Match Made in Quarantine

4. Day One

He was skulking outside of my room for hours.

Every so often I would hear his footsteps near my door, lingering, before he turned back and walked away.

Good. There was nothing that entitled prick could say that would make things better.

Sure, I wasn't exactly a social butterfly. I didn't really have many friends in general, but I also had my reasons for that. And sure, my idea of hanging out usually involved either Netflix or a fictional book character.

Even so, he had no right to assume this would be easy for me just because of that. I had other concerns outside of a booming social life.

Like the fact that my parents were older when they had my sister and me, meaning they were in their fifties now and more prone to having complications should they get infected.

Or that my little sister was going through her rebellious phase, and the last time we spoke she mentioned a crush. Knowing that, I wasn't certain she would actually stick to being quarantined. It was an easy escape from her bedroom window.

Then there was the fact that I was studying medicine and the thought of having to learn online, without any actual practical classes, made me shudder. My classes were difficult as is and I knew being online would only make them that much harder.

And those were just at the top of my worry and anxiety pyramid. Not that he would know. Not that he had asked.

This was going to be a long twenty days.

I let out a sigh and grabbed a book from my bedside table craving an escape.

Saying that the situation was tense would be putting it mildly.

I was making some scrambled eggs for breakfast while Maddox kept moving from his room to the living room to the kitchen.

He'd opened the fridge door at least seven times in the last twenty minutes and was gearing up for number eight.

"Can you please stop doing that?" I muttered through clenched teeth without sparing him a glance.

"Oh, sorry." Maddox closed the fridge instantly and from the corner of my eyes I could see him awkwardly shuffling his feet. He let out a deep, purposeful sigh — and then another when I didn't look his way.

"Look, can we talk about yesterday?"

"I think everything has been said. My conclusion was that you're a moron." I knew I shouldn't have started out that strong but I couldn't help myself. I was still upset over his behavior yesterday and wanted him to know. To be fair, I wasn't exactly known for my tact.

"Hey, just because we have a difference of opinion doesn't make me a moron." He said, trying to keep his voice calm as he leaned against the counter next to the stove. It would be a valid point if this was literally any other situation than what it was.

"No, what makes you a moron is that your opinion could hurt a lot of innocent people and you don't seem to care." I started smelling burnt eggs and cursed under my breath quickly moving the pan from the stove.

Realizing that clearly we were having this conversation whether I wanted to or not, I turned to face him. He caught my gaze before I could look away from his eyes. For a moment, I felt trapped in that deep gray color and the way they stood out against his skin. I cleared my throat a few times, quickly looking away.

Ever since I found out his ego had it's own gravity and a few orbiting planets, I'd made a solemn oath to myself that I was never going to admire his looks. Or at the very least, make sure he didn't catch me admiring them.

"That's not true. I just think that things aren't as simple as you make them out to be." His voice had more kindness than I probably deserved with my bitter attitude. I just couldn't help myself. It was like everything he said ignited me, like throwing oil into a raging fire.

I took a few deep breaths to calm down and shook my head at him before speaking, "I never said they were simple. I just said we have to follow the rules set out in order to avoid a crisis."

"Well have you even considered what this will do to people's job security? A quarantine is horrible for the economy." The way he said that, so self-satisfied, as if he expected to fully blow my mind made my little calming exercise obsolete.

"Mhm, mhm. You know what's even worse for the economy, though? Dead people." I was surprised at how serious my voice sounded.

"Fuck, Aimee!" He ran his hand through his hair and let out a long breath, "Anyone ever tell you, you're kind of intense?"

"Anyone ever tell you, you're kind of a jerk?" I countered, even though I knew there was truth to his statement.

"Yup, sure have." His response was immediate and instinctive. It made me wonder just how many times he'd actually been called that. I almost felt bad for him.

After I stayed silent he cleared his throat and spoke again, "Can we just—Can we just have a truce? I don't want to spend the next 3 weeks fighting constantly...."

I glanced at him and he seemed genuinely concerned. He kept scratching the back of his head and the corner of his full lips was pulled up into a sad, crooked smile. I opened my mouth, remembered his words from yesterday, and closed it again.

"Please?" His voice was so sweet my determination started to waver, "I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday, and for what I said. It was unfair. A lot of shit happened and I was just stressed."

"You know, all of that shit happened to me too." It felt good to hear him apologize but I wasn't sure if I should let him off the hook yet. It seemed silly to stay mad at him and I wasn't exactly upset anymore, and yet... Was I really that petty?

"I know. That's why I'm apologizing for taking it out on you." I knew his apology was genuine, I could tell by his voice. When I looked at him I saw it on his face as well. "Truce?" He asked again, offering me his hand.

"Fine. Truce." We shook hands and I tried to ignore the sparks that I felt from the contact. "But there will be rules."

He seemed taken aback by that before an amused smile played on his lips. "I should've expected that."

I had to make sure these rules were good. It was my one and only chance to get a semblance of my life without Maddox back. There was one more thing that immediately popped into my mind as I glanced at the drawers with the protective gear.

"Also, we're supposed to do our grocery shopping twice a week, and only one of us can go at a time," I put on my sweetest smile before pointing directly at him, "And you're going first."

Finally, things were getting interesting.