Page 32 of It Was Always You

She crossed her arms over her chest. "This is serious, Noah. Why are you sleeping in your car in the middle of winter?"

I adjusted my seat to sit up straighter. "Technically, it's not the middle of winter. It's only the first week of December."

"Noah."

I turned away, not wanting to meet her gaze. "Remember how I said my life is complicated right now?"

"Yes?"

I sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you what's going on, if you promise not to tell anyone."

"Not anyone?" she asked. "What about Easton?"

"Not even Easton." The fewer people who knew about my situation, the better.

She tucked some of her hair behind her ear, her face going through a range of emotions as if she was having an internal debate on whether she would keep my secret or not. But then she finally said, "I can keep a secret."

"Okay, climb in." I pointed to the driver's seat. While she made her way around my car, I shimmied out of my sleeping bags and stuffed them in the backseat.

She climbed inside. I angled the heater vents so they were now turned toward both of us instead of just at the passenger side like I did during the night. That was when I saw the time. It was already seven. I must have turned off my alarm and not even noticed. I wasn't going to get my sneaky shower in today.

"What are you even doing outside this early in the morning? Don't you have to get ready for school?" I asked, trying to distract her now that the moment of truth had actually arrived.

She shrugged. "Last night, I saw you drive the wrong way home and park down the road. I didn't think much of it, just figured you were pulling over to text someone or something, but then when I looked out my window and saw your car was still there, I got worried and had to check on you."

She was worried about me? No one else seemed tocare when I came and went, but Lexi actually cared? I didn't know how I felt about that.

She became serious. "Are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to keep trying to distract me with questions?" she asked.

My shoulders sagged. I stared straight ahead. "My stepdad kind of kicked me out of the house last week."

"Your stepdad kicked you out?" Her voice came out loud and disbelieving.

I held a finger to my lips. "You don't need to announce it to the whole neighborhood." They didn't need to know that no one wanted me around.

"Why did he kick you out?" she looked worried—like she thought I might have done something unforgivable to get myself kicked out of my own home.

I sighed. If Ihaddone something wrong, then I could at least understand what was going on and would have the power to fix things myself. But I wasn't the real problem. The real problem was Paul and my dad. "My mom told me to spend some time at my dad's place. But since I like him only a tiny bit more than the stepdad, I decided to give my good old car a try. It's actually not so bad."

"Do you hear how stupid that sounds?" She shook her head. "It'sfreezing, Noah."

Yeah, pretty sure I knew that better than anyone else in this car right now.

"I'm sleeping in two sleeping bags, and if it really getsthat bad, I can just turn on my car and warm it up for a bit. It's not that big of a deal."

She didn't look like she accepted my reasoning, but she said, "What about your meals? Is this why you're always eating out?"

I shrugged. "Breakfast is overrated. You see me eat lunch at school. And your dad and those fast-food workers are pretty good cooks, so I'm good." At least I'd be good for a couple of days until my money ran out. I'd had to fill up my car with gas earlier than I'd expected, thanks to running the heater all night.

"Do you hear yourself? Why don't you just go home?"

I pinched my eyes shut. How could I explain without airing my family's dirty laundry to the world?

Nothing came to mind, so I went with lying. "I'm trying to prove a point to my mom."

"Freezing to death is not worth proving a point. What could be so important to risk that?"

I crossed my arms. "I don't really want to talk about it."

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