Page 14 of It Was Always You

"What secret?" Raven crossed her arms and looked at us both expectantly.

Noah shrugged. "It sounds like people are gossiping about how Lexi and I are secretly dating."

Raven's jaw dropped in surprise, and then she laughed—more like cackled. "People actually think youtwo are dating?" She pushed on his shoulder gently with her hand and laughed again. "That's the most ridiculous rumor I've ever heard." Then she glanced back at me. "In what universe would Noah date someone like you? Football players don't date band geeks."

Her words hit me like a physical punch to the gut. And despite trying my hardest to keep my reaction out of my face, I felt tears instantly prick at the back of my eyes. This wasn't the first time someone had said something like that to me. The one time I did go to a party with Easton and Noah this fall, I'd sat in the corner all night and listened to people whispering about why I was there and how I was too socially awkward to realize when I wasn't really invited somewhere.

And then of course I'd just done the same thing on Friday night with Harrison. When would I ever learn my place? Cool kids didn't hang out with people like me. We belonged in different worlds.

After searching my eyes for a moment, as if he was seeing right through me, Noah raised an eyebrow at Raven. To my amazement, instead of laughing with her, he said, "Shut up, Raven. You don't know what you're talking about."

Her black eyebrows squished together. "You're not actually saying that you two...?" She waved her hand in our direction. "You're not actuallydating?"

It sounded like she gagged trying to get that last sentence out.

Then Noah did something that I'd never expected. He stood, winked at me so only I could see it, and then put his arm around my shoulders. "We've been trying to keep it a secret because of Easton. But, yeah, we're dating."

He met my stupefied gaze, and I knew my face had to show how shocked I felt. He was stepping in and saving me from humiliation once again.

But then I remembered something. He probably hadn't heard the new rumors from this morning. Which meant, he had no idea what all the people who had heard the gossip were thinking we were doing when we were alone.

I stood on my tippy toes and leaned closer to him to speak, catching a whiff of his too-good-smelling cologne. "I-I don't think you understand what people are saying about us."

He looked around, seeming to notice for the first time that we had an audience. He winked at the freshmen sitting at the next table, staring at us with their mouths hanging open. Noahactuallywinked at them as if they were all in on some sort of plan together. Then he looked back to me and spoke in a dramatic voice. "I don't care what people say. I only care about you and me."

Okay, now he was just putting on a show.

Then he turned to face me and weaved the fingers of his right hand through my hair. His eyes dipped down to my lips.

Excitement and terror exploded inside me at the same time. What was he going to do? Was he going to kiss me? Right here in front of everyone?

I'd barely had time to register that I didn't know the first thing about kissing or whether I even wanted him to do it, when my brother's voice boomed from behind me.

"What's going on here?" Easton came to stand by us. "When I heard the rumors, I laughed at them. But..." His blue eyes inspected us, taking in the way Noah was holding me. Then his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Are you sneaking around behind my back?"

I extricated myself from Noah's arms, rubbing my sweaty palms on my jeans. "Noah's just joking around. O-of course there's nothing going on between us."

From behind Noah, Raven's brow furrowed. "It's just a joke? I knew it!"

Noah instantly pulled me against his side again. "Of course it's not a joke."

Easton raised his eyebrows. "That's my sister! I know how you are with girls, Noah. How could you even think this would be okay?" He crossed his arms. "And Lexi, what do you expect Dad to say when he finds out?"

My heart pounded harder at the mention of Dad who definitely couldn’t find out about this.

"Noah's just pretending. We're not dating." I slipped away from Noah again.

But Noah wasn't listening. Instead, he put his hand on my arm. "Lexi, seriously. You don't need to hide it anymore."

I looked at him, so confused. Why was he pushing this?

I cleared my throat. "Can we go talk in the hall? I think I need to tell you something before this goes any further."

"Sure." He winked. "We can gotalk."

Easton perked up at that. "I'm coming, too."

I almost expected Raven to say she was joining us as well, but she stabbed a piece of pineapple with her fork instead. "Oh fine. Just leave me to eat my lunch alone."

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