33. Lexi

33

LEXI

My dad took the doors off my bedroom, and closet the next day with the words, "Privacy is a privilege." And then he told me I would be volunteering to help Mrs. Vincenzo from down the street with her newborn twins for the next week to remind me of how much work babies really are.

"I was there for Grant, Dad. I remember things with him pretty clearly."

My dad just shrugged. "It's always good to have a refresher. Maybe I should recommend the same punishment to Noah's parents."

"Oh my heck, Dad! You saw us kiss one time. We were not making a baby." Just saying that last sentence made me squirm. I hated that I even had to say that to my dad.

"Kissing in your bedroom is where it all starts. "

"The door was open."

"Yes, but it was not open those two nights Noah slept in your closet."

I sighed. He had me there.

My dad leaned my now free-standing doors against the wall in the hall then looked back at me. "Tell me this, Lexi. If you had walked in on Easton and a girl kissing in his room, and then found out that she'd been sleeping in there, what would you think?"

I cast my gaze down, digging a toe into the carpet. "I'd maybe worry about what was going on." Especially after what Easton had hinted about yesterday.

Dad smiled and nodded like I was finally getting his point. "Exactly."

"But nothing was going on. I'd barely had my first kiss."

"That's how it all starts, Lexi. One thing leads to another and another—you start to get more comfortable, and then before you know it, you're telling me that I'm going to be a grandpa again."

I shook my head, feeling the anger flare inside of me.

"When are you ever going to see that I'm not my sister? This is the first time I've ever broken the rules. I get straight A's in school. I babysit Grant for free to help Maddie out. I have good friends. I don't do drugs." I sighed. When was I ever going to stop being punished for things I hadn't even done? "I was really just trying to help Noah out. You can talk to Mr. Taylor. He can tell you that Noah was sleeping in his car."

My dad grunted. "I already did."

"You did?"

"I spoke to Mr. Taylor last night and he told me about Noah's family situation."

"So you understand why I had to do what I did, right?"

"You should have just told me he needed a place to stay in the first place, Lexi." He sighed heavily, his blue eyes more tired-looking than they should have been for this early in the day. I really was stressing him out. "As it is, I don't feel like I can trust you anymore."

"But—" I wanted to argue with him that I was totally trustworthy. Then I remembered all the lying and sneaking around I'd done over the past week, and I knew it was far from the truth.

How had I even gotten here? I barely recognized myself anymore.

I looked down and finally said, "I understand."

"Look, Lexi, I know I haven't exactly made things easy on you, either." When I looked up, there was more gentleness in my dad's eyes than I'd seen in a while. "I've been letting my fears over what your sister did in high school rule the way I've been parenting you. And I know that isn't fair. Yes, you are both my daughters, but you're two very different girls. And maybe if I hadn't been so strict with Maddie, she might not have pushed so hard against my rules."

I nodded, though I didn't know if I fully understood him.

"What I'm trying to say is, yes, what you did was wrong and you will be punished for sneaking around." He gestured to the doors behind him. "But I also don't want to push you away. If we can set up some rules, then I think we might be able to find a common ground to stand on."

"I think setting up some reasonable rules would be nice." Emphasis on reasonable. I knew who I was dealing with here.

But if there was even a chance that he'd ever let me see Noah again, I was willing to listen.

That is, if Noah still wants to see me after last night.

I'd tried to call and text him several times already, but all I got was his voicemail and a bunch of silence.

"I'm going to take some time to think this over. Let's talk again tomorrow, okay?" My dad lifted the doors again and started walking down the hall.

That conversation had gone surprisingly well. Maybe my dad wasn't a tyrant after all.

But just before he turned the corner, he swiveled back and said, "But I'm still serious about you volunteering at the Vincenzo's. You can't be too careful these days."

I'd hoped that Noah was maybe just busy doing things with his family all day on Saturday to respond to my messages, but when I still hadn't heard back from him on Sunday, I started to get worried.

Maybe my dad had really scared him off for good.

Or maybe Easton was right, and I had just been one of Noah's weekend flings.

I tried to keep myself busy doing all the homework I'd neglected this week while hanging out with Noah. But I could only distract myself so much.

By the time Sunday evening rolled around, I was desperate. Was he okay? When I looked at the messages I'd sent him, they still just showed up as "sent" and not "read." Had he gotten in an accident on the way home from my house?

I knocked on Easton's door, even though I was still really mad at him for what he'd said.

"Have you heard from Noah since Friday?" I asked.

"No." He looked up from his Physics book. "But doesn't he talk to you more these days, anyway?"

I rolled my eyes. "Stop being such a drama queen, Easton."

"Well, instead of asking to sleep in his best friend's room while he was homeless, he snuck into my sister's closet. I'd say that warrants a little drama."

I wanted to kick him. He was so moody these days .

"Can you text him and see if he's okay? I just want to make sure he didn't get in a car accident or something."

Easton sighed in annoyance, like I was asking him to re-arrange the planets or something. "Fine. I'll text him."

"Thank you."