I tried to ignore them as I got all the ingredients out and began preparing them for the meal. I always liked to have everything ready before I started cooking. I was also a bit of a clean freak and always made sure to wash dishes and utensils as I went.
When my mom cooked, food ended up everywhere. It always found its way onto the floor, got spread all over the counter, and often caked itself on the handles of the cupboards. Cleaning up after she was done took longer than the cooking itself. It drove me crazy, but I still wished she was here with me to mess up the kitchen tonight.
“Dayum, MJ, you got skills,” Elliot said as I sliced into an onion. My knife whipped across the chopping board with practiced ease, and I only looked up when I’d finished. I was completely in the zone as I cooked and I had almost forgotten the two boys were there.
“It’s just chopping.” I rolled my eyes. “And my name’s not MJ.”
“That’s not chopping. That’s art,” Elliot replied. “And I’m still convinced you’re going to be my Mary Jane.”
A laugh escaped me. Elliot sounded like he’d been watching trashy “how to flirt” tutorials on the internet. His words were so at odds with his sweet baby face.
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“He does,” Aiden said before focusing on his brother. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
“Like where?” Elliot shrugged. “We’re in lockdown, remember.”
“Well, you’re annoying Clary. Go find somewhere else to be.”
Elliot looked like he wanted to object, but I was guessing Aiden usually won their fights because Elliot started muttering under his breath as he jumped off his chair.
“Spoilsport,” Elliot grumbled as he traipsed from the room.
Aiden let out a sigh once he was gone. “Sorry about that. I’m probably going to be spending a lot of time apologizing for my brother while you’re here.”
I tilted my head and frowned in Aiden’s direction. Did he really just apologize to me? Even if it was on behalf of his brother, the words still felt strange coming from his lips. Aiden was completely unrepentant about everything in life, and I was surprised he even knew the word sorry existed.
“So, you apologize for your brother’s bad flirting but not your own?” I turned my attention back on dinner.
“My flirting isn’t that annoying.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Nope. Besides, even if it was annoying, I’m just doing my job.”
I lifted my eyes to meet his once more, disbelief coloring my gaze. “You think it’s your job to annoy me?”
“I mean, that’s definitely a part of the job description.”
There was absolutely no reasoning with this guy. “Well, if it’s your job to annoy me, then I’m pretty sure you deserve employee of the month.”
He chuckled under his breath. He was supposed to be insulted; instead, he only seemed to enjoy my jab. It was like he felt it was an accomplishment to annoy me. Yet again, I wondered why any of the girls at school were so interested in Aiden.
I focused on dinner once more. I’d easily been able to ignore Aiden and his brother when I’d first started cooking. Now that it was just Aiden and me in the room though, it felt more difficult. I could feel him watching me, and I wished he’d go away. His gaze left me unsettled, which wasn’t a feeling I usually experienced in the kitchen. He was totally ruining my Zen.
“So, any news from your parents?” Aiden asked.
It was a marked change in tone from our previous conversation, and I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He seemed genuinely interested, but I didn’t trust his innocent expression. We rarely had proper conversations at school, and whenever we did talk, l spent the whole time waiting for the punch line of one of his jokes.
Most of our interactions would abruptly end with him saying something inappropriate and me walking away or trying my best to ignore him. Sometimes, he managed to elicit a response from me, but it was usually something snarky. I didn’t particularly like the fiery side of my personality that came out when he provoked me.
His expression didn’t falter, and he appeared to be asking sincerely. “Not yet.” I shrugged. “I messaged them earlier, but they didn’t have any updates. They haven’t been in touch since, so they must still be trying to organize a way home.”
Aiden leaned back on his stool, crossing his arms over his chest. His muscles naturally bulged at the movement. Not that I was eyeing his muscles.
“Why would they leave home at a time like this? Surely, they’d seen all the reports on TV?”
“I told them not to go,” I replied. “But things didn’t seem quite so bad a week ago, and they’re not really in a position where they can turn down work.” Not that my parents ever would say no to a job. Even if they had all the money in the world, they still would have gone. They loved being part of a couple’s special day more than anything. The fact they got paid to shoot weddings in foreign destinations was just an added bonus. I really wished I’d pushed harder to make them stay this time though. It wasn’t the best time to be in a foreign country.
Aiden tilted his head as he searched my face. “You don’t need to worry about them. They’ll get home.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know.”
“That little crease between your eyebrows says otherwise…”
“I know they’ll get back eventually, but it’s just hard not knowing when.” I was more concerned about the way Aiden was looking at my worry line than about my parents right now though. He was smiling at it like he thought it was cute. I rubbed a finger across the line, hoping to erase it. It was bad enough that I was stuck living with our high school’s version of Hugh Heffner, and the last thing I needed was for him to find any part of me appealing. I was quite content to continue with our current relationship of despising one another.
“When do you think your mom will be home from the hospital?” I asked, hoping to change the conversation.
Aiden shrugged. “She wasn’t even supposed to be working today, and she called to say she wouldn’t be back until late, so who knows.”
“Does she normally get called into work on her days off?” I asked.
“Sometimes,” he replied. “It’s kind of the nature of the job.”
I nodded as I turned to light the cooktop. I didn’t ask Aiden where his dad was. I’d overheard enough of Mom and Jade’s margarita nights to know his parents were separated. His dad was a surgeon like his mom, but he’d moved out of town after their divorce a couple of years back.
I almost felt sorry for Aiden and his brother. Having two parents who worked at hospitals had to be stressful at the best of times, let alone when the world was facing a pandemic. He must be worried about the fact his dad was so far away too. It seemed we had that in common.
I started heating the ingredients in the pan, but I was still struggling to ignore the way Aiden’s eyes watched my every move.
“You can just leave me to it,” I said to him over my shoulder. “I’ll probably be twenty minutes or so, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do with your time.”
“Nothing better than this.”
I frowned and faced the pan once more. Aiden and I didn’t like spending time with each other at school, so I was surprised he hadn’t jumped at my suggestion to leave. Surely, he’d find it more enjoyable to watch TV or something.
I did my best to ignore him as I continued cooking. I’d had plenty of practice pretending he wasn’t there while at school, and I drew on those skills now. Admittedly, it was far easier to block him out when he wasn’t pestering me with questions, and he’d fallen oddly silent over the last few minutes.
I couldn’t help but sneak a peek over my shoulder to see why he wasn’t talking. His head was bent over his phone, and there was a slight smile on his lips. He seemed happily distracted by whatever he was looking at, and I relaxed. When he’d insisted on staying in the kitchen, I’d been worried he was going to bug me. I was more tha
n happy for him to do his own thing though.
I fell into a happy rhythm now that I knew Aiden wasn’t focused on me. I was tempted to play some music on my phone, as I usually did when I cooked. I decided against it though. I didn’t want to draw Aiden’s attention again.
“Dinner is looking really good,” he said.
I jumped as I realized he’d come to stand next to me. He was just a hairbreadth away as he peered over the stove and studied the pasta sauce. He was far too close for my liking, and while we weren’t quite touching, we might as well have been. My skin was prickling as though he was rubbing against me.
“Aiden, you scared me! Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to sneak up on people?”
He smiled up at me. “You probably would have heard me if you hadn’t been humming.”
“I wasn’t humming.”
“Yeah, you were.” He reached over and dipped a finger in the sauce. It was bubbling hot, but he didn’t seem to notice. He closed his eyes as he slowly put his finger in his mouth and let out a small moan of satisfaction. My stomach tightened at the sound.
His eyes flashed open and looked straight into mine. “Clary James, I think I might love you.”
My eyes widened, and I let out an awkward laugh as I quickly stepped away to search for the bag of pasta—anything to put some distance between us. “So, you like my cooking?”
“You could say that,” Aiden replied. “Like I said, I might never let you go if you cook me Italian. After one taste, I’m thinking I’ll have to keep you.”
I slowly turned to him, hoping he was kidding. There was a hint of mockery in his gaze, but he seemed far more serious than I’d like.
It was a joke. It had to be. He always said crap like this, and I knew he was only saying it to mess with me. Any girl at school would have loved to hear him say those words to her, but not me.
“MJ, that smells amazing,” Elliot said as he returned to the kitchen. I almost felt like thanking him for coming back and saving me from his brother who had completely caught me off guard. Aiden was too much. Far too much. Spending time with him was like dancing over hot coals. If you stayed in one spot for too long you were at risk of getting burned. He enjoyed keeping me on edge.
I smiled at Elliot. “Thanks.”
“What are you doing back here?” Aiden grunted, folding his arms across his chest, as he rested against the kitchen counter. “I told you to stop annoying Clary.”
“You’re annoying her even more than I was,” Elliot replied.
I smiled as I put the pasta on to boil. He wasn’t wrong.
Aiden was still standing right by the cooktop and he leaned in close to me. “Am I annoying you, Clary?”
I glanced up at him. His green-blue eyes were sparkling with anticipation, and a small smile curved his lips. If he thought I was about to side with him, he had another thing coming.
I returned his smile, as though I was about to conspire with him. “I think the more fitting question is, are you ever not?”
Elliot burst out laughing. “Burn!”
Aiden turned and thumped his brother on the arm, but Elliot didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy laughing.
“MJ, you can come stay with us anytime,” he said as he gasped for breath.
“Thanks, I think.”
“You think?” Aiden replied.
“Well, I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” I said. “And, I’m still trying to figure out if staying with you guys is a good thing or a bad thing.”
“Trust me, it’s a good thing,” Aiden replied before he dipped another finger into the simmering sauce and slowly licked it off. “Definitely a good thing.”
His eyes didn’t move from mine, and the intensity with which he watched me made my cheeks flush. The warmth spread from my face and down my neck, and the room suddenly felt like a sauna. I wasn’t sure I could blame the cooktop for the dramatic increase in temperature.
Thankfully, the pasta started to boil over, and I broke our stare-off to turn the burner down. I wasn’t sure why he had me so flustered. I didn’t like him, and I certainly didn’t want him. His little flirtations were just a part of his game, and he only wanted to get under my skin. He’d done a pretty good job of it tonight, because I was suddenly planning on eating dinner in my room to get some space from him.
I just had to be grateful that this arrangement wouldn’t be for long. My parents would be back home before I knew it, and life would return to normal. I could survive a few days with the stupid, sexy jerk. I hoped.
5
Clary
My parents didn’t get in contact that night, and I couldn’t sleep because of it. Anxiety gripped me as I worried about when they would get back home, and every time I shut my eyes, I seemed to picture the worst. The virus was more dangerous for older people, and while my parents weren’t ancient, they were in their late forties and could get really sick. The thought of them becoming ill in a foreign country was enough to give me nightmares.
I’d seen footage of how the pandemic had spread across other countries, and it was terrifying how quickly the virus had moved and how lethal it was. It had attacked with such speed that in some places there weren’t enough hospital beds for the sick, and so many people couldn’t get the treatment they desperately needed. What if my parents got really sick and couldn’t get help? What if I couldn’t be there for them?
I must have dozed off at some point because I woke to the soft sound of grunting in my room. I stretched in bed and rubbed my face as I sat up. My eyes slowly blinked open, and I gasped. Aiden was lying on the weight bench in the corner of my room, and he was completely shirtless as he pushed a pair of weights above his head.
“Aiden! What the hell!” I grabbed my quilt and yanked it up to cover myself. I’d been sweating with worry during the night and had kicked off my pajama bottoms to cool off. He must have seen my bare legs.
“Oh, morning, Clary.” Aiden lowered his weights to the side of the bench and sat upright. There was a bright, innocent smile on his face.
“Aiden, what are you doing in here?”
“Uh, working out…” He said it slowly, like he was talking to a child.
“I can see that,” I growled. “Didn’t you think that perhaps you should wait until I was out of the room or, at the very least, awake.”
He stood up and grabbed a towel before rubbing it across his forehead. His forehead didn’t seem to be the problem though, because I could very clearly see droplets of sweat across his bare chest. He had well-defined muscles and a light tan despite the fact we were coming out of winter. I wished I could take a hot poker to my eyes. I didn’t need his perfect pecs distracting me from his terrible personality.
“You told me it wasn’t a problem for the weight equipment to be in here.”
“The equipment is fine. You using it while I’m still in here? Not so much.”
He shrugged, his lips lifting in his signature smirk. “I still don’t see the problem. Aren’t you enjoying the view?”
“I’m not enjoying any of this! Would you put a shirt on?” I gestured toward his football jersey, which was lying across the end of his weight bench.
His expression somehow managed to grow more smug. “Are you really sure you want me to put that on?”
“Of course, I’m sure.”
“Because I think we both know my jersey would look much better on you…”
I pinched my brow and shut my eyes, hoping he’d be gone by the time I opened them. It was too early in the morning to be dealing with Aiden. I needed a cup of coffee.
Unfortunately, when my eyes opened once more, Aiden was still standing there grinning at me with his devilish smile. Staying with Zoey and her crazy parents was beginning to look really appealing right now.
“Aiden.”
“Yes?”
“Get out!” I pointed toward the doorway, narrowing my eyes in my most violent scowl.
He lifted his hands in defense. “Okay, okay. No need to
get upset.”
He started to leave, but I stopped him as he went to open the door. “Hey, wait a sec.”
He slowly turned, a hopeful look in his eyes as he smiled at me. “You’ve changed your mind? You want the show to go on?”
“God, no.” Instead, I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and lifted it up to take a picture of him.
He blinked with surprise as the flash went off, and the smile on his face was replaced by a frown. “What was that for?”
“Evidence.”
“And why would you need that?”
“So I can send it to my parents and explain why I need to be living anywhere but here.”
His frown deepened slightly, like he was put out by the idea. “Surely you don’t want to leave so soon.”
“I just woke up to a teenage boy half-naked in my room.”
“Which is something most girls your age would dream about,” he pointed out.
“I’m not like most girls.”
“Clearly,” he grumbled. “Did you at least get a good picture?”
“Aiden.” I pointed to the door once again. “Get out of here.”
He grinned wickedly and winked at me before leaving the room. I threw a pillow at him, but it slammed against the door as he pulled it shut. My breath was coming in short, and my body still quaked with anger. How was I going to survive another day with that boy?
I looked down at my phone, hoping to see news from my parents. There were no missed calls or messages from them though. I could only assume that meant they were still trying to sort themselves out of the mess they were in.
I was tempted to message them yet again, but instead, I opened the photo album to look at the picture of Aiden. It was actually a good shot. Then again, I imagined he could make even the most average photos look amazing. The corner of his mouth was lifted in that sly smile of his as he looked at the camera, and the golden glow of early morning light highlighted his chest. He looked like something out of a catalog.
“Stupid sexy jerk,” I muttered. “Zoey’s never going to believe this.”
I knew I might regret it, but I pulled up my last message to her and forwarded her the picture, adding the caption look what I woke up to this morning…
Stuck with You Page 5
