Wrongly Labeled [On Hold]

Chapter 15

"Umm, what exactly are we doing here?"

        I glanced up at Aaiden who was eyeing the place with his eyebrows raised. I laughed quietly under my breath. He looked so confused with his head tilt to the side, it was cute. I shook my head, catching my mistake.

       No.

       "To eat."

        "Yes, but why are we here?" he asked.

         "Don't tell me you'd never been to McDonald's before?"

        "When I was younger..." He flickered his eyes at me. "But that was years ago," he said, his back faced me as he glanced back at the store.

        "You're seriously missing out then." Then again... I haven't had McDonald's in years either. "I mean, who doesn't love greasy food laced with millions of chemicals that could potentially harm your body?" Especially since the only comfort I have left is food. If I'm going to do this right, I need this first.

         "I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."

         "I'm not. I'd been craving a Big Mac all morning." Well, more like fifteen minutes ago, but he doesn't need to know that.

         "Can't we just go back to campus or something? If you're hungry, I can make you something—"

           "—Aaiden, do you want my help or not?" As much as I wanted that, I couldn't. It wouldn't be the same.

          "It's not like I don't want your help," he started out by saying, "but when you said you wanted food, I didn't think you meant this..."

          I sucked in a breath, and closed my eyes. "Truth is..." I stopped, and stared at the ground. Should I? But, what if he starts judging me? What if he laughs at—who am I kidding? It's Aaiden we're talking about here. He doesn't even have an evil bone in his body. So why the fuck am I even hesitating here? It's not like I'm telling him some deep dark secret of mine.

         "Truth is, I haven't had McDonalds since I was young either. When my dad made it big in his business, we stopped going here. Whenever I wasn't feeling well, my dad would buy me a kid's meal to cheer me up." I smiled at the memory. "I guess, I just wanted to go here for old time's sake. But—"

         "—they have chicken sandwiches here right?" he asked, and gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet, an unexpected warmth rushes up my neck.

         "Um, yeah, they do." I nodded quickly. "It's under five dollars too."

          "No wonder why I came here so much before." He took a step forward and turned back to look at me, grinning. "You coming?"

         I returned his smile and ran forward. "Coming!"

"So... I've been meaning to ask."

         He stopped and looked over at me, his mouth full. "Shoot."

         "This may sound really weird and completely out of the blew but why do you have piercings on your hip?" None of it clicked. Aaiden wasn't the type of person to do that. Even if his physical appearance was dramatically different from when he was a kid, his personality still remained the same. So, why in the world would he purposely make himself into a walking cliché?

        "Oh." He swallowed the bite he was chewing on, and put his sandwich back down on his plate. He leaned back, and shifted in his seat. "We all have it."