Page 51 of It Was Always You

I nodded. "Just to make sure."

But before he could close the distance between us again, Ashlyn Brooks and Luke Davenport—of all people—appeared at the opening under the bleachers.

Just let me die, please.

Noah immediately straightened, standing to his full height. I pushed myself away from him at the same time, feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment over getting caught by Noah's ex and her new boyfriend.

It took them a few seconds, but they soon noticed us, too.

"Sorry, we didn't realize this was your spot," Luke said. "Mr. Sawyer locked the Chem lab today."

Okay, I did not need to know where those two usually made out. It was so weird.

"It's okay. We were just leaving." Noah's jaw flexed as he took my hand and led me out from under the bleachers. I kept my eyes trained on my feet, partly so I wouldn't trip on anything and partly because I was too embarrassed to meet Ashlyn and Luke's gazes. What would Ashlyn think of her ex-boyfriend kissing a lowly sophomore under the bleachers?

I hoped she was too infatuated with her new boyfriend to really care much about it.

And I hoped Noah was over Ashlyn enough not to care about being caught, either. I didn't want him to be embarrassed by me.

Ashlyn and Luke moved aside so we could get past them. "It's all yours." Noah's voice was more gruff than usual.

"Thanks," Ashlyn said, without any hint of awkwardness in her voice. "And I've been meaning to tell you all week, but I think it's so cute that you two got together."

16

NOAH

Walking backto the cafeteria with Lexi and our trays of food felt different this time. I was even more aware of my surroundings than usual, hyper-aware of her. While I hated that Ashlyn and Luke had interrupted us, I knew it was probably a good thing, too. Kissing Lexi once under the bleachers for practice was one thing. Kissing a second time—when it was clear she didn't need any practice at all since her trumpet-playing skills really must have translated into kissing skills—now that was crossing the line.

But that didn't keep me from thinking about the kiss. It had been amazing. Better than amazing. Usually, when I kissed a girl, all I wanted to do was slip my tongue down her throat and satisfy some sort of hormonal hunger that was out of control. I never cared about the feelings of thegirl I was with. It had always been about me, and what I wanted to feel. But it was different with Lexi. Maybe it was because she'd never been kissed before, or maybe it was because I knew her dad would kill me if he found out. But I wasn't so sure it was either of those things. Maybe, just maybe it was different with Lexi because I was starting to like her as more than just my fake girlfriend.

This was so bad. So messed up. I shouldn't want to kiss Easton's little sister—the girl I'd always thought was too nerdy to check out when she walked by. But spending so much time with her these past few days was making me notice things I'd never taken a second glance at before. Like how Lexi's eyes were more than just the typical hazel. She had lots of green flecks in them, and that had caught me off guard. And I loved that because her glasses were so thick, it made her eyes even more magnified and easier to get lost in.

It was so weird that I liked that about her.

The smattering of freckles across her nose were kind of adorable. I’d probably never used that word before in my life, but Lexi Stevens was freaking adorable and it was making me lose my mind.

"You want to hang out again after school?" I asked Lexi as I walked her to her next class after lunch. She was hugging her books to her chest, and I was worried that kiss might have weirded her out too much to hold my hand at school anymore.

She looked up. "Got more laundry to do?"

I shrugged. "No. I was thinking of actually just hanging out."

"Because Easton has work and you have nothing better to do?" she asked.

Man, I really had ignored her pretty badly over the past few years, hadn't I? If I wanted her to see me differently than she always had, I needed to step up my game. Maybe I should suggest a movie? I did have thatPride and Prejudicetest coming up, and while I had understood some of the book, I could definitely use a refresher.

"Would you mind watchingPride and Prejudicewith me?"

She gave me a wary glance. "You know I don't like movies like that, right?"

Was she trying to turn me down? Was I annoying her with how much time I was spending with her?

"Um, okay... Yeah, I'll, uh, find somewhere else to watch it. That's okay."

Wow, I had definitely interpreted everything wrong between us. Here I'd thought that maybe she enjoyed spending time with me, but clearly, she saw the time spent together as more like a job.

I looked around for a reason to just leave this conversation right now, since walking her to class was probably not the gentlemanly gesture I thought it was.

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