Page 68 of Not in My Book

“Let’s just forget about it.” The words left my mouth before I could think better of them.

His eyebrows drew together, confusion the clearest emotion on his face. “Forget?”

“It was for the book, right? I mean we just got caught up in the moment.”

Aiden’s green eyes searched my face, and I tried to remain impassive. I tried not to let it show how much I wanted to return to his apartment—the place that had quickly become a safe haven for us to want each other.

“Are you serious?” he asked quietly.

“Let’s just forget about it,” I repeated. We were still at a point of return, but if we had gone further? I would’ve confessed I’d started to have feelings for him, and he’d tell me he “wasn’t looking for anythingserious.” It was better to salvage what little of our friendship I could before we got to that point.

Disappointment flashed over his face before he quickly rearranged his expression into a neutral one. He straightened and gave me a curt nod. “Fine. Forgotten.” Then he turned on his heel and walked into the building without me.

“Oh, I’m sure this’ll be fun,” I muttered, following him in.

As the class settled in, I tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. He laid his notebook out on the table very carefully. He folded his hands over it, and it looked like he was zoning out, staring at the wall.

Jess caught my eye and tilted her head. She widened her eyes at Aiden and mouthed,What’s up?

I made sure Aiden wasn’t looking before I mouthed back,I’m an idiot.

I still wanted the truce. I wanted to be friends with him. But I also wanted …him. I was petrified of the way my heart hadn’t calmed down until I finally fell asleep last night. I hadn’t felt this way with anyone before, and I figured if I didn’t allow myself to claim it, I wouldn’t have to have it snatched it away from me.

And Jess was right. There was so much riding on our successful coauthorship. I was too scared to throw it all away.

It was our last workshop before the end of the week, when our midterm was due. After that, we had a month break. Hopefully by the time we returned in January, I could sit across Aiden without hearing “You feel so good, Rosie”on repeat in my head.

“Let’s start with my favorite writing duo,” Ida said from the front of the class. “Aiden and Rosie, who’s first today?”

“I am,” Aiden spoke up. He read his chapter aloud. In the lead up to the kiss, the tension between Max and Hunter was impenetrable. They were longing for each other but didn’t know how to move forward.

When he finished, Ida turned to me. I read our kiss scene out loud. I’d finished it when I got home from Aiden’s. It was the easiest kiss scene I’d ever written because Aiden was areallygood kisser. I didn’t have to think about the mechanics of hand placements or try to conjure words to describe how good the kiss felt. It was sweeter than any fiction I had read.

As it started to heat up, I couldn’t stop the blush that rose to my cheeks. I had to remind myself that only Jess knew the truth even though it felt like the entire workshop had read my diary.

If only I had put in my chapter that Max was desperate to hold onto little pieces of Hunter, but she was scared that they’d be sharp and leave an unmendable wound.

When I finished, Ida was smiling. “Let’s start with what’s working.”

Logan’s hand went up first. I shot Jess a nervous glance because Logan loved to tease me about Aiden and no doubt he would take this opportunity.

“That kiss scene was hot,” he started. Jess jabbed him with her elbow. “Ow. Itwas.Rosie, I think you did a great job of really conveying the urgency both of them felt in that moment, and I think that’s due to how Aiden sets you up for it. It felt so realistic, like it really happened and—Jess, knock it off.”

“Oops my bad,” she muttered.

We went around the workshop table; the consensus was that these were our best chapters yet.

“It breaks my heart knowing they won’t get the Happily Ever After,” Ida said. “But I’m excited to see what you do with it. Let’s move on to what’s not working.”

We had a few comments about sensory details and amplifying the setting, but mostly our classmates didn’t have much to say. Aiden’s expression remained impenetrable—he didn’t smile once at the nice comments and apparently couldn’t care less about the bad ones, like this was all beneath him. Anger rose in my chest and, just like it had throughout the rest of the year, it spread through my body.

“Alright, great work you two. I think we’re ready to move on to Tyler’s piece?”

Aiden raised his hand. “I actually didn’t have a chance to share my critiques with Rosie.”

“Oh.” Ida was pleased, obviously thinking he was going to say nice things like he had earlier. But, I was too familiar with that look in his eye and what it meant for me. “Sure, by all means.”

He picked up my chapter and started flipping through it. “This kiss scene was okay in my opinion. I thought Max and Hunter were lacking a chemistry that we’ve been building up to this whole time—”

---