't pry too much about that either. He talked about how his dad also loved hunting and camping, and they used to always camp together when he was a kid. He talked about how much he loved his grandma, who made the most delicious bread ever. At this point we both got really excited, because we realized we both loved bread. It's another weird obsession I have, I mean, I love eating bread with butter at dinner and stuff. I was so happy Aiden and I shared this love, and as you probably can imagine, my mind began to quickly fill with images of Aiden and I, newly married, newly moved in to our new house, trying out the gorgeous dining room table one of our parents gave us by eating some of his grandma's famous bread with butter.
Anyway, he told me his grandma would probably like me and warned me that if I ever came over that she'd probably make me a dream catcher or a sweater. His grandma liked making things. I told him I wouldn't object to a gift from his grandma and that a dream catcher would go greatly with my already oddly decorated room. He had laughed at that too.
The only thing he told me that I didn't like was that sadly he might be leaving soon, once Christmas break came. As he had said before, he always wrote to his cousin and both families missed each other greatly. Aiden hadn't been to Washington for a few years now and he wants to go back and visit everyone.
"It kind of sucks," Aiden had said. "I was so excited to go and see everyone. But now I'm not so sure. I have a feeling I might miss you if I do go." He accompanied this with a small, shy smile. At that point I was glad there was a chair underneath me.
I told him there was no way he wasn't going just because of me, even though the thought of him staying because of our love for each other was in every way incredibly sexy and dreamy. But the way he talked about his folks was so sweet. I knew I'd feel guilty if he didn't go because of me. Then we tossed around the idea of maybe having me go with him. That was fun for awhile, planning future events. It was a rare occurrence, for I was usually the one sitting at the table across from the boy, already planning in my mind what food the caterer should make for our engagement party, or going through the lists of songs in my mind and picking out which one exactly describes 'us'. I'm not so sure I can blame that on being a girl, at that point I just conclude I'm crazy. With Aiden it didn't feel crazy though (especially since I wasn't the only one doing it). It felt fun, because we weren't exactly seriously planning all these things, but it was fun just to imagine.
By the time he dropped me off at my house, it was officially decided that I liked him. Before, it was just crazy girl obsession talk. I hadn't been sure if it would even happen. But, after tonight, it's a definite possibility. Aiden and I might just be an item. So exciting!
I could tell he liked me. If he didn't, it'd be a huge surprise. Like, huge. He was sweet as always, but it was different. He gave all the right signs. When he dropped me off, he even said, he hadn't really wanted to talk about Hamlet after all. He just couldn't come up with any other reasonable excuse to ask me out. It was very sweet and geeky of him.
Unfortunately, there was no first kiss. I was disappointed at first, but then I thought it was better that way. Relationships always work better with a little wait to everything, anyway. Besides, it was the first date. We got to know each other. Now, we assess whether or not we'd like to spend more time with each other. I vote yes, but I have to wait for Aiden to let me know of course. Then, I'll think about us kissing.
Not that I haven't pictured it already.