Page 24 of Not in My Book

Aiden and I shared a quick, panicked glance.

Ida laughed softly. “You two will be fine,” she soothed. “Just focus on not killing each other so we can hear all about it next class.”

When my friends and I left the Writer’s House, they were silent for a minute, sharing glances with each other.

“Go ahead.” I rolled my eyes.

At once, they all burst into laughter.

“It’s notthatfunny,” I scolded. “I’m glad you find the inhumanity of forcing me to hang out with Aiden hilarious.”

“Oh God,” Logan said, wiping a tear from his eye. “Don’t make us laugh any harder.”

“That really does suck,” Tyler said sympathetically. “But hopefully it’ll go by fast.”

“It’s going to be a slow painful death,” I muttered.

“Itisa lot like a romance novel,” Jess said thoughtfully between laughs. “Enemies to lovers, forced proximity—”

“Don’t even say that around me,” I said grouchily. “It’snothinglike that. We aren’t enemies to lovers. We’re enemies to near murderers. I swear every time we talk we come this close to strangling each other.” The door to the Writer’s House opened and as Aiden began walking down the stairs, I said, “I’ll text y’all later.” I chased after him until I fell into step with him outside.

Now that the weather was turning frigid, his peacoat hadfinallycome out of the closet. I hadn’t seen it since last winter, and I hated how much I liked it on him. I’d tried not to stare at him too hard at the beginning of class when he walked in with it on.

“We need to plan out tomorrow.”

He jumped at my words and looked down at me, bewildered. “Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me.”

“We need to plan our ‘date,’ ” I deadpanned.

He scowled, crossing the street toward University Place and Union Square. “Can we not call it a date?”

“Why? Too romantic?” I teased.

“Yes,” he said, matter-of-factly.

“You’ll need to get used to romance.” I had trouble keeping pace with him as we walked through the streets. The holiday season had begun, which meant there were more tourists around than normal. Not only did I have to dodge groups of people standing side by side, crowding the sidewalks, but his long legs made easy, long strides. I was nearly jogging trying to keep up with him. “Or at least the word ‘date.’ That’s some free life advice for you. Most women won’t date a guy who calls what they’re doing ‘hanging out.’ ”

“I can say the word.” He noticed my struggle, and I swear he sped up. “I just don’t want to call it a date withyou.”

“Oh, you should be so lucky. I’ll have you know, I’m an excellent dater.”

“That’s right, what’s your boyfriend’s name again?”

“The same as your girlfriend’s,” I spluttered. He stopped at a busy intersection and turned to face me. I had to crane my neck to look up and meet his gaze. “Be real—what do you want to do for our date?”

Aiden studied my face for a moment silently, before shaking his head. “Let’s not, and say we did.” He continued walking, his hands shoved into his coat pockets and his shoulders pulled up against his ears as the wind picked up.

“No!” I protested. “I think they’re right, we need to do this for the book. A few weeks ago, I didn’t even know if you had siblings, let alone a cousin who’s in middle school. Or a mom!” He rolled his eyes at that. “If we want our characters to connect, we need to learn things about each other.”

He squinted. “I thought we weren’t writing about each other.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Is the idea of a couple of hours with me so unbearable? I can at leasttolerateyou.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll pick you up from your place tomorrow, alright?”

His pace increased once again, and I nearly sprinted after him.

“You can’t just phone it in.”

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