Page 82 of Not in My Book

“Helloooo, New York!”

Aiden was interrupted by a group of performers coming onto our train. One of them held a speaker on their shoulder. “We hate to interrupt your Christmas Eve, but we have a little show for you!”

“This is hell,” I whispered to Aiden. “This is my nightmare scenario.”

One side of his mouth hooked up in a grin. “You obviously haven’t had a mariachi band on your train yet.”

The performers were rapping and dancing on one side of the car while another guy passed around a hat that was barely getting any tips.

“Just don’t look at them,” Aiden murmured. “New York rule number one is to not make eye contact.” I nodded, wanting to follow his instructions, but I couldn’t help but glancing at them from my peripheral. “Rosie,” he warned.

“I’m sorry!” I whispered. “They’re kinda good.”

The train came to a stop and Aiden tugged me out of there before I had a chance to compliment the performers.

“It’s Christmas,” I insisted as we walked up the stairs. “We should’ve given them something.”

“You’re gullible,” Aiden said gently. “If you gave them a dollar, they would’ve asked if you had Venmo to give more. That’s how it goes.”

“Whatever,” I huffed.

The Astor Place station was only a few blocks away from my place, and the walk went by too quickly. I wanted to find an excuse to take another loop around the block with Aiden.

We stopped in front of my apartment building, facing each other. Aiden glanced over at my door, his eyes rolling.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s Christmas so I won’t evenmentionthe brick.”

“Ronny Jr.,” I corrected, grinning up at him.

He nodded. “I’m really glad we’re okay. I was … worried. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Me either,” I admitted. “I think maybe you and I are just destined to fight with each other. We both need to develop a thicker skin so this doesn’t happen again.”

“You’re right,” he said. Then quickly added, “Don’t let that go to your head. You’rerarelyright.”

“Not true, but I’ll let it slide. It’s Christmas after all.” I nudged his shoulder with mine, playfully.

We fell silent for a moment before a surge of determination went through me. I had spent so much time sitting in the passenger seat, waiting for other people to make the sweeping gestures. It was time that I did it. I liked Aiden. I had been lying to myself about it for so long, but I couldn’t anymore. Not when my smile was fading quickly at the thought that I might not see him again until classes started back up.

He shifted his feet. “Well, I should—”

“Do you want to come up?” I forced the words out of my mouth, my cheeks blazing. Aiden’s face remained impassive, making my cheeks heat even further. “My family just always stays up late for Christmas. And we usually do dinner, then gifts, then dance, and when everything winds down my dad will convince us to watchIt’s a Wonderful Lifeand we’ll all be half asleep but you know, I still cry when George Bailey—”

Aiden’s hand settled heavily on my shoulders and said, “Shut up before you run out of breath. C’mon, let’s go up.”

My lungs were filled so tightly with hope, my mind and heart had no room for anything other than Hunter. Fissures from every past heartbreak were repaired with every smile he gave me from across the room.

I wanted to walk to him and grab his hand. To feel his skin against mine and hopefully, one day, his heartbeat against mine. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair and tell him I was his … if only he could be mine.

—Excerpt fromUntitledby Rosie Maxwell and Aiden Huntington

CHAPTER TWENTY

Aiden had never made homemade cookies before. He said he’d only ever done it from the Nestle rolls, and I immediately had to rectify that situation. I’d thought it would be a cute thing for us to do before we watched a movie, but I’d forgotten how competitive we were.

“Rosie, it says you have to put the batter in the fridge for a few hours,” he said insistently. He was reading the recipe off his phone, shaking his head.

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