Page 69 of It Was Always You

"Yeah, you can go back to hanging out with all your girlfriends after tonight." There was a sadness in her eyes that I couldn't miss.

I squeezed her hand. "We'll still see each other all the time. I mean, it's not like I'm going anywhere. I'll still be Easton's friend unless your dad really does stay true to what he said yesterday."

We made it to her locker, but I didn't want to let go of her hand. I wanted to hold onto it forever. She didn't seem in a hurry to let go either. Which made me wonder if we were really doing the best thing. Would it be so bad if what started out as fake turn out to be real?

She cleared her throat and let go of my hand to open her locker. I watched as she set her books inside, just soaking in everything that was Lexi. Her long brown hair that she liked to keep in a ponytail most of the time. Her thick-rimmed glasses that I'd always thought made her look geeky, but now I found them adorable. Her tomboyish clothes and Chuck Taylors. Everything I had never thought I would like about a girl was suddenly all my favorite things.

She finished putting her books away then turned to me,catching me staring at her. She bit her lip. "So do we start telling people this morning? Or just save it all for after lunch?" she asked.

If we waited until after lunch, I'd still have another chance to hold her close. More possibilities to enjoy being with Lexi without worrying about it being wrong. But also, more opportunities that I knew wouldn't be real.

Which was better? To cut it off now? Stop myself from pretending that there was a future between us? That she might possibly someday see me as something more than this homeless guy she pretended to date once?

Or was it better to get my head out of the clouds and face reality now?

"Let's wait until after lunch."

I tried to get a read on what she was thinking, but I couldn't tell. She just appeared neutral about the whole thing.

Maybe this wasn't affecting her as much as I'd hoped.

But then she said, "Yeah, I think that's best. I don't usually like answering questions this early in the day, anyway."

"Me neither." I smiled, happy that she was at least going along with this with me. "Want me to walk you to class for old time’s sake?" I offered my hand to her again, my heart pounding as I prayed she wouldn't turn me down.

She only hesitated for a second, and the feel of her hand in mine made my heart calm down. It just felt right. Like I was meant to hold her hand forever.

"I'd like that," she said.

23

LEXI

In just under an hour,my long-time dream of dating Noah Taylor would be over. I knew this day would come eventually, but now that it was here, I wanted to tell it to go away. I'd never dated anyone before—this fake-dating experience was all that I had, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. In fact, if I had the option to fake-date Noah or date Harrison for real, I'd pick the fake. It had been one of the craziest, but also one of the best weeks of my life.

When I entered the lunchroom, Noah was already sitting at our table. He must have been watching for me because as soon as I looked at him, he smiled and waved. My heart squeezed in my chest. He was smiling atme.

I forced myself to walk at a regular pace, though all I wanted to do was run to him so that I could have just afew more seconds to bask in what it was like to be Noah's girlfriend.

He pulled the chair next to him out for me.

"Hey," he said, smiling as I took my seat.

"Hi," I said, scooting closer. We still had a few more minutes. It would be okay for me to glue myself to his side, right?

"Do you want to eat lunch before we go somewhere and pretend to break up?" he asked.

My stomach was all tied up in knots. I didn't think I would be able to eat even if I tried. "I'm not really that hungry today," I said.

"Okay, let's just go now then. I have something I wanted to talk to you about, anyway."

Noah took my hand and led me from the cafeteria. He intertwined his fingers with mine, squeezing my hand. I was going to miss this so much.

We bumped into Easton on our way.

"Hey, where are you two going?" he asked, his expression darkening when his gaze flicked down to our entwined hands.

Noah stepped closer to Easton and bent his head down to speak in a lowered voice. "We're going to the auditorium to 'break up.'" He held one hand up to make air quotes.

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