Stuck with You - Alexandra Moody Page 0,8

this one.

I stared up at the ceiling, at a loss for what to do next. I wasn’t going to unpack my bag. There didn’t seem to be any point considering I’d be leaving again in a matter of days. I felt too distracted to start reading a book too. Even scrolling through social media held no appeal. My feeds were either filled with news about the pandemic or pictures of my friends, and both things made me miserable. Normally, I loved seeing cute photos of my girlfriends, but since I couldn’t be with them in person right now, it felt a little like rubbing salt in an open wound.

The distraction of a little homework probably would have been perfect right now. But since school was shut, everything had been put on hold. There were no assignments due, no tests to take, and I couldn’t even prepare for my debate this week because that was canceled too.

If I were honest though, I wasn’t sure I could handle homework right now either. A restless, jittery feeling had been rushing through me since the moment I’d entered the Moores’ house. I was uncomfortable here and hated knowing Aiden was so close by. Staying in this house was a little like wearing a shirt that was too tight. It did the job in a pinch but made it hard to breathe.

I might have felt better if I could have distracted myself with some baking in the kitchen or by relaxing in the living room in front of the TV. I didn’t want to risk seeing Aiden again though. I’d already had enough of his company today and wasn’t sure I could handle any more of his inflated ego.

Thanks to the lockdown restrictions, leaving the house wasn’t an option either. I didn’t need to shop for groceries, and since it would be a cold day in hell before I voluntarily left the house to exercise, that reason was out for me too.

Isolation in someone else’s home sucked.

When my phone started ringing, I practically dived on it, hoping desperately my parents had good news. My heart sank as I looked at the caller ID. It wasn’t my parents. Instead, my best friend’s name appeared on the screen. I tried not to look too disappointed as I answered the call.

Zoey’s face appeared on the screen, and my disheveled appearance materialized in the top corner of the display. I wasn’t a fan of video calling, but Zoey had insisted that, since we were in lockdown, we needed to FaceTime each other at least once a day. Thankfully, I didn’t have similar agreements with any of my other friends, because I wasn’t sure I could handle more than one of these calls a day. Our WhatsApp group chat was more than enough.

Zoey was wearing her favorite unicorn onesie, but she looked far more put together than I did. Her light-blonde hair was styled perfectly straight, and her face was full of makeup. She’d done an amazing job layering different colored eye shadows to match what she was wearing. Knowing her, she’d probably just finished another makeup tutorial to put on her YouTube channel. She had a huge following online, and people flocked to her channel to watch her videos. Her insane makeup skills brought them in, but it was her bubbly personality that kept them watching.

“And this is why you’re doomed in quarantine,” she said in greeting.

“Well, hello to you too,” I grumbled.

“Seriously, Lissa, you look like crap. How are you going to survive who-knows-how-many weeks of lockdown without my mad makeup skills?” It sometimes felt like Zoey lived for giving me makeovers. I was more of a lip-gloss, mascara, and done kind of girl, but I hadn’t even had time for that this morning.

“Well, it’s lockdown, so I won’t be seeing anyone…” My voice trailed off as I remembered that wasn’t true anymore. I’d be seeing a lot of Aiden Moore, but I wasn’t quite sure how to tell Zoey that.

“And have you even bothered to brush your hair today?” she continued.

“Uh, no. I haven’t had a chance.”

Her brows suddenly pinched together as her eyes flickered to the bed behind me. “Where the hell are you?”

I gave her a tight smile. “I’d tell you, but you’d never believe me.”

“Seriously, Liss, where are you? That is not your bed!”

I drew in a deep breath and held it, knowing no matter how I broke the news about my current situation, Zoey was going to explode with excitement. Excitement that I