"Lunch with the berg," Dylan gave a low whistle as Gwyneth finally plopped herself down at her desk. "Someone's becoming the new teacher's pet."
She felt a little flustered when he said that, but she kept her cool and refused to let the comment weigh down on the endorphin rush she was currently experiencing. Lunch had been delightful and completely unexpected - she was mentally prepared for a stilted charade of formality between her and Aidan while they talked business with Marty, but thankfully, they were able to avoid that minefield when Marty called to inform that his flight had been delayed, and was thus unable to join them.
When Michael had made his appearance and Aidan had asked her whether she was interested, the mood of the conversation dipped considerably, becoming a lot more sombre than they'd intended. Not wanting to leave her feeling uncomfortable, Aidan tried to lighten the atmosphere.
"Thirty five years, and he's never stopped making me feel like a kid," Aidan joked with a warm smile on his face, shaking his head. "Do you have any siblings?"
Gwyneth smiled back in understanding. "Three brothers, all younger, each and every one a colossal pain to live with."
"One Gwyneth and three boys. It must've been a riot in the Kenner household."
"God, you have no idea," she took a bite of her salmon ravioli. "You should've seen us fighting over the Nintendo. I think at one point one of us tried to strangle the other with a gaming console cord."
"I'd pay good money to see that. Maybe I'm being presumptuous over here, but I just can't seem to imagine you as being violent. You don't look like one for physical force."
"That's only because you're unfamiliar with the mechanics of having to govern testosterone-filled beings that gradually outgrow you in both size and strength. Let me put it this way, keeping them in order when they were young required a Mafia-like approach, but as they grew up things became more Machiavellian."
A slow smile began to spread on Aidan's face. "I'm very intrigued, do explain."
She tried a casual shrug. "Well I'm no stranger to fistfights, that much I'll tell you. But there came a point where I knew I couldn't take them out physically, so I resorted to politics. You'd be surprised at how efficient people can be under duress of blackmail. I could have them balance beach balls on their noses if I wanted to."
He suppressed a snort of laughter. "You must have been so pleased with yourself, making them goose-step around you..."
"I wasn't so bad," she threw him a defensive look. "Honestly, do I come across as a mean person?"
"No, you don't," he assured. "But who knows? You could just as easily be some kind of a fascist gone drunk with power when my back is turned," he teased. "Obey! No questions!" He put on a nasal, robotic voice. "I shall reign supreme!"
She rolled her eyes. "I was a very nice sister," she insisted. "I only did what I had to do because they can be such jerks when they want to be. Take this, for instance - when I refused to help Andrew sneak out one night, he got his revenge by convincing my parents that I was pregnant."
Aidan burst out in laughter. "Stupendous. There really is no love quite like sibling love, huh?"
Gwyneth lifted her glass in mock celebration. "Hear, hear."
"Well, for what it's worth, Michael and I have given each other enough grief throughout our childhood. Once, as punishment, he duct taped me to a wall and tickled my feet with this ridiculously huge peacock feather, of all things, even as I desperately howled for mercy. I couldn't even move, what more struggle, and he made damn sure to continue until I passed out from tormented laughter. When I regained consciousness, I thought he'd let me go, but he went on and repeated the whole cycle several times."
She couldn't hold back a burst of giggles, but showed little sympathy. "What did you do to make him so angry?"
Aidan looked at her, taken aback. "I'm sorry?"
"I said, what did you do to make him so angry?"
He felt a prickle of genuine surprise and it showed on his face. "So I tell you about how my brother essentially bullied the crap out of me, and you're asking me what I might have done to deserve it?" He sounded so mystified, Gwyneth didn't know whether to feel bad or to laugh.
"I'm not saying that he should've done that to you," she said, pulling a sympathetic face. "Being bound and forcibly tickled? That's vicious, really, just pretty damn cruel. But..." she hesitated, worried that she was treading on eggshells, "...as an elder sibling myself, I refuse to believe that such an attack was unprovoked. I've always been rough with my younger brothers, Aidan. Have you tried keeping three boys in order?
She took a sip of her water. "Kicking and shoving was routine, but there's a thick and clear line between the usual scuffle and a provoked outburst of rage." Her voice was gentle, and the look in her eyes were soft. "I'm not implying that you deserved it, but knowing how younger brothers usually are..." she trailed off, not feeling brave enough to continue down that road.
As she dwindled into silence, she studied Aidan's face to gauge his reaction. He was still looking at her with his usual stoic expression, as if he was trying to read her mind and figure her out. Shame was beginning to creep into her cheeks, making her feel awfully gauche and just plain rude.
He'd tried to lighten the mood by joking, and instead she'd said something that might have excavated into a potentially troubled childhood. She cringed inwardly at the thought that maybe she'd stepped on a sore spot, wanting to kick herself in the head for being an insensitive idiot.
Suddenly he started laughing, a deep, growling rumble that she'd never heard before, and her heart skipped a beat as she thought of how sexy he sounded. He was still watching her intently, his eyes twinkling in good humor and lips curved faintly into a half-smile. She bit her lip, feeling her heart beat wildly in her chest, so fast and hard it almost made her giddy.
