11. Lexi

11

LEXI

I rushed back into my house, sneaking in through the back door so my dad or Easton wouldn't realize that I'd been gone. Dad was still in the kitchen puttering around like he wasn't in a hurry at all. I checked the clock on the wall. He was supposed to be gone by now. Had I heard him wrong? Was that tomorrow instead of today that he needed to go into the office early?

I took off my coat and stashed it in the corner before he saw me. Then I tried to walk into the kitchen with as serene an expression as I could muster at that moment.

My dad turned when he saw me. "I left breakfast in the oven. Just put the leftovers in the fridge, okay?"

Okay, good. It sounded like he was going to leave any minute. I inhaled deeply, trying to even my breathing out after my dash down the street .

"Thanks for breakfast, Dad." I grabbed a plate from the cupboard and pulled the scrambled eggs and French toast from the warm oven.

When I turned around, my dad was studying me. "Is something wrong? You seem more anxious than usual."

My dad didn't miss a thing.

I pasted on a smile and laughed lightly. "I-I'm fine. Maybe a little nervous for my history class today."

He put a couple of papers into his messenger bag and buckled it shut. "You have a test?"

"No, but I think we're about to start a group project and those always make me nervous."

He nodded like he understood. "I get that. Just don't let your partners make you do all the work. Stand up for yourself this time."

He knew me so well. I always ended up doing the majority of the work in group projects, because I was usually the person who cared most about my grades.

"Thanks for the advice."

He smiled like he'd just received a gold star for awesome parenting.

I checked the clock on the wall again. School would start in less than thirty minutes. My dad needed to go now, or Noah wouldn't have time to shower and eat, and I really wanted to be able to do this for him. He needed someone right now.

This must be part of why he said his life was complicated. He was practically homeless. How did he afford to eat out? I certainly didn't have that kind of money from what I made babysitting here and there. And Noah didn't have a job.

"I'll see you for dinner tonight," Dad said, interrupting my thoughts. "I'm thinking white bean chili might be good on this cold day."

Good, he was finally going to leave.

"Do you mind if Noah eats with us?" I asked, turning back to dishing up my food so he wouldn't see how anxious I was about his answer.

"You’re helping him with his English homework again tonight?"

"Yeah." At least I would be, now that my dad mentioned it.

"Just tell him dinner will be at six." Dad put his bag over his shoulder and kissed me lightly on the head. "Have a good day at school, Lexi."

And then he finally left.

I watched out the window as my dad backed out of the driveway and onto the icy road. Once he was out of sight, I saw Noah's car turn around and then pull into our driveway. Nervous energy coursed through me, and I didn't know why. Noah had been to my house tons of times. He'd eaten hundreds of meals with us. Why did I suddenly have to be all anxious about him coming over for breakfast ?

I busied myself, grabbing a second plate from the cupboard and loading it up with food for him. I could do this. I wasn't doing anything wrong. I was just helping out a friend who had no one else to turn to.

"Expecting someone?" Easton's voice came from behind me.

I jumped and almost dropped Noah's plate.

Easton strolled into the room and eyed the two plates I'd made up. "Or is this like one of those National-Bribe-Your-Brother-into-Doing-Something-for-You days?"

"You wish." I set Noah's plate down on the counter with a shaking hand then tucked some hair behind my ear. "Noah's picking me up today as part of our fake relationship thing. I figured I'd make him up a plate of food since he always seems to be hungry."

Easton pursed his lips. Would he be able to figure out what was going on?

"You sure you aren't hoping for this plan of yours to be legit?" He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with orange juice.

I wiped my hands on my pants. "Of course not. You know I like Harrison and not Noah."

He gave me a skeptical look. I didn't like that look. It made me remember all the reasons why I might have wanted this to be real in the past.

The doorbell rang, and I startled again. I really needed to get a grip on myself or my heart was going to be beating fast all day.

"I'll get that." My voice squeaked. Why was I acting like such a basket case?

I opened the door and found Noah standing there in his coat, with his backpack slung over one shoulder. His hair looked slightly less messy than it had been in his car a few minutes ago, like he had just run his fingers through it, pushing it to the side.

"Hi," I said.

He glanced around awkwardly. "Hey."

I stepped back to let him in. "You're still hungry, right?" I asked, hoping he'd play along and pretend like we hadn't just been talking ten minutes ago.

"Yep." He wiped his shoes on the rug before following me into the kitchen. "It smells good in here."

Easton was sitting at the bar with his plate piled high with food when we walked in.

"Hey, Noah," Easton said with his mouth full.

"Hey." Noah dropped his backpack on the floor by the pantry.

"So, sounds like you and my sister are getting serious if you're taking her to school." He elbowed Noah in the arm playfully when he took the stool next to him.

"Yeah." Noah eyed me anxiously before saying, “Raven's still not buying our fake relationship, so we thought it would be a good idea for me to give Lexi a ride to school today."

I brought our plates over then stood at the end of the counter. My hands were shaky as I tried to cut into my French toast. After attempting it twice, I set my fork down, hoping I'd be less shaky once I distracted Easton with some questions.

I urged my legs to stop feeling so wobbly. "H-how did things go with Mercedes?"

Easton swallowed his bite of eggs and took a sip from his glass. "Really good."

"So, are you official yet?" I asked to keep the small talk going since Noah was just shoveling his breakfast into his mouth, and was, therefore, no help during the conversation.

Easton stabbed a piece of toast onto his fork. "Not yet. But I think it might be headed there if I'm lucky."

I smiled. "Cool. She seems to like you. I noticed you two sitting pretty close at last night’s game."

"Yeah, we weren't the only two people sitting close." He raised an eyebrow at us.

Was he talking about Noah and me? I hadn't even thought that my brother might be paying attention to us.

Noah pushed his plate away and set his arm around my shoulders to pull me in for a brief squeeze. "Yes, Lexi and I just can't keep our hands off each other."

My skin immediately flushed, and I remembered just how much I had liked holding his hand after the game. But I couldn't let either of them know that, so I pushed him away. "You know we don't need to pretend in front of Easton."

Easton's gaze narrowed at us, and I could just see the cogs spinning in his head. He was catching the vibes that something else was going on here.

He confirmed my suspicions when he asked, "This is still fake, right?"

Noah laughed. "Of course. I just like to give Lexi a hard time."

I laughed awkwardly. "Could you ever see Noah and I together in real life? That would be about as likely as having a unicorn sitting at our kitchen table."

Easton stood and walked around the island to put his plate in the sink. "Just making sure. Because I really don't want to have to make good on my threat to beat you up if you start to get confused on what's real and what isn't."

I swallowed and looked nervously at Noah.

But Noah seemed unfazed by the threat, which meant that in his mind, everything was really just for show.

"We're just doing this for the mutual benefits. No need to bruise your knuckles on my face." Noah stood then turned to me. "Are you about ready to go, Lexi?" he asked.

Did he not want to take a shower then? Or was he just saying it so Easton wouldn't suspect anything ?

My food was still mostly untouched, but my stomach was such a ball of nerves that I didn't think I could eat much more, anyway.

I picked up my plate. "Um, yeah. I just need to grab a few things from my room."

Easton grabbed his backpack and then turned back to me. "Well, I'm gonna head out if you don't need a ride."

I nodded, trying not to let him see how relieved I was that he was leaving early. "See you at school."

Easton looked at Noah. "Try not to break Raven's heart too bad, okay? She was in a bad mood after the game last night."

Noah ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I feel kind of bad about that, but she'll realize soon enough that she's better off without me."