2. Noah

2

NOAH

"Paul, Brielle, and I are going to dinner at Friendly's tonight. You want to come?" Mom asked when I came down from my bedroom upstairs.

I didn't know why she asked. She knew just as well as I did that hanging out with Paul, my stepdad, was about the last thing I'd want to do. But I resisted the urge to roll my eyes because I knew better than to treat my mom with disrespect. She already had enough of that in her life, and the bruises from last time were just finally beginning to heal. "Not really."

"You sure?" She looked at me over her shoulder as she put a dangly earring in her ear. Paul liked her to dress up when they went out.

"I'll grab something on my way back to Easton's." Now that football season was over, I tried to spend as much time at his house as I could.

I didn't realize until a second later that I couldn't hang out with Easton tonight because he'd be on his date. Man, I needed a girlfriend again. I needed something to get me out of here and away from Paul when Easton was busy.

If only Ashlyn was still available and I hadn't completely killed any opportunity I might've had with her. But as much as I hated that Luke had stolen my ex-girlfriend, I knew she was probably a lot happier with him. I'd let my stepdad and the way he treated my mom get to me too much while we were dating, and I learned my lesson too late.

Oh well, that's just the way my life was meant to be.

I looked at the clock on the wall. Paul would be home from work in fifteen minutes. Time to head out again.

I went out the door and climbed into the car my dad bought me out of guilt for replacing me with his new family. Ten minutes later, I went through the slush-covered drive-thru at Wendy's and ate my burger and fries as I drove around absentmindedly.

I was pulling into the parking lot to the movie theater before I realized I'd driven there. Ashlyn's family owned the place, so I'd spent a lot of Friday nights over here last year. Apparently, my conversation with Easton and Lexi today had my subconscious guiding me to the theater.

Since I was already here and had nothing else to do, I scanned the list of movies on the big sign out front. There was a kid movie, a horror movie, the alien action movie Lexi had talked about, and the latest Zac Efron romantic movie.

Looks like I’ll get to watch Lexi on her "date" with her crush . That should be entertaining.

I got in line to get my ticket and concessions. The lobby was full, as typical for a Friday night. I felt a little weird going to a movie by myself, but if anyone from school saw me and had a problem with that, they could suck it.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and let my gaze wander around the room. Easton and his date were nowhere to be found, but after a good look around, I spotted Lexi standing with a bunch of guys from the grade below me. She hunched her shoulders, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was super uncomfortable. Maybe her date hadn't arrived yet?

But then I saw the guy who was supposed to be Lexi’s date, Harrison Carter. He'd been in one of my classes last year. And next to him was a leggy blonde, his arm around her waist.

Either Lexi had been embellishing her story about having a date with him tonight, or he'd asked two girls out. From the way he was looking at the blonde and ignoring Lexi, I got the feeling that he wasn't there for Lexi at all.

Poor girl. She really did like the guy. I was sure I'd overheard her and her friend giggling about Harrison last summer when I was at her house.

"Who invited the nerdy sophomore to hang out with us tonight?" a female voice sounded from behind me.

My ears perked up. Were they talking about Lexi?

Another voice spoke. "Harrison said he told her about going to the movie. Pretty sure she's stalking him."

"What a loser," the first girl said.

I clenched my hands into fists at my sides and looked back over to where Lexi stood. She was still in the same spot, but now she was gazing around the room as if looking for some excuse to leave the group.

The line ahead of me cleared out. I stepped forward, formulating a plan in my mind.

"I'd like one ticket for Whispers from Another Galaxy ." The girl at the counter tapped on her screen then turned it around for me to pick my seat. I chose one then asked, "Can I also get your biggest popcorn and two drinks?".

She nodded and put in my order. "What would you like to drink?"

I strummed my fingers on the counter, trying to remember what Lexi usually got. Then I remembered—we always ordered the same drink. "Two Cokes."

After I paid, I awkwardly gathered the popcorn in my arms and carried it with the two drinks over to Lexi. I swallowed and hoped she wouldn't punch me for what I was about to do. I never could be sure with Lexi .

I squeezed into the space between her and the lanky redhead to her left. "Sorry, it took so long to get the drinks. You wanted Coke, right?" I offered her the soda, hoping she'd play along.

At first, she startled, but then her face went through a range of emotions: shock to confusion to relief.

Her lips quirked up into a smile, and she took the soda-filled cup from my hand. "Thank you. I was worried we'd miss the previews, and I know how much you love those."

"Are you two here on a date?" a guy next to us asked, his eyebrows raised.

I looked at Lexi, giving her the opportunity to answer that question however she wanted.

She linked her arm through mine and gave the guy a broad smile. "Yeah, of course. Did you think I came here by myself?" She winked at me, and I worked hard to hold in my chuckle. I'd committed to this when I first came over here; I wouldn't blow it now.

The guy had the insight not to look too surprised, which I had to give him credit for. I knew my reputation around the school. I wasn't exactly known for hanging out with Lexi's crowd—usually going more for the drill team and cheerleaders. But who was to say I wouldn't ever branch away from my typical type? Me taking Lexi on a date couldn't be that far-fetched. She was two years younger than me, and yeah, she was kind of nerdy and could talk circles around me when it came to music and science, but she had always been fun to hang around. And despite what she'd said earlier in my car, she was kind of cute in her big glasses. And I liked that she was short enough that I could wrap her under my arm if I wanted to. Not that I'd thought about that before...

"Should we go find our seats?" I asked, not wanting to make small talk with a bunch of people I didn't know very well.

She sighed and gave my arm a gentle squeeze. "Yes. You know how much I love Justin Banks."

"And you know how much I love previews." It was a super corny thing to say, but I actually did like watching the previews and seeing which movies were coming out next.

We handed our tickets to the guy at the ticket podium then headed to theater four. It wasn't until we were looking at our seat numbers that I realized we wouldn't be able to actually sit by each other.

"What's wrong?" she asked when she noticed my troubled expression.

I held up my ticket. "I'm sitting in seat 4I." Then I pointed to hers. "And you're sitting in seat 15J."

Understanding replaced her look of confusion, and she bit her lip. "I guess that is a problem."

"There was still a seat open next to mine when I bought the ticket. Do you want me to see if I could trade yours? Or do you want to still sit with your friends?"

"And let them know that I totally lied to them?" Her eyes were wide. "I'll wait here with the drinks and popcorn while you go check."

I walked her to a bench and then left her with my armload of junk food. A few minutes later I was back. I held up the new ticket. "Looks like you get to cuddle with me tonight after all."

Her cheeks flushed at my joke. "We're not cuddling."

"Fine." I shrugged. "I'm just saying that if you really want to sell this to your friends in there, you might need to get a little closer."

She smacked my arm and gave me a warning look. "Stop messing with me, Noah. I'm already nervous enough as it is."

I laughed. "Come on. It's not like we've never watched a movie together before."

"Yes. But you know as well as I do that I've never been on a date before, so yeah, cuddling is definitely out of my comfort zone. Even if it’s fake."

Would she count this as her first date then? That wasn't an unpleasant thought.

"Well, since this is your first date, I promise to be a complete gentleman and follow your lead."

She smiled and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank you. "

"Though, if you do decide that you wanted your first date to end in a first kiss, I can get on board with that, too." I winked. I couldn't help myself, and the look of terror in her eyes was totally worth it.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. Let's go find our seats, okay?" She turned on her heel and left me to carry the popcorn and both of our drinks.