Match Made in Quarantine

MADDOX POV: The Pandemic Prankster

There was a long moment of silence when Aimee heard the news. Her eyes wide, her forehead creased, I could almost see the wheels turning inside of her mind. She was a clever girl, maybe she'd be able to come up with a rational reaction to this situation.

Her lips parted, and out came... "Yeah, no."

Uh, what?

"What?" My thoughts just spilled out of my mouth, unsure whether I'd actually heard her right. Was that really all she had to say? Ms. Smartass Med Student?

I stared at her, blinking a few times in expectation. Her reaction to a quarantine due to a pandemic couldn't just be a yeah, no. After all, she was a med student, surely she had bigger concerns or questions or worries...

She folded her arms over her chest and stared back at me, "There's no way I'm spending twenty days locked in this apartment with you."

Ouch. So, her first thought after finding out about the pandemic was me. I didn't know whether to be flattered or hurt by that. I decided on both. It wasn't like her dislike of my existence was a secret, far from it. She'd made it very clear in every look she shot my way. But, she clearly wouldn't mind being trapped inside for twenty days, oh, no no. What she would mind, was being trapped inside for twenty days with me.

This freaking girl.

I looked her up and down significantly, and tilted my head to the side. "Oh, and you think I want this, princess? You're not exactly a fountain of fun." A deep frown settled onto my face, fully aware that I was lying through my teeth. She was more fun than any of the girls that had been rotating throughout my life.

Her eyes flashed and she spat her words at me like venom, "I'd rather claw my eyes out than have to look at you every day!"

Wow. Well, it seems two can play at that game. Now she was lying. I knew she found me attractive. Even through all the disgust and the distaste, from the very moment we set eyes on each other there was a palpable chemistry. The thing with chemistry though, was that it could swing both ways, and ours seemed to steer into enemy territory. Even so, it wasn't exactly something I was happy to hear. Not to mention that the fact there was a nationwide lockdown had already brought me close to the edge.

Which is probably why my next words were way more harsh than I'd intended them to be.

"I'd rather catch a virus than be locked up with you!" My voice reverberated, loud and cold.

Shit. It was the first time I actually saw hurt flash through those green eyes of hers. I'd gone too far in my deceit. My pride had been wounded, this entire situation was all kinds of fucked up, and I lashed out.

"Great, that's great, then your dumb ass can just go do that and problem solved." Even though she did her best to steady her voice, I heard it break, clearly she'd been shaken by what I'd said. And it seemed even she was surprised by that.

All anger faded out of my body, but before I could say anything, another voice interrupted me.

"That's enough! You think I'm happy to be working when there's a virus outside? Hell no!" Oh, well, fuck. I'd forgotten the policeman was still here. And by the sound of his voice -- and his attitude -- this wasn't the first incident of his morning.

"Some people don't have the luxury of staying at home, so take your damn box, and shut the hell up before I arrest both of you for disturbing the peace!" This guy was going to have a long day. Neither Aimee nor me made a single move after his outburst. I had no doubt the guy would have accused us of disturbing the peace if we pushed him any further. With narrowed eyes, he shoved the box he'd been holding at me, and my arms automatically wrapped around it. It was unexpectedly heavy, seeing as how long the cop had been holding it for. Suddenly his frustration at out bickering made even more sense.