Page 53 of It Was Always You

She bit her lip. "Sure. Yeah, he can come."

It didn't sound like she liked the idea.

"I can tell him no if you want. It's really no big deal."

She shook her head. "No that's fine. I mean, we have plenty of room downstairs."

"Great." I hurried and shot Jake a text, telling him to come around three-thirty. That should hopefully give us enough time to scrounge up a copy of the movie from somewhere.

"You knowyou're going to owe me big time for watching this movie with you, right?" Lexi asked as she took the DVD out of the case. We'd been fortunate enough to find a copy ofPride and Prejudiceat the library, so I didn't have to borrow from Ashlyn, the only other person who I knew for sure would have one of them on hand.

"It can't be that bad." I shrugged. "I mean, I read the book and didn't hate it too much, and I'm a guy."

"Yeah, but two hours and nine minutes without even a single action scene is a really long time."

"You don't have to watch it if you don't want to." I didn't want this to be some sort of chore for her.

"No," she hurried to say. "I'm going to watch it..." She looked around uncomfortably. "I mean, what would Jake think if I didn't watch it with you?"

"He'd probably wonder if something was up between us."

"Exactly."

"So what do I owe you, then?" I asked, feeling guilty about having her watch a movie she clearly hated.

She slid the disc into the movie player then looked at me over her shoulder. "Information."

Information? Really? That was a weird request.

"What do you want to know?" I wasn't going to give her my social security number if that's what she was hoping for.

She stood up and walked toward me. "Why did your stepdad kick you out of your house?"

Oh, that kind of information.

I ran a hand through my hair, and then dropped myself onto the sectional.

"It's stupid."

That was kind of the truth. The whole situation with Paul and my mom was stupid because she should have left him a long time ago.

Lexi sat on the cushion next to me, tucking one leg under her. "Just tell me. Ever since I found you in your car I've been going through all sorts of reasons in my mind for why you got kicked out. You're not in some kind of legal trouble, are you?"

"Legal trouble?" I laughed. She really did think I was some delinquent, didn't she?

She looked at her hands in her lap. "I-I overheard you talking to Ashlyn a couple of months ago about someone not pressing charges. And I just thought that with your reputation..."

"My reputation?" I blinked my eyes shut as my temper flared. "I’m so sick and tired of people thinking I'm a bad guy."

Lexi touched my arm briefly. "Hey, you don't need to get mad. I'm sorry if I offended you. I'm really just trying to figure this out with the few facts that I do have."

I sucked in a breath, trying to calm down my boiling blood. She just wanted to know why I was sleeping in my car. And she deserved to know after everything she'd done for me.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She trained her gaze down. "I'm just worried about you, Noah."

I wanted to tip her chin up so she would look me in the eyes, but I settled for sitting up straighter.

"I'm sorry I got mad. My dad is always talking aboutme being into trouble, since every time he sees me it looks like I've been in a fight." A fight with Paul. "I'm just tired of being the bad, messed-up kid, I guess. And I'm trying to be better."

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