With that in mind, I went to find Aiden. I didn’t bother searching for Jade because I knew she was at the hospital today, as always. I approached Aiden’s bedroom door cautiously, my stomach fluttering with apprehension. I’d only entered his bedroom once, and the last time had ended disastrously. I wasn’t sure I was ready to go in there again so soon.
It didn’t help that he’d been so kind to me yesterday. He’d gone out of his way to support me when I’d been struggling to cope with the news about my parents, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. I was beginning to see a sweeter side to him. For so long, I’d thought he was nothing more than a player, but there was definitely more to Aiden than I’d given him credit for, and it left me feeling confused.
As I stood outside his door, I almost decided to turn around and walk back to my room. Aiden the flirt was easy enough to deal with. But this kinder version of Aiden was an unknown quantity. As I glanced down at my old sweatpants, I knew I couldn’t hesitate any longer. I needed proper clothing if I was going to be staying here. So, with a long, drawn-out sigh, I knocked.
Aiden responded immediately. “Yeah?”
I was too nervous to enter, so I spoke through the closed door. “Um, it’s Clary. I wanted to ask you a favor.”
The door opened suddenly, and I flinched with surprise. Aiden stood there shirtless, yet again. He’d been wearing one while we watched Netflix together yesterday, but it seemed to be a rare occurrence in this house. I had to wonder if he was always topless because he was too hot or if he did it to simply annoy me. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if it were the latter.
His expression was gentle at first, but it quickly changed as his gaze landed on my face. “A favor?” He gave me a wolfish smile. I’d briefly forgotten I was wearing makeup, and the way he was looking at me made me uncomfortable. I wished I’d scrubbed it off before coming to find him because the last thing I wanted was for Aiden to think I’d put it on for him.
I could at least be grateful he wasn’t staring at me with concern in his eyes. I wasn’t sure I could handle Aiden being kind to me right now. I needed things to go back to normal between us, and I needed to remember why I couldn’t stand him. I’d been softening toward him lately, which was something that needed to stop. Aiden was a player, and I refused to be taken in by his charms like every other girl at school.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I need to get some extra clothing, and I wanted to see if you could give me a ride home.”
His lips twisted in a thoughtful pout, and a calculating look entered his eyes. “I mean, I could, but you live so far away.”
“It’s a five-minute drive…”
“And I’m a busy man. I’ll be missing out on valuable Netflix time if I have to take you…”
“Surely, you want a break. We spent all of yesterday watching Netflix.”
“And it was great,” he replied. “How about you forget the clothes and spend the day in bed with me again today?”
“Aiden,” I groaned. “We didn’t spend the day in bed together!”
“I mean, we kind of did…” His eyes were practically sparkling with delight, and I struggled to ignore the way his words affected me. This is exactly what I wanted, for things between us to go back to normal, but I couldn’t understand why my heart seemed to flutter as we talked. I wasn’t supposed to be enjoying his banter.
I forged on, trying to act like nothing was bothering me. “Look, it won’t take long, I promise.”
“You say that, but who knows how long you’ll take, especially if I don’t give you a time limit this time.” He slowly started to smile. “I tell you what. I’ll take you, but you’re going to owe me a favor of your own.”
“What kind of favor?” My senses tingled with suspicion. He was definitely up to something, but I had no idea what. It couldn’t be anything good.
“The kind I get to decide in the future.”
“Why can’t you just ask me for something now?”
He shrugged. “There’s nothing I want from you right now. Unless you’d like to change into my jersey again?”