by Judy Corry
He looked at his hand, and then finally seemed to realize what he was doing and removed it.
But then his gaze flickered to my lips. My heart, which was already beating faster than I ever thought it could go, started thrumming like a hummingbird's wings.
His lips parted.
He was going to kiss me.
But then he spoke instead.
"You have something on your glasses."
"My glasses?" My voice squeaked, and I didn't know if I was relieved or disappointed that he had not been looking at my lips.
I pulled my glasses off and wiped them with the corner of my shirt before replacing them.
"Did I get it?"
He nodded. "Yes." He looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, "I can see your eyes much better now."
I drew in another breath, trying to fill my lungs with the oxygen I would need to get my brain working right again.
"Thanks." I adjusted my glasses again. I really needed to stop this nervous tic of mine. It was making it totally obvious how much he was affecting me. "Well, uh, I'm going to bed now."
"Me too." He stepped to the side, so I could escape from the too-small closet.
A few long, heart-pounding minutes later, I was in my bed and he was five feet away in my closet.
He'll be sleeping less than five feet away from me.
I would not think about that.
I plugged my phone into my charging cord on my nightstand, made sure my alarm was set for six-thirty, and then fluffed my pillow. Once I'd finished my nightly routine, I glanced over at Noah one more time before turning off my lamp. He looked comfortable enough. "Remember, no sneaking out and climbing in my bed."
He laughed. "I was only joking about sharing your bed. You really don't need to worry about me. That's, like, the last thing I'd do tonight."
I bristled at his response, my muscles going taut. "Why? Is it because I'm not mainstream?"
"No. I— Well, first of all, you've said it yourself, we're only fake dating. And second of all, I still want Easton to be my friend. And third, I've seen your dad's gun cabinet and would rather not be on the other side of the barrel of his shotgun."
My muscles relaxed. "Okay, those are good reasons."
He yawned. "I know you have this whole Noah-only-likes-mainstream-girls notion in your head, but don't lock me into that category. I might surprise you."
My heart raced when I thought about what his words could mean. Should I be reading into them? Should I be reading into everything that had happened tonight?
He put his hands behind his head, and I couldn't help but think that his arms looked really nice that way.
Yeah, I definitely shouldn't be reading into what he'd said.
I quickly took off my glasses then flipped off my lamp before I could find anything else to admire about him. I couldn't admire him if I couldn't see him.
"Good night, Noah," I said.
"Good night, Lexi. Thanks again for letting me in tonight. I really appreciate it."
14
Noah
My alarm went off and I immediately silenced it. Just five more minutes.
I turned on my side and fluffed up my pillow, releasing a long, contented sigh. Then I opened my eyes, realizing where I was. I hadn't woken up this warm all week. I took in my surroundings as the memory of last night came to mind. I was sleeping in Lexi's closet.
Fully alert now, I rolled over to my other side, so I could see out her closet door. Had my alarm awakened Lexi? Did I alert her dad to my presence?
Lexi was still asleep on her bed, one arm hanging off the side, her hair a huge mess over her eyes.
I stifled a laugh. She was dead to the world. And if she hadn't woken with my alarm when she was only a few feet away, then hopefully, her dad hadn't heard it either.
I turned the alarm and ringer sound down on my phone just in case it decided to try and alert everyone to my presence again.
I still had over an hour and a half until school started, but what was I supposed to do now? Should I risk sneaking out of Lexi's house and possibly getting caught by her dad and the now early-bird Easton? Or should I stay hidden until they all left, and then bum another shower in her bathroom?
I tried to relax my breathing and perked up my ears for any sounds in the house. I was pretty sure the Army had turned Lexi's dad into an early riser. Which meant he was probably already up and at 'em.
Sure enough, a moment later, I was able to pick out the sound of pots and pans clanking in the kitchen.
I glanced at Lexi again. She was still sleeping.
I looked over to her window, wondering if I could get it open now that I was inside and had better leverage. If I were to leave now, I could still get to school in time and just shower in the locker room. I didn't want to risk getting caught in Lexi's room and have her get into trouble because of me. She'd already done so much to help me out.
I pushed the warm blankets off me then stood.
My head immediately crashed against the rod in her closet. I swore and rubbed at the sore spot. Stupid giant-people problems.
"Who's there?" Lexi said, her voice full of alarm. Panicked, she scrambled and reached for something on her nightstand.
"It's just me," I said through gritted teeth, the throbbing pain in my head making it hard not to release a string of curse words that would probably make angelic Lexi blush.
But telling her it was just me in her room and not a serial killer didn't seem to calm her down at all. Instead, it had the opposite effect. Her hand groped around for another few seconds—touching her phone, a book, and then her lamp before it stopped on her glasses. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and slid her glasses on.
Her eyes focused on me a second later. "Why are you making so many loud noises?" she whispered. "Are you trying to get us caught and me grounded for the rest of my life?"
I continued to rub the spot on my head that was already turning into a big bump.
"You think I purposely banged my head on your closet?"
That seemed to bring her back to reality, and she took a deep breath before relaxing against her headboard. "Sorry, I just heard this loud sound and woke up."
I leaned against the closet door frame. "Sorry to scare you."
"Is your head okay? That sounded pretty painful from how loud it was."
It was pretty tender. "A bag of ice might be nice."
She pushed her blankets away and kicked them the rest of the way down. "Okay, I'll see if I can sneak some up here. Just stay in there, okay? I'm going to leave my bedroom door open, so my dad won’t think I'm hiding something in here."
"Okay." And I stepped back into the closet, shut the door, and waited in the dark for her to return.
I listened to the muffled sounds of her family going through their morning routine. It sounded like her dad was talking to her about something. It took a while for her to come back, but eventually, her bedroom door clicked shut, and then she was opening the closet door for me to come out.
"Here, sit on my bed and let me look at it," she instructed.
I did as I was told. She stood in front of me, handed me the ice pack, and then was looking intently at my hair. "Which side hurts?"
"Right on top." I pointed to the spot about halfway down the center of my head.
She gently touched a couple of places on my scalp.
"Ouch," I said, once she'd found the spot.
"Sorry." She leaned closer to get a better view. And I couldn't help but notice how good she smelled. Pretty sure I stank first thing in the morning, but she smelled amazing.
Which reminded me to shut my mouth, so she wouldn't be as likely to catch a whiff of my nasty morning breath. I may be a homeless guy at the moment, but that didn't mean she needed to smell it on me.
I closed my eyes as she pushed my hair aside to get a better look. Chills ran down my neck from the way it felt to have her hands in my hair, nerve endings sparking to life. I wondered what it would feel like to have he
r run her hands through my hair as I kissed her...
"Looks like you hit your head pretty good there. But there isn't a cut or anything, so I think you'll be okay."
I opened my eyes, coming back to reality and stopping myself from daydreaming about pulling her onto my lap and keeping her there.
She'd probably scream if I did that anyway, and then our secret would definitely be out. So I kept my hands obediently in my lap even though they were itching to touch her.
She took the ice pack from my hands and gently set it on top of my head. "How about you just lie down on my bed and keep this on your bump for the next twenty minutes?"
"You don't think your dad or Easton will find me? I can try to get the window open and sneak out to my car."
She stepped back and seemed to study me. "My dad has to go into the office early again today, so I can just tell Easton that you're coming to pick me up again and you can come out once he's gone."
"Okay." I lay down on her bed, trying not to think about how she'd just been asleep here moments before.
What was happening to me? Why was I suddenly having these kinds of thoughts about Lexi? This was not part of our plan.
She wrung her hands in front of her. "I, um, have to take a shower, though. Just, uh, stay over there, okay?"
She was cute when she was nervous. And for the first time, I was thinking that maybe she did have a reason to be nervous, because I was starting to have physical reactions that I shouldn’t be having to her presence.
I cleared my throat. "You don't have to worry about me sneaking in there."
She laughed awkwardly. "Of course I know that." But her face turned bright red, and I was pretty sure mine was already that shade as well.
She grabbed some clothes out of her dresser, making sure to block my view, hugging them to her chest before she disappeared into the bathroom.
I lay back on her pillows and sighed. I was in trouble. And if Easton could read the thoughts running through my mind, he would kill me.
"Thanks for letting me stay in your closet last night," I said as I stuffed my dirty clothes into my backpack after my quick shower.
"No problem," she said. Then, with a pause, seemed to think better of it. "Well, thankfully my dad or Easton didn't notice, so it didn't become a problem." She laughed.
"Yeah, that would definitely be bad." I zipped my backpack shut and threw it over my shoulder, ready to leave her room for the first time that morning.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to sneak you breakfast up here."
"It's okay." And thankfully, my stomach behaved and didn't grumble at me.
"I'll figure out something better tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
Her face flushed. "Well, didn't you say something about going back home on Saturday? I'm feeling brave enough that I'm stupid enough to think that we can pull this off again. I know my closet isn't the most comfortable place in the world, but it was better than sleeping in your car, right?"
"Definitely better."
She turned off her bedroom light, and I followed her down the hall, trying not to notice how good she looked in her dark jeans today.
Eyes up, Noah, I chided myself.
She stopped in the kitchen before heading out and rummaged through the pantry for a moment.
She came out holding two energy bars. "Will these tide you over until lunch?" she asked.
A warm feeling spread through my chest at her thoughtfulness. I took the bars from her hand. "These will be perfect. Thank you." I gave her a meaningful smile, hoping she'd understand how grateful I was. "You're kind of the most thoughtful fake girlfriend I've ever had before."
"You say that like you get fake girlfriends on a regular basis." She raised an eyebrow.
I laughed. "Nope. You would be the first."
"And hopefully the last. I don't think faking relationships should be a regular thing for either of us."
I nodded. "Yeah, they tend to make things confusing." Like how I was starting to get confused into thinking I wanted this to turn real.
She nodded and held her hand out to me. "Well, are you ready to go, fake boyfriend?" she asked.
I looked at her outstretched hand for a moment before taking it in my own. "Yeah, let's go." I gave her hand a squeeze and forced myself not to think about how good it felt in mine and how happy I was that she'd offered it to me even when no one from school was around to see it. I would just let this be whatever it was right now and try not to mess Lexi's life up too badly.
15
Lexi
I breathed a sigh of relief once Noah and I were on our way to school. We had done it. We'd successfully made it through the night without Easton or my dad suspecting anything was going on.
Maybe, just maybe, trying it again tonight wasn't such a terrible idea.
"How did you sleep, anyway?" I asked as he turned down the road just off my street.
He shrugged. "Surprisingly really good. I thought I'd be awake all night since that has become kind of my thing this week, but I slept like a baby."
"You do realize that phrase 'sleeping like a baby' is a total lie, right?"
He glanced away from the road briefly to give me a confused expression. "What do you mean? Don't babies sleep through everything?"
"Grant didn't." No, my little nephew was a downright terrible sleeper from the time my sister brought him home from the hospital. "Now every time I hear someone say that phrase, I take it to mean that they’re saying they woke up every two hours to eat, and then cried the other half of the night. Babies are not a good example of someone who sleeps soundly at all."
He laughed. "Duly noted." He looked at me and winked. "I promise to never use that phrase so carelessly in the future."
I couldn't help but smile back. Noah didn't always smile, but when he did it was contagious.
"So how is it having Maddie and Grant out of the house now?"
"It's a lot quieter for sure. Grant had so much energy. I miss them a lot, but I'm really happy that she and Jaxon finally worked things out. It's good for Grant to have both parents." My sister and her high school boyfriend had a rocky relationship for years, being too young to be thrust into parenthood and an adult relationship. My dad's attitude toward Jaxon, the guy who had impregnated his teenage daughter, hadn't helped either. But Maddie had been able to stay at home her first year of college and our family had been able to help her out a lot with Grant. She'd gotten her feet under her and now things were really looking good for them.
"I hope things are better for them now that they're on their own. I know from experience that your homelife can affect you in more ways than you like."
I couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going on with him and his family. You didn't just sleep in your car instead of your bedroom for nothing.
But I didn't ask him. If he was willing to talk about it, it seemed like it would be a pretty long conversation and we were almost to the school.
We pulled into the parking lot a minute later. Noah parked and then hurried over to my side of the car to open the door. As I got out, he took my hand and we walked into the school together. I had been scared to death to hold his hand after the game on Tuesday, just two days ago, but now it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. And I kind of wanted it to never stop.
I was in a happy daze the rest of the morning. Everything seemed to be going so well in my life now. Things at home were good and calm. My grades were pretty good. And for once, I didn't feel like an outcast at school. I had spent the first few months of the year just trying to get Harrison to notice me, but now that I was fake-dating Noah, I kind of didn't really care if he ever did.
I knew in the back of my mind that this was probably not the smartest way to feel right now since it was fake after all, but I would just let myself live in the contented bliss of not having to work so hard to fit in for a while.
"You and Noah seem to be enjoying having your relationship out in the open now." Raven sidled up to me on my way t
o the cafeteria for lunch.
I forced a smile and tried to ignore her jealous tone. "Yeah, it's been really nice not having to sneak around anymore."
I almost laughed when I realized exactly how big of a lie those words were. After last night, we'd been sneaking around more than ever.
"I've noticed you've been coming to school with him. And his car always seems to be parked on your street."
I nodded. "Yeah." But he'd been coming to my house a lot before anyway, because of Easton.
"I couldn't help but notice he was at your house really late when I drove by last night." She looked down at my left hand—not so discreetly—and eyed my promise ring. "He's a pretty good kisser, isn't he?"
Why was she looking at me like that? And was she trying to hint that I shouldn't be wearing my ring anymore? My face paled. Did Raven know that he'd slept at my house last night?
I laughed, hoping to dispel my anxiety. "Yeah, he's a good kisser."
She raised her eyebrows. "Those big pouty lips of his aren't just for talking."
I furrowed my brow, wondering if she was trying to say something else. Girls like Raven always had some sort of secret agenda when they talked. Was this a test to find out if I had really kissed Noah? Had she somehow found out that I wasn't really Noah's girlfriend?
"It is interesting though..." she said when I didn't say anything.
"What's interesting?" I knew it was stupid for me to jump on the bait she was giving me, but I couldn't help it.
She lifted her shoulder in the way all the mean girls do in movies—when they're trying to look like they aren't being conniving little witches when that's exactly what they were doing. "I guess I'm used to seeing Noah constantly kissing his girlfriends, and it's hard not to wonder why he's not doing that with you."
I knew I shouldn't have taken her bait.