17. Lexi

17

LEXI

The doorbell rang a few minutes after Noah and I had finished our conversation.

"I'll get it." Noah stood from the couch.

I watched him as he walked up the stairs. His broad shoulders carried much more of a load than I'd ever imagined. I still couldn't believe what he'd told me about his stepdad. I'd always wondered who Noah was getting into fights with, but I'd never imagined it was happening in his own home. It hurt my heart to think about what was happening to his mom and how because she was too scared to leave, she was putting Noah and his little sister in danger.

Noah was even stronger than I'd known. I definitely couldn't deal with all the stuff he had to. He should be having a fun, carefree senior year. Not sleeping in his car or sneaking into my bedroom because he had nowhere else to rest his head for the night.

"The movie is all set up downstairs," I heard Noah say to Jake as they walked closer to the top of the staircase.

"Hi, Lexi." Jake waved when he made it to the family room. "Thanks for letting me join you guys."

I nodded and adjusted my position on the couch. "No problem."

"I don't think we've officially met, but I've definitely been hearing a lot about you this week." Jake sat on the opposite end of the sectional, tossing the throw pillows to the cushion next to him.

"Hopefully good things," I said. Though I knew the reason why everyone was talking about me was because of my new ‘relationship’ with Noah.

Jake laughed. "Yeah, mostly good." He turned to Noah. "How was it to have Ashlyn and Luke find you two making out under the bleachers today?"

"What?" I asked, feeling my neck grow hot. I knew Jake and Luke were good friends, but why were they talking about that?

"Who told you they saw us?" Noah asked.

"Luke overheard Raven talking in P.E. about how she thought you guys were only pretending to date. So when he heard what she was saying, he told everyone what he saw."

I looked at Noah, anxious to see what he felt about this. His jaw flexed. He wasn't happy about Ashlyn and Luke catching us after all. I should have known. I knew he wasn't over Ashlyn yet. It was obvious with how he hadn't touched me again after they'd found us.

But he pushed the annoyed look off his face and took his seat on the cushion next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders and squeezing me against his side. "Oh, it's real, right babe?"

"Yeah, definitely real." I managed to croak out.

But I wondered if Jake bought it, since Noah removed his arm from my shoulders the next moment to grab the controller and get the movie started.

He really didn't want to touch me anymore, did he? He'd been so touchy-feely in front of people at school the past couple of days that his complete lack of physical contact after our kiss was messing with my mind.

What did he think about me after that kiss, anyway? Had I really been that bad of a kisser? I'd thought it had gone well enough. It had definitely been good on my end, at least.

And he wouldn't have told me those things about his family if he'd felt nothing for me, right?

But then again, he had invited Jake to watch the movie with us. Was that so he wouldn't have to be alone with me again?

Noah started the movie and reclined his seat, so I found the lever between the cushions to recline mine as well, hoping the show would take away my worries for the moment.

"You two aren't going to start making out, are you?" Jake narrowed his eyes at us. "I really don't need a second showing to prove Raven's accusations wrong."

Noah and I looked awkwardly at each other for a moment before Noah pasted on his signature bad-boy smirk and said, "You're the one who wanted to watch the movie with us. Beggars can't be choosers."

Jake threw a pillow at Noah, but it fell on Noah’s lap instead of hitting his face. "Thanks for the pillow." Noah smiled. "We'll use it as a shield if we do decide to make-out.”

Jake just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Maybe I really should read the book instead."

"Now that would be the day." Noah laughed before focusing back on the TV screen.

About a minute later, just as I was finally beginning to relax, Noah leaned closer with his mouth next to my ear and whispered, "You should probably sit closer than that." His eyes darted over to Jake briefly, indicating that we had an audience and therefore a show to put on.

I scooted an inch closer, so now there were only five inches between us instead of six.

"So much better," he said sarcastically. I'd hoped that he'd do the typical Noah thing of pulling me closer, forcing me to cuddle with him, but he didn't .

I sighed. Trying to dissect every little movement Noah made would only make me crazy. I needed to stop trying to figure him out. So I tried to shut my brain off. I was doing a pretty good job of focusing on the movie, and to its credit, I did find myself actually enjoying it a little, but about halfway through, Noah stretched and adjusted his position to get more comfortable. His arm bumped against mine. My skin warmed on contact, and I wanted him to bump into me again.

Why didn’t I scoot closer when I had the chance?

Maybe I could accidentally move closer to him? Or was that stupid? Would it be totally obvious that I wanted to touch him?

I glanced over at Jake to see if he was watching us. If he was, that would give me a good enough reason to move closer, right? But he was super focused on what was happening on the screen, he had even pulled a notebook out and was taking notes on the movie.

I chuckled to myself. He wouldn't read the book, but he was diligent enough to take notes.

I gestured at Noah to check out what Jake was doing. He grinned at me, and it kind of felt like we had a moment. But then he went back to watching the movie.

I sighed and pulled out my phone to give my mind something else to focus on. Juliette had posted a bunch of photos of her and some guy at the Eiffel Tower. He was cute and had his arm around her. I would need to ask her about him the next time we talked.

"What are you looking at?" Noah leaned closer, his cheek almost touching mine as he peeked at my phone's screen.

I cleared my throat, surprised at how close he was. "J-just some photos of Juliette. Apparently, she doesn't have a problem finding guys in foreign countries, either."

He glanced down at her photo briefly before shrugging. "Eh, she's not my type."

What? "She's always been the type of every guy I've ever known."

Noah shook his head. "I don't see it."

I rolled my eyes. He had to be totally lying, but it was nice of him to try to not make me feel as self-conscious.

"I'll make sure to tell her she's not your type when she gets back next week."

He smiled back. "Make sure that you do."

"Hey, shhh." Jake waved a hand to quiet us. "Mr. Darcy is proposing to her like a boss."

Noah and I just looked at each other and laughed.

"You're really getting into this, aren't you?" Noah asked after his laughter died down.

Jake held a finger to his lips. "Seriously guys, he's asking her to marry him and insulting her at the same time. This guy is my hero. ”

Noah shook his head, as if realizing he wasn't going to get Jake to take his eyes away from the riveting movie.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and settled back in my seat. But as I resumed watching, I couldn't help but notice that Noah kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.