"It's just me," I said through gritted teeth, the throbbing pain in my head making it hard not to release a string of curse words that would probably make angelic Lexi blush.
But telling her it was just me in her room and not a serial killer didn't seem to calm her down at all. Instead, it had the opposite effect. Her hand groped around for another few seconds—touching her phone, a book, and then her lamp before it stopped on her glasses. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and slid her glasses on.
Her eyes focused on me a second later. "Why are you making so many loud noises?" she whispered. "Are you trying to get us caught and me grounded for the rest of my life?"
I continued to rub the spot on my head that was already turning into a big bump.
"You think I purposely banged my head on your closet?"
That seemed to bring her back to reality, and she took a deep breath before relaxing against her headboard. "Sorry, I just heard this loud sound and woke up."
I leaned against the closet door frame. "Sorry to scare you."
"Is your head okay? That sounded pretty painful from how loud it was."
Itwaspretty tender. "A bag of ice might be nice."
She pushed her blankets away and kicked them the rest of the way down. "Okay, I'll see if I can sneak some up here. Just stay in there, okay? I'm going to leave my bedroom door open, so my dad won’t think I'm hiding something in here."
"Okay." And I stepped back into the closet, shut the door, and waited in the dark for her to return.
I listened to the muffled sounds of her family going through their morning routine. It sounded like her dad was talking to her about something. It took a while for her to come back, but eventually, her bedroom door clicked shut, and then she was opening the closet door for me to come out.
"Here, sit on my bed and let me look at it," she instructed.
I did as I was told. She stood in front of me, handed me the ice pack, and then was looking intently at my hair. "Which side hurts?"
"Right on top." I pointed to the spot about halfway down the center of my head.
She gently touched a couple of places on my scalp.
"Ouch," I said, once she'd found the spot.
"Sorry." She leaned closer to get a better view. And I couldn't help but notice how good she smelled. Pretty sureI stank first thing in the morning, but she smelled amazing.
Which reminded me to shut my mouth, so she wouldn't be as likely to catch a whiff of my nasty morning breath. I may be a homeless guy at the moment, but that didn't mean she needed to smell it on me.
I closed my eyes as she pushed my hair aside to get a better look. Chills ran down my neck from the way it felt to have her hands in my hair, nerve endings sparking to life. I wondered what it would feel like to have her run her hands through my hair as I kissed her...
"Looks like you hit your head pretty good there. But there isn't a cut or anything, so I think you'll be okay."
I opened my eyes, coming back to reality and stopping myself from daydreaming about pulling her onto my lap and keeping her there.
She'd probably scream if I did that anyway, and then our secret would definitely be out. So I kept my hands obediently in my lap even though they were itching to touch her.
She took the ice pack from my hands and gently set it on top of my head. "How about you just lie down on my bed and keep this on your bump for the next twenty minutes?"
"You don't think your dad or Easton will find me? I can try to get the window open and sneak out to my car."
She stepped back and seemed to study me. "My dadhas to go into the office early again today, so I can just tell Easton that you're coming to pick me up again and you can come out once he's gone."
"Okay." I lay down on her bed, trying not to think about how she'd just been asleep here moments before.
What was happening to me? Why was I suddenly having these kinds of thoughts about Lexi? This was not part of our plan.
She wrung her hands in front of her. "I, um, have to take a shower, though. Just, uh, stay over there, okay?"
She was cute when she was nervous. And for the first time, I was thinking that maybe she did have a reason to be nervous, because I was starting to have physical reactions that I shouldn’t be having to her presence.