Hold Me Down

chapter 37

"Clary!" I exclaim when I arrive back home. I give her a hug. "How was Barbados?"

She looks slightly tanner than she was before. "It was so fun! I just got back a couple hours ago and wondered where you were. Where were you?"

"I was out with Will."

"Like a date?"

"No! It was nothing like that." I sit down next to her on the bed. "We just woke up and were hungry so we went out to get food."

"You woke up together?" she narrows her eyes at me.

"Technically I woke up before him." I say quickly.

"You better tell me everything that happened while I was gone."

I start with the day after graduation. I gloss over the parts where Will and I had sex. It was too awkward to talk about in detail. When I finish, Clary shakes her head in disbelief.

"There's no way he doesn't like you."

"Well of course he likes me, he wouldn't have sex with a woman he didn't like."

"I meant he's caught feelings for you."

"Absolutely not! He would never have feelings for someone like me. He would probably fall for someone much more extravagant and elegant. Higher class."

"No Tessa. Honestly, you read so many books but you can be so dense at times. He was jealous over you. He called you beautiful. He even followed you to your old job to see you."

I shake my head. "He does not. Besides how would we even work? We're from two different worlds. We wouldn't work well together."

"And yet you two seem to have such effortless conversation. And excellent chemistry."

"No Clary," I shut the idea down firmly before I can allow myself to run wild with possibilities. "So tell me about everything you saw during vacation!"

"Let me tell you about this dolphin that bit my ass! So I was on the beach and I was swimming through these gorgeous, clear waters when I spot a pod of dolphins..."

.

Later that night, while I'm mindlessly stirring the pasta for our supper, I think about what Clary said. Will was just so beautiful- inside and out. He didn't deserve someone as plain as me. He couldn't possibly be attracted to me. And yet- I couldn't help but think about the way he wouldn't let go of my hand.

And to be honest with myself, I didn't want him to let go either.

.

Weeks pass. It is late summer now. Will and I have been growing closer to each other with each passing day. One day, about three weeks ago, he texted me an hour before work, asking if I needed a ride. I declined, saying I owned my own car. He showed up anyways, saying that it would be better for the environment if we went together. I haven't driven my car to work ever since.

I grab my things and rush out the door. Will is punctual as always, waiting for me outside in front of my apartment.

"You look nice today," he says.

"I look nice everyday."

"True. But I look better."

He is like this every morning. We talk about anything and everything during our drives to and from work. Movies, aliens, politics, and books. Will, like me, reads voraciously. We plan what books we read, so that we may read and discuss them at the same time.

"Did you finish The Hidden Hand last night?" he asks me.

"I have a hundred pages left. I got up to the part where Le Noir is on his deathbed. Don't spoil the rest!"