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“So, you apologize for your brother’s bad flirting but not your own?” I turned my attention back on dinner.

“My flirting isn’t that annoying.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Nope. Besides, even if it was annoying, I’m just doing my job.”

I lifted my eyes to meet his once more, disbelief coloring my gaze. “You think it’s your job to annoy me?”

“I mean, that’s definitely a part of the job description.”

There was absolutely no reasoning with this guy. “Well, if it’s your job to annoy me, then I’m pretty sure you deserve employee of the month.”

He chuckled under his breath. He was supposed to be insulted; instead, he only seemed to enjoy my jab. It was like he felt it was an accomplishment to annoy me. Yet again, I wondered why any of the girls at school were so interested in Aiden.

I focused on dinner once more. I’d easily been able to ignore Aiden and his brother when I’d first started cooking. Now that it was just Aiden and me in the room though, it felt more difficult. I could feel him watching me, and I wished he’d go away. His gaze left me unsettled, which wasn’t a feeling I usually experienced in the kitchen. He was totally ruining my Zen.

“So, any news from your parents?” Aiden asked.

It was a marked change in tone from our previous conversation, and I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He seemed genuinely interested, but I didn’t trust his innocent expression. We rarely had proper conversations at school, and whenever we did talk, l spent the whole time waiting for the punch line of one of his jokes.

Most of our interactions would abruptly end with him saying something inappropriate and me walking away or trying my best to ignore him. Sometimes, he managed to elicit a response from me, but it was usually something snarky. I didn’t particularly like the fiery side of my personality that came out when he provoked me.

His expression didn’t falter, and he appeared to be asking sincerely. “Not yet.” I shrugged. “I messaged them earlier, but they didn’t have any updates. They haven’t been in touch since, so they must still be trying to organize a way home.”

Aiden leaned back on his stool, crossing his arms over his chest. His muscles naturally bulged at the movement. Not that I was eyeing his muscles.

“Why would they leave home at a time like this? Surely, they’d seen all the reports on TV?”

“I told them not to go,” I replied. “But things didn’t seem quite so bad a week ago, and they’re not really in a position where they can turn down work.” Not that my parents ever would say no to a job. Even if they had all the money in the world, they still would have gone. They loved being part of a couple’s special day more than anything. The fact they got paid to shoot weddings in foreign destinations was just an added bonus. I really wished I’d pushed harder to make them stay this time though. It wasn’t the best time to be in a foreign country.

Aiden tilted his head as he searched my face. “You don’t need to worry about them. They’ll get home.”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know.”

“That little crease between your eyebrows says otherwise…”

“I know they’ll get back eventually, but it’s just hard not knowing when.” I was more concerned about the way Aiden was looking at my worry line than about my parents right now though. He was smiling at it like he thought it was cute. I rubbed a finger across the line, hoping to erase it. It was bad enough that I was stuck living with our high school’s version of Hugh Heffner, and the last thing I needed was for him to find any part of me appealing. I was quite content to continue with our current relationship of despising one another.

“When do you think your mom will be home from the hospital?” I asked, hoping to change the conversation.

Aiden shrugged. “She wasn’t even supposed to be working today, and she called to say she wouldn’t be back until late, so who knows.”

“Does she normally get called into work on her days off?” I asked.

“Sometimes,” he replied. “It’s kind of the nature of the job.”

I nodded as I turned to light the cooktop. I didn’t ask Aiden where his dad was. I’d overheard enough of Mom and Jade’s margarita nights to know his parents were separated. His dad was a surgeon like his mom, but he’d moved out of town after their divorce a couple of years back.

I almost felt sorry for Aiden and his brother. Having two parents who worked at hospitals had to be stressful at the best of times, let alone when the world was facing a pandemic. He must be worried about the fact his dad was so far away too. It seemed we had that in common.

I started heating the ingredients in the pan, but I was still struggling to ignore the way Aiden’s eyes watched my every move.

“You can just leave me to it,” I said to him over my shoulder. “I’ll probably be twenty minutes or so, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do with your time.”

“Nothing better than this.”

I frowned and faced the pan once more. Aiden and I didn’t like spending time with each other at school, so I was surprised he hadn’t jumped at my suggestion to leave. Surely, he’d find it more enjoyable to watch TV or something.