Page 37 of It Was Always You

We made it to my car, and instead of focusing on things I couldn't change, I focused on something I could control. And that was being the best fake boyfriend that I could be and keeping girls like Raven from getting caught up in my messy life.

So I opened Lexi's door for her and pretended like I was a gentleman. And since no good deed should go unnoticed, I checked the area for any onlookers.

Was it such a bad thing to want people to know that I did have redeeming qualities some of the time?

Sadly for my ego, no one was paying attention to us. But that was okay. It would be good for me to do nice things like this, anyway.

I tossed my backpack in the backseat then climbed in my side of the car and buckled in.

Lexi’s fingers fidgeted in her lap, as if she was trying to get the courage to say something.

She finally cleared her throat. "You could always just come over to my house right now. And, I don't know, I guess we could wash your laundry. I don't think anyone would notice since my dad will still be at work for the next couple of hours and Easton has work, too. It would save you money, at least."

She was looking at me carefully, like she was worried she might offend me with her offer. A big part of me wanted to tell her not to worry, that I was a big boy and could take care of myself. But then there was also a warmth growing in my chest, softening the hard shell I'd put up around my heart.

It would be nice to save more of my dwindling stash of money. So I nodded. "Okay, I'll take you up on that."

She smiled at me, a truly happy smile that made me feel like I'd just helped her instead of the opposite. "Great. And I already talked to my dad today, and he said that you can eat dinner with us if you wanted."

The warm feeling went away. "Did you tell him that I'm sleeping in my car?" If she had told her dad... I shook my head. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if she was telling people. I thought I could trust her!

"Of course not! I just said we were gonna be working on your school project for English today. He has no idea what's really going on."

I exhaled. "Okay, good."

We parked in front of the Stevens’ house ten minutes later. I grabbed my duffel bag from where I stored it in the trunk with my other homeless-teenager stuff. Lexi led me inside. Our first stop was the laundry room which was just adjacent from their small kitchen.

"The detergent is in that cupboard." She pointed at the cupboard above the washing machine. "I usually have to use a stool to reach and fill the cup, but you should be fine."

Lexi discreetly ran her gaze up and down my body. And for the first time, I wondered what she thought of me. We'd known each other for years, but I'd never given much thought to how Lexi would see me. Did she like what she saw when she looked at me? Because I was starting to think that maybe glasses weren't nearly as nerdy-looking as I'd originally thought.

"I guess being a giant does have some perks." I shrugged, hoping she couldn't read my thoughts on my face.

"Yeah, don't rub it in."

"Being vertically challenged isn't the worst thing in the world," I said as I set my duffel bag on top of the washing machine.

She rolled her eyes. "It is, when your dad and brother are tall, and you have to take a stool everywhere just to reach the things they like to store up high."

"Better than hitting your head on ceiling fans everywhere you go."

She opened the door to the washing machine. "I guess we all have our problems."

I stared ahead at the duffel bag and the washer, wondering what I was supposed to do next. "Um, so I've actually never done laundry by myself before. Is there a certain way I should be doing this?"

Her mouth dropped. "You're eighteen years old and you’ve never washed a load of laundry?"

It wasn't that weird, was it? "I thought it magically appeared in my drawers every week." I grinned so she knew that I was joking. Of course, I knew that my mom washed my laundry. And I liked to think I was a good enough of a son to appreciate it.

She folded her arms across her chest. "Well, since not all of us have these magical laundry fairies at our house, I guess I can teach you. I've been doing my own since I was in elementary."

"Since elementary?" Really?

She shrugged. "Well, I kind of had to learn if I wanted to have clean clothes to wear every day, instead of just when my dad had time to get to it."

That made sense. I hadn't known her family then, butfrom what Easton had told me, it sounded like things were pretty crazy at their house when her mom first left them. Things had definitely been hard on my mom after she got divorced, but she'd only had one kid then. Mr. Stevens had three kids, and if I remembered right, I was pretty sure they'd all been under the age of eight at the time.

Being a single parent was hard. Which was probably one of the reasons why my mom wasn't willing to leave Paul. She'd been a single mom before. She didn't want to do it again.

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