to the rest of her house though. Her walls were white, and a pastel blue bedspread was the only pop of color in the room. It was a bit of a mess, but I knew that was completely my fault. I imagined her room was spotlessly tidy before I insisted she pack her bags in two minutes flat. It had been a joke at the time, but Clary, being Clary, took it seriously. And me, being me, I’d enjoyed her reaction far too much to end the joke.
I took a seat on Clary’s bed, making myself comfortable as I sank against her pillows. Clary watched me closely, and there was something in her gaze that I couldn’t quite decipher. She seemed to be fighting some internal battle, and her eyes kept flickering with different emotions. It was like she enjoyed seeing me on her bed but she hated it at the same time.
Her cheeks flushed, and she quickly glanced away before I could figure her out. I wished I could get inside her head and find out what she’d been thinking.
“So, this is your room,” I said as she started going through her wardrobe.
“You’ve been in here before.” She remained focused on her clothes as she replied.
“Yes, but only briefly.”
“You were also uninvited,” she added. “Perhaps you would have had more time in here if I’d had more than two minutes to gather my things…”
“I can’t help that you took my joke seriously,” I admitted. She finally looked over her shoulder at me but only so she could scowl in my direction. I quickly moved on before the crease in her brow became a permanent fixture. “Now, what are you packing this time that you forgot when we did this before?”
Clary blew out a breath and shrugged as she glanced around her room. “I don’t know. Things.”
“Things?” I repeated.
“Yes, things. Like more than one T-shirt and a pair of socks that actually match.”
“Ah, things.” I smiled as she rolled her eyes at me and returned to sorting through her clothes. It was far too easy to get under her skin. If it were an Olympic sport, I felt quite certain I’d win a gold medal in it. That’s if the Olympics still happened this year. Stupid virus seemed to be ruining everything.
I hugged one of Clary’s pillows close to my chest. It smelled like strawberries and the light vanilla fragrance of Clary’s perfume. I had to stop myself from dipping my nose closer to immerse myself in the smell.
“So, did you have a prom dress picked out?”
She glanced at me and nodded. “Yeah, I bought it a few weeks ago. Not that it’ll do me much good now.”
“Can I see it?”
She seemed to freeze on the spot, but her eyes flickered back to her closet as she hesitated. “I don’t really see why you’d want to.”
“Come on, please?” I begged.
Her expression was torn, but as she looked at me once more, her shoulders relaxed and the smallest smile appeared. I was giving her my best pleading puppy-dog eyes after all. I hadn’t needed to use them in a while, but they’d always worked on my mom, and it looked like they worked quite well on Clary too.
“Fine, I guess I can show you,” she muttered. She went to pull it out but I put a hand across my eyes before I could see the dress.
“I thought you wanted to see it?” Clary exclaimed.
“I do.”
“Then why are you covering your eyes?”
“Because when I see it for the first time, I want to see you wearing it. Not on a hanger.”
Clary grunted. “I’m not putting my prom dress on.”
“But you already agreed to show it to me.”
“Not on me!”
“Come on, if you don’t put it on now, you might never get a chance to wear it.” She didn’t respond straightaway, so I assumed she was thinking about it. “Besides, I can’t picture what a dress looks like when it’s hanging up, and you already have your makeup all done, so why not get all dressed up too?”
“Because it’s stupid,” she grumbled.
“It’s not stupid.” I kept my eyes shut as I waited for her to give in, and she finally let out a sigh.
“Fine, I’ll put it on, but you can’t make fun of me.”
“Why would I make fun of you?”
“Because that’s what you do.”
She wasn’t wrong. “Okay, I promise not to make fun of you.”
There was a rustle of movement as Clary went to leave the room. It was probably too much