Asperica! Yep, I wrote about them. Dw, Maxon's still our boy. But, seriously, the more I read about Aspen, the more inspiring and interesting the guy seems.

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: all Selection rights belong to Kiera Cass

I held a hot chocolate in my mitten covered hands. The cold was starting to nip at my nose and ears, surely turning them pink. I pulled my jacket tighter around me, hoping to trap some body heat as the snow swirled around us. To say the least, I was freezing.

Then I looked next to me and saw Aspen. My jaw dropped open, because I couldn't help it. Oh my. What am I ever going to do with him? He was eating ice cream. Ice cream in negative thirteen degrees Celsius.

"Aspen. Seriously?"

He licked the vanilla scoop and said, "What?"

"You're eating ice cream while it's snowing."

"So? The cold never bothered me anyway," he said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes at that reference.

"Okay. But Aspen, you seriously need to stop eating that or just go inside," I tried to reason.

He just looked at me and said, "Ha, you're starting to sound like my mom."

Wow. Rude. "I do not!"

He grinned. "Don't be so sure of yourself."

I just rolled my eyes again. "Whatever. But if you keep on eating it, you're gonna get pneumonia or something like that." I was genuinely concerned for him. He tended to ignore people's suggestions, especially when they involved safety.

He looked at me and said, "Nah, I'll be fine. The worst that will happen is if you have to drive me to the hospital."

The worst? That would happen if I didn't get him in soon. "Okay, buddy. That's it. We're going inside. We'll just come back outside when Carter comes to pick us up. Deal?"

He smiled mischievously and asked, "Where's the deal in this?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, the deal is we can get warm and you won't have to get a doctor's note explaining why you can't go to class."

I started to walk back towards the mall.

When I was halfway to the entrance, I stopped and turned back to him. He still hadn't budged, so I looked at him expectantly.

He silently complained to himself, but then complied. "Fine. I'll come inside," he finally said.

I smiled. Thank god he won't get pneumonia now. He was a really good friend, and if something happened to him, I would probably go crazy. It was just like back when we dated for around two months. I was scared for my life because of him. After that small amount of time, we realized we were better off as friends.

I watched as he grudgingly walked to me. But the closer he came, the more unmistakable his shivers were.

He still held the ice cream in his bare hands. The tips of his fingers were white from the frozen temperature. He was so cold.

I plucked the cone out of his hands, went to the nearest trash can, and threw it in there.

He stared at me like I had taken his most prized possession.

"Aspen. Don't die for ice cream. That is honestly the most ludicrous way to go," I told him.

He scoffed, but followed me inside nonetheless.

The warm blast of the heater immediately relieved me, giving me the hot tingles. I looked at Aspen, whose rigid demeanor had begun to thaw.

"I was right," I said.

"What?"

"You needed to go inside."

"You know, I was perfectly fine outside. But you wanted to drag me in."

"Really? From what I can tell, your fingers were about to freeze off and you were so exposed to the cold that you started to slur your speech," I said. The last part wasn't true, but I hope he didn't notice. I couldn't watch him do such stupid things that could potentially harm him. "Aspen. You're not a superhuman. I know you have your limits. You don't have to pretend to be so strong all the time. Just know in the future, everyone will have to stop somewhere at one point. And I think you know where you need to stop now."

Hope you enjoyed!

Two questions

How do you even pronounce Aspen's last name? I've always pronounced it as Ledge-er

Do you guys want to see more Maxerica fluffiness or drama?

Bye until next time!