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“Because even though I’m a few years younger than you, I still have a better chance with her than you do.”

“Sure, you do.” I laughed. “And even if you did, who says I care about my chances with Clary?”

Elliot gave me a knowing smile. “I saw the way you were looking at her. You’re in love with her.”

I lifted both eyebrows at him. My brother was far more observant than I gave him credit for. In the two minutes he’d spoken with Clary and me this morning, he’d clearly seen that I had a massive thing for Clary and that she wasn’t the least bit interested in me.

“I can have any girl at school, and you think I wanther?”

Elliot shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you? She’s hot!”

I rubbed my face, feeling suddenly tired. My younger brother was exhausting at the best of times, but lockdown only made him more draining. Being quarantined with the girl of my dreams when she didn’t like me back was bad enough, but there was nothing worse than being locked down with a younger sibling. I couldn’t be the only teen in lockdown who already wanted to kill their brother after two days, could I? I bet there was a group on Facebook I could join.

“You going to put that pizza in then?” he continued. “I don’t think it will cook on the counter.”

I scowled at him before placing the pizza in the oven. As soon as I closed the oven door, I left the room to allow it to cook. Elliot had struck far too close to home with his comments about Clary. I wasn’t about to sit around in the kitchen with him and let him unravel my deep, dark secret. I needed some fresh air.

As I stepped outside, I couldn’t shake my concern about how easily Elliot had guessed about my feelings for Clary. I’d always been so good at hiding them. Did my brother just know me well, or did having Clary in our house somehow make them more obvious? Either way, I was going to have to do a better job at concealing how I felt, because I wasn’t ready for Clary to know the truth.

Not yet.

Not until there was a slim chance that she might like me too.

4

Clary

Isomehow managed to keep to the guest room for most of the day. I risked a couple of trips to the bathroom and thankfully didn’t bump into anyone. I had packed a few granola bars in my bag, so I ate them for lunch. But when it started getting close to dinnertime, I knew I couldn’t stay holed up in the room for much longer.

The smell of something burning was what really prompted me to venture out. I followed the scent downstairs and into the kitchen. I gasped as I entered the room, jolting to a stop. A thick cloud of smoke was billowing out of the oven, spreading through the room and covering it in a heavy haze. Aiden was in the middle of it, frantically waving a towel at the open oven in a hopeless attempt to battle the smoke. The smoke alarm started blaring, and I flinched at the piercing sound.

I rushed into the room and threw open the windows. Then I joined Aiden by the stove and turned on the exhaust fan. He was now batting his towel at the smoke alarm, and his attempts at clearing the air continued to be useless. I grabbed another towel to help him, and eventually, the wailing siren went quiet.

I let out a frustrated breath before turning to Aiden. “Are you trying to burn the house down?”

“With all the smoke in here, I can see why you’d think that. But no, I wasn’t trying to burn the house down.” His voice held its usual amused ring to it, but his eyes betrayed a sense of uncertainty.

“Aiden thought he’d try to cook us dinner,” Elliot added. He was seated at the kitchen counter and looked thoroughly entertained. The kid hadn’t lifted a finger to help clear the smoke away, and I got the impression he had enjoyed sitting back and watching the chaos unfold.

I decided to brave a look inside the oven. A round block of charcoal sat on the wire rack with parts of it oozing onto the oven floor. It appeared to be the cindered remains of a pizza, but it must have been at least thirty minutes since it was anything close to edible.

I coughed as I inhaled a waft of smoke and stepped away from the oven. “Have you never cooked a pizza before, Aiden?” I struggled to keep the shock from my voice.

His cheeks were flushed, and I could have sworn he looked embarrassed. I was pretty sure it was an emotion he’d never experienced though, so it was probably just the heat from the oven warming his face.

“He’s never cooked anything that doesn’t require a microwave,” Elliot replied for his brother.

Aiden directed a hard look at him before focusing on me. “We normally get takeout for dinner if Mom’s still at work. But she won’t let us order in with all the virus stuff going on. She got stuck at the hospital tonight and said frozen pizza wouldn’t be too difficult.”

“And it probably wouldn’t have been too difficult if you’d bothered to read the instructions,” Elliot said. “I don’t think it’s meant to be in there for over an hour.”

I somehow managed to smother a laugh, but I couldn’t stop a smile from forming.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed on my smile. “I can’t help that I forgot about it. This cooking thing is harder than it looks.”

“Is it though?” I asked.

“Yes, it is.” Aiden looked so defeated I almost felt bad for him. This was probably the first time he’d failed at something in life. Everything always appeared to come so easily to Aiden, and a part of me enjoyed seeing a side to him that wasn’t quite as perfect as everyone believed. I was also enjoying the fact that he seemed too distracted to put his usual effort into annoying me. Perhaps if Aiden burned pizzas the whole time, he wouldn’t be so bad to live with. His hapless attempt to cook made him appear more down to earth than I’d ever seen him at school.