25. Lexi

25

LEXI

"Noah and I broke up today," I spoke into the computer screen as I video-called Juliette after school.

"Already? That was only, like, five days," she said.

The best five days of my life. But it was all over now. Whatever Noah and I had had together ended the moment Easton came to take him away from me. It was fate making the world balanced again—in a way. Easton had always been there. Always the one Noah had chosen.

"At least I got to kiss him once."

"You kissed Noah? How did I not know about this?" Juliette pretty much shouted at me through the screen.

I'd been so busy with Noah the past twenty-four hours that I hadn't even thought to tell my best friend about it. "Sorry, it all happened so fast."

She scowled, like she wasn't going to accept my apology, but then she grinned. "I guess I can forgive you, but only if you tell me every little detail."

" Every detail?" My cheeks heated further as memories of Noah pressing himself against me under the bleachers came to my mind.

"Yes, Lexi. It isn't fair that I'm the one who goes to Paris, and you're the one who gets this big adventure."

I rolled my eyes. "You are so overdramatic sometimes. I saw those photos you posted on Instagram this week. You can't tell me that you're not having fun when I can see the hot guy you've been hanging out with."

She laughed. "Um, don't believe everything you see on the Internet these days." When she saw my confused look, she continued, "That was just Evan. He was helping me make someone jealous."

"Who are you trying to make jealous?" I asked. Juliette was always up to something, it seemed.

She waved her hand. "No one important. Anyway, you still need to give me details of your epic kiss with Mr. Hottie McHot Hot, Noah Taylor."

I laughed at her use of our old nickname for Noah. "It was good."

"Good?" She shook her blondish-gray hair on the screen. "You cannot just tell me that you kissed Noah and say it was good. This was your first kiss. Were you nervous?"

Nervous would be an understatement. " Yeah, I was pretty nervous. But, I don't know, Noah somehow made it okay. At least it was way less awkward than I imagined it would be." Yes, even in my past daydreams of kissing Noah, I still failed at the kissing thing. Apparently, my subconscious really didn't think much about our chances, either.

"So, was it just like a peck or a full-on make-out?”

I laughed. Juliette was going to get all the details out of me that she could. "Probably somewhere in the middle."

Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. "You practically made out with him! This is huge, Lexi!"

I smiled, unable to keep the goofy grin off my face. It was kind of surreal. "And you want to know one of the best parts?"

"Of course."

"He didn't seem like he wanted to end it. He actually told me that I'm a natural." I bit my lip to keep the excitement from bursting out of me.

"Of course you are, Lexi. You're pretty much good at everything you try. School, band, skateboarding...dating your brother's best friend."

That sobered me right up. "Well, we both know that last one can’t be true. Because if I was an expert at that, he wouldn't have broken up with me so soon."

"Or maybe he just didn't want to risk the wrath of protective Mr. Stevens."

"Maybe." Or maybe it was just that our relationship had served its purpose and it was time for me to come back to reality and move on.

"So what are you guys doing from now on? Are you going to try to talk to Harrison again?"

I gave her a small shake of my head. "I don't think so."

"I'm sure you could get any guy you want now after dating Noah. If nothing else, guys can't be as scared of your dad after seeing that bad-boy Noah Taylor was able to date you."

I sighed. "I doubt that. My dad freaked out when he saw Noah and me alone in the basement last night."

I told her all about that conversation.

"So maybe it really is your dad's fault that Noah got scared off."

I thought about it. It was possible. I wouldn't put it past him.

"Did he say anything about his future dating plans?" Juliette asked.

I shook my head. "No. It seemed like he was going to say something to me before we had to finish our break-up, but Easton came in and ended that."

"Easton is interesting." She said it like she was talking about something else. I wanted to ask her what it was, because after my conversation with Easton last night about Juliette coming back, I couldn't help but wonder if something had happened between them that I didn't know about .

But before I could ask, she said, "So since we know you're not going to try to go after Harrison, and it doesn't look like Noah had another conquest in mind, how are you going to get him back?"

"Get him back? I don't think I ever really had him."

"From what you've told me, it kind of sounds like you did."

I let that thought sink in. Did I have Noah? Was that even possible? The memory of the way he looked at me before we departed. That hug. The gentle kiss on the cheek. Maybe I had him more than I thought.

"I can tell from the look on your face that it might be a possibility," Juliette interrupted my musings. "So, I'm going to share my expertise on the subject. You said when you started this thing that Noah told you guys wanted what they can't have. I think you should put that to the test. Make it so Noah can't help but notice you. Make him step up and be a man."

The thought of doing that gave me hives. "I'm not like you, Juliette. I don't do the whole make-him-jealous kind of thing. I could never pull off something like that."

"We may be different, but you have your own set of qualities that I could never even dream of having. Just use those. There's a basketball game tonight, right?"

"Yes..." I said slowly, clueless to what she might be getting at.

"Okay, so watch for Noah while you're there. I know you can't help the band shirt, but you can wear your favorite jeans. Maybe even put on some mascara. I don't know, just make sure he can't help but notice you." She got a devilish grin on her face. "And, you might think this is totally evil of me to suggest, but just talk to other guys. If I know Noah like I think I do, that one thing alone will make him want to mark his territory."

"Eww, not the image I need in my mind right now."

"I don't mean get him to pee on the fire hydrant." Juliette laughed. "You just watch, Lexi. Do those things that I've said, and you will have Noah Taylor not only begging you to be his girlfriend, but to be his everything. I think you have set this up perfectly for you that you may possibly get your second kiss this week."

Butterflies erupted in my stomach at her last words. "Okay, I'll do my best."

She beamed at me all the way from Paris. "Make sure to keep me updated on what happens tonight."

"I will."

"Great. I'll see you in a week!"

I nodded. " Au revoir ."

She blew me a kiss through the phone. " A bient?t ."

I went through every combination of jeans and boots I had after getting off the phone with Juliette. I still wasn't convinced that her plan would even work, but I figured it was worth a shot. It wasn't like I had anything to lose.

After pulling on a pair of black skinny jeans and my cute boots with the fringe, I went into my bathroom to see what I had to work with as far as cosmetics. I found an old tube of mascara in the back of my drawer, ran it through my lashes a few times—only having to clean up with makeup remover once—and then I added some brown eyeshadow and lip gloss, and called it good. I was wearing more makeup than I had worn in months. I hoped it wouldn't look like I was trying too hard.

I pulled my hair down from the ponytail it had been in all day and blow-dried it to get the kinks out. I didn't own a curling iron, so the straight look would just have to do.

Once I was sufficiently dolled up, to my low expectations anyway, I grabbed my trumpet and met Easton downstairs to head to the game.

He stared at me for a minute. "You look different."

I looked around awkwardly. "Yep."

And that was all we said on the subject of my altered appearance. I hoped Easton wouldn't realize that I was trying to get his best friend back.

When I got to the gym, the pep band was already mostly set up. I took my seat on the end—the place I had sat earlier this week next to Harrison—and got myself ready to play the part of a super confident girl who had just broken up with her hot boyfriend.

"Will Noah be joining us again?" Harrison asked as I opened my trumpet case.

He apparently hadn't noticed our quiet breaking apart during lunch time. There had been quite a few questions for me about it through the rest of the day, but mostly from sophomores and people I'd usually talked to at school.

I swallowed. "No, he won't be. We broke up."

Harrison's blonde eyebrows arched. "Really? That's surprising."

I nodded. "Yeah, it just wasn't meant to be, I guess."

"Sorry to hear that. It looks like you two got along really great," Harrison said.

And we had. Things had been amazing. And before I could prepare myself for it, a wave of emotion chose right then to hit me. I hadn't cried in years, but now, sitting in the crowded gym, my eyes suddenly decided it was time to finally let out the emotions I’d always liked to keep bottled up.

I shook my head to try to push the urge away.

But then I saw him. Noah.

He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, just like he had been at the last game, searching the crowd. But he wasn't looking for me like he had been last time. He did a little head nod after a second, and then walked over to where Easton was waving at him—right on the row in front of the cheerleaders.

His usual spot. It was the final sign that the world had officially gone back to normal.

"That's got to be rough, seeing him right after your break-up," Harrison said quietly.

I nodded and wiped at my eyes. "Yeah."

"I'm lucky my ex goes to another school," Harrison said.

I turned my gaze away from Noah to peer at Harrison. "Your ex -girlfriend? Did you just break up, too?"

He let out a long breath. "We broke up Wednesday night."

My lips pulled down into a frown. "I'm sorry to hear that. She seemed like she was a really nice girl."

Okay, so it was kind of a lie. I had hated her when I'd seen her on Friday. But I was over him now, so I didn't really need to let him know that I’d been jealous.

"I should've known it was gonna happen. Turns out her ex-boyfriend found out that she had moved on and he didn't like it. So he asked her to take him back, and she did."

"Let me guess, he was popular and hot."

Harrison nodded. "Yup. Student Body President."

In this, Harrison and I were very similar. We were the band geeks who would always be tossed aside when something better came along .

I gave him a sympathetic look. "For what it's worth, it's her loss, really."

He gave me a sad smile. "I could say the same for you." He put his arm around me and gave me a brief squeeze before letting his arm drop. And I couldn't help but think about how ironic everything was. I had done so many crazy things this week that could qualify me as a good candidate for a mental institution—and I did them all just so that Harrison would talk to me like this and put his arm around me. But now that he had done it, I didn't even care. Because I only cared about Noah.

I was so pathetic.

I looked down at where Noah was sitting and noticed him watching me. But instead of the almost-sad gaze that he’d given me during lunch when I sat at the other table, his face contorted into a grimace. I looked away.

So maybe he hated me now.

Perfect.