Page 33 of It Was Always You

"Does anyone else know?"

"No, and if you're good at keeping secrets they won't know anytime soon."

She was quiet as if mulling something over. Was she trying to think of who to tell all my secrets to? Had she figured everything out and was going to report my mom to CPS or something?

Not that they would do anything since I was technically an adult now.

She finally turned back to look at me. "Just come home with me and you can at least eat some breakfast. My dad was making French toast when I came outside."

As if on cue, my stomach growled. "And how should I explain to your dad and Easton why I'm still wearing the clothes I wore yesterday? Or why I'm even at your house first thing in the morning?"

Her knee bounced. "My dad has to leave in a couple of minutes, so once he’s out we only have to worry about Easton."

"Okay."

Her eyes brightened. "How about I just tell Easton that you thought picking me up would be a great addition to our fake dating plan? Then you can just come over early enough and still be hungry for asecondbreakfast."

My stomach rumbled again. It would be nice to eat something before lunch today.

"Okay, I guess I'll just change in my car and hope no one else comes peeking into my windows."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "How long does it take you to shower?"

"Five minutes. Why?"

"I just figured that if you're the ‘jump in and get busy’ kind of guy, you could probably fit a shower in afterEaston leaves to school, and we could still make it to first period on time."

A shower would be nice. But that was also kind of weird. I'd never showered at a friend's house before.

She put her hand on the door handle, about to leave. "Just bring your backpack with some clothes. Once you see my dad drive away in his truck, come on over and we'll get you fed and showered. Okay?"

"Okay."

She still didn't climb out. "How have you been showering, anyway? Because there's no way that you're not. I would notice something like that."

"Locker room." I shrugged then let a smirk lift my lips. "Have you been sniffing me, Lexi?"

Her face turned red, which I was starting to think was one of my favorite looks on her. She was kind of cute when she was embarrassed.

She climbed out of my car. "I'll see you in a few minutes, Noah." Then she shut the door without answering my question.

Which had me thinking that maybe she had been sniffing me, and maybe she had liked my cologne.

I grabbed my backpack from the backseat, tossed some clothes and shower kit in it, and then also threw in my cologne, just so I could test my new theory out.

11

LEXI

I rushed backinto my house, sneaking in through the back door so my dad or Easton wouldn't realize that I'd been gone. Dad was still in the kitchen puttering around like he wasn't in a hurry at all. I checked the clock on the wall. He was supposed to be gone by now. Had I heard him wrong? Was that tomorrow instead of today that he needed to go into the office early?

I took off my coat and stashed it in the corner before he saw me. Then I tried to walk into the kitchen with as serene an expression as I could muster at that moment.

My dad turned when he saw me. "I left breakfast in the oven. Just put the leftovers in the fridge, okay?"

Okay, good. It sounded like he was going to leave any minute. I inhaled deeply, trying to even my breathing out after my dash down the street.

"Thanks for breakfast, Dad." I grabbed a plate from the cupboard and pulled the scrambled eggs and French toast from the warm oven.

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