Page 78 of Stuck with You

“Because you’re destroying the book!”

He tilted his head as he looked at me. “You’re really in a bad mood tonight, aren’t you? Have you had a coffee in the last few hours? That might explain things…”

I threw the book at his head, but he caught it out of the air with ease. His annoying smirk curved the corner of his lips as he lowered the book from in front of his face. “You definitely haven’t had a coffee in a while.”

I folded my arms across my chest and scowled at him.

“Do you think kisses work the same way as caffeine?” he continued.

“We’re supposed to be studying.”

“Well, only one of us is actually studying. And she just threw away her book, so it doesn’t seem like she’s studying anymore…”

I shifted uncomfortably in my beanbag. I didn’t like that he was right. To be honest though, I’d been struggling to study for a while. We were in his bedroom, and Aiden had been at his desk watching silly YouTube videos for the past half hour. I would have liked to blame my lack of focus on all the noise coming from his computer, but it was all the notes and doodles Aiden had drawn in the margins of his book that made studying impossible.

He left his chair and came to sit on the beanbag at my side.

“We’re not making out,” I told him.

“You always say that, and you always give in.”

“Today’s different.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, today, I’ve developed self-restraint.”

“You sure about that?”

I swallowed as I peered up at him through my lashes. His arm was rested behind me, and his body was pressed up against mine. It was hard to ignore my body’s reaction to him, and Aiden had every reason to believe I’d give in to him. We’d pretty much ended every study session this week with kisses. Maybe the knowledge we had such a short time left together made everything feel more urgent. It was hard to believe almost a week had passed already, and we only had one week until I returned home.

Aiden lifted a hand and brushed it against my cheek. He didn’t lean in to kiss me though. Instead, he looked troubled as he gazed into my eyes. “Seriously, Clary, what’s up? You’ve been off all day.”

How did he know me so well? I’d been trying my best to act normal today, and I thought I’d done a pretty good job of it despite the fact I’d been struggling to stay positive. I didn’t want to admit the truth to Aiden because it felt silly. He’d probably laugh when I told him I was feeling sad because it was my eighteenth birthday tomorrow. I’d been looking forward to my birthday for ages, but who wanted to celebrate when they couldn’t see their friends or be with their family? I just wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening.

“Are you sad we didn’t drive past your parents’ place today?” he asked.

“No, it’s not that.” Aiden had made sure I got to see my parents every day by driving us to their house. We hadn’t been able to do it today though because his mom’s car wouldn’t start this morning and she’d taken Aiden’s truck to work.

“You know you can tell me anything,” Aiden said.

I smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m just a little down today though. It’s no big deal, seriously.”

He looked far from convinced, but I leaned over and silenced his questions by kissing him. It was only meant to be a quick kiss, but it quickly turned into more.

“So much for self-restraint,” Aiden said with a chuckle.

I returned his laugh and shook my head. “Yeah, next week, we’re doing homework in the dining room.”

* * *

“Clary, wake up.”I opened my eyes to the gentle sound of Aiden’s voice and let out a grumble. The curtains in my room were drawn, but there was a small gap, which allowed a thin thread of light to peek into the room. It was morning already, which only meant one thing: it was my birthday.

I groaned again and threw the blanket over my head. “It’s too early, Aiden.”

He laughed and pulled the blanket away. “You always say that.”

“And it’s always true.”

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