Page 83 of Stuck with You

She started honking her horn again and cheered out the window as she tore off down the street. I laughed lightly under my breath, watching her go. It was so amazing to see her again, if only for a moment. I went to turn back to Aiden, but I didn’t get a chance because another car came down the road toward me, its horn blaring loudly to a frenzied staccato beat.

It wasn’t alone. I could see a whole line of cars down the street and more still coming around the corner. They all joined in by honking their horns, and the sound mingled with the shouts of birthday wishes coming from the vehicles. I placed my hand over my mouth as I tried to stem the shock at the sight of all these people who had come to wish me happy birthday. I couldn’t believe they were all here.

My girlfriends were the first to drive by. They’d all dressed up in Halloween costumes and had spider webs covering their cars. I might not be getting my Halloween-themed party, but my friends had definitely brought the spirit of it to today.

“Happy birthday, Clary! I miss you,” Elaine shouted.

“Pick up your phone and call me!” Becca yelled, as she drove by next.

Gabby pierced the air with a loud wolf whistle as she passed. “You and Aiden look so cute together! Is he your birthday gift?” She pulled out her phone and pointed it in our direction. “Smile for the camera!”

“Focus on the road,” I called back.

She laughed and waved at me before driving off.

I was so happy to see them, but I also felt bad I’d been hopeless at keeping in contact since the pandemic started. They didn’t seem to mind though, and all had wide smiles across their faces as they waved at me and wished me a happy birthday.

The birthday wishes didn’t stop at my friends though. There were kids from my classes, guys from my debate team made an appearance, and even some of the jocks Aiden was friends with came past. So many people from our class had come out to wish me a happy birthday, and tears sprang to my eyes.

“How?” I whispered, as car after car drove past the house with people honking and singing happy birthday.

Aiden grinned and pulled me under his arm as we watched the cars drive by. “Well, I know you were just saying that you didn’t need a party. But it was too late to cancel the festivities. Would it really be a quarantine birthday without a quarantine birthday drive-by?”

I turned to face him, my lower lip dropping with surprise. “You did this for me?”

He smiled at me gently, his eyes shining with affection. “When are you going to realize, Clary? I’d do just about anything for you.” He turned back to the procession of cars, but I couldn’t look away from him. His words had struck me deeply. They’d buried their way into my heart, and I wasn’t sure there was any way of getting them out again.

I leaned my head against him as he hugged me to his side. We watched the procession of cars together, and as I stood there, knowing Aiden had organized this all for me, I realized I didn’t just like him. No. The feelings inside of me were growing far beyond that.

24

Aiden

Two weeks had sounded like a long time, especially given we were in lockdown. In reality, the two weeks after Clary’s parents arrived home passed in the blink of an eye. I thought I could handle being separated from her, but the closer we drew to her returning home, the more I started to dread it. I was growing increasingly attached to Clary and didn’t want to go a day, let alone weeks, without holding her in my arms.

“You’re very quiet this morning,” Clary said. We were sitting at the dining table with our laptops out and books splayed around us. We were meant to be working on a biology quiz, but I hadn’t even started it. I’d seriously checked out of school since it had restarted, and as this was a multiple-choice test, I was half-tempted to simply guess the answers. It was times like these I really missed working in my bedroom with Clary. It was a whole lot harder to distract her here than it had been when we were in private.

Clary had been diligently working on her test for a while, which was another reason why I hadn’t started mine. She looked so cute when she was this focused on schoolwork. She gripped her lower lip between her teeth as she concentrated, and she made these adorable little noises whenever she got to a question she wasn’t sure of.

I could watch Clary all day, and today, I just might. Clary was leaving tomorrow, and I wasn’t ready for our time together to be over. Especially since I had no idea when I would be able to be close to her again.

Our parents had discussed it and decided when Clary returned home we needed to follow the lockdown restrictions and keep socially distanced from one another. We’d still be able to see each other, but we couldn’t enter each other’s homes, and our interactions would have to be from six feet apart. Obviously, it wouldn’t be the same.

“You’ve barely said a word since breakfast,” Clary continued.

I smiled at her, trying not to let her see the worry in my eyes. “I just can’t be bothered with this biology quiz.”

A small crease formed between Clary’s eyebrows. “You can never be bothered with homework. But normally, when you get fed up with it, you just try to bug the hell out of me instead.”

“Maybe I’ve changed my ways.”

“Yeah, unlikely.” Clary smiled. “I thought it was your mission in life to get under my skin.”

“I think I’ve well and truly achieved that already.”

“True,” she replied. “But I can tell something’s wrong. What’s up?”

I looked away from her as I tried to find the words. “I guess I was just trying to imprint this moment in my mind,” I said, facing her again. “You’re going to be quarantining in your own home tomorrow, and this is the last time we’ll do homework together.”

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