I stared up at the ceiling, at a loss for what to do next. I wasn’t going to unpack my bag. There didn’t seem to be any point considering I’d be leaving again in a matter of days. I felt too distracted to start reading a book too. Even scrolling through social media held no appeal. My feeds were either filled with news about the pandemic or pictures of my friends, and both things made me miserable. Normally, I loved seeing cute photos of my girlfriends, but since I couldn’t be with them in person right now, it felt a little like rubbing salt in an open wound.
The distraction of a little homework probably would have been perfect right now. But since school was shut, everything had been put on hold. There were no assignments due, no tests to take, and I couldn’t even prepare for my debate this week because that was canceled too.
If I were honest though, I wasn’t sure I could handle homework right now either. A restless, jittery feeling had been rushing through me since the moment I’d entered the Moores’ house. I was uncomfortable here and hated knowing Aiden was so close by. Staying in this house was a little like wearing a shirt that was too tight. It did the job in a pinch but made it hard to breathe.
I might have felt better if I could have distracted myself with some baking in the kitchen or by relaxing in the living room in front of the TV. I didn’t want to risk seeing Aiden again though. I’d already had enough of his company today and wasn’t sure I could handle any more of his inflated ego.
Thanks to the lockdown restrictions, leaving the house wasn’t an option either. I didn’t need to shop for groceries, and since it would be a cold day in hell before I voluntarily left the house to exercise, that reason was out for me too.
Isolation in someone else’s home sucked.
When my phone started ringing, I practically dived on it, hoping desperately my parents had good news. My heart sank as I looked at the caller ID. It wasn’t my parents. Instead, my best friend’s name appeared on the screen. I tried not to look too disappointed as I answered the call.
Zoey’s face appeared on the screen, and my disheveled appearance materialized in the top corner of the display. I wasn’t a fan of video calling, but Zoey had insisted that, since we were in lockdown, we needed to FaceTime each other at least once a day. Thankfully, I didn’t have similar agreements with any of my other friends, because I wasn’t sure I could handle more than one of these calls a day. Our WhatsApp group chat was more than enough.
Zoey was wearing her favorite unicorn onesie, but she looked far more put together than I did. Her light-blonde hair was styled perfectly straight, and her face was full of makeup. She’d done an amazing job layering different colored eye shadows to match what she was wearing. Knowing her, she’d probably just finished another makeup tutorial to put on her YouTube channel. She had a huge following online, and people flocked to her channel to watch her videos. Her insane makeup skills brought them in, but it was her bubbly personality that kept them watching.
“And this is why you’re doomed in quarantine,” she said in greeting.
“Well, hello to you too,” I grumbled.
“Seriously, Lissa, you look like crap. How are you going to survive who-knows-how-many weeks of lockdown without my mad makeup skills?” It sometimes felt like Zoey lived for giving me makeovers. I was more of a lip-gloss, mascara, and done kind of girl, but I hadn’t even had time for that this morning.
“Well, it’s lockdown, so I won’t be seeing anyone…” My voice trailed off as I remembered that wasn’t true anymore. I’d be seeing a lot of Aiden Moore, but I wasn’t quite sure how to tell Zoey that.
“And have you even bothered to brush your hair today?” she continued.
“Uh, no. I haven’t had a chance.”
Her brows suddenly pinched together as her eyes flickered to the bed behind me. “Where the hell are you?”
I gave her a tight smile. “I’d tell you, but you’d never believe me.”
“Seriously, Liss, where are you? That is not your bed!”
I drew in a deep breath and held it, knowing no matter how I broke the news about my current situation, Zoey was going to explode with excitement. Excitement that I did not share. I finally blew the breath out as I answered. “I’m at Aiden Moore’s house.”
“What?”
“My parents can’t get home, so they’ve sent me to stay here until they get back.”
“What?” Zoey’s eyes had grown so big I could barely see her pink and purple eye shadow anymore. Like I said, the news about my enforced lockdown with the most desirable boy at school was going to detonate the ticking time bomb that was my best friend. Like most girls at school, she was obsessed with Aiden. She’d never been able to understand why I wasn’t a fan of the guy. And I’d never understood why she found him so appealing.
“It’s really no big deal,” I murmured.
Her eyes narrowed, and I sensed a hint of distrust in her gaze. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
“I wish I was.” I would have given just about anything to be back at home with my parents right now, or even just at home alone.
“Prove it,” Zoey said.
“How?”
“Go find him and show me!”
I grimaced. “Please don’t make me do that. I only just got rid of Aiden, and I don’t want to go searching for him. Besides, I’ve already had an overdose of the guy for the day.”
“There’s no such thing as overdosing on Aiden Moore.” She shook her head. “No, I’m going to need physical proof you’re in his house.”
“Surely, my word as your best friend is enough.”
“Under normal circumstances, it would be. But these are desperate times, and it’s your duty as my best friend to share your lockdown eye candy.” A part of me hoped she was joking, but she sounded all too serious.
I groaned and rubbed a hand down the side of my face. There was no way I was going to give Aiden the satisfaction of finding him and asking him to join our video call, but the pleas of my best friend were almost impossible to ignore.
My gaze darted toward the door as I considered the horror of actually going in search of him. I could already imagine how smug he’d look, and I grimaced at the thought. I really didn’t want to do this, but as my eyes drifted from the door and landed on Aiden’s exercise equipment, another possibility surfaced. Slung across the weight bench was a football jersey. Perhaps I wouldn’t have to find Aiden after all.
I jumped from the bed and ran over to it. As I got closer, I could see the number thirty-two was printed proudly across the back of the jersey along with Aiden’s surname.
I grinned as I grabbed the jersey and dangled it in front of the camera. “And here’s your proof!”
Zoey let out a disappointed sigh. “A shirt is all I get? What about my man candy?”
I rolled my eyes and placed the jersey back where I’d found it. “I thought you just wanted proof.”
“I guess,” she grumbled before suddenly perking up. “Wow, you really are staying with Aiden.”
“Yes, I told you.”
“This has to be the best thing that’s ever happened to either of us.”
I begged to differ. “Have you met Aiden?”
“Uh, have you seen Aiden?” she shot back.
“He’s unbearable.”
“Yeah, unbearably hot. No one should look that good.”
“No one should be that annoying,” I replied.
Zoey wasn’t deterred though, and her eyes took on a fevered brightness. “This is perfect. You’re in lockdown with the hottest guy in school. It’s the end of the world, and you’re both cooped up in that house together. Since neither of you can hook up with anyone else, you have no choice but to get together!”
“Calm down, Zoey,” I warned. “I’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend. I’m also pretty sure I still have a choice in this, and I can already tell you my decision is a firm no. There’s no way we’ll be hooking up.”
“Pfft, his relationship with Shallow Shelly won’t l
ast three days in lockdown.” She grinned brightly. “And don’t be such a spoilsport. You guys have to get together. We should get the rest of the girls on this call. They need to know.”
“And on that note, I’m leaving.” I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. I might have been completely alone and bored, but it seemed a much more appealing way of spending my day than listening to Zoey make such ridiculous predictions. I also really didn’t want to hear the squeals of my other girlfriends if they found out about Aiden. It was bad enough I’d had to listen to Zoey’s.
“Don’t pretend it’s not going to happen…”
“Bye, Zoey.” I hung up the phone, cutting her off.
This pandemic might have completely turned my life upside down, but nothing was going to change the fact I would never consider getting together with Aiden. The sooner Zoey accepted that, the better.
3
Aiden
Clary James was in my house. I swore under my breath as I stepped away from her bedroom door. Of all the girls I could have been stuck in lockdown with, why did it have to be her?
Clary wasn’t like the other girls we went to school with. She didn’t bat her eyelashes at me, and she didn’t swoon whenever I turned my attention on her. If anything, I only seemed to annoy her, and as a result, I only wanted her more.
My feelings for Clary were hardly something new. I’d been obsessing over her for as long as I could remember. I’d even been crazy enough to ask her out once—not that it did me much good.
I’d been an awkward freshman at the time and had finally worked up the courage to ask her on a date. I had no idea she was dating someone else, so I must have looked like a fool for asking her out. She’d let me down gently enough, but being the immature idiot I was, I’d played the whole thing off as a joke—and I’d been playing with her ever since.
I’d come to enjoy our interactions though. There was nothing I liked more than seeing her get flustered. And bringing out the fire in her eyes was pretty much my favorite hobby.
It was a little messed up, and I imagined there were whole psychology books dedicated to my little problem. I wanted the girl I couldn’t have, and my heart refused to give up on her.
I made my way downstairs in bit of a daze. I couldn’t decide if having Clary in the house with me during lockdown was a dream come true or my worst nightmare. She never paid me any attention at school, and I had to wonder if being stuck at home with her was going to be just as brutal.
It’s not like she completely ignored me—although she tried her best. The problem was that none of my flirting tactics worked on her, and I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong. She felt like a puzzle that was impossible to solve. It was as if I was the only one who was struggling to crack the code though, because Clary got on just fine with everyone else at school.
Her friends were all popular, but she never seemed to get caught up in all their drama. She was much quieter than them and always had her nose stuck in a book. She seemed to prefer watching people rather than diving into conversations. It was probably why a lot of guys didn’t seem to notice her. They either got distracted by the big personalities she surrounded herself with or had no idea how to approach her.
That was the thing about Clary. She was so damn beautiful it intimidated people. My heart got lodged in my throat anytime she entered a room; I had no idea how other guys worked up the courage to talk to her. It was easy for me though. Who needed courage when you were trying to annoy her rather than impress her?
I stuck my head into my brother’s room. He was sitting on the floor by his TV playing some zombie video game. He was obsessed with the damn things, and I imagined his eyes would have popped out of his head if he’d seen the zombie survival tee Clary had been wearing earlier.
“What do you want?” Elliot grumbled, not bothering to glance in my direction as he continued to play his game. If he had his way, he’d probably spend all of lockdown in his room with his video games. The controller cord for his PlayStation was more like an umbilical cord. It was his lifeline, and it was nearly impossible to separate him from it.
“I’m heading out.”
This got his attention, and his eyes briefly flickered in my direction. “Where are you going?”
“Seth’s place.” My best friend lived just down the road, and I needed to talk to him now more than ever. He was the one and only person who knew about my fixation on Clary, and I needed him to knock some sense into me if I was going to survive being trapped with her.
“Mom said we can’t see our friends,” Elliot replied.
“Yeah, well, Mom’s not here.” She never was. Mom practically lived at the hospital, and that was before all this pandemic stuff started. I couldn’t imagine she was going to stop working so hard now. “And you don’t need to worry your little head about it, I’ll be keeping six feet from him.”
“But—”
“I’ll be back in a while,” I continued, ignoring my brother’s objections. My stomach tensed with a feeling of guilt though. I wasn’t supposed to be leaving the house, and I wasn’t supposed to be seeing my friend. The rules had only just grown stricter though, and I’d been able to see him two days ago without any issue. How bad could it really be if I went to see him now?
“Clary’s upstairs and settling into her room, so leave her in peace,” I added.
Elliot shot a scowl in my direction. “Yeah, whatever.”
I couldn’t tell if my brother would listen to me. I suspected he’d be too consumed with his game to bother Clary, but there was a chance he was more intrigued by her. Odds were, he’d be too nervous to go seek her out though. The kid was pretty confident, but I doubted his courage extended to knocking on a hot girl’s bedroom door.
His eyes flicked back to the screen as a loud explosion rocked his speakers. Elliot started swearing and threw his controller down on the ground. He swiftly picked it up again to continue playing, and I closed the door on him, satisfied he was well and truly distracted again.
I sent Seth a message to tell him I was on my way. He replied straightaway to let me know he was already out front, so I set off to his house at a jog. He lived just around the corner from us, and even though I knew Mom had told us not to see our friends because of the pandemic restrictions, this felt like an emergency.
I found Seth standing on his driveway shooting hoops when I arrived. He had such natural control of a basketball, and with his height and agile build, he was practically born for the sport.
Seth turned as he gathered the ball from under the hoop, and his eyes crinkled with a smile when he saw me. I couldn’t see his mouth because he was wearing a facemask, and I felt a little stupid I wasn’t wearing one as well. I was still getting used to all these lockdown rules, and I’d completely forgotten. It wasn’t a good enough excuse though. Especially since Mom had been reminding me constantly. We had a ton of masks at home. They weren’t the hospital grade ones because they were running low on them, but it was better than wearing nothing.
“So, this is how you spend quarantine?” I asked as I walked up the driveway to greet him.
“Sure as hell beats binging Outlander episodes with my mom,” he replied. “The woman’s obsessed with the Scottish dude in it. I think Dad might be in trouble.”
I laughed. “You don’t think it’s cute your mom has a TV-boyfriend?”
Seth cringed. “Please don’t say that.”
I stopped when I was at least six feet away from Seth and leaned against the fence that surrounded his front yard. I was desperate enough to break lockdown to see him, but I wasn’t about to get too close to him and risk either of us transmitting the virus. I’d never forgive myself if I got him sick.
Seth tucked his ball into his side as he focused on me. “So, couldn’t go two days without seeing me, huh?”
“Longest two days of my life.”
Seth laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure they have been.”
“I think the days are about to get a whole lot
longer though.”
“And why’s that?”
I took in a deep breath before I responded. “Because Clary James’s parents are stuck in Mexico and she’s staying at my house until they get back.”
Seth’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”
“Ha, those were my exact words when Mom told me.”
“You’re really serious?”
I rubbed my forehead and nodded. “Completely, and I have no clue what I’m supposed to do about it.”
“Who says you have to do anything?”
“I don’t, but this is Clary James. If I’m ever going to have a shot with her, this is it.”
Seth started rolling the basketball around in his hands as he considered the situation. He tilted his head to the side as he looked at me. “You know she can’t stand you, right?”
“I’m well aware,” I growled, earning a grin from him in return. I didn’t deserve Clary—not in a million years—but that didn’t stop me from wanting her.
“Just checking,” he said. “So, I guess the question is: how do we turn her from a hater to a fan?”
I shrugged. I was lucky if I ever got more than a one-word conversation out of Clary at school. Nothing I’d ever done had worked before, so I had no idea what would work now.
“Why don’t you just try being yourself around her?” he suggested. “You can actually be a decent guy sometimes.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I mean that in the nicest possible way,” Seth said with a grin. “I’ve seen you around Clary, and you act differently. It’s like you can’t help but try and push her buttons.”
He wasn’t wrong. There was nothing I liked more than pushing Clary’s buttons. Riling her up was like an itch that constantly needed scratching. I was satisfied while I was doing it, but as soon as I stopped, the itch came back more intensely. It couldn’t be normal. I probably needed help.
“So, that’s my advice,” Seth finished with a shrug. “Be less of a dick.”
“That’s your advice. Be less of a dick?”
Stuck with You Page 3
