Aspects of Love

I dropped the love potion into Aiden’s cocoa before taking it out to him. Aiden Carpenter was my best friend. He also happened to be someone I loved without regret. He just didn’t love me back. I was hoping that this love potion would at least put the thought into his mind. That maybe if he kissed me he would realize that we were meant for each other.

“Here you go Aiden.” I sat next to him on the couch and handed him the mug.

“Thanks Allie.” He took it from me and went back to the Hockey game. I felt the nerves rise inside me. I almost let my leg shake, but then I told myself that he would think it was strange that I was getting anxious over a sport I cared little about. “Is this cinnamon?”

“What?” Aiden’s question pulled me from my reverie.

“Is the cocoa cinnamon?”

What? I hadn’t put any cinnamon in it… OH! The love potion was probably flavored. “Yeah,” I said in response.

“It’s really good. Thanks.” He put his arm on the back of the couch behind me. His arm brushed my hair as it fell and it sent chills down my spine. I was almost tempted to put my head on his shoulder, but I stopped myself, as it would’ve been hard to drink my cocoa.

“Oh! That was a faulty call! Stupid ref!” I shook my head. It was obvious that the call should have gone to the opposing team, but our team go put into the naughty box.

“I thought you weren’t a fan of Hockey.” Aiden gave me a smirk.

“Just because I’m not really a huge fan, doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on.” I sassed back.

He squeezed my shoulders and took a final sip from his cocoa. The love potion should be taking affect any second now. At least that’s what I had learned in school, when we had learned to make it. They had to completely finish the drink then it would take about 5 minutes for it to take effect. Of course I had never before actually used one, I just knew how to make it.

The end of the Period came round and Aiden still hadn’t done anything to show that the potion had set it. The closest it came to was his arm was still around my shoulder. That is until he had to get up to pee.

I sat on the couch brewing over why it hadn’t worked. I know I hadn’t put a lot in there, but it was enough to have some sort of effect. Maybe I needed to give him some more? It should have been enough to make him impulsive and curious. Why wasn’t he kissing me already? I beat my fingers on my knee in a staccato rhythm. What was taking Aiden so long to develop fake feelings for me? And why was he still in the bathroom? Intermission was over and the puck was about to drop.

“Aiden, the game’s back on!” I shouted down the hall.

“K, one sec.” I barely heard the response, but he was out of the bathroom in no time.

“What took you so long?”

“Talking to myself.” He sat down next to me again, but this time he was further away. This stupid Love Potion wasn’t working. I was doing the exact opposite of what I wanted it to do. He was keeping away from me. This is not how I expected this to go.

“You were talking to yourself?” I tried to keep my voice light, but wasn’t sure I was doing so hot.

“Yeah, you know how you do that sometimes? You make a script for a future conversation, or you say what you should have in another.”

“Oh, yeah. I do that all the time.” We fell back into silence and watched the game. My mind whirled. Why wasn’t this potion working? I’m pretty sure I made it right. I gasped and got a strange look from Aiden. “I just remembered something.” I shrugged off his curiosity and went back to the game. What if I hadn’t made the potion right? I wracked my brain for signs that I missed something. But then it occurred to me. It wouldn’t have turned the light pink it was if all the ingredients weren’t there.

So I hadn’t messed up on it. Maybe I had only put enough in his drink to just add thoughts and not recklessness. I just wanted him to kiss me! I had been waiting years for his lips to find a home on mine. If he would just kiss me then he would realize that we are meant to be. He would kiss me tonight and call back tomorrow to apologize, but he would realize that he liked me and wanted to be with me. That’s the way it had to go or else I would be doomed to a life of misery.

Once third period ended Aiden stood suddenly. “I had fun tonight, but I work early tomorrow so I’ve got to get going. Bye.” Then he practically bolted to the door and to his apartment just across the hall.

“Bye!” I barely managed to get out before the door shut behind him. I sighed and fell to my side on the couch as the after game talking went on. Our team had lost by mere seconds. The two teams had been tied 2, 2 but with 30 seconds left to the game to opposing team scored making them the winners when the buzzer went off.

I lost too, boys. You’re not alone.

***

I waited a week before I gave Aiden some more love potion. I gave him only like a drop more than I did last time. This time I put it into the frosting for Cinnamon Rolls. I didn’t like frosting on my Cinnamon Rolls so he would never guess.

“Ready for Monty Python and the Holy Grail?” Aiden shouted as he entered my apartment. He was lucky I lived on my own, because I wasn’t sure any roommate could handle his bad habits.

“Sure, I’m in the kitchen frosting some Cinnamon Rolls if you want one.”

His face came suddenly around the corner. “Of course I want one. Your Cinnamon Rolls are my favorite thing in the entire world.” I had only made enough frosting to frost two or three Cinnamon rolls so that he would eat them all tonight while we watched this movie I knew nothing about.

I handed Aiden a Cinnamon Roll and watched him take a piece off and pop it in his mouth. “Wanna lick the bowl?” I asked casually as I frosted the last Cinnamon roll.

“You know it.” He took the bowl from my hand and shoved the spoon into his mouth. He moaned in pleasure. Apparently I made good frosting. I smiled at him and picked up the plate of rolls.

“Let’s get the show on.” I said and he mumbled an agreement, following close behind me. I set the plate on the table and sat down while Aiden put the movie in the player. I watched his movements and how he would twitch the spoon in his mouth so he could see better. I smiled to myself. He was so handsome with his brilliant green eyes and his wavy brown hair. He had broad shoulders that felt so good when I leaned against them. But what felt the best is when he would pull me into his chest and tackle me with a hug. My heart would soar right out of me and I would land in heaven.

“What you smiling at?” I snapped back. I really needed to stop doing that.

“I’m just excited for the movie.”

“You should be. This is one of the greatest movies known to mankind. I just can’t believe we’ve been best friends for as long as we’ve been alive and you haven’t watched it.”

“I’ve always meant to, I just haven’t gotten around to it.” I shrugged my shoulders.

Then the movie started and we settled in. I couldn’t stop commenting on how horrible it was. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was the worst movie in the whole world. Nothing about it was even remotely interesting. “Really? That guy would be so dead it’s pathetic. None of this makes sense.”

“This is one of the best scenes. ‘It’s just a flesh wound’! I mean, it’s brilliant.” Aiden shifted in his seat placing one knee on the couch between us. “How are you not thoroughly enjoying this?”

“Because it sucks. There is nothing funny about this. In order for this to be funny I would need to be slap happy at three in the morning. It’s not even worth it.”

“Well that’s when the movie is at its best,” he consented, “but this whole script is brilliant even without being slap happy.”

I, too, shifted on the couch. I turned and faced him fully, tucking my legs under me in criss-cross-applesauce. “No, it really isn’t. It is ridiculous and annoying.”

“You’re ridiculous and annoying.”

“I made you Cinnamon rolls, young man. The least you can do is narrow it down to just annoying.”

He seemed to weigh what I said. “Fine,” he gave in. “You’re annoying.”

“You’re annoying-er.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

We continued talking for the rest of the movie. I barely watched it at all. He did however make me stop talking so I could watch The Nights who say Nee. It was just as strange and awful as the rest of the movie. After the scene was over we went back to talking about – okay, our conversation had strayed big time so beware – Harry Potter and how Hermione and Ron ended up together.

“They just seem like such and odd couple to me. I really think Hermione should have ended up with Fred like J.K. originally planned.” He said

“They would have killed each other. No. Ron and Hermione are perfect for each other. They even each other out and make a great team.”

“You don’t think it seemed forced and random?”

“No. They were best friends, it was going to happen sooner or later.” The moment it was out of my mouth I wished it back. Aiden paled a little and I tried to make up for it. “Either that or she would end up with Harry. Now that would have been a forced relationship.” I pretended not to know about my slip up and Aiden’s color seemed to come back to his face.

“That would have been forced. I can see where you’re coming from, but I still think it was a bit odd.” Was he still talking about Ron and Hermione or was he now talking about us? Maybe I was looking too deep into this.

“I don’t think it was odd at all. They were totally meant for each other.” I was definitely talking about us, but made it sound like Ron and Hermione.

Aiden started to lean in a little to me. My heart started to attack my chest in a panicked rhythm. Aiden might actually kiss me! Maybe the Potion had worked this time?

“You have cinnamon on your cheek.” My hand came to my face in a snap and I wiped frantically.

“Did I get it?”

Aiden was just smiling at me. A small chuckle escaped him and I felt my cheeks heat. “It’s on the other cheek.” He said as he placed his hand on my cheek and rubbed at the cinnamon with his thumb. “There.” He said without taking his hand off me.

I hesitantly looked into his green eyes. He looked like he was hesitating and fighting himself all at the same time. Then he suddenly jerked away and stood up abruptly. He jarred the table when he stood and the plate flew into the air. I tried to catch it before I could hit the floor, but I was too slow. It fell and shattered.

Aiden apologized and moved to the floor to help me pick up the bigger pieces. I reached for one piece only to get stabbed with another. I pulled back my hand and winced in pain. My palm was bleeding.

“Oh! Allie, I am so sorry.” He helped me around the broken plate and into the kitchen. I reached for a paper towel and got it wet. “Where do you keep your band aids? I’ll go get you one.” I pressed the towel to my hand.

“They’re in the medicine cabinet right there.” He walked to the cabinet that I pointed too and opened it up. He looked through the products, and became very still. “Can you not find them?” He pulled his hand away from the cupboard and started at it in shock. “Is there a spider or something?” Then it hit me. I kept the rest of the love potion in that cupboard. Shoot dang.

“Why do you have love potion, Allie?” He finally turned towards me.

I licked my lips. This is when I wish I had roommates to blame it on. “My sister gave it to me for Christmas last year. It’s probably bad by now and should be thrown out.” I hoped he would believe the lie.

“Have you been putting love potion in my food when I come over?” So he didn’t believe the lie. “The cocoa you made a few days ago. That wasn’t cinnamon was it? And the cinnamon rolls? You have been putting it into my food. Why would you do that?”

“Aiden,” I said once I plucked up enough courage.

He held up his hand. “You know what, I don’t care. That was wrong of you.” Then he marched out of my apartment.

“It’s not like it actually worked!” I shouted after him, but the door had closed and he was gone.

I leaned my head against the door in disgust with myself. Now my best friend in the whole world hated me and I would probably never get him to realize that it was purely – the door swung open suddenly. I freaked and began to fall backwards. I landed on the floor and Aiden had his arms around me as if trying to save me, but he just landed on top of me.

We looked at each other for a few seconds. “Thanks,” I said trying not to sound angry.

“Shut up, it’s my turn to talk.” It may be his turn to talk, but apparently it wasn’t his turn to get off of me. “You don’t think your stupid potion worked? Well it did. It has taken everything in my power to not just take you into my arms and kiss you so senseless you wouldn’t be able to tell me where you were standing.” My heart pounded and I held back a shout. That’s what I wanted you to do! “When we were watching the hockey game I just wanted to take your hand in mine and to beg you to be my girlfriend instead of just my friend.” That was the point. “I had to put distance between us in order to keep my witts about me. I was in so much pain.”

“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.” Tears trailed down into my hair.

“I’m pretty sure that the only reason I didn’t just grab you and make out with you, is because I’ve trained myself not to.”

“What?”

He drew closer and his nose brushed mine, making me gasp. Shivers over took my body and goose bumps erupted all over my skin.

“Can I kiss you?” He whispered, his breath brushing against my lips.

“Please.” Then his mouth was on mine and I was overcome with the perfectness of the situation. This felt right. This was how it was supposed to be.

“I love you so much, and that is not your stupid love potion talking. I promise.” Aiden whispered as he pulled away.

Every part of my being was smiling. I don’t think any of the stars were shining as brightly as I was. “I love you more, Aiden Carpenter.”