Page 12 of Stuck with You

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 todo 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 work 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?”

---