Stuck with You - Alexandra Moody Page 0,93
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.”
“You’re right, it is,” Clary agreed. She looked thoughtful as she considered what I’d said, and her eyes seemed to cloud over as she looked at her laptop screen. She stared at the quiz for several seconds before she closed the lid of her laptop and smiled at me. “And I don’t want our last day together to be spent doing some stupid test.”
She gathered her books, piling them on top of one another, and stood up.
“What are we going to do instead?” I asked. She didn’t have to tell me twice to give up on doing homework. But this was totally unlike Clary, and I was intrigued by what she was thinking.
“Anything but this.”
I laughed. “That’s some plan you’ve got there.”
“Well, I don’t know. Do you want to watch a movie together?”
I shook my head. If I was going to have one last day with Clary, I didn’t want to spend it in front of a screen, and another plan formed in my mind. “No, I have a much better idea.”
“What is it?”
I started to grin. “We’re getting out of here for the day.”
Her curious gaze was immediately overcome by caution. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“We’ll still be following the rules, trust me.”
She looked into my eyes, assessing me before she slowly started to nod. “Okay.”
My heart warmed at how far we’d come in our relationship. She was now quick to believe my words rather than question them.
“So, where are we going?” she asked.
“It’s a surprise. But, grab your swimsuit. The weather is finally starting to turn nice.”
“You want to go swimming?”
“Just get your things and trust me. All will be revealed when we get there.”
“It’s lucky I’m almost ninety percent certain you’re not a murderer,” Clary said. “Because I have no idea where we’re going, and this road you’re taking me down is the kind of route a serial killer takes when they want to dump a body in the woods.”
I scoffed. “You’re only ninety percent certain?”
“Well, for someone who doesn’t play PlayStation, your aim was far too good when you were playing that World War II game with your brother the other day.”
“And that means there’s a ten percent chance I’m a murderer?”
“Yep.” She laughed. “Nobody’s that good at that game.”
“Clearly, I am.”
She rolled her eyes in response.
Admittedly, she had a point—about our route, not about the ten percent chance I was a killer, obviously.
A dense forest bordered our town, and we were currently bumping up and down as we drove along one of