19. Lexi

19

LEXI

My dad sat down on the other side of the couch. I wasn't usually afraid of him since he was my dad, but he didn’t look happy at all. And I had a feeling it had everything to do with him finding me at home alone with Noah Taylor. I'd fallen asleep while watching a movie, but that wasn't a crime, was it?

My dad looked at me with his stern expression. "Is there something going on between you and Noah?"

What exactly had he seen? Did he somehow find out that Noah had slept in my closet last night? Or had someone said something to him about Noah and I pretending to date?

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping my non-committal answer wouldn't make him even more upset.

"I saw the way you were laying on him. We have rules, Lexi." Okay, so he didn't know about everything else. But this still wasn't good.

"Laying on him?" My voice squeaked. I'd been sleeping, but I hadn't been sprawled on Noah, had I?

"Don't play stupid with me. Why were you two sitting alone in the dark basement?"

My stomach shrunk in on itself. When he put it like that, it sounded really bad.

"I wasn't l-laying on Noah." I stuttered. "We were watching a movie for his class, and I fell asleep. And we weren't even alone—Jake Haley was here, too."

Where had Jake gone, anyway? How long had I been asleep?

"You were alone with that boy when I got home. I wouldn't put it past Noah to pull some kind of stunt with you. Just yesterday, his dad was telling me about how Noah’s always getting into trouble. I don't want you spending time with him anymore. In fact, I'm going to talk to Easton about it when he gets home."

Frustration bubbled up inside me, my muscles tensed into knots. He couldn't do that.

"His dad doesn't have any idea what's going on with Noah."

"His dad thinks he's getting into drugs."

"His dad is a jerk who doesn't even take five minutes to listen to his son," I said before I could think better of it. At my father's glare, I shut my mouth .

"Then why else would Noah be getting into fights all the time? Mr. Taylor says he's pretty much emptied his bank account in the past week."

Because he's homeless! I wanted to shout. And I wanted to march up to Mr. Taylor and tell him what was really going on with his son. But I bit down the words. That was Noah's secret to tell. I made him a promise and I wanted him to trust me.

So I said the only thing I could. "He's not getting into drugs. I would know if he was."

"And why would you know, Lexi? Are you sure there isn't anything going on between you two?" Dad narrowed his eyes at me, and I couldn't get over the feeling that he might see right through me.

"I just know, Dad. Nothing’s going on."

"Didn't look like nothing from the look on that boy's face when he saw me. That was the look of trouble."

What had Noah been doing while I was sleeping? My dad made it sound like I was on top of Noah. Had I really fallen asleep on him...and he didn’t shove me away? Was it possible that he was okay with me being so close to him? I really hoped I didn't snore.

I shook my head. "We're barely friends. He just needed a place to watch a movie for class."

"And he couldn't do that at his own house?"

I looked down. "No."

My dad pursed his lips. "I don't want you spending any more time alone with that boy in this house. It's against our rules, and you know that."

"But we weren't alone. Jake was here until a few minutes ago."

"Those are the exact same things your sister said to me. And I love Grant, he's my little buddy, but your sister had a hard time of it. She was lucky to have you to help out so much with Grant. But I won't let that happen to one of my girls again. You need to be smart."

Why did he always have to think I was up to something bad? I hated how just because Maddie had gotten into lots of trouble when she was my age that he assumed I was going to follow in her footsteps. I hadn't done a single thing wrong.

I laid my head back and blew out a frustrated breath. "We're just friends. He wouldn't dare do anything with me, anyway, even if we did want to...which we don't. Guys know all about my purity ring and my drill sergeant dad. Pretty sure I won't get asked out on a date until I'm hundreds of miles away at Yale. If then."

Which reminded me of exactly why Noah, or Harrison, or any guy for that matter would never dare touch me.

My paranoid dad was ruining my life. It wasn't fair that I was being punished for my sister's actions. When was I going to get to stop proving myself to him?

My dad stood then touched my shoulder. "I just want you to have more options in your life. Getting mixed up with the wrong crowd has more of an impact than you know."

I crossed my arms and glowered at him. "All I did was fall asleep. I'm not going to end up like Maddie."

"That's all I want to hear. Just make good choices and your life will be easier."

Except for the fact that I had always made good choices, yet my sister's choices were the ones making my life hard at the moment.

But instead of saying anything about that, I just sighed and said, "You don't have to worry about anything. I'm still planning to go to Yale. Nothing will get in the way of that."

My dad gave me a small smile, though his eyes told me he was still worried about me. But I tried not to look too hard or it would just make me feel guilty. I wasn't going to do what my sister did. But I wasn't going to just cut Noah out of my life. He needed someone right now, and at the moment, that someone was me. I wouldn't let him down.