“Yep.”
“Why are we friends again?”
“Because I make sure to deflate that huge head of yours whenever it gets too big.”
“And the punches keep rolling,” I replied with a chuckle.
“Well, it’s not the job I wanted in life, but it’s the one I’ve been given. This town loves their star quarterback, and if I didn’t keep you down to earth, who knows what would become of you.”
“Well, it’s lucky we never have to find out.” My days as our town’s beloved high school quarterback were over now that I was about to graduate.
Despite what my friend said, I was glad to see those days behind me. Football was always something that had come easily to me, but I was never in love with the game like most guys on the team. The attention that had come with it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be either. There was a whole heap of expectations, which I really wasn’t going to miss.
“So, what do you think of my advice?” Seth asked.
“I think I need to find a new best friend.”
Seth rolled his eyes. “Aside from that, are you going to do what I suggested and be yourself around her?”
“Because that worked out so well the last time,” I grunted.
“Dude, that was forever ago.”
“For you maybe.” It didn’t feel like forever ago to me, and I really wished I hadn’t brought it up. I usually liked to pretend my failed attempt at asking Clary out hadn’t happened. It had been on my mind since the moment she set foot in my house though.
It wasn’t just the rejection I hated remembering; it was my whole reaction too. It was the first time I’d been anything less than kind to her, and I’d been riding that train ever since. I hadn’t stopped liking her though. Not for one second.
“You’ve both changed a lot since then,” Seth continued. “I think you’d be surprised by how much Clary would like the guy you are these days.”
I focused on the basketball in Seth’s hands as I tried to find the words to explain how I felt. The thought of being myself around Clary scared me. Flirting with her and teasing her was like a protective coat of armor I needed whenever she was close. It hadn’t been in place the last time I’d asked her out, and I was devastated when she said no. I wasn’t sure I could open myself up like that only to get rejected again—which would almost certainly happen.
I shrugged as I looked back up at Seth. “It’s going to be a little hard to win Clary over by being myself when she hates me.”
“Well, maybe she wouldn’t hate you if you didn’t constantly irritate her.”
“But we wouldn’t be Clary and Aiden if I wasn’t irritating her. It’s our thing.” And, I liked that we had a thing, even if it meant she hated me. What would I even say to her if I weren’t trying to get under her skin? What did I say to most girls? I couldn’t even think of the conversations I had with them because girls didn’t really date me because they wanted to talk.
“You need help,” Seth replied.
“Tell me about it,” I grumbled. “So, any other bright ideas?”
“I mean, you could try to do something nice for her,” he suggested.
“I’m listening…”
“Well, actions always speak louder than words, and girls love it when you make an effort. Maybe that will thaw her out a little?”
I went quiet as I considered his suggestion. “I mean, it’s not your worst advice.”
“It’s not my best advice either,” he said. “My best advice is to be yourself, but since you won’t do that, I’m left with shitty second-rate advice.”
“I think I prefer the shitty advice, to be honest.” At worst, I’d do something nice for Clary, and she’d treat me the same as always, but if everything went well, it might just give me a chance to win her over. I slowly started to smile. This plan wasn’t sounding so bad.
“So, what should I do that she’d like?”
Seth scratched the side of his face, and his eyes grew distant as he considered my question. “I don’t know, man. It doesn’t have to be some grand gesture or anything. She’s a guest in your house. Maybe do something to make her feel more welcome? I’m sure you can come up with something.”
“Okay, leave it with me.” Zero ideas were coming to my mind, but Clary would be staying with me for a few days at least, so I was sure I could think of something in that time.
Seth slowly shook his head at me. “What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall in your place during lockdown.”
I laughed. “There probably won’t be all that much to see unless you want to watch me crash and burn.”
“That’s exactly what I want to do.” He grinned.
We were interrupted as Seth’s mom came out onto their front porch. She scowled at me from the doorway. “Does your mom know you’re here, Aiden?”
Mrs. Travers normally loved me, but given the stern look in her eyes, she wasn’t about to give me her usual welcoming hug—and not just because that was against the rules.
“Sorry, Mrs. T, I was only dropping by.”
“You know the rules, Aiden. You’re not allowed to drop by anymore,” she replied, lifting one eyebrow.
I grinned sheepishly and shrugged. “What can I say, I’m just a sucker for the Travers hospitality. I miss you guys.”
She blew out a breath, and a small smile curved the corner of her lips. I knew Mrs. T couldn’t stay mad at me. I was like a second son to her, and I probably ate more meals at her house than at home on weekends.
“Anyway, like you said, I shouldn’t be here. I’ll leave you guys to it.”
“I’m sorry you can’t stay,” Mrs. T replied. “But the moment lockdown restrictions are lifted you can come over and I’ll cook you my special tuna bake.”
“Can’t wait,” I said, giving her a genuine smile. I loved Mrs. T’s cooking. It was definitely a level above whatever Mom normally whipped up for us. She never really had the time to cook.
“See ya, man.” Seth looked as disappointed as I felt that I had to leave. It was for the best though. “Let me know how you get on with your lockdown project.”
“Oh, I will.” I winked at him, and he sniggered under his breath as I turned to walk home.
Seeing Seth had been exactly what I needed today, but the elation I felt at being with my best friend quickly diminished. Even though I’d kept my distance from him, I’d broken the rules to go see him, and I knew I couldn’t do it again. I wasn’t sure when I’d see Seth next. I just had to hope the restrictions would lift soon.
Despite my intentions to do something nice for Clary, it was a little hard when she wouldn’t leave her room. I still wasn’t sure exactly what nice thing I was going to do to work my way into her affections, but I figured I’d be inspired when I saw her again. I kept my bedroom door open for most of the day, but not once did she emerge.
When the sky started to grow dark and my stomach began to grumble, I finally gave up on waiting for her and went downstairs to the kitchen. As I walked into the room, I found Elliot making his way out of the pantry. His arms were loaded with snacks he appeared to be carting back to his bedroom.
“You know it’s nearly dinner time, right?”
“Yeah, but Mom called, and she’s not going to get home until late, so it looks like we’re not eating.” He was talking through a mouthful of Doritos, so his words were barely audible.
I pointed at the bag of chips. “Put that crap away. I’ll heat us up one of her microwave meals.”
“There’s none in the freezer,” Elliot replied. “And Mom said we can’t order takeout right now. She doesn’t want us to risk getting the virus. She said it would be easy to heat up a frozen pizza though.” He looked dubious at the thought.
Elliot and I were used to Mom being gone a lot, but when she knew she wasn’t going to be home for dinner, she usually froze meals for us or we ordered in pizza. The fact we were out of microwave meals was unusual. Mom was normally really well prepared. This week had been crazy busy at wor
k for her though, and she hadn’t planned on being gone tonight.
I glanced at the oven. It was some expensive silver thing that looked like it belonged in a spaceship. I’d never used it before and wasn’t even sure how to turn it on. I was somewhat glad Clary wasn’t here to watch this, because she’d probably crack up laughing at how useless I was.
“How hard could it be?” I muttered before wandering over to the freezer to get the pizza out. I was surprised to find Mom had stocked the freezer full of them. It looked like we wouldn’t be eating takeout pizza for a while.
As I pulled the pizza box from the freezer, an idea came to my mind. Clary had to be hungry, so perhaps I could cook the pizza and take some slices up to her room. It wasn’t the most elaborate of gestures, but it was a start. It would also give me an excuse to talk with her. The more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me.
“Have you seen Clary since this morning?” I asked Elliot as I started trying to figure out the knobs on the oven. They all had little symbols surrounding them, and I had no idea what each one meant. I didn’t want to admit that in front of my brother though, so I just turned a few and hoped for the best. The oven appeared to roar to life, and the light on the inside blinked on, so I must have done something right.
“You mean my lockdown girlfriend?” he asked. “Nah, she’s kept to her room all day.”
I struggled not to laugh. “Your lockdown girlfriend?”
“Yup.” Elliot grinned. “She might not know it yet, but she’s totally going to be my girlfriend.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
Elliot’s expression fell. “It’s not stupid. She was totally checking me out earlier.”
“No, she wasn’t. You’re like five years younger than her. You don’t have a chance.”
“I bet she likes younger men.”
“Probably not younger boys though,” I fired right back.
Elliot crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re just jealous.”
“Because?”
“Because even though I’m a few years younger than you, I still have a better chance with her than you do.”
“Sure, you do.” I laughed. “And even if you did, who says I care about my chances with Clary?”
Elliot gave me a knowing smile. “I saw the way you were looking at her. You’re in love with her.”
I lifted both eyebrows at him. My brother was far more observant than I gave him credit for. In the two minutes he’d spoken with Clary and me this morning, he’d clearly seen that I had a massive thing for Clary and that she wasn’t the least bit interested in me.
“I can have any girl at school, and you think I want her?”
Elliot shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you? She’s hot!”
I rubbed my face, feeling suddenly tired. My younger brother was exhausting at the best of times, but lockdown only made him more draining. Being quarantined with the girl of my dreams when she didn’t like me back was bad enough, but there was nothing worse than being locked down with a younger sibling. I couldn’t be the only teen in lockdown who already wanted to kill their brother after two days, could I? I bet there was a group on Facebook I could join.
“You going to put that pizza in then?” he continued. “I don’t think it will cook on the counter.”
I scowled at him before placing the pizza in the oven. As soon as I closed the oven door, I left the room to allow it to cook. Elliot had struck far too close to home with his comments about Clary. I wasn’t about to sit around in the kitchen with him and let him unravel my deep, dark secret. I needed some fresh air.
As I stepped outside, I couldn’t shake my concern about how easily Elliot had guessed about my feelings for Clary. I’d always been so good at hiding them. Did my brother just know me well, or did having Clary in our house somehow make them more obvious? Either way, I was going to have to do a better job at concealing how I felt, because I wasn’t ready for Clary to know the truth.
Not yet.
Not until there was a slim chance that she might like me too.
4
Clary
I somehow managed to keep to the guest room for most of the day. I risked a couple of trips to the bathroom and thankfully didn’t bump into anyone. I had packed a few granola bars in my bag, so I ate them for lunch. But when it started getting close to dinnertime, I knew I couldn’t stay holed up in the room for much longer.
The smell of something burning was what really prompted me to venture out. I followed the scent downstairs and into the kitchen. I gasped as I entered the room, jolting to a stop. A thick cloud of smoke was billowing out of the oven, spreading through the room and covering it in a heavy haze. Aiden was in the middle of it, frantically waving a towel at the open oven in a hopeless attempt to battle the smoke. The smoke alarm started blaring, and I flinched at the piercing sound.
I rushed into the room and threw open the windows. Then I joined Aiden by the stove and turned on the exhaust fan. He was now batting his towel at the smoke alarm, and his attempts at clearing the air continued to be useless. I grabbed another towel to help him, and eventually, the wailing siren went quiet.
I let out a frustrated breath before turning to Aiden. “Are you trying to burn the house down?”
“With all the smoke in here, I can see why you’d think that. But no, I wasn’t trying to burn the house down.” His voice held its usual amused ring to it, but his eyes betrayed a sense of uncertainty.
“Aiden thought he’d try to cook us dinner,” Elliot added. He was seated at the kitchen counter and looked thoroughly entertained. The kid hadn’t lifted a finger to help clear the smoke away, and I got the impression he had enjoyed sitting back and watching the chaos unfold.
I decided to brave a look inside the oven. A round block of charcoal sat on the wire rack with parts of it oozing onto the oven floor. It appeared to be the cindered remains of a pizza, but it must have been at least thirty minutes since it was anything close to edible.
I coughed as I inhaled a waft of smoke and stepped away from the oven. “Have you never cooked a pizza before, Aiden?” I struggled to keep the shock from my voice.
His cheeks were flushed, and I could have sworn he looked embarrassed. I was pretty sure it was an emotion he’d never experienced though, so it was probably just the heat from the oven warming his face.
“He’s never cooked anything that doesn’t require a microwave,” Elliot replied for his brother.
Aiden directed a hard look at him before focusing on me. “We normally get takeout for dinner if Mom’s still at work. But she won’t let us order in with all the virus stuff going on. She got stuck at the hospital tonight and said frozen pizza wouldn’t be too difficult.”
“And it probably wouldn’t have been too difficult if you’d bothered to read the instructions,” Elliot said. “I don’t think it’s meant to be in there for over an hour.”
I somehow managed to smother a laugh, but I couldn’t stop a smile from forming.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed on my smile. “I can’t help that I forgot about it. This cooking thing is harder than it looks.”
“Is it though?” I asked.
“Yes, it is.” Aiden looked so defeated I almost felt bad for him. This was probably the first time he’d failed at something in life. Everything always appeared to come so easily to Aiden, and a part of me enjoyed seeing a side to him that wasn’t quite as perfect as everyone believed. I was also enjoying the fact that he seemed too distracted to put his usual effort into annoying me. Perhaps if Aiden burned pizzas the whole time, he wouldn’t be so bad to live with. His hapless attempt to cook made him appear more down to earth than I’d ever seen him at school.
Aiden crouched down to look inside the oven and chuckled under his breath when he saw the mess he’d made. “I don’t think I’m destined to be a chef.”
“Probably not,” I agreed.
He let out a breath and stood tall again. “Well, there’s no salvaging what’s left in there. I’ll put
another pizza on.”
“No!” I protested a little too hurriedly. I was hungry, and I wasn’t sure I could handle round two of Aiden attempting to cook.
He turned his eyes on me. “You don’t like pizza?”
“It’s not that,” I replied. “How about I make something for us instead?”
“You know how to cook?”
“I may know a thing or two.” It was a complete understatement, but I didn’t want to brag. I’d been cooking for myself for years now. My mom and dad were both hopeless in the kitchen, and some of their attempts would have given Aiden’s burnt pizza a run for its money. Luckily, I’d become obsessed with cooking after taking a home economics class at school.
Cooking was like a form of therapy for me. Life always seemed so much simpler when I was in the kitchen. My brain seemed to switch off, and all my troubles went away for a while. It was also a skill that came in handy since my parents went on work trips so frequently.
“Then be my guest.” Aiden waved an arm at the rest of the kitchen. He looked relieved he didn’t have to repeat the pizza ordeal again. And my fingers were practically itching at the opportunity to cook. This had kind of worked out best for all of us.
As I opened the fridge, I was happy to see it was well stocked with lots of fresh vegetables and plenty of meats. I was in the mood for something hearty, and after I’d also taken a quick look in the pantry, I came up with a few ideas.
“How do you guys feel about spaghetti Bolognese?” I asked, turning to the two boys. They’d been awfully quiet as I explored the kitchen, but their eyes were locked on me as I made the suggestion.
Aiden placed a hand over his heart. “If you cook me Italian, I might never let you go.”
Elliot laughed. “He’s not kidding either.”
“So, I can take that as a yes?”
“You can take that as a hell yes,” Aiden said, a broad grin brightening his features as he took a seat at the kitchen counter by his brother’s side. It seemed like I was going to have an audience for this.
Stuck with You Page 4
