Lipstick

Ten - Oversized Sweaters

I heard Gill come closer to our table and drop her stopwatch on the table carelessly giving me open access to the remaining time. Only fifty seconds left! Ah, I was a slow eater.

The cough still continued and I didn't hear Aiden's fork clanking rapidly across his plate the way it did when we had started; I was starting to get the thought that maybe he had finished? I ate my last waffle and jumped up in victory.

"Adrianna!" I heard Gill say my name in a shout kinda whisper. I turned to face her and my eyes widened.

She was patting Aiden on the back – ah, so he'd been the one coughing – and rubbing soothing circles on his chest. "Uh... what happened?"

Aiden lifted up his head to look at me; his eyes were a darkish-red tear stained colour and no longer the vibrant blue they usually were.

He gave me a weak smile. "You won pumpkin,"

---

Even after Aiden had had a near death choke during round two, I couldn't help but feel guiltily happy about it. I mean when I glanced at his plate, it was only a half piece that lay there. God knows if he didn't choke, he would've beaten me without even trying.

"What did you choke on?" I looked up at him as we walked out of the coffee shop.

He shrugged. "I don't know, Gill said something about brown sugar. I'm allergic."

I bit my lip and looked away. Oops. "So... um, I'm sorry, I kinda asked for the brown sugar."

His blue eyes flickered to mine. "What? You like brown sugar?"

"Well yeah," I shrugged easily. "I mean who doesn't like brown sugar?"

He looked appalled. "You almost killed me Adrian." He replied flatly.

"Hey! It's not like it was intentional. How the hell was I supposed to know that you were allergic?"

His mouth was agape and his eyes were squinted because of the sun. "Whatever," he said lowly and looked away, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Ugh! Was he really going to make me feel this guilty? Stupid conscience and guilt and whatnot. "Aiden..." I grabbed his arm softly.

He didn't look at me. Geez, it wasn't like I was asking him out or something. Why the hard-to-get put up? "Sorry, I really didn't know you were allergic and I really like brown sugar. Plus, I don't want to have to do what you want okay? You can't blame a girl for wanting to win."

"I said it was fine Adrian," his voice held no emotion.

My heart sank to my stomach and it wasn't a good feeling. As much as I hated idiot bipolar/bad advisor/wizard/flirty/player/cheerful/happy/cute Aiden, I preferred having that part of him around than his serious cold ignoring self.

"So, are you really going to be like this all through the next rounds? We have a draw now you know..." I waggled my brows and nudged him playfully.

"I don't think I can eat anything considering I just choked approximately ten minutes ago, so we'd have to pick something else to replace that prompt."

Okay it was getting annoying. I had never seen serious side of Aiden before. I didn't even know that part of him existed until today. And instead of being angry or sad or mad about the fact that he was pissed at me, I was busy observing the fact that his serious self was really attractive. He looked like one of those Abercrombie models that stay all serious and tight-jawed when they wanted to shoot an all suit and tie Christian Grey-esque kind of photo-shoot. It was frustrating that he could look good when he was all goofy and cute and when he was all manly and serious. Stupid Aiden Pine.